Vegetarian Festival, #Phuket.

The Phuket Vegetarian Festival

is a colourful event held

over a nine-day period in October,

celebrating the Chinese community’s belief

that abstinence from meat

Various stimulants during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar

will help them obtain good health and peace of mind.

Though the origins of the festival are unclear,

it is commonly thought that the festival was bought to Phuket

by a wandering Chinese opera group who fell ill with malaria while performing on the island.

They decided to adhere to a strict vegetarian diet and pray to the Nine Emperor Gods

to ensure purification of the mind and body.

To everyone’s amazement the opera group made a complete recovery.

 

The people celebrated by holding a festival that was meant to honour the gods

as well as express the people’s happiness at surviving what was,

in the 19th century, a fatal illness.

 

Subsequently the festival has grown and developed into a spectacular yearly

event that is attended by thousands with participants flying

in from China and other Asian destinations.

One of the most exciting aspects of the festival are the various,

(and sometimes gruesome) ceremonies which are held to invoke the gods.

Fire walking, body piercing and other acts of self mortification undertaken

by participants acting as mediums of the gods, have become more spectacula.

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Khao San Road #Bangkok.

In addition to being great for adjusting to the culture and climate,

Khao San Road is also a great place to ease yourself

into the intense sensory m-lange that is Thai cuisine.

 Restaurants, shacks and stalls on wheels abound,

and most of what’s sold at them toned down to cater to the unadjusted Western palate.

In particular, the spiciness of curries, salads and noodles is much less than locals enjoy eating.

If you like spicy, the phrase ‘ped maak’ should do the trick.

Don’t think its all tame variations on Thai cooking and Western junk food

(Burger King, McDonalds and Subway are all in attendence).

 

Recent years have seen an upsurge in upscale restaurants and bars,

and the variety and sophistication of the food

available on Khao San Road has rocketed proportionally.

Menus offering interesting fusions of Thai with Western cuisine are now common,

and many establishments and stalls specialist in gourmet international cuisine.

Pizza, sushi, felafel, seafood, fish and chips, and pasta all get a look in.

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