At the beginning of May 2010, I stayed with some friends in the small Isan town of Phang Khon not far from Sakhon Nakhon and the Laos border at the time of the local Rocket Festival (Hae Bang Fai).
When I first heard the words Bang Fai - it sounded remarkably like 'Bun Fight' - it turned out to be that and more. I had worked out with a Thai friend that Bang Fai meant something like 'fireworks', so I was expecting a firework display. It turned out that the Bang Fai were enormous home-made rockets made of bamboo or plastic tubing, packed with gunpowder, and up to three meters in length - more like miniature ballistic missiles.
A friend from Udon Thani tells me that, for their festival, the revellers need permission from the local Air Traffic Control before they can launch.