Ghost Festival

You can see this giant sized incense sticks all over Malaysia, during the month of Chinese Ghost Festival.

However, until now I haven't bothered to stop by and find out more. This time, I made it a point to drop in one of these tents and chat up. Heat waves hit me the moment I opened my car door. The aroma was so strong that I sneezed.

A volunteer was kind enough to patiently explain and answer my questions:) This festival falls in the seventh month of the lunar calendar (usually around July/August) and is celebrated thorough out the month. Each community/family selects a convenient day to celebrate it.

Yellow - dead people list, Red - live persons seeking prosperity and peace!

On that day, the monks visit this type of prayer tents and pray for the dead souls in general and specifically for those listed on the yellow posters! They also pray for the peace and prosperity of the living, and special prayers for those listed in red posters!!

Colorful idols are placed at the alter. The center one was very large.

God of Heaven

"This is the Heaven God. He guides the dead people, so we pray to him" said the volunteer.

Demigods

"These small Gods are like angles and they help us during natural disasters like earthquake...and see these are the gold and silver mountains that will be there in the Heaven"...

Golden Mountain

It was very fascinating to learn about their beliefs. And the most surprising article was this cute model.

Toilet for the DEAD!!!

The loo model was placed outside the tent and was meant for the visiting souls! It seems that the right toilet is for men and it was marked by 'red tail' like character that represents spade, which is used in farming. Whereas, the left was for ladies, which is marked by red dot, that depicts hand!

One of the Buddhist Goddess Kuan Yin - capable of taking 32 'avatars' to help the believers!

The offerings kept in front of Kuan Yin would be distributed at the end of the prayers, after midnight 12 am! I was proudly shown that the candy, dates and cereals towers were hand crafted by community members!

Vegetarian food

As it was a Buddhist community, all the offerings were vegetarian food, which had mock chicken and other soya/flour based meat. Along with a gift hamper, this food too would be distributed to the donors.

Finally, I was told that all the paper idols and articles would be burnt at the end of the prayer at midnight. Though I strongly respect the tradition and culture, I am concerned about the environmental pollution that occurs due to these burning. And I have a doubt if this could be the cause of the haze at nights during this season!

Bulgogi - Meat on Fire

It was totally a new lunch experience with expat friends. Well, our Korean friends suggested that we go for lunch at Korean House Restaurant, in Bukit Baru Malacca.

Menu

As we didn't know what to choose, our friends (Korean) Sara, Catherine and Yong Mei decided on the menu and ordered for all of us. First, we were served with rice tea...

Rice Tea

It tasted like Chinese tea. After that a stove was placed on each table, so I was assuming that something like Steamboat is going to be served...

Bulgogi

Well, it didn't look like a steamboat and when Sara said the name of the dish, I heard it as wolgoki and was unable to pronounce it properly, so she wrote on paper as 'Bulgogi', where Bul = Fire and gogi = meat in Korean! So, it was meat (beef) on fire!!!

Bulgogi comes with an assortment of vegetables and meat, so our table was filled with lot of mini-plates:) Though am a die-hard vegetarian, I must admit that the meat dishes were aesthetically presented.

Bulgogi Set

Bulgogi has Beef as the 'king', followed by sides - fried anchovies, pickled shells, fish balls, omelet and steamed egg. Then few veg dishes - pickled cucumber and radish, fresh lettuce with thin slices of garlic, lotus root fry and salad with thousand island sauce. On top of it, a small plate of bean sauce was placed for everyone and it was reddish and resembled Malaysian Sambal or Indian kara chutney!

All of us were given a small box of rice. But, by then another plate of what looked like glass noodles was placed in our table and Sara and Yong Mei told that it was vegetarian. When I said 'I dun want rice, I'll just have this noodles', Sara insisted 'no no, this is a special dish we make only on occasions and you should eat it with rice'.

1st time eating noodles as a side dish for rice!

As the owner of that place was Sara's friend, he gave us two complimentary dishes...

Pancakes

They were Kimchi pancake with crab meat (the one on top) and Veg & egg pancake (the one @ bottom). I didn't try it, because they were not vegetarian.

Overall, I was surprised to see that I had quite a choice of veg-dishes! Especially I liked the way the Koreans eat the rice. Yong Mei gave a demo on how to eat rice...take a fresh lettuce, add a spoon of rice, followed by bean sauce and meat or any side. Now, fold it and eat! It was yummy:)

Poring - Canopy Walkway Bridge

We were not attracted by the hot spring in Proing, but very eager to experience the Canopy walkway. Poring Hot Springs is in the Kota Kinabalu Park (Sabah state in the Malaysian Borneo) and it is one of the World Heritage sites.

We had to make a short hike to reach the bridge and on the way we could get a glimpse of the canopy high, almost on top of the gigantic Menggaris trees.

Except for the collage, you can click on the pictures to enlarge.

Placed my signature on the bridge, so that you identify it!

Close-up

Now, I was a bit concerned and wondered on how much weight could the bridge tolerate!

Canopy walk entrance...inlaid pic on top shows restrictions...

When we saw the warning in the ticket that declared we climb the bridge at our own risk, we thought it was just a mandatory stuff...but after seeing the bridge and hearing the wild shrieks from a couple of ladies who were crossing the bridge, I was anxious...

Go or not to go!?

Canopy walkway is a series of rope and steel cable suspension bridges built on top of very tall and strong manggeris trees. The bridge is made of aluminum ladders bolted together and suspended horizontally from cables. The open rungs of ladders are covered with wooden boards, which are creaky. At a time, only 6 persons are allowed to walk on it for safety reasons. Approximate height is 41 mts from the forest floor, so the minute you step on it, it starts swaying and try walking fast it rocks like cradle!

There are 8 bridges to cross. Actually, this walkway is meant for enjoying the top level flora and fauna of the jungle. But until I was in the middle of the 3rd bridge, I dared not to look up or down as I was busy trying to balance while walking. Then, slowly I turned sideways and took this 1st shot...

After a strong sway, I realized that if I keep my feet apart, I could balance well with least swing, so now I managed another close up...

I felt wonderful to watch the deep forest from the top!

Scenic Sunday

SOOC

Sunset on the Move!

Throughout our Borneo holidays last week, we were using cab for sightseeing, so I had the luxury of taking pictures from a moving car for the first time, using Sports mode from my Canon 550D! These pictures were taken when we were passing by the Jesselton Waterfront area in Kota Kinabalu, (on the Malaysian Borneo).

 

Taken from a moving car, not a bad shot right?