Temple Lights at Night are Big and Bright

This doesn't even begin to capture the scope of this place.

Kek Lok Si (Temple of Supreme Bliss) is the largest Buddhist temple in Southeast Asia and one of the major sightseeing spots in Penang. Chinese New Year is an especially good time to visit it because it is lit up by thousands of lanterns at night. Imagine the biggest Christmas light display in your town. Now, imagine that it's the only light display in town. That's how magnificent the site is perched on a hill above the city.

I had heard that Kek Lok Si is extremely crowded this time of year with some people waiting in a traffic jam for hours to get in. So, I somewhat justified my lack of planning and total disregard for children's bedtimes when we drove right up at 9:45 p.m. and immediately found a parking spot. The boys were reluctant participants (to put it mildly) but my little girl thought the lights were beautiful.

Prayer lamps hung in remembrance of those who have passed on.

This temple complex is huge. There are several large halls, prayer rooms and courtyards with a dizzying array of Buddhas, Chinese gods and Bodhisattvas. Steps lead us up higher and higher through the terraced levels.

Swastikas?

I even learned something when I went home and Googled the swastikas that were painted on the ends of support beams for one hall. The swastika symbol represents eternity and has been used by Buddhists since centuries before Jesus walked the Earth. In East Asia, counterclockwise swastikas often mark the location of Buddhist temples on maps. At least, that's what the collective minds at Wikipedia tell me.

At one point, I reached a man semi-guarding a partially closed door. "Can lah?" I asked which is perfectly acceptable Manglish (a mix of English and Malay languages) to find out if we could go through. He shook his head no but proceeded to permit pushier people to enter. So, I just barged ahead through the door, too.

These joss sticks filled the air with incense.

We made our way up into a hall filled with joss sticks and pineapple-shaped jars holding oil candles.  The kids were particularly attracted to the wishing tree. For a small donation, you could select a ribbon pre-printed with a wish. Each of the kids selected one to hang on the tree. My sweet, little girl picked out "World Peace." My younger boy picked out "Everything as You Wish."

Well, he must have some mighty strong wishing power because the lights in the temple started going off. At first, I thought it was some fluke since there were still plenty of tourists around and that they'd turn them on again. Or maybe they'd flash them on and off a few times to let us know it was time to leave. Nope, they were being turned off for good. My boy who had been asking "When are we leaving?" ever since we arrived 15 minutes earlier was getting his wish. Perhaps I should have listend to that guard.

We started making our way down through the many terraces and stairs. At first, the remaining lanterns lit our way, but after a while, even those were off. Luckily, some well-prepared tourist had brought along a strong flashlight and was kind enough to shine it on the stone steps for everyone.

On the drive home, we listened to Whitney Houston singing "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" on the radio, not realizing that she'd be gone the next day.

I tucked in the kids hours past bedtime and asked my oldest if there was any teeny-tiny redeeming part about our excursion. He thought about it for a second then replied, "Well, if my wish for 'Success in Everything' comes true, I guess it was okay."

May all your wishes come true, too.

Now that's a lot of Body Piercing! Thaipusam in Penang

That is not a shirt. It's multiple body piercings.

Warning: This post is not for the faint of heart. But if you've already looked at the first photo, you might as well proceed.

Back in Austin, I knew quite a few people with body piercings where I used to work. On the tamer end of the scale was anyone with multiple ear piercings or belly button rings. The lovely receptionist had a few rings going through her eyebrow with a thin chain connecting them to the piercings on her earlobes. During meetings, I could sometimes hear the clack-clack-clack noise of another coworker running the tiny barbell in her tongue back and forth across her teeth. One man had pierced his belly button, nipples and nether regions (although no one independently confirmed the last one). Are you thinking that I worked at some club or bar? Nope! It was a biotech company.

Anyways, these people had absolutely nothing on the rows and rows of body piercing I saw at Penang's Thaipusam festivities. It was quite a sight. In the picture above, all those silver urns covering the man's torso and arms have been hooked directly into his skin. Dozens more hooks covered his back. The man would occasionally stop and lean forward, pulling the ropes taut to add more discomfort (to put it mildly). From the front, I could see he had at least eight sets of chains and hooks draped across his face.

Thaipusam is one of Penang's biggest Hindu celebrations and also a public holiday. This being the multi-ethnic country of Malaysia, it overlapped with the the last day of Chinese New Year as well as the Islamic observation of Prophet Muhammad's birthday. Thaipusum marks the triumph of good over evil when Lord Murugan received a spear and defeated an evil demon.  I first heard of it when I was researching our trip to Batu Caves in Kuala Lumpur which has an even bigger crowd for the occasion.

The festival starts in Little India with a beautiful, silver chariot carrying a statue of Lord Murugan along an all-day, 10-kilometer pilgrimage to the Nattukkottai Chettiar Temple on Waterfall Road. To symbolically cleanse the chariot's path, devotees walk ahead of it smashing coconuts on the road. I didn't go to this part of the celebration, but a friend who witnessed it tells me that a mini bulldozer followed the chariot, pushing the shells aside to literally clean up after the symbolic cleansing. Apparently, coconut smashing can only occur during approved times.

Hubby and I joined in on the activity closer to the temple. As we approached, I could hear the loud music and rhythmic drumming. The scent of incense and savory spices from the snack stalls mingled in the air. It was definitely a festival atmosphere — lots of people and food, souvenirs for sale, and Angry Bird balloons. Those birds are popping up everywhere.

Numerous companies and families set up booths along Waterfall Road to offer drinks and nourishment to the devotees. HEB was a major sponsor. No, not the Texas grocery store chain. I'm referring to the Hindu Endowment Board.



Intel's Thaipusam booth.
I bet they don't have this at their Santa Clara, California headquarters.

Forget your offering of milk and sweets? No worries. Pick some up here.



Beautiful sidewalk chalk drawings lined the road, too.

All along the road, devotees of Lord Murugan carried kavadis, or physical burdens, to offer up to him as penance, thanksgiving, or in supplication. The simplest kavadis are urns of milk carried upon the head. Others kavadis are tall portable altars decorated with peacock feathers. They are balanced upon a man's shoulders and hips and then connected to him with hooks piercing his skin.




Woman with milk urn on her head in front and a two giant kavadis behind her.



 I wanna see your jaw dropping, eye popping, head turning, body shocking peacock kavadi.

The biggest burden is the multiple body piercings. Sometimes a spear representing Lord Murugan's weapon threads its way in one cheek, through the tongue, and out the other cheek. The piercings are done in front of a public crowd in Little India before the pilgrimage begins and removed after the offering is made at the temple.

I am truly amazed by how devoted these people are. It makes my promise to give up chocolate for Lent kind of lame in comparison. But hey, that's just how I roll.

Related Posts:
Kuala Lumpur: Temples and Caves


This post is part of Photo World Mondays on Travel Photo Discovery. Check it out for more visual delights.

Mystery Fruit #2: Elixir of Immortality

The weekend before Chinese New Year started, I was at my local market's fruit stall. Nestled among the apples and pears was something that caught my eye. A curvaceous piece of fruit with a pretty red bow just begged for me to pick it up. So I did and asked the fruit man what it was. He placed his palms together, fingers pointing up, and replied, "For praying."

Hmmm, that's interesting. For praying. I don't normally pray to fruit, but I bought it anyways so that I could look at it some more, maybe even put it on my table as a decoration. As he took my money, the man repeated, "For praying," about three more times just to make sure he got his point across.

I couldn't figure out what kind of fruit it was. Because I found it amongst the apples and pears, I thought maybe it was some sort of pear which had been manipulated while growing so it had a cinched middle. I searched the term "water drough" which the man had scribbled down for me and came up with nothing. One day, it suddenly hit me. It's a gourd! I don't know what took me so long.

In Penang, the bottle gourd or Hor Lor Pu is a symbol of prosperity, longetivity and good luck during the Chinese New Year. The gold characters on one sticker say "Wish You Good Fortune", the traditional greeting for New Year. The other sticker reads "Everything As You Wish". At least, that's what my dad deciphered when I held up the gourd during our Skype session.

Hor Lor Pu is supposed to hold the magic elixir of immortality consumed by Buddhist deities. Sounds like something Voldemort would want to get his evil hands on, doesn't it? Displaying it in your home is supposed to ward off harmful energies and promote long life.

Too bad it started rotting.

Chinese New Year Festivities

Fancy Chinese New Year lanterns at the upscale mall

Believe or not, Austin, Texas does not have a very big Chinese New Year celebration. (In your head, I should sound slightly sarcastic.) Each year, I'd scope out the events at the Austin Chinatown Center shopping mall in hopes that the kids and I could catch a Dragon or Lion Dance. But something like a basketball game or birthday party always came up during the few hours that the celebration lasted.

Chinese New Year festivities were something that I really looked forward to when we moved to Malaysia. Penang is about 40% Chinese, so I figured something must happen. Boy, does it.

For the first two days, many stores and restaurants are closed so people can be with their families. The malls stay open and decorate everything in red and gold. Lanterns are strung up crossing over streets.

The fireworks go on night after night. The first time we heard the loud pops, we all rushed to the windows to take a look. Since we're high up, all the displays were below us. Looking out over the hills of Penang, we could pick out many different spots that were shooting them off. The fireworks were still worthy of our attention for the next few nights. After a while, we wouldn't even bother to look out anymore. On the ninth day, offerings are made to the Jade Emperor of Heaven. The fireworks that night were INSANE and more numerous than New Year's Eve. They started just before midnight and went on for 3 hours. We wanted to yell, "Enough already!! Just let us sleep!"

Who needs sleep? The Jade Emperor of Heaven must be appeased.

Dragon Dances pop up everywhere. Instead of a singing telegram of good wishes, people get a bunch of young men hopping around with a huge dragon draped over them. One afternoon, I heard incessant drumming and looked out the window to figure out its source. A dragon danced out of a nearby house, did their performance, then dashed away. I've seen them outside a doctor's office on a very congested street. At least I had something to look at while stuck in traffic. I even saw a dragon dance performed for the security office of an underground parking lot. Let me tell you, those big drums really reverberate in that kind of concrete area.

This dragon was little different because it was a giant multiperson puppet on poles.
Usually, the dragon is draped over the people, and just their legs stick out.

There was a huge Chinese Heritage Festival in the historic area last weekend in conjunction with the New Year Celebrations. I think my boys' favorite part was playing Wei Qi (Chinese Chess).

Fifteen days after they started, the festivities will come to an end in Malaysia with Chap Go Meh, nicknamed Chinese Valentine's Day. Unmarried ladies scribble their name and email address or telephone number on oranges and hurl them into the ocean. Eligible bachelors fish out the oranges and make contact. Doesn't that sound like a great set up for a reality TV show? I really think someone needs to pitch it to Hollywood.

The last night also marks the Lantern Festival.

Tossed Salad of Prosperity

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

The direct translation is "Wish You Good Fortune," but in my mind, it's always meant "Happy New Year!"

January 23 kicked off the multi-week celebration that is Chinese New Year. Growing up in America, I never realized that the festivities lasted more than one day. Here in Malaysia, it's just party after party for 15 days. The first two days are even a public holiday since people go home for a big family reunion.

Chinese New Year is determined by the lunar calendar, so the date floats around on the Gregorian (Western) calendar. Some years, it's as late as Valentine's Day, but it was extra early this year. Our school even delayed the start of Spring Semester to accomodate all the Chinese who needed to travel home for the occasion.

A big group from hubby's company went out for a celebratory Chinese New Year lunch, and the locals had a good time teaching all the expats about food traditions. When my hubby came home and told me about Yee Sang, I just knew the whole family needed to try it. "Yee Sang" is a near homophone to the word for "abundance", so it's considered very lucky. It's such a popular dish here in SE Asia, that Malaysia and Singapore are actually battling over who gets bragging rights for inventing it.

When we sat down for the restaurant's Chinese New Year dinner, a big platter of Yee Sang was waiting for us on the table.

All the elements were arranged in tidy little piles around the center of crispy fried wanton strips that symbolized a floor full of gold. You could tell that someone in the kitchen had been busy with the food processor. There were julienned strips of carrots, radishes, pickled ginger, maybe some jellyfish, halved limes and a few other crunchy bits I couldn't quite identify. We added in the thinly sliced raw salmon but skipped the five spice powder.

Then came the fun part! Everyone sticks their chopsticks in the salad and starts tossing. The higher the toss, the greater the prosperity in the upcoming year.

Come on kids! Let's see how high we can toss it. Okay that's high enough. No, no. You must at least attempt to have it land on the plate. No, there are no extra points for hitting other diners. Ack! Sorry m'am. Didn't mean to hit you. I guess some of our prosperity is coming your way.

You're also supposed to say various auspicious wishes out loud, so I just kept repeating, "Good Fortune! Abundance! Prosperity!" This is what the platter looked like when we were done.

See, most of it is still on the plate. Afterwards, we all dug in and started eating. It was delicious — really crunchy with a citrusy tang. We are definitely doing it again next year.

Hong Kong: Classic Tourist Day

My trip to Hong Kong ended near where my family's story began.  Ages ago, after The Great War, a young man from Guangdong province in southern China began working in a department store on Des Voeux Road in Hong Kong's Central District. There, he met the store owner's daughter who would grow up, move to the Philippines, and one day become his wife. I wonder if back then, that young man ever dreamed that his granddaughter would be born in America and that she'd one day journey back to Des Voeux Road with her family.

No visit to Hong Kong is supposedly complete without a trip across Victoria Harbour on the Star Ferry. So, that's how we began our last day of sightseeing. Just boarding the boat was exciting. It was bobbing up and down so much from a passing ship's wake that they had to momentarily pull up the gangplank so passengers wouldn't fall into the water. Crossing the harbor, a bigger boat came close to us — probably too close.

Hubby remarked that the interior was just as he remembered from his childhood vacation here. He was the same age that our oldest boy is now, so I'm hoping that our kids will look back fondly on this time and want to bring their own children back to explore.

Heading from Kowloon to Hong Kong on the Star Ferry

On the other side, we boarded an open-air, double decker Rickshaw Sightseeing Bus to whisk us to Victoria Peak Station. I amused myself by yelling, "Duck down!" at the boys whenever we went under a bridge. I'm not sure they saw the humor in it.

I giggled at the sight of the giant canopy on the back of this "rickshaw."

Next up was the Peak Tram, a funicular that had its start in 1888. It didn't take us long to climb the 0.89 mile railway up the highest mountain (1,656 feet) on Hong Kong Island. At some points, the angle of incline was 27 degrees, and my eyes played tricks on me as I watched the passing scenery. The buildings are upright of course, but to me, they seemed to be leaning over like a scene out of the movie Inception.

Pretend "Funiculi, Funicula" (aka "Larry's High Silk Hat") is playing in the background. 

Even though it was a hazy day, the view from Victoria Peak was amazing. Imagine looking down at 88-story office buildings far below you.  We ate lunch at one of the touristy restaurants at the top (Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., if you really must know) before heading back down on the tram.

At the bottom, we embarked on an excursion that I've been plotting for decades. I think every kids' fantasy of futuristic cities involves moving sidewalks. With the Central-Midlevels Escalators, the future has arrived! This covered system of 20 escalators and 3 moving sidewalks traverses 2,600 feet with a vertical climb of 443 feet, enabling pedestrians to quickly travel from the residential Mid-levels area to the commercial Central District.I think I read about it as a teen and always thought it'd be great to try out.

View of the SoHo district from one of the escalator landings

Before we left the hotel that morning, I told the concierge my plan and had her scribble the destination in Chinese on a business card to hand to the taxi driver. After the taxi left, I realized that the escalators were running in the opposite direction than I wanted to go. Nooooo!!!! It turns out that they're one-way. They run downhill from 6 - 10 a.m. and uphill from 10:30 a.m. to midnight. Is this how the Griswolds felt at Walley World? So, we took an unplanned hike down LOTS of stairs. When we reached the bottom, we went up a couple escalators to somewhat appease the child in me, then walked back down again. Oh well.

The escalator's downhill terminus is on Des Voeux Road, the street where my great-grandfather had his department store in pre-World War II Hong Kong. Even back then, I think it was a hustling, bustling kind of place. Today, numerous double decker streetcars run on tracks up and down the street, connected to the powerlines overhead — like a San Francisco streetcar on steroids and not as quaint.

Des Voeux Road and its streetcars
Could this be where great-grandpa's store was?

After our long hike downhill, we were ready to head home. Since we'd already rode on a boat, bus, taxi, and funicular tram that day, we rounded out the transportation experience by riding the subway back under the harbor.

It was a wonderful day made even better by the opportunity to connect with my heritage coupled with the (somewhat) realization of a childhood dream.

Hong Kong: Parks and Recreation

After the constant heat and humidity of Malaysia, it was wonderful to spend some cool-weather outdoor time at Kowloon Park. It's an oasis of green amongst the towering skyscrapers and was filled with locals of all ages, from young kids releasing energy to elderly couples relaxing on benches. We ran around the maze garden reenacting Pac-Man, frolicked on the playground equipment, and watched flamingoes standing quietly in their pond. With a little arm twisting, the kids convinced me that we required an afternoon snack from the McDonald's McFlurry and Milkshake stand in the middle of the park.

As part of our mission to visit every science museum in the world, we naturally spent some recreational time at the Hong Kong Science Museum. My favorite exhibit was "Food Science Now" where they tried to convince me that Salted Calamari Guts plus Fresh Cream had the same salty, sweet, sour, bitter, and umami flavor profile as Shortcakes. I don't believe them, and I have no plans to test it on my own. The Hall of Mirrors was a big hit with the kids, too.

Are you up to the challenge?

Flying in the face of opposition from the kiddo contingent, we also visited the Hong Kong Museum of History which is located across the plaza from the Science Museum. I especially liked the exhibit on the Imperial Exam System of the Qing Dynasty. Passing the test was a person's key to a government job and upward social mobility. The stakes were so high that numerous people resorted to cheating. I kind of felt sorry for Hua Gongfu, age 26, from Jiangnan province. Centuries after he tried to dupe officials, he is still being publicly shamed for hiding answers in his crotch lining. Others snuck in answers in hat tassels and broom handles. How did that work? "Oh this broom here? Ummm...I was just planning on doing some... uhhh... light sweeping between test questions."

The rest of the museum focused on the broader history of Hong Kong and included wonderful displays such as walk through replicas of prewar shops and offices. After reading all the info, I thought I could definitely pass a Hong Kong history test (without resorting to cheating).

My two little scholars