Penang - Kek Lok Si Temple

Kek Lok Si Temple is the largest and most well-known Buddhist temple in Penang. This is a must-see / must-go place, so a trip to Penang wouldn't be complete if you haven't been to the temple.

We took the public bus from Penang Hill station to Kek Lok Si Temple. As the bus would only take us to a stop near the area, we braved the task of walking to and up the hill to Kek Lok Si Temple under the hot Penang weather.

We neeeded to stop a couple of times on the way up the hill to rest for a while and also for water break. A bit of consolation for us is that the way up to the temple is shaded as a lot of souvenir shops line up the staircase on the hill.

We never knew that once we set foot on the temple grounds, it would (still) be a continuous climb up to the prayer halls,  pagoda and statues.

Still on the way up, Hendrik was fascinated by these giant statues.

Halfway through the top, there were a lot of devotees praying and chanting, lighting candles and hanging wishes for one's self and love ones.

We took the lift going to the gigantic (30m) statue of Kuan Yin.

One of Hendrik's pictures of us...

Hendrik was happy taking a snap of the animal year he was born - Rat.

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Penang - Penang Hill

Another highlight of our trip is riding the tram going up to Penang Hill. We were kind of excited to try Penang's tram going up the 800+ meter hill as we wanted to relive the experience we had in 2009 where we also rode a tram going to Victoria Peak in Hong Kong. We thought that it would be a similar experience in one way or another.

But of course, as Penang and Hong Kong are two different places with its own unique characteristics, we know that it would be impossible to experience again the tram ride we had back then. What happened was we were able to have another and a different tram ride experience.

Unlike in HK, Penang tram was moving up so fast that it is impossible to take decent photos of the view while inside the cabin, not to mention it was fully packed (or should I say overcrowded) with still a lot of people standing and blocking the view. Since the cabins are the type where you wouldn't recline as the tram moves up, many people squeezed themselves in to the tram. Maybe because it was also the holidays - so that should explain the overcrowding. Still, I think it shouldn't be like a rush-hour MRT train as tourists would prefer to have a relax and nice ride experience.

After about 10 minutes ride, we reached the top of Penang Hill. This is the view that greeted us:

tourists taking a look of Penang Island from the hill

Joseph and Lola expected that it would be cold on top. Well, it was cooler and windy, but not the cold that they were expecting. You see, we even had ice cream there. =)

As Hendrik is starting to use Daddy's DSLR camera, the following 2 photos are among the shots he took of us. Not bad...

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Penang - Mommy's Birthday

For the past 3-4 years Mommy celebrated her birthday out of Singapore. This is because we were out of the country for our year-end out of town holidays.

Last 2010 in Malacca, Malaysia Hendrik serenaded Mommy with his own rendition of Happy Birthday song:

In 2011 in Penang, Malaysia Hendrik again sang the Happy Birthday song to Mommy:

After Hendrik's special song to Mommy, photo taking session is next so as to have keepsakes from the special occasion.

Mommy's love

Mommy's wonder boys

with Lola the great

Mommy's birthday celebration is not lavish - no party, no fancy gifts, no expensive food. It is celebrated with just one little cake, but spent with people very very close to her heart...


Previous post: Penang - Butterfly Farm
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Penang - Butterfly Farm

One of the highlights of our Penang trip was visiting the Butterfly Farm. One colleague from work repeatedly told me that we should not miss the Butterfly Farm while in Penang.

Although we traversed the road for about 45 minutes from the city to the farm, it was worth it.

~ caterpillars ~

~ green butterfly ~

Lola was delighted to see the many butterflies in the farm. She, and in fact all of us, did not expect that we would see that much butterfly. The butterflies were all over the place!

~ Lola with one of the butterflies that landed on her finger ~

~ butterflies throng the leaves ~

~ Hendrik: Look at the butterflies! ~

In the farm, one can see many different butterfly shapes, sizes and colors...

~ Mommy trying to let the butterfly land on her finger ~

~ Ooppss... it flew away... ~

~ there it is, it came back ~

~ first time to see so much butterflies in one place ~

~ camouflage ~

~ Mommy and her butterflies ~

There was also a mini museum inside the farm.

~ Lola particularly liked the blue-colored butterflies ~

~ butterflies of the world! ~

Not only did we see gorgeous butterflies, but also spotted this mask-like bug in the museum. Interesting huh?

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