Ku Cheng Tse Temple 北海苦僧寺@ Butterworth

Two charging elephants greet us as we enter the Ku Chen Tse temple, they  looked like a pair of friendly ( and rather cute, I must say)  elephants with their tucks raised and all that. Of the many Thai temples that I have been in Kelantan, elephants were not featured so predominantly ( I only remember one temple in Bunohan which had a sitting one) but in Penang, of the 2 Thai temples that I have visited, both had elephants. Why harr ?

 

If you look closely at the picture above, you can see offerings of sugar canes placed on the tusks  and bunch of bananas at their feet . I saw some people rubbing the elephants’ belly, touched it’s feet and tusks.

I asked the caretakers’ permission before taking photos in the shrine hall,  and smilingly he said ‘ go ahead, take as many as you like, just don’t take a picture of me’, I replied ‘aiya,Uncle, you also rather photogenic mahh’. I think he was rather happy with that reply

The  main shrine hall is  a rather large area where devotees can pay their respects

 

 The main altar with statue of the Buddha , flank by his two disciples ( Mongalana and Sariputta ? I am just guessing) and also statue of a monk.

 

And there are 2 rows of Lorhan ( 9 in each row) at the side of the hall

 

Are you one of those who sometimes get confused on where to put the big bunch incense after you untie the rubberband that held them ?  or wonder if there are any correct sequences in placing the incense into the urns, well, have no fear, at Ku Chen Tse, there are clear instruction on the hows and whens .

 

There was a big water container close to the main altar, where it is a DIY collecting point for holy water to take home, there were also packets of pre packed uncooked rice for the devotees to take home, which after consumption will provide peace, harmony and safety.

Next door to  Ku Chen Tse is an Hindu temple, you can catch a glimpse ( and the sounds) of the  going ons at the Hindu temple. And interestingly you can see some of the devotees praying and making offerings to both temples. Double protection horr, why not ? It was starting to drizzle, so I didn’t get a chance to kaypor at the Hindu temple.

 

Lotsa  pixs here http://zoompg.com.my/viewthread.php?tid=29

Temple hours :

 

Location :

Head on towards Sunway Hotel, Butterworth

No. 1350, Jalan Bagan Jermal,
12300 Butterworth,
Pulau Pinang Darul Mutiara,
Malaysia.

Cactus

I have a few prickly plants on my window ledge

I love prickly plants because they do not complain much

 

Pixs below from my little cactus  that decide to show its softer side ..

 

Pasar Ramadan @ Putrajaya

This year,  for berbuka puasa fare,  we took a drive to Putrajaya, actually, I am not sure where the pasar ramadan will be at, but decided to head on to the masjid area where I thought it could be at, after asking around and driving around, we saw some buntings with the information that we were looking for  —- the Putrajaya Pasar Ramadan is at at  Precinct 2, the open area opposite the Ministry of Finance. The pasar is open from 4:00 – 7:30 pm.

After disembarking from our car,  parked along the same row as the Ministry of Finance, noticed that the were yellow lines along the road but as it was a Sunday, should be ok guarr  ? We walk across the road to the pasar where even more cars are parked by the roadside ( also with yellow lines) ,  we then saw 1 policeman busy writing summons and another was lifting a car wiper to secure a summon . And  before you can say ‘keropok lekor’ , we got back to our car , drove further up the road, make a U-turn ( legal, of course) and then parked our car at the designated car park area which was in front of the pasar.

Ahh…you could smell the aroma of food, see the smoke where some deep frying or panggang-ing are taking place before stepping into the pasar..

 

A lot of stuff on sticks to choose from : fishballs, fish fingers, chicken liver, hot dog, filaments sticks, and stuff not on sticks too, fried chicken, fish etc…

 

Noodles in big kuali…

 

Rows of Otak-otak being grilled

 

There is a stall where you can choose the sotong, ikan pari, other ikans that you fancy and the abang will slapped  some sauce  on these, and cook them on a banana leaf  over the grill

 

I was surprised to see a queue, maybe it’s just the courteous Putrajaya folks, but..this is the only stall where people are queuing up rather than crowd around the stall..

 

And it’s all for …. ten ten tenn….Roti John, must be good stuff…

 

The innovative air tebu seller, I checked the bin..it’s clean..don’t worry..

 

Ikan and ayam percik – the colour, the aroma…

 

Many species of Ikan being panggang-ed 

 

The infamous Kampung Baru Bubur Lambuk..

 

The more ‘modern’ buka puasa fare – pizza , wasn’t that popular with the Putrajaya crowd..

 

Apam in various stages of gestation ..

 

BBQ Lamp shanks..the abang manning the stall said to me ‘ you want a whole kambing also got, please call me, I can arrange, anytime..’

 

Jus Ori..

 

My buka puasa choice :  Nasi kerabu + a piece of chicken wing + solok lada ( stuffed chili ) = RM5

I noticed that there weren’t that many stalls selling  kuih-muih at the Putrajaya pasar ramadan , there were more stalls selling ‘proper’ meal  rather that the ‘dessert’ part of the buka puasa fare. The 2 most popular stall  : the Roti John stall ( mentioned above) and the ‘ayam golek / ayam pusing’ stall .. this is a more hi-tech version, where the ayam were pusing-ed  inside an oven rather that in the open fire

 

Pasar Ramadan Putrajaya

Precinct 2

( To avoid summonses, please park your car at designated parking area !)