7 Village Noodle House七廊粿條湯 @ Bukit Mertajam. Penang

It was a late Sunday morning,  rather  warm, and pampered folks like us want hawker food but in a cooler environment, so where do you head to ? 7 village lorrr. Another ‘cross-over’…. from the traditional kopitiam theme , to a ‘fast food’-ish  concept. And it seemed to be working, all the tables are filled and more are waiting in line.

The 2 mains at 7 village are ‘ koay teow soup /koay teow therng 粿條湯 and ramen拉麵. And you can order side dishes like lorbak, chicken feet, fish nuggets, chicken , stir fried vege.    

The writing orr should I say, the menu is on the wall…

  

I cancelled my order of iced milo when I saw the others ordering tong sui , copy cat that I was…the tong sui for the day was –logan + pak kor, It wasn’t too sweet, the pak kor was nice and soft.. A welcomed change to my traditional cuppa milo

 

I am not a big fan of koay teow soup, but I have to admit.. the koay teow soup at 7 village is pretty good ! the texture of the koay teow is smooth and seemed finer than the usual koay teows, the minced pork was tasty, the fishball was springy, the soup was yummy.. another satisfied customer. Oh, for fishball fans  you can also order extra fishballs in your soup.

 

I didn’t get to try the ramen, but it looked pretty good to me too..u get the same minced meat +fishballs + sliced chicken , plus an extra half boiled egg.

 

We ordered some side orders, including :

 Chicken feet :

Not like the Thai version where they removed all the bone and served the ‘skin’, this is the steamed version with the bones intact, , the skin were soft and although served only with some fried onions , spring onions and  soy sauce, that seemed to enhance the taste. I enjoyed this.

 

The lobak –minced meat  with 5 spice powder wrapped in fu churk (bean curd skin)  and then deep fried was popular, it was ‘cleared’ very quickly. Not bad. The 7 village version was thinner than what you might get at  the usual hawker stalls.

 

Overall, an enjoyable meal,7 village has 2 branches- the main outlet at Taman Aman Jaya, Off Raja Uda, and  for this meal, we had it at the other branch which was at Taman Bayu Mutiara , Bukit Mertajam,. If you have a choice, I would recommend eating at the main outlet- which is a bit more spacious and better ventilated, compared to the BM branch which can be warm and a bit stuffy.

 

mon – sat 7;30 am – 5:00pm

sat :7:30 am – 1 p.m

 Location :

 7 Village noodle house

 

Main :

6, 8 & 10, Lorong Ceri 6,

Taman Aman Jaya,

Off Raja Uda,

12300 Butterworth

04 – 3330216

 

Branch :

 

58, Jalan Bayu Mutiara 1,

Taman Bayu Mutiara,

14000 Bukit Mertajam,

04 – 5081216

 

Wat Photichareantham @ Sungai Puyu, Butterworth

Before I proceed, for those that are not familiar, ‘wat’ means temple in Thai language. And as for Photichareantham , I have no idea. This Wat is the one of many Thai Buddhist temples in Malaysia.

You will see this archway before going into  the Wat’s  compound

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Close up of the arch – Buddha sitting under the Bodhi tree with 5 of his disciples

 

The 2 white elephants standing guard

 

The highest structure in the temple grounds would be this building,

 

Buddha statues ( and some statues of monks) can be viewed through the glass windows.

 

Outside the main shrine hall, there was a counter  selling amulets and stuff. Inside the main shrine hall, there was another counter selling amulets, Buddha statues, blessing stuff as well as doubling up as a donation counter

The Buddha statues in the main shrine hall

 

There were  a row of Buddha statues on a table .  8 in all in various poses, next to donation bowls and signs of days of the week and some dates  .Some of  the Thai temples back home in Kelantan  have something similar, but just with the day ( mon, tues, weds..), and one would light incense ,offer flowers or donations etc to the statues for the day that one was born in ( yeah, you might know the date but it can be tricky knowing the days that you are born in, horrr ?)   but the ones at this Wat had the dates as well as and ‘extra’ for Wednesday night- I am not too sure what this meant..

 

 We saw an  Indian family ( man , woman and a child) being blessed by a monk, the monk chanted something, took something paper thin,  size of a 20 cent coin and golden , place it on the man’s forehead and rub it with his forefinger, until the thin golden disc disappears, chant some more and waved his arm to indicate that the ‘ceremony’ has ended , next was the woman’s turn,  the monk repeated the same actions, and as for the child, the Indian family needed a translator and the lady manning the counter outside the temple was summoned . The lady spoke in Thai to the monk and said that the boy can eat  but does not behave as a child his age should i.e. a bit slow . Monk then started to  chant and repeat the rubbing gold disc of forehead etc . there were 5 to 6 people waiting in line for blessings, including two  20-ish looking guys with gelled hair and flashy sunglasses.

When  you are in the temple grounds, you will find  that it  is breezy and cool due to that  the temple grounds are surrounded by trees, we saw a couple of men sitting around the temple and chitchatting, a bunch of younger guys on motorbikes chitchatting  under the trees, in one of the rooms,  we also saw a lady teaching some kids the Thai alphabet . this seemed like a good ‘hangout’ place for the locals

Below is  a pix of pne of the  ‘kuti’ i.e. a monk’s  accommodation .(spot the cockerel )

 

There is also another smaller hall near to the kutis, a monk seemed busy at work at a table, the place was adorn with pixs of the temple activities, monk robes ( for donation, maybe)

 I am not sure how to get to this temple, but this link  
http://www.penang-traveltips.com/wat-photichareantham.htm
provide clear directions :

 Extract : It is located at Taman Pandan Indah, just before the Butterworth Outer Ring Road. From Butterworth, go along Jalan Sungai Puyu and turn left into Lorong Bunga Rampai 4. Then immediately turn right into a service road that parallels Jalan Sungai Puyu. The service road is Lorong Pandan Indah. Go all the way  to the end, where you will see a Chinese temple, the Sungai Puyu Tua Pek Kong Temple. At the temple, turn left, and you will see the archway to Wat Photichareantham.

Nine Emperor Gods Temple , Too Boo Kong Temple 北海斗母宮 @ Butterworth

Being the hospitable host that she is,  PW managed to arrange it into my  ‘itinerary’- a visit to the  Nine Emperor Gods Temple at Jalan Raja Uda, Butterworth. As we drove under the grand and intricately carved arch to the temple grounds proper, I gaped,  this place is wow !

View from the arch

According to the leaflet from the temple- the Nine Emperor Gods Temple of Butterworth began as an attap shed on a rented plot of land in 197. In 1994, the temple committee decided to rebuild a new temple, construction started in 1996 and on 26th April 2000, the temple with a total land area of 40,000 sq feet, was officially completed  at a cost of RM7 million

Generals guarding the Front Prayer Hall

The Front Prayer Hall

Again I gaped , the altar was rich, golden, intricate and spectacular.

Getting a bit closer to the altar –  at the centre is the Dou Mu , 斗母, and below her are the Nine Emperor Gods.

From this link , click here   , it mentioned that ‘The Nine Emperor Gods are very often known as “Bei Dou Jiu Xing 北斗九星” (9 North Star Plough Gods), since they are Gods of the stars or planets. Their mother, “Dou Mu Yuan Jun 斗母元君” (Mother North Star), is also the Mother of Stars.

And I learn that 北斗 is in fact Big Dipper (ursa major)  ,  wow  -  the Nine Emperors are  the stars making up the Big Dipper . Cool or not ??

There are only 7 stars making up Big Dipper , you can have a look at ursa major by clicking here , ( not 9) legend has it that there used to be 9 stars (北斗九星)  but 2 had since faded , it’s now ‘7 seen and 2 unseen’ and it’s also said that those that can see the  2 unseen stars will lead a long life.

The Nine Emperor Gods consist of the following:

1. “Gou Chen Tian Huang Da Di 勾陈天皇大帝” (Vega Star)

2. “Bei Ji Zhi Wei Da Di 北极紫微大帝” (Polaris Star)

3. The 7 Northern Constellation Stars (called “Bei Dou Qi Xing 北斗七星”):
a. “Tan Lang 贪狼”
b. “Ju Meng 巨门”
c. “Lu Chun 禄存”
d. “Wen Qu 文曲”
e. “Lian Zhen 廉贞”
f. “Wu Qu 武曲”
g. “Po Jun 破军”

The origin of the Nine Emperor Gods can be traced back to the Taoist worship of the Northern constellation during Qin and Han Dynasty (北斗崇祀). Actually, the observation and worshipping of stars had already been present among the public before Taoism was founded during Han Dynasty.

As Taoism was developed during Han Dynasty, it began to absorb this practice of worshipping the stars and began to deitify them as Gods.

On the left of the main altar is an altar for the Monkey God and on the right Na Char

Sacred Prayer Room

From the Front Prayer Hall, we walked to the second part of the temple , which is locked. This is the Sacred Prayer Room, which according to the official website , click here  :- this houses the Urn of the Nine Emperor Gods and only temple members selected by the Gods are allowed to enter the Hall. During the Nine Emperor Gods Festival, the urn is taken to the sea to welcome the Gods back to the temple.

The Inner Courtyard

There are  2 main attractions at the courtyard, one of them was  the painting of the 100 children . This signifies  the continuity of generation. The children are seen carrying gold bullions, doing the lion and dragon dance, carrying big peach ( longevity), skipping, doing acrobatics , having a picnic …..are there really 100 children in this painting ? well..you count and tell me lahh

The other attraction was the huge stone carved dragons , spewing water into a pond below. There are 9 dragons in all and you can make a wish or two and  throw coins into the fountain . Picture below show part of the carved dragon and the next prayer hall- the Dou Mu Prayer Hall.

The inner courtyard  is rather picturesque

Dou Mu Prayer Hall

Dou Mu Niang Niang seen here sitting serenely in the deepest and most revered place of the temple

Dou Mu Niang Niang up close

Offerings :  these cone shaped ‘structures’ are made up of beans/peas, green peas, red bean, grains of rice etc. Pretty hoorr ?

More offerings : cologne and face powder, I am not too sure what these signifies, but PW thinks that these are  offerings made by ladies who are seeking Dou Mu’s help to find  their other half.

Dou Mu Niang Niang is flanked by 2 other deities Deity Lam Sin南辰星君 and Deity Pak Tao 北斗星君

 

And if you looked up, you will see this on the ceiling

Tracing our way back to the Front Prayer Hall, I was attracted by these lively door gods

 

   

Looking out from the Hall to the arch

The arch  served as the main entrance to the temple, according to  the leaflet from the temple , the cost of the arch is RM1.5 million and is completed in 2008. Isn’t it magnificent ?

If you happen to be in / planning to visit Butterworth , this temple is well worth a visit ! The place  will be beautifully lit up at night, you might have a different perspective of the temple

Location :

Rumah Berhala Too Boo Kong

Too Boo Kong Temple Butterworth

北海斗母宮

 Lot 894 & 896, Mukim 14, Jalan Raja Uda,

12300 Butterworth , Penang.

Tel : 04-3318717

www.towbookong.org.my