Day 49: a mini-adventure to Kok Lek Si temple

We were off to see the iconic Malaysian buddhist temple of Kek Lok Si today. It is a big temple and the image of it is apparently as linked to the image of Malaysia as are the Petronas Towers or the orangutan. Since I hadn't come across it before we came here, I'm not sure I'd agree, but it is definitely worth a visit, so I'm happy to be converted :) It is even on wiki, so if you're curious, here's the link -

We caught the bus there, which always makes me happy and usually freaks JP out. He spent the whole journey fretting about where the stop was until I asked the driver to let us know. In due time we arrived and it was pretty clear as there was an enormous sign pointing the way, plus there were a fair few people all heading up the hill to where we could see the temple. You have to walk through a covered walkway of shops up the hillside, as clearly there is nothing to preclude doing good business as well as keeping the faith. After running the gauntlet of over-eager t-shirt vendors (cheapest ones yet!) we made it to the temple complex. The first thing you see is a turtle pool where people can feed them to atone for sins or ask for good luck for themselves or their family or business. The photo shows JP and a little boy who was very excited at being allowed to feed the turtles.



There are lots of parts to go see, but my favourite was the newest part of the structure at the top, where they are adding a massive standing statue of the Goddess of Mercy under a roof over 100 feet tall. You take a funicular to get up there (unless you're on a pilgrimage, in which case I suspect you probably have to walk).

Once we were done, we wandered back down the hill, just in time for a rainstorm timing itself perfectly with lunch, so we stopped off for a bite to eat. Then it was off to catch the next bus back and our next tourist trail stop, the Khoo Khongsi assembly hall.

We've seen chinese assembly halls in lots of places, and they all follow a similar pattern, but this is the most impressive one yet. Apparently, the original structure was even more impressive, but on the night it was completed, it burnt down, so they took that as a sign of divine jealousy and toned it down on the rebuild. The photo shows some of the decoration and it is still very impressive.

We're off to the beach for our last few days from tomorrow so we enjoyed our last evening in Georgetown by heading down Gurney Drive again to the hawker centre.