Or as it is known in KL, the Thean Hou temple. That’s right, it’s time for another weekend adventure!
Lonely Planet describes it as being a bit off the radar, or someplace worth the trip to, as if it is way out on the edge of the Klang Valley, which is where KL is if you did not know. It is right across the river from KL Sentral, the main train station, and is maybe a RM20 cab ride for us, which is about $5 these days. It is the biggest Chinese temple in KL.
This was our first weekend adventure on a Sunday, which is how things will be from now on. I work essentially 5.5-6 days a week, depending on what I have going on Friday afternoons at work. So no Saturday adventures, at least not until a holiday or a planned vacation.
So it’s a four tiered giant temple. There is a a huge main room where they do…something. Honestly I did not read up a whole lot on the temple before we went or what one does at religious temples. We went, we saw what other people did, and we did that.
They do do line dancing of course because religion and dancing go together like peanut butter and jelly.
The main part of the temple is dedicated to three gods: Guan Yin, Tian Hou, and Shui Wei Sheng Niang. Honestly, I thought it was Buddha, Confucius, and a yet to be known third. So yeah, I did not really read up about this as much as I did when we went to the Batu Caves.
People were paying a few RM’s to get four sticks of incense, then saying a prayer to the sky. We were not sure what they were saying or what the purpose was, but given what I knew about Chinese culture and the family elements of the temple as seen below, I chose to believe that it was offerings to relatives no longer with us.
So given that, I gave a few RM’s, lit the incense, and said a prayer to the recently too soon departed member of our family, Jim Bowden.
So obviously, this brought a few tears to our eyes and we retreated to the top layer to compose ourselves and quietly reflect on life and on how, to quote The Dead, its such a long long time to be gone, and such a short time to be here.
Moving on from the quiet reflection, I noticed the great dragons on the roof. Really detailed, really cool looking stuff.
Can you tell that I am running out of words to write on this post? Sorry, it is 7:30pm here, and I am hungry, and it is almost time for dinner.
A few panoramic views from the top. Not sure how well they translate to this website, but you can see that the temple provided a great view of the city, and of the coming rain storm. Lately it has been raining everyday, as we were promised before moving here. For about 30 minutes it pours. Like, really rains hard. And then it stops, and it is sunny the rest of the day.
Okay, time to eat! Iris has made some wonderful smelling dish involving jack fruit instead of tofu for protein. Can’t wait!
Selamat Tinggal!
Kevin
