Veggin out - Blogabond

So I after my awesome trips to Koh Phi Phi and Railay I came back to Phuket. I stayed a really cheap clean hostel in Patong that I liked. When you're backpacking and you find a place that's cheap, has hot water, and is clean it's hard to leave.

I was also waiting for my friend Art, who was visiting Thailand from San Diego, to make it in to Phuket. Unfortunately I was to find out that Art couldn't make it. Art has a Mexican passport and a US Resident card. When he bought his ticket he went to the Mexican consulate and they informed him that he could fly in to Thailand and get a visa on arrival. This ended up not being the case. When Art went to the airport they told him he needed to have his Visa already. The airlines originally told him they would help re arrange the flight if he went and got his Visa. He went and did this only to find out that the travel agency listed him as a no show and in the end they wouldn't help re arrange his flight without him having to pay $1800. It was very sad.

Since I was no longer waiting for Art I decided to stay in Phuket a shorter amount of time and then go to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand which I had wanted to see, but didn't think I would make the journey up here this time.

I stayed for a little while in Phuket to see some of the annual Vegetarian Festival. Now to the novice this sounds cute. Let me explain what this festival is about in the cliff note version.

So back in the day some Chinese actors in Phuket were struck with Malaria. They believed that they were sick because they weren't

honoring their Gods. So in order to honor their Gods they went on a vegetarian diet and got better. The local Thais liked this and they started a festival on the 9th lunar month each year spanning 9 days for good luck. During this time they are to wear white, abstain from alcohol, sex, and meat. During this process some believe that the Gods inhabit them and they are spared pain which they inflict on themselves.

You will see people with various objects pierced through there mouth like the guy on the left, and the guy on the right is holding an axe which he is scraping his mouth with. You will see them walking down the street in a spiritual trance. They also throw firecrackers into the street during the parade to ward off evil spirits.

There was a few times I was pretty scared of getting maimed by the fireworks. While the Gods were protecting them I was pretty sure the same wasn't being held true for me. It was a neat festival, but very intense as well.

After 2 days of the festival I did a long trekk in an overnight bus to Bangkok about 12 hours, and then a 15 hour train ride to Chiang Mai. It was a very long trip. The train ride was comfortable, but I think I would I would have appreciated anything after that bus ride.

I bought the ticket for the bus ride through the hostel I was staying at without thinking about it. It was cheap. After buying it I read about the multiple different kind of buses that do this trip. Just in case anybody decides to take one of these buses take the VIP buses. They are about 300 more baht than the others, $6, but I believe probably worth it. I was not so lucky. My bus trip was a 3 or 4 different rides, changing buses to end up in an overnight bus that smelled so horrible. I have no idea how anyone else slept. When ever the bus started moving and pumping air it smelled like a man's urinal. I barely slept at all. I was so grateful to be off that thing once we arrived in Bangkok; and since have been testing the air and appreciate the non piss smell all around. You live and learn I guess.

I just got in Chiang Mai after about 36 hours of traveling so I will let you all now how my adventures go here after I sleep. Take care.

written by

Kirk on October 18, 2012 from Phuket, Thailand

from the travel blog: Kirk's South East Asia Adventure

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Love Phuket it is a awesome place to travel i mean culture food peoples everything is awesome i traveled there 4 years back and still missing those adventure

written by wikijohn on October 25, 2012

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