The Amazing Phuket Vegetarian Festival

Over the last 3 years on this blog I have written plenty about the Phuket Vegetarian Festival. There are multiple posts detailing different aspects of the festival from 2006, 2007 and 2008. The Vegetarian Festival is probably my favourite event in Phuket. The face-piercing processions, the food, the mystical rituals at the shrines... this is a special time of year. The festival has been a part of Phuket's culture since 1825. It's no show, it's not made up for the tourists and not for the faint hearted. This is the real Phuket!



This blog post is mainly intended to tie up all the vegetarian festival related posts from the last few years. I never saw a procession until 2006 and didn't have a great camera then. There are better pictures from 2007 and 2008. Last year especially I posted many photos and also some videos, as well as posts about some of the Chinese shrines and the food. I am very much looking forward to the Phuket vegetarian festival 2009 - the dates this year are 18th - 26th October. The dates change as the festival is based on the Chinese lunar calendar.



Vegetarian Festival Photos and Blog Posts

Last year, for the first time I went to a shrine early morning (6am) before a procession to see the face piercing take place. Kathu Shrine is only a couple of kilometers from my house. Kathu has a largely Chinese Thai population and was the center of the tin mining industry in the 19th century. Watching the piercing was very interesting to say the least. Will try to get there even earlier this year. I want to see the Ma Song (devotees) becoming entranced in the shrine.

• 2008 Photos in Kathu Village - Face Piercing

The Kathu procession is one of the larger ones and they walk about 5km from Kathu into Phuket town. I followed them into town. Processions are in the early morning starting around 7am to avoid the midday heat.

• Procession in Phuket Town (2008)
• Festival and Procession Photos 2007



I experimented with some videos this year, but just using a simple Canon Powershot camera on video mode - not pro quality but some of these little clips give a very good idea of what goes on.

• Vegetarian Festival Videos 2008

The food is an integral part of the vegetarian festival. Locals who are taking part will only eat specially prepared food which is pretty much vegan, not only vegetarian. The Thais can do 100 things with tofu and sometimes its hard to believe you are not eating meat. There are "Jae" foodstalls all around the shrines, not so many around the beach areas. Phuket town is the best place to be especially around Jui Tui or Bang Neow shrines. Other shrines on the edge of town like Sam Kong are worth a visit, and maybe I'll see you at Kathu Shrine if you head in that direction.

• Vegetarian Festival - The Food

 

The vegetarian festival is mainly celebrated by the Chinese Thai community, most of whom live in and around Phuket Town, with others further north in the Thalang area, the older parts of Phuket. Not much going on around the beach areas, if you want to see something, head for one of the main shrines. I've blogged some of them, still want to write about Bang Neow which is on the south side of Phuket town. Jui Tui is the largest, and is near the market, easy to get to and the streets in that area are packed with food stalls during the festival.

• Jui Tui Shrine in Phuket Town
• Kathu Village Shrine

 

• A Walk in Kathu Village
• Sam Kong Shrine and Foodstalls

Kathu and Sam Kong shrines are both pretty close to my house, just 2 or 3km, so we go to get food from these areas in the evenings. I try to stick to the diet for the 9 days of the festival. It's very good for cleaning out the body.

The vegetarian festival is something special, and a million miles from the resorts and beaches of Phuket. If anyone wants a special experience, then October 18th - 26th this year is a good time to come to Phuket! The full schedule for the festival is already published at the Phuket Vegetarian Festival website. I will republish it here when we get closer to the event. Roll on October!