Pulau Pinang's Flotilla at Jelutong Promenade

Penang's or Pulau Pinang's flotilla which won the title "Overall Best Boat" at the Magic of the Night 2014 event at Putrajaya in June is finally anchored at the Jelutong Promenade. 

Featuring a dragon boat being rowed by two CATs, Penang's iconic bridge; The Penang Bridge, Khoo Kongsi temple, street art and not forgetting Penang's famous assam laksa, it is truly Penang's boat.

Pulau Pinang's flotilla with the view of the Penang Bridge in the background

It is all bright and colourful: the Overall Best Boat title winner!

Jelutong Promenade at Karpal Singh Drive

Jelutong Promenade is becoming more happening nowadays. With more food and beverage outlets opening at Maritime Square such as Coffee Smith, U Desserts, Starbucks, Macau Street restaurant and also McDonalds at the other end of the road, crowds are building up here especially during weekends. One would prefer a stroll along the Promenade as the pavement is much wider than Gurney Drive. Parking is available along the road. However, at weekend nights, parking may be hard to come by.

Art is Rubbish is Art at Old Hin Bus Depot

Wall art and murals are mushrooming all over Georgetown Penang's heritage site. The latest is the "Art is Rubbish is Art" exhibition at old Hin Bus Depot. The street artist, Ernest Zacharevic, who has been painting his wall murals all over Penang, is the one who had turned rubbish into art here. The exhibition is opened to the public (free admission) and has begun since Jan and will end on Feb 14. 

This was actually my first time attending an art exhibition. Since I had seen some of the murals online, I was not shocked to see broken furniture and equipment converted to art pieces on display. It is either you see "rubbish" or "art". Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder ~ Plato.

I thought it was a different experience than the one I had imagined. For one thing, the art pieces were being displayed in a run-down building, the old Hin Bus Depot. Since I like heritage building, I like this place too. It has peeling paint on the walls and one can see red bricks showing. 

Secondly, it was not air-conditioned but there were ceiling fans in the main hall. It cooled for a while but could not beat the scorching hot weather in Penang now. However, the back part of the place was open-air. My advice is to get an umbrella and camera ready to find and snap the art work in the ruins. 

Lastly, the art pieces mostly looked creepy to me. It must have meant that they were well-painted to have the effect.

The best shot of all was the last wall mural depicting a huge girl bending against the backdrop of the tall KOMTAR tower.

For further info: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/ernest-zacharevic-turns-rubbish-into-art

Penang Botanic Gardens ~ A Mindful Walk

Have you ever been on a mindful walk? It is a way of relaxing yourself and also releasing stress. We have been to Penang Botanic Gardens all our lives but have never been this close to nature. Well, this time, we walked mindfully: observing our steps and our surroundings. To our surprise, we snapped wonderful photos of nature. 

This place is ideal for picnics, exercising and sightseeing. We usually prefer to walk around the hilly area and the best time to go are in the morning or evening when the sun is not too strong. We love it especially when the night before rains so the temperature will be lower and the breeze will be cooler in the gardens. However, beware the ground may be slippery after rain.

During our mindful walk around Penang Botanic Gardens, we have observed tree vines, moth mating (I think), insect camouflage, cannon ball trees, listened to the sound of the nature and appreciated morning glory flowers.

Just stop to listen to the gushing water of the stream

By the stream, the tree with long vines is worth admiring

A morning glory before the entrance to the lily pond

A green dragonfly in camouflage

By the lily pond

Are there two moths here? Mating?

Small yellow flowers of a tree 

Flowers of a cannon ball tree

"Cannons" on a cannon ball tree

A cannon ball tree

The lily pond

The surrounding of the pond

My favourite tree and bench

Details of the place:

Address: Jalan Kebun Bunga, 10350, Penang.

- Opens daily

- Tram is available for visitors who would like to tour the place. However, the tram will not be able to cover all the treks or the lily pond.

- Tram ticket price: RM 2 (adult) and RM 1 (for children below 12) (Purchase near the entrance)

- Free admission 

- Free parking outside the place.

Nine Emperor Gods Festival (九皇爺)

Yellow tortoises kuih with abundance of little tortoises on the altar

Other than being known as a food haven, Penang is also rich in culture and celebrations throughout the year. The most recent one is the Nine Emperor Gods Festival. This is widely celebrated especially among the Hokkien Chinese who are Taoists. 

Tow Boo Kong Temple at Macallum Street

When:

The festival runs for the first nine days of the ninth month of the Chinese lunar calendar and corresponding to 5 - 13 October 2013. 

Large yellow candles lit around the temple

The Rules:

The most dominant thing about this celebration is the devotees are required to be on strict vegetarian diet. Diary products, eggs as well as garlic are not allowed during this time. Roadside stalls or hawkers selling vegetarian food during this festive season will indicate their stalls with Chinese characters "Nine Emperor Gods Festival" written in red on a yellow cloth or flag. They do practice using new cooking utensils and also cutlery. Even my mom has two sets of cooking pots and woks kept in her kitchen. We are also required to new toothbrushes and also cups. 

We have a choice to go on vegetarian diet for a day, 3 days, 6 days or 9 days. Usually, we have an additional day vegetarian diet for "stomach cleansing" on the eve before we begin our vegetarian diet. 

The main altar of Nine Emperor Gods on the second floor of the temple

Prayers, Temples and Opera Shows:

During the nine-day festival, we can offer our prayers to the Nine Emperors Gods and Dou Mu (the mother of the Nine Emperor Gods) at the Nine Emperor Gods temple. The prominent temples in Penang are Tow Boo Kong Temple at Macallum Street, Burma Road (both in Penang island) and Jalan Raja Uda, Butterworth.

We should not wear black attire when we offer prayers at the temple. Those who come to the temple must be on strict vegetarian diet.

Opera show performers offering their prayers before starting the show

At the temple compound, we usually get to watch traditional Chinese opera shows or puppet shows which are meant for the Nine Emperor Gods. Unfortunately, I have never understood those shows due to language barrier and interest. I still remember my uncle and aunty were big fans of those shows and they would find out the next show schedule and made plans to go to the next temple for different nights. Most of the shows are repeated but the fans still love them. 

An opera show performer performing some rituals

Every Tow Boo Kong temple has its own procession on the last night of the festival, sending off the Nine Emperor Gods to the sea. Devotees can join in the procession or merely stand and watch. (And also watch out for traffic jam on that day!)

Vegetarian food:

Some may think that vegetarian food is boring but over the years, people have become more creative and choices of vegetarian food is now similar to non-vegetarian's. Today, we can easily get to eat vegetarian salted fish, "lor bak" (pork roll), roasted duck, mutton, fried prawn and so on. They are made of bean curd skin, mushrooms and also gluten.

Beautiful of Penang Bridge from the second floor of the temple

Recently, I have found palatable vegetarian food on my doorstep. The combination of ingredients used for the vegetarian dishes are real interesting and I plan to try them out one day. For more details, refer here: Exploring Vegetarian Dishes.

A large incense burning to keep up with long hours of prayers 

An Intriguing Question:

There is this intriguing question of whether those who are sick are allowed to take their medication if they are observing this festival. The argument is whether the medication may or may not be endorsed as vegetarian "food"! If you read the labels of some supplements, you will know that they  contain bovine. Who has the answer? Well, a Chinese physician once said to us, "Do you want to live?" I bet now you know the answer to this whole debatable issue here :)

Tow Boo Kong Temple (at Macallum Street) ~ photo taken from across the river

Ubah Bird Swimming at Promenade

(Updated: 23 July, 2013)

Apologies for rudely mistaken the Water Ubah has been moved. Heard that now it has been lighted up during the night. 

Floating away... Water Ubah

Water Ubah with sakura

Water Ubah and Penang Bridge (in the backdrop) which is hardly visible in the thick haze

___________________________________________________________________________

The popular Ubah bird (DAP mascot) which is actually a hornbill is still swimming at IJM Promenade (in front of Nautilus Bay's houses) until yesterday (July 18) . It has been removed which I believe is temporary. (Updated: July 23)

It is now known as Water Ubah as it can swim (not only fly). It was launched last Saturday (July 13) by Penang CM, Lim Guan Eng.

Ubah bird with Penang bridge (Photo courtesy of Jin Tatt)

I guess Penang could not wait for the famous yellow rubber duck visit. So, here is Water Ubah (a gigantic float) for us. It is supposed to be docking at IJM promenade until 31 August before making its way to other states in Malaysia.

A close-up look of Water Ubah (with all the strings attached) (Photo courtesy of Jin Tatt)

Details of Water Ubah float: 

Diameters - 7.6 m x 10.9 m

Weight - 250 kg

Cost - RM 60,000 (sponsored by someone)

(Source : http://www.thestar.com.my/story.aspx?file=%2f2013%2f7%2f12%2fnorth%2f13355325&sec=North)

Jade Buddha for Universal Peace Visits Penang

Jade Buddha for Universal Peace is finally in Penang

After PSY, the Korean Gangnam Style singer, rocked Penang on the second day of Chinese New Year, Penang once again carved its name internationally with the visit of the famous Jade Buddha for Universal Peace from Australia. Penang was listed as the 66th city that the statue visited (source: www.thestar.com).

Offerings to the Jade Buddha for Universal Peace

Jade Buddha for Universal Peace was on display at Penang Times Square from 6 to 14 April, 2013. Many devotees have thronged the mall to participate in the prayers or just to take photographs of the world's largest jade Buddha.

A smaller Buddha statue next to the Jade Buddha

We visited the Jade Buddha on the last night, just before the closing ceremony. When we arrived, the crowd was all lining up. So, without much question, we quickly joined the line. After a friendly chat with an uncle in front of us, then only we knew why we were in line. We were queueing for a share of the sand mandala. (See below on What is Sand Mandala?)

The finished piece of sand mandala at Penang Times Square (Photo courtesy of Jin Tatt)

Obviously, many were ignorant about the usage of the sand mandala. We were too. The MC was busy making announcements about the usage of the sand mandala in Mandarin, English and Hokkien. Firstly, it can be placed in a stupa to be prayed, or secondly, it can be placed in a pendant and wear it for protection. Thirdly, the grains of the sand can be placed on the forehead of a just deceased person in order to bless the deceased with a better rebirth.

The sand mandala is sacred. It must be treated with respect at all time. A word of caution from the MC that night was "do not mix the sand mandala in the water and drink". This advice may sound humorous and childish but to many, it was something on their mind. This was because many Penangites who were Taoists were accustomed to drinking Taoism talismans to heal illness and so on.

Since there was a large crowd queueing for the sand mandala, we went forward to the almost empty red-carpeted area, bare-footed and knelt down before the Lord Buddha statue and prayed. We had our moments of silence and peace. After praying, we took several shots of the Jade Buddha and the altar filled with bouquet of fresh flowers. The view of the Jade Buddha was majestic and we prayed for peace in the world and  peace in our mind. It was just a simple wish but it was not so easy to attain!

Have you heard of Buddhism and fate? Well, many believe in fate with the Lord Buddha. I was anxious that I could not get a share of the sand mandala as the queue was really long. Hubby reminded me that if we managed to get a share, then it was our fate with the Lord Buddha. The night was so beautiful indeed that everyone in the crowd received a share of the precious sand Mandala. 

The colourful sand mandala is placed in a stupa

After receiving the tiny portion of sand mandala in a zipped plastic bag, we bought a mini stupa from the exhibition counter after jostling with the crowd. We also planned to share the sand mandala with our family members. May everyone have peace within them. Namo Amitabha.

A pagoda-shaped stupa with sand mandala for our family

Some quick facts:

Where is Jade Buddha for Universal Peace from?

Jade Buddha for Universal Peace measuring 2.7 metres tall was carved from jade called "Polar Pride" which was discovered in Canada. The statue was modelled after the Buddha statue in the Mahabodhi Stupa in Bodh Gaya, India and was carved in Thailand by Thai and Australian carvers. The Jade Buddha for Universal Peace was taken on tour around the world beginning March 2009 with the aim to inspire peace for the world, peace in relationships, peace at work and home and peace in their mind. (source: www.jadebuddha.org.au)

An extract about Medicine Buddha from the exhibition (Photo courtesy of Jin Tatt)

What is Sand Mandala? 

For those with not so in-depth knowledge of Buddhism like me, Medicine Buddha sand Mandala is created by using coloured marble powder in the wide end of a long funnel shaped metal tube. The sand created on the lines with proper measurements as described in the sutra. After the sand Mandala is finished, the viewers and monks will pray for peace and harmony in the world. 

The details on "How is a Sand Mandala Created?" (Photo courtesy of Jin Tatt)

An extract of what next after the sand mandala is created (Photo courtesy of Jin Tatt)