16/09/09

We're lucky in London that we don't have the smog like Kuala Lumpur has. This sad sight is courtesy of illegal logging and forest clearing in nearby Indonesia and Malaysia as well. Some people are just plain thick and ignorant when it comes to caring about this little planet of ours.

All the national dailies are 'advised' by the government be it in English, Malay, Mandarin or Tamil. The Independent should feel at home here.

There's milk in the coffee, but this is Malaysian kopi, it stays resolutely dark.

Supposedly the best laksa in the country is sold by Madam Q. She has been selling her legendary dish for forty years and like most people from this part of the world they'll only stop at it till they drop!

Vermicelli or egg noodle or mixed; choice is yours.

70p as opposed to £7 in our Chinatown's Malaysian restaurants.

Coconut milk is eschewed in favour of a more kickass watery stock.
Needless to say this is the best laksa I've had.

Parking attendent bloke, I'm convinced that he owns the piece of land where our car is charged to park on.

Cousin Siew Mei

Cousin Cassandra

Hungry Ghost Festival.
Tonight is the last night of the brief amnesty whereby the ghosts are allowed to roam free. This happens once a year and tonight's closing ceremony is a Hokkien version.

Huge incense or joss sticks line the main road of Jalan Ipoh.

The temple compound.

Offerings of anything edible like rice, cakes and cooking oils are offered to the Gods and I believe the dead to follow.

There were the sacrificial animals as well. I counted there were at least fifty pigs on one long table alone.

Por Tor Kong.
Hokkien for the God of the Underworld. Thanks is given by the worshippers for his help in providing a trouble free passage for the ghosts' return journey from the land of the living.

Mum and Aunt 2 lighting their joss sticks...

...and placing the joss papers in the hallowed furnace.

The temple of Guan Yin or the Goddess of Mercy.
She's the most popular deity among the Chinese Buddhists.

(before you shriek the swastika is sacred and totally original to Buddhism)

Chinese opera, sung in Hokkien, is staged to...

...entertain and appease both the living and the dead.

It's often difficult to lug a camera around in any holy places. I'm not entirely sure if I was allowed to do so this evening but I'm sure that the gods would approve somewhat. The grainy pictures were due to lack of flash photography and a tripod.

Came back to Mum's and found Nic's assemblage of bots. He wouldn't go to bed until I took a picture of it.