Phuket - Festivals

The inhabitants of Phuket know how to celebrate festivals. Songkhram Festival, the old Thai new year festival, is celebrated particularly loudly - and damply. Apart from their new year festival (Jan./Feb.), the Chinese celebrate the Vegetarian Festival during the first nine days of the ninth lunar month (usually mid Sept. or Oct.). A special spectacle can be seen each evening at this festival: entranced people run barefoot over hot coals or pierce their cheeks with lances, without injuring themselves.