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!
Georgetown beauty
Our hostel
Street art, Georgetown
Georgetown
Local color
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.
CNY decorations
Sculptured fruit
Little performers
Colorful madness
Very loud drummers
CNY performers
Local cutie
Some spectacular fireworks
CNY crowds
Dressed up local
Helluva big incense
Worshiping, CNY
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!
Blue haired Buddha?
Kek Lok Si Temple
View of Penang from Kek Lok Si
Tacky by day....
Gorgeous at night!!
Stunning dragon lit up
Padoga lights
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!
Georgetown
Georgetown
Georgetown
Georgetown
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!
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:
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!).
Silver chariot
Thaipusam devotee
Offerings to Lord Murga
Feeding the masses
Cleaning up
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:
Thaipusam priest
The line up to the hilltop temple
Mass of devotees
Woman having something horrible done to her
Each cup is attached by a hook
Very out of it
Big skewers
Penance
A few women joined the frenzy
Bit of a mad look in his eye
Long way to go still
Limes... different
Extreme coconuts
Buddhist tattoos at a Hindi festival
Looks painful
Looks like a Christmas tree
More penance
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.
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!
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