Dream Trip 2008: July

Great Travel Moment

The Phuket Vegetarian Festival is filled with sounds, colors, lots of noise, crowds of people and very interesting rituals. In this photo of the early morning parade, chosen males walk through to streets as people throw firecrackers at them. Part of the beliefs of the festival is that these boys and men are "cleansed of evil spirits" and can feel no pain. I remember this photo because my friend and I just happened to stumble on the festival as we were stopping through Phuket on our way to the islands in Thailand. We are so intrigued that we stayed in the town for a week. It ended up being the most cultural experience of our trip to an otherwise tourist driven country.