Clashes between believers and non-believers over the mysterious Naga fireballs in Nong Khai and Bueng Kan provinces have gone on for decades. But what is indisputable is the fact that the phenomenon has become a popular annual festival which draws over 200,000 tourists to the two northeastern provinces each year.

A well-known lecturer and professor of Chulalongkorn University on Wednesday accepted a challenge to travel to Bueng Kan province next year to disprove the sacredness of the so-called Naga fireballs.