Locals attribute this annual occurrence to a waterborne serpent ‘the Naga’ that lives under the river in a kingdom called “Muang Badan”, watching over the people living in the Mekong basin. Once a year this mythical seven headed King of Serpents spits fireballs into the sky resulting in the Mekong lights or “bung fai paya nak” as called by the locals. Scientists however, have a couple of theories for the non-believers. One theory suggests that methane gas trapped under the riverbed finds just the right conditions around this particular time of year to release and get spontaneously ignited upon surfacing, while another theory suggests plasma physics which explains combustion when surface electricity is discharged into a solution.