PHUKET: First came the Big Bang that created the Universe. Then came a lot of smaller bangs, millions and millions of them, and so was born the annual Phuket Vegetarian Festival.

With the raising of lantern poles at Chinese temples across Phuket at 5.09pm this evening, a cracker of a time began, ready or not, for the whole island.

Dogs will cringe and try to cover their ears between now and October 13, when the daily firecracker celebration reaches an amazing crescendo in Old Phuket Town.

For the believers, the festival encapsulates nine days of purification, uplifting them spiritually and cleansing their bodies and minds.

For the non-believers, the festival encapsulates amazing rituals, heaps of noise, and enough vegetarian food to last a lifetime.

Adherents give up meat, booze and sex, wear white and are generally on their best behavior, especially if they have been possessed.

There is no doubting the sincerity of the mah song, the warriors who impale themselves to take on the suffering of the world.

Phuket becomes an amazing place during the festival, even more amazing than it is for the other 347 days of the year.

Phuketwan's strange experiences extend to a meeting with a mah song who was inhabited each year by the spirit of a Muslim imam.

The mah song could, in his trance like state, recite passages from the Q'oran in a language he had never learned.

The spirits reach out in strange ways, with those who are called sometimes unable to remove the sounds of the drums from their heads.

The daily parades and nightly performances are not to be missed.

Our fervent hope is that next year, the festival will be expanded.

Levels of purity will extend to the corrupt giving up their wicked ways, telling others of their guilt and donating vast sums instead to education and health.

We intend to hurl a few crackers at the feet of the mah song this year, and dream a lot, even more than during the other 347 far from normal days on Phuket.

The Phuket Street Parades



CHOOR SU GONG NAKA SHRINE

8AM From the Shrine to Phuket Town



SAPAM SHRINE

7AM From the Shrine to Phuket Town

BANGKOO SHRINE

6.30AM Street Procession in Phuket Town

CHERNG THALAY SHRINE

4PM Street Procession at Manik Village

Cherng Thalay Village 1

HAI YIAN GENG SHRINE

8AM Street Procession in Naiyang Village



LIM HU TAI SU SHRINE (SAMKONG)

7.19PM From the Shrine to Phuket Town

CHERNG THALAY SHRINE

5.30PM Street Procession at Surin Beach

Village and Cherng Thalay Village 2

TAE GUN SHRINE (BAN NABON)

7AM From the Shrine to Chalong, Rawai, Karon

SHENG LENG TONG

4.45PM Street Procession in Muangmai Village

HAI YIAN GENG SHRINE

3PM Street Procession in Ban Tha Chat Chai

GIM TSU ONG SHRINE (BAN DON)

4.45PM From the Shrine to Chalong



BAN THA RUE SHRINE

7.30PM From the Shrine to Phuket Town

SAPAM SHRINE

7PM From the Shrine to Sapam Village

JANG ONG SHRINE

6.30AM From the Shrine to Phuket Town

TAE GUN TAI TAE SHRINE (BAN PASAK)

7.15AM From the Shrine to Pasak Village and

Ban Don Market

CHOOR SU GONG NAKA SHRINE

4.30PM From the Shrine to Naka Village




BANG NEOW SHRINE

4PM In Phuket town

CHERNG THALAY SHRINE

7AM Street Procession in Thalang District

GIM TSU ONG SHRINE (BAN DON)

4.30PM From the Shrine to Maikhao Village

SHENG LENG TONG SHRINE

5PM Street Procession in Tha Ma Prow Village/Ban Nuea



JUI TUI SHRINE

8.09AM In Phuket town

GIM TSU ONG SHRINE (BAN DON)

6.30PM In Ban Don Village - Ban Kian Village -

Ban Sakoo Village -Ban Naiyang Village

- Airport - Muang Mai Village



KATHU SHRINE

7AM From the Shrine to Phuket town

BAN THA RUE SHRINE

6.30PM From the Shrine to Thalang Town

YOK KE KENG SHRINE

8AM From the Shrine to Phuket town

HAI YIANG GENG SHRINE

7AM Street Procession in Ban Mai Khao Village



SUI BOON TONG SHRINE

7AM In Phuket town

BANGKOO SHRINE

8AM From the Shrine to Sapam and Bangkoo Villages

NGOR HIAN SHRINE

7.45AM Street Procession in Ban Kian Village