A few days ago we went to Thaipusam, a Hindu holiday mainly celebrated by Tamils in Malaysia and Singapore. People don these huge shrines and walk for four or five kilometers from one temple to another. The purpose is to ask the gods to grant a wish, or to thank them for already having done so.It's a pretty intense spectacle. The shrines have dozens of hooks going into the bearer's skin, and most people have their cheeks and/or tongues pierced with little tridents as well. Supposedly the celebrants are put into trances so they won't feel any pain, but they looked pretty alert. The families walks with the devotees to support them with religious songs and chants.When I was in Malaysia six years ago, I saw a celebration exponentially larger than the one we saw here in Singapore. Hundreds of thousands of people instead of thousands, bigger shrines, etc. This was a little less exciting and a little more...Singaporean. I've never seen more police in my life (well, maybe at protests), everything was well coordinated and organized, we caught convenient mass transport to and from the event, etc.That's not to say it was bad. The throungs of people added an energy to the already vibrant event. Refreshment stations passed out free drinks along the way and everyone seemed to be having a great time except for those impaled with lots of metal. They seemed pretty out of it. Here's a slideshow of my photos from Thaipusam. Less