"Even if it rains, it will not put out my passion for the Olympic relay," Anant Siripasraporn, Deputy Permanent Secretary for Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), who will run the first leg of the Olympic torch relay in Bangkok Saturday, told Xinhua with a broad smile.

Anant is waiting for the Olympic torch relay, the first time ever for Thailand, to be launched scheduled at 3:00 p.m. (0800GMT) Saturday, April 19.

TV cameramen, who had waited hours before the start of the ceremony, began to set up umbrellas over their machines, as dark clouds began to gather and shadow the stage at the Chinese Gate, the ceremonial gateway at the mouth of Yaowarat Road, a landmark that marks the starting point of Bangkok's century-old China Town area.

"We had prayed to Buddha it will not rain today, so don't worry," said Charouck Arirachakaran, Secretary-General of the National Olympic Committee of Thailand (NOCT), in a half-joking manner.

"Unless it is a huge storm, we won't postpone the relay process," Charouck said, "Anyway we are determined to have a smooth and successful torch relay. Thailand have invested a lot to ensure that, and that's our good wish and support for the Beijing Olympics."

The pray, or the confidence of the Thais seemed to work. After 2:00 p.m. (0700GMT), the sky cleared again over the Chinese Gate and summer sunshine typical of this tropical city began to sweaten the crowd.

The tempreture is around 40 clesius degree here, as this is the hot season in Thailand, but it did not block people from fluxing into the China Town.

The China Town area is normally crowded, but it was especially so today, as tourists from different countries, Chinese expatriates and students, and other spectators swammed into the Yaowarat Road to witness the "once-in-a-lifetime event" in many eyes.

"It is very good opportunity for Thai people to be able to be engaged in such an international grand event," Pornwarin Nutrawong, a nurse tutor and one of the 80 torch bearers selected from all walks of life in Thailand to run the Olympic torch relay in Bangkok.

A nurse tutor who is known for her voluntary devotion to caring for final-stage patients, Pornwarin was excited about being a torch bearer.

"Everyone is excited here. My collegues and friends at my hospital have came to cheer for me and witness the relay, some 200 hundreds of them."

"It is my only regret that my patients could not be here. But they are happy for me," said the nurse.

Dozens of Chinese students from Thai universities have travelled from different parts of country to show their support for the Beijing Olympic Games, waiving a huge national flag of China and chanting slogans like "Go Beijing Olympics."

Liang Qingqing, a senior student from Burapha University in Chonburi Province near Bangkok, told Xinhua that she and her schoolmates had been here since the morning, and planned to run through the torch relay route.

(Xinhua News Agency April 19, 2008)