Thai transgender women competed in a colourful pageant last night (October 20) to mark the end of Buddhist lent.

Twenty-one contestants from around the country showed off their bright frocks and flawless makeup at the ceremony in Trang, southern Thailand.

The event, known as Kathina, is a Buddhist festival which comes at the end of Vassa, the three-month rainy season retreat for Buddhists in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.

Locals make donations to temples to show their gratitude to the Buddhist monks and hope that they will receive good luck in return.

The pageant, one of the more unusual and colourful ways of celebrating the religious holiday, saw 21 transgender women compete. They had to pose on stage then walk around the crowd collecting donations.

The highlight prize of the pageant was the "the best effort to be beautiful", which the contestant from Trang, Siwapat Jirachartsumrit, won on their home turf.

They said: ''The pageant was fun and many local people who came here had a great time. The donations reached one million baht, which will all be given to the temple.''

The host of the event said that the pageant's purpose was to ''break down barriers on gender inequality''.

They added said: "The purpose of this contest is to raise funds for the temple and to break down the barriers on gender inequality, to show that everybody regardless of gender, can do good things."