The 3rd Crab Pulling, known in Thai as ‘Pu Chak’, Festival is coming back again between 9 and 17 February 2013 at Cha-Am beach lookout. This time, its concept focuses on local life of Cha-Am’s fishermen and environmental preservation, especially keeping horse crab for the Gulf of Thailand.Organized by Cha-Am Municipality, Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) in Phetchaburi and Singha Corporation, the 3rd Crab Pulling Festival is organized to promote catching and selling horse crab in Cha-Am and support 2 horse crab banks here that mainly work on increasing the number of this marine animal while keeping it in Cha-Am at the same time. Every year, the banks will give horse crab sent by the Phetchaburi Fishery Office and the Center of Marine Habitat Research and Testing in Phetchaburi to local fishermen so that they release it into the sea.
The more horse crab there are, the more income and better life local fishermen will have.Since local fisherman catch a lot of horse crab daily, sellers have to find ways to make it fresh as long as possible. One of the effective but simple and natural ways is putting horse crab in a big net-like bag. The bag is tied with a rope to ‘Saphan Yok’, a small iron bridge, and is soaked in the seawater under the bridge with horse crab inside. Once customers decide to buy the crab, the sellers will pull the bag from the water and sell the crab to them. With this way, the crab will stay fresh and delicious for quite a long time. In addition, crab pulling is so famous in Cha-Am that TAT declared it as the 3rd Unseen in Thailand already.
Initiated by the Cha-Am Mayor Mr. Nukul Pornsomboonsiri, the Pu Chak @ Cha-Am is an annual event that takes place on the second Saturday of February and lasts for nine days. In this year, it will be held from 9 to 17 February 2013.Besides selling and cooking of fresh horse crab, this event features demonstration of crab pulling by local fishers, a competition of horse crab catching, a walking street and stage performances by various artists: Benz Prick Thai on 9 Feb., Nat R-Siam on 10 Feb., Jasmine Band on 11 Feb., Flavor Band on 12 Feb., Ying Thitikarn on 13 Feb., a full band of Chaiyo Thanawat on 14 Feb., Alice R-Siam on 15 Feb., Yim R-Siam on 16 Feb. and Tum Janokrong on 17 Feb. An event held once in a year, the 3rd Pu Chak @ Cha-Am is absolutely the unmissable for eco-tourists and food lovers alike.
