Even though Thailand is a mainly Buddhist country, one of the most popular events is the annual Navaratri Hindu Festival that takes place in Bangkok.
The festival usually takes place around October and covers a route that takes in Silom Road, Surasak Road, Sathorn Road and Naratiwas Road. It’s a route of around 3 km and attracts tens of thousands of visitors.
We always go to this festival if we’re in Bangkok, as we were this year. For a change we spent the evening around BTS Chong Nonsi as it’s a great place to see the procession passing.
We have four videos from the evening. The first shows a Hindi priest walking the route with a long metal pole passing through his cheeks.
The next video shows the Chariot of the Gods arriving and people throwing flowers onto the chariot. This is one of the highlights of the night for most people attending.
The next video is from earlier on when a Hindi priest walks the route, while devotees chant.
And the final video is another one with the Hindi priest with his cheeks impaled on a metal rod.
This is a must-see festival if you’re in Bangkok when it takes place. Not many tourists seem to know about it.