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Kek Lok Si, Penang 2008 • Off-Focus

above: flames from a colony of pineapple-shaped glass jar candles.

flames from rows of pink lotus-shaped candles...

fireworks tree. err.. what's a fireworks tree? i don't really know what it's called, but it's a blinky metal setup not unlike a coconut tree which tries to simulate the lights from a fireworks shooting up and breaking into colorful bursts... got it?

this is from the decorative lights at the pumpkin garden near the pagoda...

lastly, burning flames from bunches of just-lighted joss sticks...

if these are not to your taste, check out previous post for more "normal" photos... :p

Kek Lok Si, Penang • Chinese New Year 2008

went to kek lok si again to see the chinese new year lightings this year... and came away disappointed.

ok, so it does look nice, but there's not much difference from what i saw last year. plenty of same old yellow and red gourd-shaped paper lanterns everywhere. you still have to pay for parking and to enter the ground area around the pagoda. oh, they call it "donation". want to go to the upper level using the inclined lift? more donations. last year, there were two pig-shaped paper lanterns at the pagoda to commemorate the year of pigs. this year, there's hardly any mousey stuff in sight for the year of rat.

some shots of the pagoda...

more of the red/yellow paper lanterns...

aerial view from the pagoda. climbed to the top again as last year. notice the roof with red lights, bordered by green lights at the lower roof? last year, it was plain yellow lights. ok, at least there's something different here..

some small Buddha figurines...

if nothing else, it's a good practice to learn holding the camera stable... best record so far is still 1/4 second at max telephoto (210mm, f/4.8), IS-assisted of course (not refering to the photo below, this is intentionally shot blurred).

> click here for 2007's photos

Pantai Kamloon Recreational Park - The Sad State of Neglect

Pantai Kamloon Recreational Park is located in Bumbung Lima, Kepala Batas, in northern Seberang Perai, mainland Penang. it is accesible from the old Butterworth-Sungai Petani trunk road, located right beside the North-South highway at the Kedah-Penang border.

the name pantai (literally 'beach') is misleading, as it is not a beach, but a freshwater lake/wetland, with long, wooden walkways for visitors to take a stroll around the area. there are a few gazebos along the walkways for resting and enjoying the scenery.

however, the park appears to be anything but well-maintained. many of the wooden planks lining the walkways are broken or missing, leaving large gaps here and there. the decorative pots on both sides of the walkways are either damaged or altogether missing, and the contents are devoid of anything but weeds. the metal chains bordering the walkways are rusty and missing in most places, and there are litters on the ground, some appearing to have been discarded a long time ago.

the place itself is quite isolated. there are hardly any visitors around, adding to the lone, deserted atmosphere. birds are scarce, if any at all. the only sound in abundance came from the highway, of vehicles zooming past.

entrance under the highway, leading to the park.

the start of the wooden walkway.

available info list the total walkways' length as around 1800m, but i've ventured only less than 50m of it. the damage is quite extensive - many wooden planks are simply missing, with gaps more than enough to fall through; the rest, rickety and creaking, and not safe to step on. from the condition of the area, there's not much point to proceed any further.

there are siren system to warn visitors when the water level rises to a dangerous level, though i wonder if it's still working...

bright orange fungi growing on the wooden planks.

it seems that this place was built many years ago, judging from the condition. it's even visible in Google Earth - by comparison, butterworth outer ring road and jelutong expressway in penang do not even exist in Google Earth yet. For a unique recreational park that has been around for many years, there are surprisingly few info available on the web. Googling for "pantai kamloon" returned less than a hundred results, and less than 10 are direct reference to the park. another 'white elephant', apparently?

and no prize for guessing who is the elected parliamentary representative for this area. who else but the sleeping, see-no-evil, hear-no-evil prime minister?

overall, it is highly recommended to avoid from visiting this place at all.

> ofMalaysia.com's review

Jetty @Teluk Kumbar, Penang

jetty at teluk kumbar, penang. from bayan lepas, head towards teluk kumbar, and turn left into the road heading to gertak sanggul when you see the signboard. it's right after the police station, near the local library.

i guess this is supposed to be "dilarang menjala".

end of the jetty. notice the fallen-off railing. the rest of the railings are also wobbly, so don't lean on them. there are baby swordfishes down there waiting to target-practice on you.

looking back towards the land.

zzz....

Kek Lok Tong, Ipoh

Kek Lok Tong (Cave of Great Happiness?) is another limestone cave temple attraction in Ipoh, Perak. it is located on the same hill range as Sam Poh Tong - but unlike the more popular Sam Poh Tong which is accesible from the main road, one have to go through the Gunung Rapat housing area to reach Kek Lok Tong.

the limestone cave opens up to a beautiful lake garden at the other end. There's a quarry at the other end of the garden, which is partially hidden by some large trees (please excuse the poor quality of the photos - i always do poorly in landscape photography. sigh...).

playground under a large electricity pylon.

there's a lotus pond here, full of lotus plants and many pink flowers.

and also, a blue bird perched on sam-pah tong.

Sunrise: Teluk Tempoyak, Penang

sunrise at teluk tempoyak (tempoyak bay), penang. arrived too late to capture a nice scene of the sunrise, no thanks to the idiotic credit card machine at the petrol station. apparently, it cannot connect to authorise the payment, and yet it lock up my card for a few minutes and kept retrying, and leaves me no way to take out the card. and when the machine finally gave up trying to connect and release the card, the station attendant retry it and again... all in all, it cost me more than 10 minutes' delay. stupid system design.

and then, i missed the turn-in to teluk tempoyak... seems that the only signboard pointing there is a small sign at the entrance of the road showing the road name. and then, i took another wrong turn and ended up at the chalet area instead of the jetty. let's blame telekom malaysia for this. why? cos my home broadband has been down for a few days already (still is), and i can't use Google Earth to check my route.

and by this time, the sun was already high above the horizon and it's starting to get too bright for photo-taking. no point to make my way to the jetty anymore, and just take what's available. yeah, i know there are obvious lens flare in the photos. sigh...

Sam Poh Tong Temple, Ipoh

Sam Poh Tong is one of the popular temple in Ipoh, located at the Gunung Rapat area. it's unique in that it is built directly into the limestone hillside, utilising the existing natural caves.

in front of the temple lies a beautifully landscaped garden, with a fish pond.

a grafitti on the wall, near the staircase leading to the upper floor of the temple.

a walk through the temple will lead to the inner courtyard, where the tortoise pond is located. there is also another temple building here, although it was not open when i was there.

quoting from the information near the entrance:

Sam Poh Tong, discovered in 1912, is a Chinese Buddhist Temple within a natural limestone hill. Developed by the Buddhist commnunity and now has become an international tourist spot attracting visitors from all over the world. Among the main attractions there are a beautifully decorated pavilion in front of the temple and a landscaped garden with a fish pool, which was awarded "The Best Landscaped Garden" in Malaysia 1993. Other than that, statues of Buddha and other deities are placed inside for respective devotees to offer prayers. A small pathway inside the cave leads to a tortoise pond where feeding is allowed if you purchase some Kangkong vegetables at the entrance.