PHUKET: And so it ends, not with a whimper but a bang. More than one, actually. Sunday night's Vegetarian Festival finale is to firecrackers what Halloween is to the pumpkin.

An explosion of great taste is what Phuket's Vegetarian Festival needs to draw attention away from the pierced people and the crackers to the awesome food.

Tomorrow night Phuket City blasts on for hours as all of Phuket's possessed mah song warriors prance their way through the streets to end nine days of strange stuff.

Despite rain in the first few days, this year's Phuket Vegetarian Festival has probably drawn more followers and attracted more tourists than any before it.

If there's something wierder and wilder in terms of festivals, the news has yet to reach Phuket. Today's parade was from the Kathu shrine, one of the island's most traditional.

What could sum up Phuket better than a man with a beach umbrella through his cheek?

Organisers say they are keen to restore the emphasis on the food and the event's spirituality and reduce the impact made around the world by the pierced people.

Certainly, photographs of Phuket parades are published all over the globe at this time each year, often without explanation, beyond the bizarre images.

The veggie food is usually very good and this year more Phuket people seemed to be dressed in white, doing their best to purify their bodies.

If the organisers want an idea to restore emphasis on the food, they should note the trend worldwide to cooking contests on television.

Get some of the top chefs from around the globe to cook their own vegetarian delights, have them taste test vegetarian cooking contests while they are on Phuket, and the world's perspective on the festival will become much, much more palatable.