This morning we visited Chinatown which is walking distance from our hotel.
The Chinese New Year lanterns are still up in some places
I'd never heard of decoction ... sounds nasty! However, according to the Oxford dictionary its a 'concentrated liquor resulting from heating or boiling a substance, especially a medicinal preparation made from a plant'
So I learned something new today.
A mosque - we didn't stop to look around it
More street art:
Some well preserved shop houses
Seller of the 'dreaded' Durian fruit. The Manageress of one of the Malaysian hotels we stayed at told us that despite the 'No Durian' rules, some naughty guests did sneak Durians in and then it could take 2 or 3 days to fumigate the room and make it fit for use again - the smell is so pungent. Notice I'm bestowing a 'capital D' when using the D word. The Chinese think of it as the King of Fruits so I guess it deserves a bit of respect1
David and his buddy (Buddha). He's a little late striking that pose - it should have been next to the Mr Universe statue we saw in Malacca!
Nice to see ladies enjoying their work! Actually we sampled some of this dried meat and its absolutely delicious
Then to the main (non) event! Yet again, I've come to the wrong temple. The Sri Mariamman Temple is pretty but its not the one I remember so vividly.
David refused to take his trainers off and join me inside preferring to check out the stalls in the side street. I had a quick whizz round the temple - its quite attractive (as are so many Indian temples) and I ended up taking a lot of photos but I won't post too many as I think I may know where to find the elusive temple so will try again tomorrow (sense of deja vu writing this post)!
We've given up trying to understand Hindu Gods - each one has so many incarnations that its very confusing.
But I think everyone knows Ganesh (or Ganesha) the elephant head god
Some of the figures are enough to give young children nightmares I'd think
Then as we were very close, we sought out the Buddha Tooth relic Temple which is relatively new, it opened in 2007.
According to legend, when the Buddha died in 543 BC he was cremated but a tooth was rescued from the funeral pyre by a disciple. This temple houses a relic it claims was found in 1980 in a collapsed stupa in Myanmar/Burma or Kushinagar/India - depending on which version you read. A stupa is a commemorative monument housing sacred relics associated with the Buddha or other saints.
It doesn't look anything special from the outside
But its pretty amazing inside. I was given a scarf to place over my shoulders as I had bare arms but no need to remove shoes at this temple.
There was a service taking place whilst we were there with music and chants - amazing experience. I made a short video and if I can find out how to do it I'll post it on Blogger at some stage. Actually I have a few videos to add to the Blog but just need a bit more time to work out the logistics.
For the moment, here are some photos to give an idea of how opulent the interior is. The backdrop curtain is exquisite, pure silk, embroidered with 5 dragons, five bats and five golden carp. The main theme of this backdrop is the classic Chinese fable of dragons metamorphosing from their previous incarnations as carp
There are scores of these Buddha figures inset around the walls - each in slightly different positions.
Just a few as they all follow the same theme of course
The frieze which runs around the top of the walls is very intricate and quite fabulous
close up:
Beautiful decoration wherever you look
The Chinese New Year lanterns are still up in some places
I'd never heard of decoction ... sounds nasty! However, according to the Oxford dictionary its a 'concentrated liquor resulting from heating or boiling a substance, especially a medicinal preparation made from a plant'
So I learned something new today.
A mosque - we didn't stop to look around it
More street art:
Some well preserved shop houses
Seller of the 'dreaded' Durian fruit. The Manageress of one of the Malaysian hotels we stayed at told us that despite the 'No Durian' rules, some naughty guests did sneak Durians in and then it could take 2 or 3 days to fumigate the room and make it fit for use again - the smell is so pungent. Notice I'm bestowing a 'capital D' when using the D word. The Chinese think of it as the King of Fruits so I guess it deserves a bit of respect1
David and his buddy (Buddha). He's a little late striking that pose - it should have been next to the Mr Universe statue we saw in Malacca!
Nice to see ladies enjoying their work! Actually we sampled some of this dried meat and its absolutely delicious
Then to the main (non) event! Yet again, I've come to the wrong temple. The Sri Mariamman Temple is pretty but its not the one I remember so vividly.
David refused to take his trainers off and join me inside preferring to check out the stalls in the side street. I had a quick whizz round the temple - its quite attractive (as are so many Indian temples) and I ended up taking a lot of photos but I won't post too many as I think I may know where to find the elusive temple so will try again tomorrow (sense of deja vu writing this post)!
We've given up trying to understand Hindu Gods - each one has so many incarnations that its very confusing.
But I think everyone knows Ganesh (or Ganesha) the elephant head god
Some of the figures are enough to give young children nightmares I'd think
Then as we were very close, we sought out the Buddha Tooth relic Temple which is relatively new, it opened in 2007.
According to legend, when the Buddha died in 543 BC he was cremated but a tooth was rescued from the funeral pyre by a disciple. This temple houses a relic it claims was found in 1980 in a collapsed stupa in Myanmar/Burma or Kushinagar/India - depending on which version you read. A stupa is a commemorative monument housing sacred relics associated with the Buddha or other saints.
It doesn't look anything special from the outside
But its pretty amazing inside. I was given a scarf to place over my shoulders as I had bare arms but no need to remove shoes at this temple.
There was a service taking place whilst we were there with music and chants - amazing experience. I made a short video and if I can find out how to do it I'll post it on Blogger at some stage. Actually I have a few videos to add to the Blog but just need a bit more time to work out the logistics.
For the moment, here are some photos to give an idea of how opulent the interior is. The backdrop curtain is exquisite, pure silk, embroidered with 5 dragons, five bats and five golden carp. The main theme of this backdrop is the classic Chinese fable of dragons metamorphosing from their previous incarnations as carp
There are scores of these Buddha figures inset around the walls - each in slightly different positions.
Just a few as they all follow the same theme of course
The frieze which runs around the top of the walls is very intricate and quite fabulous
close up:
Beautiful decoration wherever you look
We didn’t get a chance to go inside this temple as we were picking up a coach. I’m guessing Bhudda died toothless as there seem to be quite a few temples dedicated to his teeth!
ReplyDelete