Kek Lok Si temple

We took the bus to Kek Lok Si temple today at Ayer Itam. The walk up was lined with stalls selling commercial and religious items. Strangely, for a Buddhist place, the traders were selling pictures of the Last Supper and Catholic icons too. Whatever makes money!

Partway up was a pond full of tortoises. I never knew it could be so absorbing watching them. They climb over each other, climb sheer vertical walls, roll over their backs and recover back from being upside down.

We continued our way up to the temple, wandered around and went part-way up the pagoda (I went all the way to the top last time but Kim wasn’t keen). From there, we took the inclined lift to see the big Kuan Yim (Goddess of Mercy Buddha), paying MYR3 each way for the ride. It was big and impressive.

Because I’m not religious, it was somewhat of a sightseeing or theme park outing. We took the bus back to town and grabbed some lunch before our standard afternoon rest.

I joined Kim at the reflexology place in the nearby mall, opting for a very strong pressure point massage. We shuttled back to the hotel for dinner and then back to the mall for some shopping, for tomorrow we move out of town.

I really loved Penang when I visited three years ago but this time, the appeal was a bit lost on me. It seemed quite third world even compared to Kuching. The Council permits street vendors on mobile carts or in shacks. While this adds to the character, the proliferation of the more unkempt ones does create a very third world feel. On the other hand in Kuching, eateries seem to be located within shoplots only.