Day 1: Penang Kek Lok Si Temple

Asia » Malaysia
March 1st 2008

Published: March 3rd 2008

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freeman

Kek Lok Si at Night

The temple is beautifully illuminated with lanterns.

Day 1

Departure

My Laos trip was cancelled in last minute due to unforeseen reason. We were heading to North on 11 Feb 08 in Peninsular Malaysia. With the travel magazine I brought and a book from KK, we departed in the early morning. This was to save time as we planned to have a stopover in Bidor (a small town at South of Perak State) and Ipoh (the capital of Perak state).

Bidor is a typical small town of Malaysia, a main street with two rows of old shop houses.

In Ipoh, we stopped to buy a famous “yim kok kai” (chicken which soaked in salt) for lunch, which we stopped a rest area in the highway to enjoy the chicken. Other food which we did try is tao fu fa (so ya bean). The shop has a funny name, called funny mountain. The owner claims that the tao fu is made by his traditional way. But, it is true that the tao fu is really smooth and nice to eat. But unluckily our car was summoned because of this tao fu fa.

The Largest Buddhist Temple In South East Asia - Kek Lok Si

Kek Lok Si at Night pic 1

Another view of Kek Lok Si.

Temple

We reach Penang at around 3pm. After check-in a hotel in Penang street, and after a 30 minutes rest, we headed to first destination, Kek Lok Si Temple. Kek Lok Si Temple is too familiar for me, which I have visited since during my childhood. However the beauty of temple was never captured in my camera.

The temple is situated on a hill in Air Itam, a suburb of Geogetown. Temple seated on a hill has some good meanings to Buddhist. The Doi Suthep in Chiang Main, Wat Saphan Hin in Sukhotai and etc are also seated on a hill. Other than the reason of sacred place, the Buddhist built on a hill overlooking the city is believed that the god will protect the all people of the city.

Kek Lok Si Temple was constructed in year of 1890 by the Goddess of Mercy Temple in Pitt Street. It was also supported by the consular of Ching Dysnasty from China. The seven levels main pagoda (or it is called 10,000 Buddha Pagoda) that existed until today was completed in 1930. The pagoda combines the Chinese, Thai and Burmese design. The octagonal shape of the pagoda is

Kek Lok Si at Night pic 2

Another view of Kek Lok Si temple at night.

obviously influenced by China, but the tier at the body of the pagoda is affected by Thai’s Buddhist architecture. The top is influenced by the Burmese. These designs reflecting the temple’s embrace of both Mahayana and the Theravada Buddhism.

There is a stairway leading to the entrance of the temple, along the stairway there are shops selling souvenirs and etc. But we choose drive up to the hill directly. This would save a lot of energy of climbing up the hill.

The 30m broze statue of the Avalokitesvara - Goddess of Mercy or Guan Yin is standing on the hillside above the pagoda. This is the first sight of structure when we reach the top. However the construction is still on going to construct a shelter for the statue. There are other two statures above the hill. I have no idea what are these two statures called.

We were informed that at night the temple would be illuminated by lights and lanterns, this is happened only during the Chinese New Year, therefore we waited until the temple was lighten up. We didn’t miss the opportunity of taking the pictures of this beautiful temple. Though the Kek Lok

Kek Lok Si at Night pic 3

The temple at night with many beautiful lights.

Si temple is the largest Buddhist temple in South East Asia, but the western tourists were not many, most of the visitors are local. This is unlike in Thailand, where the temples are always full with foreigners.

Additional photos below

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