Phuket Vegetarian Festival Photos
New! Vegetarian Festival 2007 Photos Now Online!
Photos from the street procession on Sunday 29th October 2006 from Kathu Shrine to Phuket Town. These street processions took place all week from the 24th to 30th October. This was the only one I saw - too busy at work, though we did visit Sam Kong shrine a couple of times and we ate the Jae food all week. I was in Kathu village at 6:30am as the participants came from Kathu Shrine along the road through the village heading for Phuket town about 5km away. The early morning light and thousands of firecrackers made a great scene as the gods were carried on their way. Among the statues were the holy people and those with knives, swords, spikes and more through their cheeks, many women seemingly in trances, men with whips and cloths, and many helpers. Here's some photos from the village:
(above) Purification by pain? Kathu village, 30th October
(below) Procession of gods departs from Kathu, early morning
I then headed via another road to catch the procession in Phuket Town. While they walked about 7km I waited with many people in the center of town near the market. There were a few other foreigners around including 2 photographers dressed as if for battle with several thousand dollars worth of gear. I felt a bit lacking with my little digital. In the camera world, size matters.
A long wait, as the procession joined with people from another shrine at the stadium on the edge of town. By the time they reached us, some of the participants were looking rather hot and bothered. Cups of water were made available by the side of the road, as it was hot even at 9am.
I tried to capture some photos of the devotees with pierced faces:
Next year I want to do more, see more. I did eat the food for a week, though did not stick 100% to ALL the rules, but then again I did not stick spikes in my face either. If you were in Phuket and missed it..why? If you're planning a trip to Phuket next year, try to be here for the vegetarian festival..The dates are based on the lunar calendar, starting on the new moon, which means the festival will run from 11 - 19 October 2007. Hope to see you here in Phuket!
Need a place to stay in Phuket for the festival? A few links...
• Jamie's Phuket Hotel Recommendations
• A walk around Old Phuket Town
Online Phuket Hotel Bookings at Agoda.com
Jamie's Phuket - The Real Phuket!
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Comments on "Phuket Vegetarian Festival Photos"
Hello Jamie, first off - great pictures! You mentioned you just had a compact camera - well, you caught the atmosphere perfectly! I want to come to the Vegetarian Festival this year and although the official site gives Oct 11th to 19th as the dates they don't have a detailed itinerary yet. Actually I'm not sure if they do publish one and last year I tried to get the details but I got no replies from them nor from the Tourist Authority. Anyway, I can only spare a few days and want to make sure I'm there at the best time to see the procession with the piercings. You mentioned they do this all week but I want to be sure. Anyway, if you get hold of more details I'd be very grateful if you could let me know - you can get me from the profile page on the web site link in my name. Thanks & all the best! Stuart
Great pics! The feeling of inferiority surfaces for me too when seeing other guys with their mega zoom and wide angle lenses, but I try to brush it off and remind myself that 99 percent of a good pics are about the timing and imagination rather than the fancy equipment used--unless of course you're photographing a Formula 1 race or surfing contest, but for the sake of web and portraying the scene your pics and descriptions are Top quality as far as I'm concerned.
Cheeers!
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