The world-famous Phuket Vegetarian Festival is about to start on Wednesday, but except for Covid-19, the flooding in Thailand has also proved to be damaging the upcoming festivities by driving up the fee and shortage of vegetables. The heavy rains from tropical storm Dianmu have broken many crops together with greens in the central, north, and northeastern regions. Plus floods have worn out roads, and halted train companies, additional complicating the supply of vegetables.
The pageant was already expected to be considerably milder due to the pandemic elevating considerations about security with large crowds popping out to have fun. But now many greens that are usually featured during the competition have increased costs by 10 to 20 baht per kilogramme, inflicting issue for vendors generally, and especially for the pageant.
Before the festival, produce vendors are already reporting that their gross sales are affected by the mixture of the floods increasing the value of their merchandise while Covid-19 has left many with less available cash the purchase their vegetables. Closet as kale, morning glory, eggplant, and celery have all seen it improve in price, driving away potential patrons.
Festival participants are already preparing though for the event, which attracts many individuals to the shrines and temples in the area. Shrines and everything related to them together with amulets, lanterns, and even all of the cooking utensils and equipment and tables are all being totally cleaned and sanitized.
During the pageant, health and safety measures will be strictly enforced. Even the traditional procession of monks that conduct a walking parade via the city will now instead be carried out as a procession of cars with the monks inside. And visitors to shrines should do temperature checks and will be required to wear face masks always.
Some shrines are even restricting entry to solely those that have been absolutely vaccinated in opposition to Covid-19. Jui Tui Shrine in Mueang district on Ranong Road is a sort of cautious locations. It is called the most important shrine in Phuket and historically draws big crowds even earlier than the festival begins in preparation. This yr though the shrine is taking Covid-19 very significantly and has banned stalls on the streets nearest gates and has typically hampered any crowd gathering activities..