Hungry Ghost Festival in Asia

Hungry Ghost Festival in Asia

…the 7 year old sleepy boy went to go to the kitchen for a glass of water when he was taken aback, shocked to see a black shadowy figure on the outside right beside the window panes in the kitchen….

I must be a bit ignorant (or just poor in Geography) as I did not know that the Vietnamese also celebrated Hungry Ghost Festival. They celebrated with other Taoist or Buddhist followers from Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and even China have observed the age old tradition of paying respect to the death. These followers believe that the souls of the departed are freed from the Gates of Hell and given a month to roam earth realm during the 7^th lunar month.

Joss Sticks and Food for the Dead Souls

Trang was only 7 year old when his parents thought it was best and much safer that he and his younger sister went to live temporarily with their grandmother place at a rural farm area in Vietnam. That was during the Vietnam War between the south and north Vietnam in the late seventies.

Trang’s parents decided to move him and his sister to their grandmother’s farm and so happened it was during the Hungry Ghost Festival. One night Trang suddenly woke up in the middle of the night at his Grandma’s one-storey farm house. His mouth and his throat was parched, realizing that his mother was back in Saigon to be with her husband and his grandma was fast asleep in the next room, Trang decided to go to the kitchen to get a glass of water.

The dining room was located beside Trang and his younger sister’s bedroom and the kitchen was directly behind that. The old hand sink in the kitchen with closed glass window panels was set above the basin. Half asleep Trang slowly walked past the dining room and onto the kitchen when he was stunned to see a black shadowy man-like figure out side in the frosted glass panel in the kitchen. He was not sure whether to scream or shout to warn his grandma about the intruder.

Asian Ghost Stories 5

Asian Ghost Stories 5

This time we have 2 spooky stories about a Beach Resort in Sarawak and a high rise flat in Singapore.

Daryl was with his colleagues for a photo shoot in Sarawak with a Travel company. After the photo shoot assignment was completed, Daryl and his buddy, Mitch, decided to return take a break in Sarawak. They went to Damai Beach Resort while waiting for their girlfriends to fly in the next day. 

Room in Damai Beach Resort in Sarawak

After they have checked in the resort, Daryl decided to go for a shower while Mitch was out going look for some local food. It was dark, when Daryl finished with his shower and he casually strolled into the bedroom. Mitch was not there and Daryl thought that his friend a food-starved addict must be looking for dinner.

The tv was on and he flopped down on his bed to check on local news from the internet. The lights were turned on with the full-length curtains entirely closed. As Daryl was looking at his laptop he noticed that was a shadowy figure behind the closed curtain. Thinking it must be Mitch trying to prank him, he angrily shouted, “Dummy!..can see you-lar”.

After a few minutes and Mitch have not answered, Daryl wearily got up to the closed curtains and grabbed it opened…but there was nobody there. Slightly bewildered and scratching his hair, Daryl wondered that his was at the 12^th floor, who could it be? …but it must be an optical illusion. Daryl closed the curtains and when back to his laptop.

While working on his laptop again, he casually looked up at the closed curtains he was shocked….the shadowy figure was clearly there behind the curtains!