....previous blog post- our easy and relaxing time in Southern Thailand....
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2012- Year Of The Dragon |
Our reasons for coming to
Penang were varied- get a couple of visas for the next part of our travels, experience Chinese New Year in a Chinese community, see the Indian Thaipusam Festival, and catch up with a few travel friends. We didn't expect there to be such a varied amount of festivities going on, and to have such a busy and wonderful two weeks!
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Georgetown beauty |
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Our hostel |
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Street art, Georgetown |
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Georgetown |
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Local color |
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Cheap, but dodgy |
We arrived on the 22nd January- the eve of Chinese New Year, and were lucky enough to nab one of the few available rooms in town. The Chinese community is very prevalent in
Georgetown (the main town on the island of
Penang), and the whole neighbourhood comes out in force to celebrate this important time of the year- literally with a bang. They certainly love their fireworks and firecrackers, and aren't afraid to let them off at any time of day or night, often in the middle of the road. Everyday there were activities going on around town, with loud music, traditional dancing, costumes and food. We joined the throng, and enjoyed the colour, excitement and carnival atmosphere.
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CNY decorations |
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Sculptured fruit |
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Little performers |
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Colorful madness |
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Very loud drummers |
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CNY performers |
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Local cutie |
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Some spectacular fireworks |
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CNY crowds |
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Dressed up local |
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Helluva big incense |
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Worshiping, CNY |
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Tear inducing incense |
One particular highlight was the temple Kek Lok Si. Although we have visited
Penang before, we had never seen this temple, and decided this would be a good time, as the entire place is lit up at night for CNY. We arrived to find an impressively big, but rather cheesy new-ish temple with lots of bright colours and plastic statues. However, as we stood at the top of the pagoda enjoying the impressive view out over
Penang, darkness fell, and the display of lights was breathtaking. We've never seen such a brilliant illumination anywhere to rival this!
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Blue haired Buddha? |
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Kek Lok Si Temple |
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View of Penang from Kek Lok Si |
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Tacky by day.... |
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Gorgeous at night!! |
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Stunning dragon lit up |
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Padoga lights |
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Kek Lok Si Temple lights |
In quieter moments, we loved simply strolling around town soaking up the character of the most atmospheric Chinatown we have experienced. We can never be bored here!
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Georgetown |
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Georgetown |
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Georgetown |
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Georgetown |
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Georgetown |
It was lovely to catch up with various friends here too (
Penang is such a popular, cheap, easy and comfortable place for travellers), including our "newly-weds" from
Sulawesi, looking a little different from the
last time we saw them!
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Jimmy and Rahma looking better with no heavy make up!! |
Probably the main reason for our visit here, was the Southern Indian festival of Thaipusam. It has now spread to many of the countries with large Tamil communities, including
Malaysia. The festival focuses on sacrifice and offerings for Lord Murga (son of Shiva), who's birthday it is, and participants fast for a month before the special day. You can read more about it here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/holydays/thaipusam.shtml
The revelries last for 3 days, with the first day involving a lively procession of families and the silver chariot through the town, with many offerings going back forth on the chariot to welcome Lord Murga. The parade is proceeded by hundreds of coconuts that are broken by the pilgrims, and followed by an efficient cleaning team of dozens of men and vehicles to clean it all up (so Malaysian!).
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Silver chariot |
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Thaipusam devotee |
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Offerings to Lord Murga |
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Feeding the masses |
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Cleaning up |
Short video of day one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW7mQKRF2WQ
We pulled ourselves out of bed at 5am the morning of the second day (I can't believe we used to get up at this time for work!), and prepared ourselves for what we expected would be an intense second day. The tone changed, with the addition of pieced and mutilated pilgrims. Some devotees choose to believe that the only way to salvation is to endure a
penance of pain and hardship, and this became more and more evident throughout the day. The photos are the best explanation really:
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Thaupusam priest |
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The line up to the hilltop temple |
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Mass of devotees |
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Woman having something horrible done to her |
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Each cup is attached by a hook |
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Very out of it |
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Big skewers |
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Penance |
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A few women joined the frenzy |
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Bit of a mad look in his eye |
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Long way to go still |
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Limes... different |
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Extreme coconuts |
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Buddhist tattoos at a Hindi festival |
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Looks painful |
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Looks like a Christmas tree |
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More penance |
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That's not blood, but still.... |
It was such an exhilarating and crazy day full of colour and loud music, but we were so exhausted at the end- we could only imagine how the devotees felt, after a full day dragging things about by hooks in their backs, through the streets, then up hundreds of steps in the blazing sun!
An interesting point was the timing of the Muslim celebration of the
Prophet Mohammed during the same time frame as both Chinese New Year
and Thaipusam, very much accentuating the multi-ethnicity of Malaysia
more than ever.
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One more thing- Penang has so many retro, and older, signs around town, and I love them so much and would like to share them!
.....next up- our "Best/Worst Travel List" for 2011.....
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