Phuket Vegetarian Festival Asian Tourist Destinations

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region is at a crossroads. With an average growth rate of more than 6 percent last year, the region has achieved remarkable economic success recently and now accounts for 10 percent of combined Asian GDP. What about its tourist industry?



With impressive economic growth, plenty of resources and top tourist attractions, today the ASEAN is in a better position to celebrate this year’s World Tourism Day with joy and pride as its tourist industry has been enjoying double-digit growth in recent years.

ASEAN, the 10 nations of which reflect a world of wonders and diversity, has numerous world-class tourist destinations. With tourist paradises like Bali, Phuket, Langkawi and Singapore, historic monuments like Borobudur, Prambanan and Angkor Wat, the modern Petronas twin towers, pristine beaches and friendly people, ASEAN is indeed Asia’s “Perfect 10 Paradise”.

Phuket Vegetarian Festival

The Phuket Vegetarian Festival, or Kin Jay Festival, is underway in Thailand. One of the smaller and more bizarre of festivals in Thailand, this annual cleansing of the body runs from September 26th to October 5th in 2011.

The Thailand Vegetarian Festival is not only celebrated in Phuket; travelers can get a glimpse of the action in Chiang Mai and particularly in Bangkok's Chinatown.

But don't expect a collaboration of healthy activists comparing notes on soy products. Strangely, this vegetarian festival includes sticking sharp objects -- sometimes grotesquely large -- through your cheeks!

The Thailand Vegetarian Festival is thought to have Chinese origins and follows the belief that abstinence during the ninth lunar month is good for body and spirit. Meat, alcohol, sex, garlic, and strong foods are to be avoided during the 10-day period for a healthier life.

Along with the personal sacrifices, people gather at temples to participate in bodily harm to themselves. Some lay on beds of knives and walk on hot coals, while others stick wooden skewers and even spears through their cheeks.

The Phuket Vegetarian Festival is the epicenter of most of the bizarre spectacles, but some examples can be seen around Chinatown in Bangkok with a little luck and good timing.

For those of us not wanting to create additional holes in our faces, good vegetarian food can be enjoyed by all at participating restaurants and street carts -- just look for yellow flags with small red lettering (not to be confused with the yellow King's flag here in Thailand).

Soy and bean curd are shaped and colored to look exactly like pork and chicken, even down to the texture, so spotting the vegan food at carts can be challenging without the flags.

Some rules followed during the Thailand Vegetarian Festival:

- No meat, alcohol, sex, or strong smelling foods.
- People who are participating wear white.
- People must keep themselves cleaner than usual.
- People should keep a pure mind and body.
- Women who are pregnant or menstruating should not attend the festival.
Source : goasia.about.com