Kampong China Temple 鎮興宮 @ Kota Baru

My (faint) memories of the Kampung China temple consist of 3D dragons, big crowds.  smell of incense ,  watching my grandmother praying while  throwing and re-throwing two kidney shaped thingies on the floor.

Mention temples in Kelantan, and you will probably be swamped with images of  the many many colourful Thai/ Buddhist temples along the roadsides and in the kampungs. When I googled for Chinese temples in Kota Baru, the search resulted in tours to the Buddhist temples. Frankly, I am ( still) not sure of the name of this temple, we refer to the temple as the   唐 人坡 廟 meaning the temple of kampong china , and from my net search and matching the photos, this seemed to be = Tokong Mek, and when I try to confirm with family members and friends, no one seemed sure..hmmm…can anyone help ?

The temple is located close by to the shore of the Kelantan river, you can actually see the river from the outside of the temple grounds and vice versa. At the time of visit the temple was under some renovation- this could be  part of the Jabatan Warisan Negara restoration projects for 2007 ? click here  

Stepping into the hall, there will be pillars with entwining dragons and the big incense holder.

The main deity of the temple is the Ma Tzu  妈祖 , the  goddess who is  associated with the sea

Flank on the right by  Kuan Yin

 

And on the left General Zhou (  mum is not sure about  General Zhou). Anyone can help with the info ?

Incense ’station’  at the side of the main shrine hall

 Price list of the New Year large incense which will be lighted on the 1^st, 9^th or 15^th day  ( 4 ft incense RM15/ piece, 6 ft – RM60, 8 ft -RM120 ..12ft – RM220). We paid for  two 6 ft incense to be lighted on the 1^st and 15^th day, and I was given the honour of writing new year wishes on a red piece of paper which will be stuck on the incense, I hope the gods can read my ugly scribble.

 

 I remember my elderly neighbour Ah Chim ( elderly auntie) who used to visit the temple a few days before Chinese new year and bid  to bring the ‘gold turtle’  home, the bidding goes like this. You would have to pray to the gods and the gods give their consent via the 2 kidney shaped wooden thingies. Each kidney has a rounded surface and a flat back . what you want to achieve in a throw- when the kidneys hit the ground -  one kidney is facing up, then the other should be  facing down. And you will have to get 3 consecutive up/down for it to ‘count’ as a ‘yes’ / ’success’ . There is a ‘ minimal value’ for  each throw, example RM5/ throw , so you can imagine it can be a rather large sum if the kidneys refuse to cooperate , and some might not even be successful,  but AhChim being a good and pious person always managed to bring the turtle home every year.

 

I have always been in awe of these dragons, they look like  they are ready to pop out of the wall

This big drum is a gift from the Sultan ( Sultan Mohammad the 2^nd) in 1879, which makes it pretty ancient , I guess.

Mum didn’t know much about the history of the temple , although she mentioned there used to be a Kapitan who stays around Kampung China.

Click here to view an interesting blog with nice pictures about Kelantan

Marco Seafood @ Kompleks Cemera Asri , Medan & Maha Vihara Maitreya

We arrived at Marco around 8pm ( which is 9pm Malaysian time, way way past my dinner time..stomach growling…). Marco is an open air restaurant, the street in front of the restaurant is arranged with red plastic chairs and white tables, my host mentioned that dining starts from 5pm until late night. While making way to our table, noticed that people were feasting on crabs, prawns, ikan bakar etc and the place was nearly full, there’s also indoor seats and there is not a single soul in there, so I guess people in Medan share the same sentiments with the Malaysian on their preference to dine in open areas lah..

My host had brought along his 8 year old kid who was decked in pink from  head ( pink ribbons) to toe (pink sandals), I was trying to catch her eye and making faces at her ( actually, I have a funny looking face even without trying)  but she seemed to sulk and punch her father’s belly  whenever I try to talk to her, I think she will make a good WWF contender..

We had asparagus soup,- not the mat salleh type but  which looked like sharkfin soup with the ‘egg flower’ ( egg twirls) and as for the taste, it taste like shark fin soup ( plus the starchy part) with undertones of spiciness, the asparagus was soft and goes well with the soup.

When I took out the camera to snap some pictures of the dishes, little girl had this puzzle and sulky  look on her face ( my interpretation  of her expression is ‘what is this crazy woman doing, has she gone off her rocker..’) well..they hadn’t impose any fasten seat belt ruling about the rocker ma..so, i fell off loh..

 The fried taugeh ( minus the kepala) was next , there were bits of spring onions and prawns in the dish. The taugeh was fried with some garlic,  The dish looked plain with not much of colour, and luckily it taste better than it’s appearance.

The  deep fried sotong seemed to be the only dish that the little girl was interested in as she threw a few hard piunch to  daddy’s belly when he served her the taugeh and soup . I find the batter for the sotong a bit hard, almost like a hard-ish shell for the sotong -kinda like sotong coated in muruku flour- if you get what I mean ( i.e not like those crunchy and finer batter  that breaks easily when you bite into it ). You have to chew pretty long on the sotong as well..

The fish used for the ikan bakar was cat fish, the meat was smooth (and luckily without any muddy taste) but I find that it wasn’t well marinated as the meat was tasteless.

Overall- an average meal -, I am wondering maybe we didn’t order the right dishes as judging from the big crowd at  Marco -the food must have been pretty good huh ?

After the meal, Mr Host was kind enough to suggest a visit to a temple nearby- the Maha Vihara Maitreya. It’s a pretty gigantic temple, the compound was pretty big and with a few stories as well which includes accommodation, auditoriums, classrooms and the main hall. It seemed that development work started in Jan 1999 and the official opening ceremony was in August 2008. I guess this would be added to the itinerary for the tourist to Medan.

I noticed this guy rubbing the belly of the ‘Big belly Buddha’ statue located at the outside of the main hall  ( he was carrying on for more than 5 minutes !)

I like the look of this grand looking stone lion guarding the temple grounds. There were numerous stone columns engraved with prancing dragons at the entrance which was very impressive 

There were  3 statues in the main hall, but due to the angle and the pillars , I only managed to get 2 in this picture lah. By this time, little girl has thawed a bit and we played hide and seek around the numerous pillars .

 I didn’t manage to get good pictures – but  found some interesting pictures here  , please click here  http://www.panoramio.com/photo/14133609

Seeking refuge

Recently, I had a chance to experience a 2D1N short retreat at Alokarama. Alokarama is Located on a 20-acre orchard near Asahan in Tampin district,  at the foothills of Gunung Ledang,  with durian trees, banana trees , seen and unseen beings ..hmmm…

http://www.alokafoundation.org/retreat/info.html

http://www.alokafoundation.org/index.html

Alokarama is a beautiful place, peaceful (no tv, no signals( except certain spots), no newspaper), birds chirping, the scent of jasmine in the air ( we missed the durian season by a few weeks), a conducive place to discover and learn about oneself

Snippets :

Lotus in bloom

 Kuti – monks hut/ quarters for monks that reside in a temple compound  - almost like a studio with attached bathroom huh ?

 

Gunung Ledang / Mount Ophir ( height 1276m)

 

Misai Kuching – one of the many herbs at Alokarama Herbs Garden. The plant is used  for treating ailments of the kidney, bladder stone, urinary tract infection, liver and bladder problems, diabetes, rheumatism ,  gout,  to reduce cholesterol and blood pressure. Misai Kuching has a mild diuretic action, useful for flushing the kidneys and urinary tract.

 Everyones needs to go…

May you be well and happy