I had been hearing about the Phuket Vegetarian Festival for years, but was always baffled by what it actually was and why the images I continued to see from the festival were nothing close to what I would expect from its name.

Last year, I was alone in Phuket while the festival was going on, as Marina had to be back in Los Angeles. I spent weeks trying to find out everything I could about the festival...and was fascinated.

Chinese immigrants came to Phuket hundreds of years ago to work in the tin mines - and when they did, they of course brought with them their traditions. The non touristy areas of Phuket are filled with Chinese shrines, which are the heart of the festival.

Men are selected from many families to act as the Mah song, and become possessed and in a trance state for the duration of much of the festival. A cleansing of sorts, the pilgrims and believers wear only white during the two week festival, as well as abstain from alcohol, meat, and sex. These men represent their villages and families during the festival, and are said to embody the Gods themselves. They enter a trance and act as a spirit medium for the Gods to inhibit.

Early in the mornings, well before the sun comes up, the mah song meet at the shrines around Phuket and begin the process to enter their trance like state. Up until this point, there is not much mystery or fascination, as many religions have similar traditions. However, the Thai take this a step further by piercing themselves with objects ranging from small needles up to huge shovels and sniper rifles, mostly piercing their cheeks.

I woke up at 4am and rode my small motorbike to one of the main shrines in town just as the villagers were arriving. Starting small, they would pray, be blessed and then sure enough, with the aid of a medical team, start the process of piercing their cheeks with a wide assortment of objects. It was amazing to see the object which each man chose to represent himself. I saw hand cuffs, a garden hose, spears, a saw, a wooden boat, blades of all shapes and sizes. The shocking part was that none of the men showed any signs of pain. Many had wide, gaping wounds in their cheeks, with astonishingly little blood.

Making their way in the grand procession through town, the men were greeted by the people of the village, town, family or tribe they came from. The men handed out trinkets from the Gods and blessed all those who they passed.

The experience of being lost in the crowd was mesmerizing. Not only was the procession filled with pierced-cheeked men, but by hoards of young men carrying spirit houses for each of the Gods through the streets. Good luck was added to them if fireworks were placed on them as they passed; this resulted in a deafening and blinding mixture of smoke and explosions as they passed by.

One of the most surreal and memorable experiences of my life, the Phuket Vegetarian Festival is certainly the craziest festival on Earth and one of the most special to attend. And most amazingly, only hours after the removal of the objects from the men's cheeks, barely any blood remains and weeks later there is no visible scarring, which is truly mysterious and only adds to the mystique of this festival.

See more photos at http://latitudethirtyfour.com/the-craziest-festival-on-earth/#