PHUKET, 4 October 2016 (NNT) – Over a thousand locals and visitors to Phuket were seen taking part in a parade from the Kua Tian Keng Shrine staged as part of Vegetarian Festival celebrations in the province.

The Kua Tian Keng Shrine in Phuket’s Sapan Hin houses a Chinese deity who holds the world’s birth and death records. More than 2,500 vegetarian practitioners formed a procession to parade the deity’s statue along Phuket roads last night with thousands of residents and tourists viewing the event.

Vegetarian Festival revelry was seen in many other provinces, such as in Yala, where families were observed traveling to the Yala Municipal Authority Office area to make merit and dine on vegetarian food being provided by local shrines. Many said they were devoting their good merit from the festival to His Majesty the King and Her Majesty the Queen.

Similarly, vegetarian meals being offered in Narathiwat province have attracted many citizens, but some noted number this year had dropped due to the high cost of vegetables turning away practitioners.

In Uthai Thani, Thais of Chinese descent performed a circumambulation at the province’s Guan Yin Temple, praying for merit while an average 6-7,000 people per day have been reported dining at a vegetarian food hall set up in Chantaburi.