A devotee of the Nine Emperor Gods is seen with multiple skewers pierced through his mouth during the annual Phuket Vegetarian Festival in the southern province of Phuket on October 3, 2016. Southern Thailand's gruesome vegetarian festival got under way on October 2 and devotees throughout the week will show their religious devotion through ritualistic self-mutilation and pain trials, including running over hot coals and piercing their bodies with an astonishing -- and stomach-turning -- variety of objects. / AFP PHOTO / LILLIAN SUWANRUMPHA