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Published: February 27th 2007
Kek Lok Si Temple
The largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia, in the hills outside Georgetown.We're a little behind in postings, so here's an update from last week, rounding out the SE Asia leg of our journey.
After leaving Thailand, we spent 10 days in Malaysia and Singapore. First stop was Georgetown, on Penang Island. An old British colony, the town is a fascinating mix of colonial architecture, along with Chinese, Malay and Indian influences. Buddhist and Hindu temples mingle with mosques and churches. We were quite startled to be woken at 6:18am each morning by the call to prayer from the local mosque, broadcast over loudspeakers! The mix of cultures also influences the food on offer - local Malay noodles (laksa), dim sum and the best tandoori chicken Sharon has ever tasted (c/o Jasmeen's - highly recommended).
After a day touring the sights, we took a trip to a local Chinese temple, on a hill outside the city. It's purportedly the largest Buddhist temple in South East Asia. It's a huge complex of buildings, much more decorative than the Thai temples to which we'd become accustomed. It was hung with red and yellow lanterns in anticipation of Chinese New Year. To escape the heat, we then took a funicular (mountain railway) to the
Chinese mansion
A renovated house in Georgetown, showing the intricate decoration in the reception hall. top of Penang Hill - much cooler and with views high over the city.
Next stop was the Cameron Highlands, the old hill stations of the British during the empire days, now well-known for its remaining tea plantations and market gardens. The bus wound its way up steep forested hills, to the small town of Tanah Rata. We stayed at the Cameronian Inn, and indulged in tea and home-made scones on arrival. We took a guided hike through the moss-covered highland rain forest. At the end of our walk, we saw rain for the first time since arriving in Asia 5 weeks earlier (and got drenched!) That evening, we had a Chinese "steamboat" dinner, where we cooked our own meat, fish, vegetables and noodles in boiling stock and soup to make our own dishes. Richard tasted jellyfish - very rubbery.
After this brief respite, it was back to the heat of the lowlands and Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur, home of the Petronas Towers, once the tallest buildings in the world. We spent the morning touring the National Mosque, with a very informative guide (despite his efforts, we didn't convert!), and the Museum of Islam, a fascinating collection of
Islamic history and art, particularly the decorative Qu'rans. Another highlight of the city was the street market near our hostel, where we enjoyed a wide variety of Chinese dishes, as we watched the world go by. The day we moved on was the Friday before Chinese New Year, so the bus station was packed. Imagine a New York or London terminal on Christmas Eve. But, we bought tickets without too much trouble and made it to the city of Melaka.
Melaka is strategically situated close to shipping channels, so was fought over by colonial powers, leading to British, Dutch and Portuguese influences in the architecture. We were there for the eve of Chinese New Year, with a large street carnival atmosphere in Chinatown, culminating in firecrackers & fireworks at midnight.
Our final stop in SE Asia was Singapore. Unlike most of the rest of our stops to date, Singapore has a very cosmopolitan city center and huge financial district. When we were there, the whole city had shut down for the New Year festivities, meaning we could look but not buy at all the many many glamorous malls and shops. But there was still plenty to see and
do, including a New Year fair by the harbor and bump boat tours of the river. We also walked round the world famous Raffles Hotel, a colonial relic, and where the Singapore Sling was invented. We finished our 6 weeks in South East Asia with dinner overlooking the harbor watching fireworks from the New Year celebrations.
We're now in beautiful New Zealand and will post some pictures shortly.
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