The Penang gem that is the Khoo Kongsi

It may look very Chinese but this cultural site is not in China!

Instead, the Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi is located 

in the heart of George Town, Penang, Malaysia! :)

And for the record: There was no Photoshopping of

any of the above pictures... :b

Until just a few years ago, my mother -- who was born in Penang and has lived there all of her life -- had never ventured into the grounds of the Khoo Kongsi.  "Why should I?", she asked me.  "After all, I'm not a Khoo!" 

Although I too don't have Khoo as my surname and thus don't have any personal ties to the Khoo clan, the Khoo Kongsi is one Penang cultural attraction I honestly think is absolutely worth visiting -- and paying the RM10 (~US$2.32) admission fee to get in.  The most elaborately decorated by far -- and probably largest too -- of Penang's clanhouses is one of those places you have to see with your own eyes to believe actually exists as it's so highly ornamented that when I visited the famous shrines at Nikko (which, more than by the way, are on the UNESCO World Heritage List -- like the historic part of George Town), I found myself disappointed as well as surprised at how much less extravagantly decorated they were than this less internationally known cultural site which exists in my home state!

Thus it was that when my German friend was in Penang, I made sure to include a visit to the Khoo Kongsi when showing her around town.  And while you might think she'd had a fill of viewing super elaborate architecture after also having visited the likes of Borobudur and Prambanan in the preceding days, she genuinely was fascinated by what she saw at this grand clanhouse that came into being when the Khoos' collective wealth and social eminence in Penang were at their height.

Work on this clanhouse took place between 1902 and 1906 to replace a reportedly larger and more magnificent structure which was burnt down on the eve of Chinese New Year in 1901 after being allegedly struck by lightning and the wrath of the gods, who considered it all too much due to it having physically resembled an imperial palace.  It may be more modest than its predecessor but both my German friend and I are in agreement that the Khoo Kongsi's main building remains very impressive, with plenty of ornamental flourishes that one feels a need to spend quite a bit of time gazing at in wonder.

As it so happened, the afternoon that we visited the Khoo Kongsi was one whose bright sunshine along with bright blue skies really added to the visual beauty of the place.  Something else that always adds to the wondrousness of it all is that the clanhouse cannot be seen from the street because the square where it's located is surrounded from all sides by rowhouses also owned by the Khoo clan.  

It really is quite the experience to behold the Khoo Kongsi's main building after walking through an alley and then turning around a corner into this enclosed space; this not least because it can feel like one's been transported from contemporary Penang to ancient China in the blink of an eye!  I can recall my gasping aloud the first time I caught sight of this heritage structure.  And even after having visited the site quite a few more times since then (including the occasion when my mother finally deigned to check out the place), I honestly feel that its visual splendor never fails to fill me with awe.  

Marching in protest on the day that Carrie Lam was installed as Hong Kong's Chief Executive

The first political poster that I've ever made

Marching from Causeway Bay to Admiralty 

with thousands of willing others

Do these folks look like troublemakers to you?

Now, both those waving the Hong Kong colonial and 

Communist Chinese flags, however... though it's true enough

that, if pressed to make a choice, I'd take the former over the latter!

This past Thursday, Xi Jinping arrived in Hong Kong for his first visit since becoming president of Communist China (in March 2013).  Ahead of his visit came a massive security lockdown which, in retrospect, probably contributed to a black mood having descended upon me in recent days; not least beacuse it got me worrying that Hong Kong's on its way to becoming a police state a la Xinjiang.

But rather than put me off taking part once more in the annual July 1st protest march (which I've been going to every year since 2012, when the man variously known as 689 as well as The Wolf became Hong Kong's Chief Executive), this all made me more determined than ever to do so.  Not only that but I upped the ante this year -- the first with Carrie Lam (aka 777) installed as the new Chief Executive -- by making my first ever protest poster! 

Thus it was that this afternoon saw me heading over to Victoria Park to join with other folks willing to stand up for what they believe in and seek.  A friend of mine had told me she wouldn't be joining me because "big, collective events" aren't her thing.  For my part though, I was happy to see a crowd of people milling about at the march's start point -- even while wishing more people had showed up -- and actually like the July 1st protests being as inclusive as they are. 

In all honesty, I agree with a lot of the causes and concerns being voiced at this year's protest march to the government headquarters over at Admiralty.  Genuine universal suffrage for Hong Kong.  Freedom for Liu Xiaobo and Liu Xia.  Press freedom and freedom of speech.  The investigation of Leung Chun Ying's HK$50 million UGL deal.  Saving Lantau's green spaces from being destroyed by "white elephant" infrastructure projects.  LGBT rights.  Protection for North Korean defectors.  All this and more I have no problems supporting.

To be sure, I don't support the cries for Hong Kong independence.  But I'll tell you this: it was energizing and even emotionally uplifting to hear those particular activists outshouting one of the groups of pro-Beijing shills who had assembled at certain sections of our march route to hurl abuse at the protesters walking by.  (And for the record: whereas in previous years, one only saw one or two of such groups about, this time around, I saw four such pro-Beijing groups -- who were no doubt emboldened to act by Xi Jinping having been in town... though, actually, he had left by the time the protest march began!).

Other folks whose presence gave me a psychological lift -- and also left a lump in my throat -- were an elderly woman with bright eyes being pushed along in a wheelchair by others, other wheelchair-bound individuals moving along the road by themselves, a father wheeling a pram with a young 'un in it, another father who paused for a bit along the way to make sure that his young son stayed sufficiently hydrated, and two women using sign language to communicate with each other.

In addition, the sight of the yellow umbrellas out there this afernoon made me smile -- even when they were actually being wielded against the rain that periodically fell on us as well as the rays of sunlight that were on the noticeably hot side.  Considering that there were times when the sun was shining even while the showers fell, I was hoping to see a rainbow or two brighten up the sky.  That didn't happen but, at least, I came away from today's event believing that there are indeed people out there who love Hong Kong and continue to be able to dream of a bright future for it.

The distinctive experience of eating at a nasi campur stall :)

What I had for lunch at my favorite nasi campur place in Penang...

...and what my German friend chose to have at the same place ;b

For two years of my life, I lived in Kuala Lumpur: to be precise, the section of the city outskirts known as Bukit Jalil.  Like another city I spent time in (this time, Philadelphia, over in the US), my best memories of the place often revolve around food; with probably my favorite eatery there being a nasi campur stall in neighboring Kinrara which had the largest "toppings" -- as well as plenty delicious! -- selection that I've seen at a any nasi campur place to date.

It may not have as wide a selection as the eatery in Kinrara but after moving back to Penang as an adult, I was introduced to another nasi campur joint in Tanjung Tokong that I absolutely must eat at whenever I'm back in town.  And on my most recent return to Penang last month, I introduced my German friend to what's definitely up there among my favorite places to eat in the food capital of Malaysia.   

Seeing things through her eyes, I got to realizing that the way things are done at a nasi campur place really can bemuse first timers.  First up is how unfamiliar and even exotic many of the food selections are for those new to all kinds of Malaysian food (which is many non-Malaysians, since Malaysian food isn't as easily found outside the country as, say, Chinese or Italian food is outside of their home territories).  Then there's the "free and easy" buffet style approach to selecting and getting one's food, which nonetheless begins with your getting a plate of rice from the person who also frequently figures out how much you have to pay and gets the money from you.

On this particular visit, however, the individual in question was too busy ladling out rice to also act as cashier.  So we were told to eat first before someone would come over to our table to calculate how much our bill would be -- and adding to my German friend's bemusement was the stall staff taking his sweet time to come over to our table so that we could settle the bill!

Looking at my German friend's selection, it was clear that she had focused on the vegetarian options.  Something that worried me a bit was that her selection (which included two types of pineapple options, a mango salad and a spicy dish whose main ingredient was morning glory), looked on the distinctly spicy side but she actually turned out to be much less fazed by the generous amounts of red chillies and shallots on her plate than I thought would be the case!

For my part, I went for an omnivorous selection that included a winged bean salad and a slice of curried pineapple (whose mere mention has caused me to salivate in a Pavlovian manner!) but also portions of fish roe, cow lung and other innards that I have to honestly say that I can't actually give a name to but can recognize, and know that I like eating!  And yes, as improbable as it sounds, I think all of these selections go well together -- and with the rice that is essential to this meal, as it's not for nought, after all, that nasi campur translates from Bahasa Malaysia to English as "rice mix"! ;b

Is Perak Tong Malaysia's most visually impressive cave temple? (Photo-essay)

After our visits to Sam Poh Tong and Nam Thean Tong, my daytripping party of four drove back into Ipoh town to have an afternoon snack (of sweet -- and pleasingly ultra-smooth -- tofu fa) and some food shopping.  (No, I really wasn't kidding about reckoning that there are lots of good eats to be found in Perak's capital.)  After that, it was back to cave temple visiting, with our deciding to stop and check out Perak Tong -- over on the northern outskirts of Ipoh -- before heading back to Penang.

As it turns out, we seemed to have ended up saving the best for the last -- because this Buddhist temple which takes its name from the Malaysian state that it's in (and which, in turn, takes its name from the Malay word for "silver") was by far the most beautifully decorated and visually spectacular to my mind.  

On the cave walls have been painted religious murals of impressive size and detail.  And on altars spread about this temple founded by a husband-and-wife pair from China in 1926 can be found gleaming statues of Buddhist religious figures.  Then there's the cave itself, whose limestone formations take interesting shapes -- including, in one case, what uncannily looked like a recognizable humanoid face to my mind...

View of cave and temple

 

Puppet Ponyo posing in front of the temple's main entrance

 

Warning signs (in Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese, English and Tamil) 

at the main entrance that I think alludes less to the dogs 

and more to the sections of wet floor caused by dripping water

 

 Past the canine and human temple guardians, and

stone lion guardians, can be found sights like these

 

I asked my German friend to stand near one of the

murals to help give a good idea of its large size!

 

Light and shadow add to the awesomeness but, actually, 

the murals and statuary already are cool sights on their own!

 

 Adding to the amazing experience of visiting the place

is the sense that not many people seem to know about it..

 

As for the face I alluded to earlier, do you see it too? ;b

Nam Thean Tong: Sam Poh Tong's less well known but arguably more atmospheric neighbor

Sam Poh Tong's neighbor, Nam Thean Tong

Within it are many stairs and steps to climb up (and then down)

Built into a very large cave is a multi-leveled temple

The top tiers are home to religious figurines

that look on the distinctly antique side

I have to be honest: I was a bit disappointed with what I found over at Sam Poh Tong.  Yes, its landscaped garden had its charm but it also looked on the rundown side.  And after having braced myself to climb several meters up inside of it to get amazing views of the surrounding countryside, it was rather a let down to not be able to find a way up to the upper tiers of the temple (with my companions and I speculating that it was because certain sections of the temple had become unstable in recent years, or at least dangerous to move around because of there being so much water dripping down in the cave).

In contrast, my expectations were on the low side with regards to the cave temple located next to Sam Poh Tong, which hadn't been mentioned in any guidebook belonging to my German friend or myself, and doesn't have such as its own Wikipedia entry.  Indeed, the only reason why we decided to check out Nam Thean Tong was because a stranger that one of my party had been chatting with at Sam Poh Tong told us that the neighboring temple actually contained more interesting things to see -- and, as I went on to discover, she was absolutely right!

According to an information panel found at the site, Nam Thean Tong was established in 1867 by a Chinese priest named Kuong San Teik.  While the temple doesn't look that old at first glance, if you were to venture inside and then climb a couple of hundred steep steps up to its highest section, you will find yourself in a part of the temple which one can easily believe is on the old side and that, frankly, also felt rather spooky; thanks in part to that space being on the dark side and few people deciding to make the climb up there -- with half of my party declining to do so! -- but also because the antique figurines there got me thinking of corpses for some reason!

While Googling for information on Nam Thean Tong, I came across a blogger who claims to have caught sight of a ghost there!  So it most definitely isn't just me who feels that there's something haunted -- as well as haunting -- about the place.  Nonetheless, on balance, I actually enjoyed visiting this less well known temple to the much more hyped-up Sam Poh Tong.  If nothing else, you could say that it definitely had more atmosphere -- especially the further up the temple and cave one ascended! 

To sum it up: if you don't want to climb up too many steps, Sam Poh Tong would be the place to go.  But if you're up for ascending a number of stairs, even if some of them are on the noticeably old and rickety side, then make for Nam Thean Tong.  Or, if you're interested and energetic enough, go for both -- and more, since there actually are not just one or two but many cave temples in the Ipoh area! ;b

Visual gems abound at Ipoh's Sam Poh Tong

Packed altar and alcoves at Sam Poh Tong

 

Venture deep into the cave and you'll find an opening, nearby 

which you'll see this intriguing looking temple building :b

 

I've flown to Ipoh a number of times in my life and have even taken a train from Butterworth over to the state capital of Perak.  For the most part, however, I've travelled to Ipoh by car -- and, irregardless of whether we're arriving there from the north or south, know that we're near our destination upon spotting the visually striking limestone hills that surround the town.

 

Something else that I've long known is that within many of those limestone hills can be found cave temples -- with the most famous of them all being Sam Poh Tong, situated on the southern edge of town in a limestone hill known as Gunung Rapat.  And the Cave of Triple Gems (which is what its name translates into English from the Cantonese spoken by the majority ethnic group in the area) was where my party headed over to after lunching in town on my most recent roadtrip to Perak.

 

After lingering for a bit in the ornamental garden in front of the main cave entrance, we ventured into what actually is a pretty sizable cave that's been home for more than a century now to a Buddhist temple established by a monk from China who was passing through Ipoh.  Inside the organic space that's ever-growing and -changing, as evidenced by the drip, drip sound of water flowing down stalactites and enlarging them along with creating new stalagmites, we found a profusion of religious figures and figurines arranged on altars, in natural alcoves and such.

 

Having read that Sam Poh Tong had an upper level from where excellent views of Ipoh and the surrounding area could be had, I felt letdown upon learning that access doesn't seem to be allowed anymore up to that part of the temple.  On the other hand, I was happily surprised to discover that the cave goes far deeper inside the hill than I had thought would be the case -- and that one of the passageways in the temple leads into an open air area within Gunung Rapat itself that's completely encircled by towering cliffs, where an interesting building, interesting statuary and a pond-filled with tortoise are to be found!

 

Approximately one and half years before our Ipoh trip, my German friend and I had visited a Chinese Buddhist temple in Amsterdam. Although the He Hua Temple is supposed to be Europe's largest Buddhist temple, it is completely dwarfed by Sam Poh Tong.  Still, it's not Sam Poh Tong's size that is its most visually impressive facet but, rather, its location within a cave.  It may not be a venue that normally springs to mind when thinking of where a temple is to be housed -- but it does appear that the founder of Sam Poh Tong really did make an inspired choice with regards to its location! :) 

Sam Poh Tong's award-winning (in 1993!) landscaped garden

Fish getting ready for a feeding frenzy that never was!

Puppet Ponyo posing with something in the garden of Sam Poh Tong

that called to mind the Summer Palace's Marble Boat ;b

 

A landscape in the Sam Poh Tong garden that's 

far smaller in reality than it looks in the picture!

 

If it had been up to my mother, our excursion to Ipoh would have pretty much only involved eating and buying food stuffs (such as Tambun pomelos and whole baked chickens) for friends and to take back home to eat later.  As it was though, she was kind enough to accede to my German friend's and my request to do some sightseeing in between the tea as well as lunch and dinner that we had on our day trip to Perak's capital last month; with the famous cave temple of Sam Poh Tong being the attraction decided upon to head over to after the first of our three meals in Ipoh.

 

My mother tells me that she and my father had taken me to visit this Chinese Buddhist temple built into a limestone cave when I was a child.  However, I have no recollection of that which is the oldest and most famous of Perak's cave temples -- and certainly did not know that in its grounds is situated that which was named the best landscaped garden in Malaysia in 1993.      

If truth be told, that green ornamental space in question is looking rather neglected and somewhat the worse for wear these days.  Also, it's on the small size and therefore could not be considered worth checking out in and of itself.  And yet, when I look at the photos I took of and in it, I get to thinking that this garden still does have its charms.        

At the very least, whoever conceived and designed it certainly is not lacking in imagination.  And while the fish in its pond and also the colorful structure that surely was inspired by the more plainly colored Marble Boat that's found in the Summer Palace in Beijing may be more eye-catching, the section of the garden which actually impressed me the most was a miniature landscape which, at least in the photo I took of it, looks very much to scale and really like a little bit of China can be found in what actually is Malaysia! :)