Buddhist vegetarian festival in Krabi (Thailand)

I attended the jia chai vegetarian festival in Krabi last year and thought I would post some pics and background on this cleansing ritual.

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Anyone fancy a umbrella piercing?

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Or some cuttlery?

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Shotgun!

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Ouch!

The festival goes on for 9 days in late september/early october. And involves in addition to the parade knife-ladder climbing and walking on hot coals in the local temples. Also a lot of eating ofcourse
The parade itself is extremely noisy due to big Chinese drums and massive amounts of firecrackers going of between your feet.

History of the festival can be found here: Phuketvegetarian.com

10 RULES FOR THE VEGETARIAN FESTIVAL
1. Cleanliness of bodies during the festival
2. Clean kitchen utensils and to use them seperately from other who do not join the festival
3. Wear white during the festival
4. Behave physically and mentally
5. No meat eating
6. No sex
7. No alcoholic drinks
8. People at mourning period should not attend the festival
9. Pragnant ladies should not watch any ritual
10. Ladies with period should not attend the ritual

Thank you for the pics and well that looks just lovely. I would have enjoyed myself there.. Did you stay for the entire length of the fesitval....

reply to post by purplemer


I have participated two years for the full nine days with my family in Krabi.

If you want to participate or observe, just tell me and I will hook you up with free room and a bunch of great people to hang out with