Posts Tagged 2009
Phuket Vegetarian Festival Schedule 2009
Posted by in Uncategorized on February 16, 2010
Updated – Festival is all done now – some of the best photos here:
• Vegetarian festival 2009 – Street Procession Photos
It’s nearly here! My favourite festival in Phuket – the amazing vegetarian festival. If you are in Phuket between the 17th and 26th of this month, you’ll have a chance to see something special. BUT here’s a hint.. you will not find anything much going on near the main tourist beaches. No, this is a local event with a rich history going back almost 200 years, this is not a tourist show. Want to see something? You need to make a bit of effort. The festival is centered around Phuket Town and the many Chinese Shrines in Phuket that reflect the Chinese ancestry of many of the people here. Most of the shrines are in or near the town, with a few around other parts of the island. The main processions take place early morning around the town – if you want to catch one, best to stay in town, or you’ll be needing an early morning ride from the beaches, as processions start around 7am.
It all kicks off on Saturday 17th in the late afternoon when the “lantern pole” is raised at each temple down which the gods are said to descend. I’ll be having a look at my nearest shrine in Kathu village a few km outside town. The street processions take place every morning from the 20th to 26th. There are events in the afternoons and evenings too and in town and areas around the shrines, food stalls galore selling the special food that is eaten during the festival. There are some stalls and restaurants doing this food at the beaches but not many. If you head into Phuket Town around the market area near the Jui Tui shrine, that would be a good place to sample the food.
This blog has featured the Phuket vegetarian festival a lot in past years, and there are many pages devoted to the processions, lots of photos, information about the shrines, the food… you can find a lot more information and links here:
• The Amazing Phuket Vegetarian Festival
Not too much happens for the first couple of days after the raising of the lantern poles, but any evening is a good time to visit one of the shrines. Things really kick off on the 20th with the first street procession. Here’s a listing of the main events during the festival:
Saturday October 17th
All shrines, starting around 5pm – raising of the lantern pole. Events at the shrines will go on all evening. The lanterns are hung from the pole at midnight, signifying the start of the festival. There will be plenty of firecrackers and fireworks too. Well worth a visit on Saturday evening. Not sure if I will be awake at midnight, but I will be at Kathu shrine for the pole raising ceremony.
18th – 19th October – no big events, but you can visit any shrine at any time, and now the food is available too. I will again try to stick to the special diet for the duration of the festival.
Tuesday October 20th
Street procession starting 7am for Sapam Shrine – this shrine is a few km north of Phuket Town. Photographers and TV news always cover the first procession, as everyone wants to get the first photos for the paper, and local TV always covers the festival.
Wednesday October 21st
Street procession for Sam Kong Shrine – it’s not far from my house – see more here: Sam Kong Shrine. They will walk from the shrine in the north of town down through the old town. I might try to catch the start of this procession, but note that the street around Sam Kong shrine is very crowded and if you go with your own transport you may need to park some way from the shrine.
Thursday October 22nd
Street procession for Ban Tha Rue shrine which is in the Thalang area of Phuket in the center of the island – this used to be the main town in Phuket a few hundred years ago and there are several historic temples in the area as well as a museum of Phuket history.
In the evening the schedule shows “Oil bathing and bladed-ladder climbing” starting 7pm at Kathu shrine. Now, last year we went to see these events but they were not being held.. and a brochure I have from the Kathu municipality does not show these events in the schedule.
Friday October 23rd
A big day! Street procession in Phuket Town for the Bang Neow Shrine, which is in the south of the town on Phuket Road, one of the biggest shrines participating in the festival. There is also a procession for Cherng Talay Shrine in Thalang district.
Later in the day the schedule has Fire Walking at several locations including Sapam Shrine, Sapan Hin (for Jui Tui shrine) and Sui Boon Tong shrine (couple of blocks to the west of the market in Phuket Town)
Saturday October 24th
Street procession for Jui Tui shrine, which is the biggest one of all, found just west of the market in Phuket Town. Since Saturday is normally my day off I do believe I will be in town for this one!
Later there are lots of events at various shrines including bladed ladder climbing at Sam Kong and Bang Neow shrines and something called “nail bridge crossing” at Sapam Shrine.
Sunday October 25th
Street procession from Kathu shrine to Phuket Town. It’s a fair walk this one, about 5km from Kathu Shrine all the way to town, around the old town and ending at Sapan Hin. Kathu is my “local” shrine, I will aim to be at the shrine before 6am to witness the piercing rituals as I did last year. The procession then heads out of Kathu village around 6:30am.
Later in the evening – fire walking at Bang Neow and Sam Kong shrines.
Monday October 26th
The last day of the festival. A final morning procession for Sui Boon Tong shrine, then events such as firewalking at Kathu shrine at 3pm. Then, in the evening/night a big procession around Phuket Town, carrying statues of the gods to Sapan Hin. Lots of firecrackers and fireworks. Ends at midnight with the “farewell” to the gods. I do hope to summon up energy enough to be in Phuket Town in the night for this event – I have seen it on TV, looks mad!
Tuesday October 27th
Around 5pm the lantern poles are lowered at the shrines marking the very end of the festival.
Now, I would happily go to see all processions and events every night at various shrines, but of course have to work and have a family too.. If you are lucky enough to be in Phuket during the vegetarian festival, DO make an effort to see something. This is a special time of year. And don’t be afraid of the food! I am (almost) looking forward to a week of tofu and beansprouts 
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Best of Jamie’s Phuket 2009 – Part 1
Posted by in Uncategorized on January 23, 2010
Wow. 2010 already. Anyone else feeling a bit shell shocked? I have been in Phuket just over 10 years now, arrived in November 1999. No plans to stay, just looking for work as a dive instructor. Fast forward 10 years, happily married, 2 children, lots of bills to pay (house, car, school).. is this not just like any normal life anywhere else? Not quite. I am very happy living in Phuket, although at times in the high season (that’s now!) there is not much time for relaxation – running even a small dive shop needs fairly long work hours, 6 days a week. Family has to come first, so the poor Phuket blog does get neglected at times in the high season. I still try to update this blog about once per week, and the weather blog maybe a bit more often.
2009. Good Year. A quick look back at some of the more interesting places, restaurants, hotels and things to do that were on Jamie’s Phuket last year…
January – as I said, it was just over 10 years ago that I got to Phuket, the main aim was to find work on a liveaboard dive boat – so I wrote something about that : Liveaboard Diving from Phuket. Photo below… me 9 years ago in the Similan Islands.
Next, a review of the luxury Sala Phuket resort, one of the best hotels you can find here. I try not to add too many hotel reviews on the blog, but occasionally, when we’ve not had time to really get out and do anything much, I’ll add in a hotel… always looking for new or interesting hotels to review.
Same with restaurants – although we are getting a bit middle aged and tend to eat again and again at the same places, I try to get to new restaurants and sometimes we find good ones like the Uptown restaurant in Phuket Town, a big local favourite with a huge menu of different noodle dishes.
Also in January, I had a quick visit to the new Phuket 91.5FM radio station which over the year has established itself as probably the No.1 station for Phuket.
February – another new Phuket Town restaurant – Rimtang specialises in local dishes, and another hotel review – Boomerang Cottages in Kata, not on the beach, up on the hillside, and always gets good reviews it seems.
Later in February we headed out of Phuket into Phang Nga province just over the bridge and found a great restaurant called Sam Chong Seafood. Not far from there, the temple of Wat Suwan Kuha which is built into a cave.
March – a quick visit to a temple in Phuket Town – Wat Vichit Sangkaram – eventually I will try to blog all the temples in Phuket! I did a review of the new TravelFish Guide to Phuket, a review of the Agoda hotel booking website.
Found time to try the new Phuket Brewery just outside Phuket Town which has a microbrewery and live music with big name Thai stars performing almost every weekend. We also went to Cape Phromthep – not for the first time but amazingly the first time I had been there for the sunset.
April, come she will. Kamala Beach – I think kind of the forgotten beach of Phuket, still very quiet, it’s just North of Patong, but about 500 times less crazy!
Phuket Town – for me, the best bit of Phuket, lots of hidden surprises, and a few were uncovered in April. First, yet another very popular restaurant with locals called Kaewjai, just a block from the bus terminal, been there for nearly 50 years and my wife and I have been back several times during the year. Then there was the Crocodile Farm… not for animal lovers and I read things about them keeping some animals illegally. Lots of crocodiles. And some tigers, and a few other animals.
Later in April I finally found the not-easy-to-find Shrine of the Serene Light, in the old part of town. Very beautiful old Chinese shrine.
But April of course is best known for Songkran – the traditional Thai New Year. This year on April 13th we loaded up our pick up truck with barrels of water, drove around Patong and the whole family had a fun time – photos here: Songkran 2009 in Patong.
And you also have Phuket Bike Week just before Songkran, I went to see some bikes this year down at Patong Beach and in the JungCeylon mall.
May – I enjoyed looking around the Phuket Halal Expo, held at Sapan Hin, a large recreation area in the south of Phuket Town. Lots of food and smiling faces – the event was to promote Phuket’s large Muslim community.
I like to find simple and not (too) expensive restaurants on the beach – found one at Nai Yang Beach called Batik Seafood. Nai Yang is pretty quiet and there are many small restaurants. A few days later and we ate at another new restaurant called Lakeside, way off the beaten track and run by a former neighbour of ours.
The Big Buddha in Phuket.. still not finished.. indeed we were just there a couple of days ago and there is loads to do.. the main 45m high Buddha is all but ready, but the surrounding area needs a lot of work – photo below taken in May:
June – halfway through 2009 – and I think I better add a “Part 1″ on the title and carry on with Part 2 in a couple of days… way too much to talk about on one blog post! We took a very interesting trip by longtail boat from Rawai Beach to Koh Kaew Yai, a small island just off the end of Cape Phromthep. Stories say that the Buddha visited here before landing in Phuket at Rawai.
And not long after we were at Sapan Hin again for the One Tambon One Product Fair – lots of food, drinks and crafts. There are regular events at Sapan Hin, always worth a visit.
To round out the month, a visit to Phuket Aquarium. We go quite often, entry fee is cheap and we like the Cape Panwa area of Phuket where the Aquarium is located. My kids always enjoy learning about the fish and other marine life from “Dad the Diver”
Jamie’s Phuket 2009.. Part 2 coming soon
Happy New Year!
