Vegetarian Festival starts in Thailand

BANGKOK, September 24 (TNA) - This year's nine-day Vegetarian Festival started lively in Thailand on Wednesday morning, when people in several provinces actively bought vegetarian food and worshipped holy spirits for their good life. In Chiang Mai Province in the Thai North, Guan Yin Goddess of Mercy statues and vegetables were paraded from the Chiang Mai Train Station to Chiang Mai Buddha Meeting Hall, where vegetarian dishes were prepared with about 10 tons of vegetables and seasonings. In Phitsanulok Province in the Lower Thai North, local shrines and vegetarian food halls were packed with people who worship holy spirits and have free vegetarian food. In Songkhla Province in the Thai South, a vegetarian food street was organized over a distance of nearly one kilometer in the Hat Yai Municipality, where people actively bought vegetarian food. In Muang District, the nine-day Vegetarian Festival, from September 24-October 2, is organized on Sai Buri Road. In Kalasin Province in the Thai Northeast, vegetarian dishes were considerably sold at prices ranging from 30 to 50 baht, as locals of various ages refrain from having meat, including more young people. In Bangkok, the Ministry of Commerce organized the Vegetarian Festival at the Ying Charoen Market, with highlights including vegetables available with 10-20 per cent discounts. Nopporn Linthong, Deputy Director-General of the ministry's Department of Internal Trade, told journalists, meanwhile, that vegetarian food and related products were cheaper this year, as raw materials, like fresh vegetables, were cheap, citing that ready-to-eat vegetarian food was available at 25-30 baht.(TNA)