vkeong loves good food, travel and photography!
Event
Bazaar Ramadhan @ Bandar Baru Perda, Seberang Perai Tengah
Aug 25th
Every year I will make it a point to visit the colorful and tantalizing Bazaar Ramadhan. Last year I was at one of the largest in Malaysia at Shah Alam and this year, I am visiting one near my house at Bandar Baru Perda, Seberang Perai Tengah.
The Bazaar Ramadhan at Bandar Baru Perda is located at the car park of Masjid Perda. I feel the best time to go is around 5pm, when the crowd is at its minimum and most of the stalls are already ready to sell their food.
Right at the entrance of the mosque is a Ayam Golek stall, selling a whole roast chicken at RM18. The minimum portion is half a chicken at RM9.
Phor Thor (Hungry Ghost Festival) @ Jalan Pasar, Bukit Mertajam
Aug 23rd
I bet you already know that it’s the Hungry Ghost Festival currently. During the Ghost Month the realms of Heaven and Hell are open, which releases ghosts, spirits including those of the deceased ancestors to roam the living world.
So, the Chinese are often advised to stay at home and prevent from going out late at night to avoid any unfortunate incidents that are believed to be caused by some mischievous hungry ghosts. There are also plenty of taboos to observe too, for example not to simply pee at the streets (especially true for kids) or referring the ghosts as your ‘heng dai’ or ‘hia ti’ (buddies).
When I was a child I used to believe in such things but as I grew up, these beliefs slowly vanished. My mom would bring me to Jalan Pasar in Bukit Mertajam where the festival has always been held to pay respects to the dead, and of course to seek protection and good luck from the ‘Tai Su Yah‘ (King of Hades). He is, after all the ruler of the underworld.
Chinese New Year Cultural & Heritage Celebration 2010 @ Penang
Feb 26th
Penang’s Chinese New Year Cultural and Heritage Celebration was held in George Town last Saturday, which also marked the 7th day of Chinese New Year. Like the past years, the celebration would be held at the heart of the newly crowned UNESCO World Heritage Site which included Acheen Street, Armenian Street, Cannon Street, Ah Quee Street, Soo Hong Lane, Chulia Street and Kg. Kolam.
This year, the theme of the celebration took a turn to focus on moral values like Faithful, Filial piety, Etiquette and Justice – instead of featuring the 12 animal zodiac signs in the previous celebrations.
As such, the site of celebration was divided into 10 area and zones that featured a particular moral value or performance. For example Chulia Street was turned into Faithful Area, Lebuh Ah Quee into Etiquette Area, Cheah Kongsi into ‘The Old Penang Memory’, Penang Youth Centre into Wushu Stage etc.
The event was scheduled to start at 3pm but I was there early for parking as well as taking the opportunity to snap photos before people started to pour in. The main stage was at the start of Cannon Square where the brilliant Multi Cultural Traditional Welcoming Dance was performed.
The dance was performed beautifully and left the foreign tourists amazed, me included. I can confirm that from their expressions lol. Since I was at the side of the stage taking photos was difficult so I am showing the photos of the dancers taken at the back stage instead. As usual you can click on the photos to view them in full size.
I feel this photo got the 1Malaysia feel lol.
Chingay Performance at Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling, which was also the main area of the celebration.
Then a troop of lion dance entered the main area leading a parade of people upholding banners of moral values.
Following the parade were a group of ladies in cheongsam..
Which eventually led to Danny Law, chairman of Penang Tourism, Culture, Arts and Heritage Committee to officiate the opening ceremony at Area of Etiquette.
Kek Lok Si Display of Lights Event @ Kek Lok Si Temple, Air Itam
Feb 21st
I went to Kek Lok Si last Thursday to photograph the annual Display of Lights event, where thousands of lanterns and lights are lit at night for 30 days following the Chinese New Year. I am quite surprised to know that there are Malaysians who do not know the existence of Kek Lok Si in Penang. When they saw the photos they were thinking if such a beautiful place is located in Thailand? Just wow lol.
For unknown reasons 18th Feb was the day most people went up the hill at Air Itam, even Chinese New Year’s eve did not see so many tourists. Because of that the way up the temple was so jammed up that some people were stuck for 2 hours. Luckily I went quite early around 7pm so I did not experience such a bad traffic jam.
But once I reached the temple parking was a huge problem, as drivers parked their cars on the narrow driveways! It was quite a chaos. FYI the parking cost RM2. Now for the photos, those shown in this post are smaller in size but high res nonetheless. Do click on the photos itself to view them at their biggest resolution, or visit my Flickr photoset to view all of them.
The temple was still quite empty at 7.30pm but you could see the long queue of cars waiting to enter from afar.
The lights and lanterns were lit at 8pm, signaled by loud sounds of bells from the main pagoda.
First time I managed to photograph the pagoda with a moon in the background.
1st Putrajaya International Dragon Boat Festival @ Precinct 6, Putrajaya
Jun 6th
Hey guys if you don’t know, there’s a dragon boat festival going on at Putrajaya now. The event started yesterday (5th June) and it will end tomorrow (7th June) so if you are interested you still have plenty of time to be there. Putrajaya’s first ever International Dragon Boat Festival is held at the man-made lake at Putrajaya’s Water Sports Complex, Precinct 6.
I just went and have a look so here are som photos of the event. Do take note that Precinct 6 is no where near the Government complex or Alamanda shopping center, it’s near PICC where the Fireworks competition was held. Take the road leading to Dengkil or PICC and you will see road signs to Precinct 6.
I don’t have a tele lens so this is pretty much the most zoom I could get. Only the participants, staff and media are allowed into the boat racing area. Sigh, how I wish I could get a close up shot of the boats…
The Water Sport Complex’s stadium, it gives you a full, unblocked frontal view of the event.
The viewing platform, I assume. Off limits to visitors though. Click here to continue reading >
MIFC 2008 Finale – Team Global
Aug 30th
The month long Malaysia International Fireworks Competition 2008 has finally ended. The winner of the competition went to Spain while Malaysia was the 1st runner up, not bad huh. It was a pity I didn’t get to witness team Spain’s performance last week, as it was highly praised. But getting to witness three out of five possible performances is still quite good for me.
I thought it was going to be Australia’s turn in the MIFC finale last night at Putrajaya, but that didn’t happen. Instead, all the teams were combined into Team Global – which Malaysia led the fireworks performance. It was an explosive and thrilling display that entertained the largest crowd turnout in the competition!
Luckily there were little clouds and the sky was clear on the finale night. There was almost no wind though, so there are plenty of smoke in the photos. Such a pity.
Spain’s fireworks in the finale was the most creative and outstanding, so nice that it clearly stood out from the rest. They also managed to program the fireworks to really match with the accompanying song’s rhythm!
