Escape Routes: Getting the Point at Phuket Vegetarian Festival, Yogic Intimacy in Koh Phangan, Upmarket Spirituality in Bali

Love colorful Asian festivals? Love Thai-style vegetarian food? Love large, sharp objects thrust through your cheeks and tongue?

If you answered “yes”, “yes” and “not sure” there’s good news. You can party at The Phuket Vegetarian Festival, which takes place on the Thai island from Oct 15-23, and you only need to impale yourself along with the religious devotees if you really feel like it.

What’s with the impaling, you ask? Well, while the festival is a joyous affair—with participants showing their devotion to the gods by eating only vegetarian food, taking part in street processions, visiting Buddhist temples and Chinese shrines where they pray, sing, and light joss sticks and candles—acts of sacrificial ritual are an increasingly prominent part of it. Becoming more spectacular and gory with each passing year, they include fire walking, climbing ladders made of sharp iron blades and piercing of bodies, often while devotees are in a trance state.

The festival is believed to have started a couple of hundred years ago after a wandering Chinese opera group, who had fallen ill with malaria while performing on the island, decided to eat only a vegetarian diet and pray to the Nine Emperor Gods. After making a miraculous recovery, local people celebrated by holding a festival to honor the gods, which has grown into the spectacular event it is now.

A highlight is the raising of the Lantern Pole, which alerts the nine Chinese gods that the festival is taking place, in the hope they will descend, bringing spiritual power to the event. Our advice? Absorb the spiritual power and veggie food, avoid the sharp stuff. To allow visitors to take in this amazing event in comfort (getting impaled notwithstanding), Amari Phuket is offering a ‘Seascape Suite Stay’ package for a three-night stay in a recently opened sea-facing suite. Included in the package is a welcome bottle of sparkling wine, round-trip airport transfers, free access to the clubhouse, a 60-minute Thai massage, late checkout and complimentary wi-fi. You’ll have to supply your own large sharp objects.