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斗母宫 Raja Uda Tow Boo Kong / Nine Emperor Gods Temple

Last Tuesday was fun because I went to Butterworth for a little road trip and visits to holy places, the St. Anne’s Sanctuary and now the Raja Uda famous Tow Boo Kong or simply known as the Nine Emperor Gods Temple. If you are curious about my religion, I am not really sure what am I, I guess I am Taoist which believe in Buddhism too.

Paddy field. =D

From Bukit Mertajam to Raja Uda in Butterworth is not near! I always thought they are close to each other but not already after this trip. Google Maps was our guide and it sucks because it brought us into Kampung and using those little road instead of the high way.

Very kampung.

Which eventually made us a little bit scared because for 20-30 minutes along the road, we saw paddy field, old houses, Malay village and it’s very rural. Scared there we were lost and in the end decided to look for sign and turn into highway and forget about the maps. We agak-agak know it’s somewhere on Raja Uda Rd, so we didn’t bother the maps in the end and went there on our own.

After driving for like 45 minutes, turning in and out from the rural and unfamiliar roads, forgetting about the GPS, we have reach the Tow Boo Kong safely. So happy to see the gate and the temple. I am not a very superstitious person but I know a little bit of Nine Emporor God. I know there’s Nine Emperor God Festival which happens during September of Chinese calendar every year and it’s very happenings in Penang or place with Nine Emperor Gods Temple. It’s also season when devotees become vegetarian during the festival.

Penang is famous for this event at Carnavon Street and here at Raja Uda. It’s a little bit like Indian’s Thaipusam with poking on human flesh. Woo.

The temple was long and has a super pretty gate on the outside. The whole compound is huge but the temple is not super huge as I thought. It’s not like the St Anne or Kek Lok Si in Penang so big. But the place is nice.

They have good design, good engraving, modernish mixed with Chinese temple feel.

Although I am not a superstitious person, but since visited to the temple, might as well do some prayers for myself and family. =)

Guess what, it was late afternoon, sunset time and it was only us praying in the temple. =D It’s super quiet! One interesting about the temple is that when doing prayers, putting the joss stick, there’s actually numbering sequence for which pot and which god and goddess to pray first, so there’s like 1, 2, 3 so you wouldn’t be confuse which to start first and which to end. Damn cool for people like me who don’t really know the “protocol” of a temple. Hehe.

Tow Boo Kong rocks.

July 4, 2010
Short Tour of Penang National Park with NS Friends

2 weeks ago, on a Sunday, it’s also the third day of a Penang trip with friends from NS (PLKN), some went home and some were still in Penang and so I brought them to National Park to take a short walk and lookaround.

Do you know that Penang has a National Park and it’s the smallest in Malaysia? Many people still don’t now. =D It’s at Teluk Bahang following the trail in National Park will lead you to Pantai Kerachut, Muka Head and Monkey Beach, the 3 main attractions there.

We registered ourselves at the counter and started walking into the park. We just walked a little bit to the beach only because we were not prepared for hiking trail, it’s just show them there’s a national park in Penang. ^.^

Chuan.

Weng.

Khang.

Tzou Xiong.

There’s Sumay and me from Penang island, Khang, Chuan and Weng from Penang mainland, Tzou Xiong from Perak and Tracy and Will from Pangkor Island . =D

It’s low tide so we could go down the beach at there. The beach was not pretty because there’s no ivory soft golden sand. It’s hard.

It’s pretty warm at that time, close to sunset, but it’s still fun.

Sumay and Tracy.

Before I go to KL to study, I want to go Monkey Beach once. This place is fun!

June 24, 2010
Hat Yai Travel: Hat Yai At Night, Before My Camera Went Dead

Yes, you read me. My camera, Canon 400D went dead on the first night in Hat Yai and which made me feel sad and I couldn’t shoot for the second day.

Oh my god. Luckily, I at least got photos on the first day so I could write it up here. To me, traveling without a camera is not call traveling already, I can’t live without a camera when traveling, I want to capture every moment of it because I don’t know whether I will be going there again or not.

Cut the crap and here comes the photos!

During the evening, I went to meet up a relatives who live in Hat Yai. We call him Wen Shok, I don’t know how to relate him to me, I only know he is close to my grandma. He brought us to see his new home in Hat Yai. It’s a 3 storey shop house.

And at there, I also met his very cute grandson, who can listens to Mandarin more than Thai. Cool right? I didn’t get his name though. Not really interested in new home and my phone GPS had some problem locating my location and I was bored at time. No choice, have to follow my parents.

Then we were brought to a very cool Thai restaurant near the university area. They have a very nice garden and the interior has a cottage-liked look. Like.

Gas station. Woo!

After dinner, we went back to our hotel area. Stalls were all set up by the road side and it’s a shopping street again and, Thai-style night street shopping, it’s just the same at every where in Thailand, Phuket, Bangkok. So, it’s nothing special to me already.

Quite many people went shopping too. I heard from the talking, most speaks Mandarin and Hokkien, so I assumed they were tourists who were from somewhere near my place. =D Another interesting thing is that the Thai at there speaks Mandarin too! We don’t need to speak English or point this and that anymore. Though, I don’t really like this because I like pointing this and that, it’s more challenging. Hehe.

Most stuff by the street were clothes and shoes. Nothing much already.

Boy sleeping while mom’s working.

Mango?

Then food is at another corner.

Famous fish tank/aquarium in Hat Yai. O.O

There’s 3 of us, me, dad and mom and the only person who was really shopping was mom only. Me and dad, two were just like bodyguard, following here and there.

The not-boring part was the foot and neck massage. Really relaxing and it’s one hour at there. The person do my foot, then a little bit of my hand and my neck too! Now I know why dad so like Thai massage.

After a massage would be some supper. It’s 11pm and 12am Malaysian time already, no wonder I felt sleepy a little bit at that moment.

Was planning to go to a live band bistro after supper but sadly, the bistro was full and we were not allow to go in, so in the end went back to hotel and at the same time, my camera went dead. Shit man!

January 28, 2010
Hat Yai Travel: Afternoon Walkaround in Hat Yai City

After checking into the hotel, Novotel Central in Hat Yai, mom went to do her shopping on her own, dad went to look for massage and I was alone walking around on the street. It’s the downtown or city center of Hat Yai and it’s both tourist and locals populated area, everyone is here, very easy to roam around and I didn’t even have a map on my hand.

Right below my hotel is a shopping centre, Central. I didn’t went in to see, it’s a department store. Instead, I started off my walk from the shopping centre which is right across the street, Lee Garden. I was attracted by the large Lacoste logo and Apple logo. Cool, imagine such a small city has Lacoste and Apple. I only can find Lacoste in Kuala Lumpur here in my own country.

Enjoying the view and wind. =D

It’s nice to see people walking on the street. I always love happenings street and we usually can’t find it in Penang. Bukit Bintang in Kuala Lumpur is happenings though. It’s not very hot in the afternoon, sun shines were blocked by the building so it’s shady.

Lee Garden is a very small shopping mall. I notice that most Hat Yai’s teenager and youngster come here to hang out just like I always go to Gurney Plaza with friends here in Penang.

Although it’s small, there’s many thing to see. The Lacoste shop is in there and Apple too! There’s little area in the mall called Idea Market, it’s like flea market and can see a lot of handmade stuff, and the best part is that it’s air-conned and pop music blasting around. Pretty cool.

Big prawn! Dare to eat?

I like coconut juice. Do you?

I didn’t really buy things because nothing interest me there. It’s just the same as in Phuket, Bangkok which I had visited several times before.

I only bought a mobile sim pack which was used to contact my parents and post photo to my Away From Computer.

Keep walking along the street and found another departmental store, Odean Shopping Mall. Although I am not a fan of departmental store, I did go in to take a look to see how different is their departmental store with us. Surprisingly, interior was not pretty but there’s many people inside and many brands too.

What to buy in Thailand? Thai made funny shirt, I have a few already so I was not interested. Fake AA imitation product? Even if I do buy, I don’t dare to take out also. Genuine FTW!

Food stalls are everywhere. Every few walks, you will see food stalls, cooked and not cooked. Thai’s street food seems delicious but I scared it’s not clean. I only drink coconut juice by the road side before only.

A motel’s lobby. A bit scary.

Walked a few street and things were the same. It’s just like an exercising walk for me on that afternoon, hanging a camera around my neck. For sure, I am a tourist there!

Cute kitty. Do you want to zh’ng (pimp) your car like that?

Walked until very far, didn’t know where was I but I still know the way back the hotel. I believe I walked to Kim Yong Market. There’s many things to see and I was just getting into it, and my mom called me for afternoon tea. Oh shit, didn’t get to roam the whole area.

Another thing I wanted to say is there’s many 7 Eleven convenience store in just a small area. Every few turn into different street, I saw 7 Eleven, I think I saw 3-4 7 Eleven outlets there.

Many fruits! Apple, you like?

I asked her to wait for a while before I was quite far away from her. Another 10 minutes walk only can reach her, she was at a coffee shop near Odean. =D

January 24, 2010
Hat Yai Travel: Weekend Roadtrip to Hat Yai from Penang

It’s been a long time I’ve never been to Hat Yai, Thailand already, very very very long time. I hardly have the memory in my mind. I know my parents always bring me to Hat Yai when I was small but my real Hat Yai trip would be this time which happened two weeks ago on the weekend.

Hat Yai located on the southern part of Thailand and it’s just right across the border of the northern part of Malaysia. So they’re connected, and dad drove all the way there, for like 2 hours. It’s shorter than going to Kuala Lumpur from my Penang.

Dad didn’t bring the Touch N Go card so have to go back to the ancient way of paying toll which is queue for ticket and pay by cash. It’s smooth smooth all the way, no traffic jam or anything, passed by a lot of padi field which usually don’t get to see when traveling north and the rest houses are not so pretty. Hehe.

The road trip was good, I slept all the way, it’s so sleepy when sitting in the car for a long time and nothing to do. Didn’t even bother to listen to the music, sleeping is good for pasting time.

We then arrived at place called Changloon, no idea where the place is, but I only know the name and at there, we were already very close to the Thai border.

This is the place where we stopped by for a coffee break, toilet break, money changing and the purchase of insurance for entering the Thai.

I didn’t have toilet feel or anything, so I just wait my dad to settle the car insurance thing. It’s like around RM14 per car for entering Thai and a car can stay in Thailand for 14 days, after that need to come out and renew again.

Then back to car and drive for like 10 minutes and we arrived the border where the immigration buildings of the two countries are.

After passing the Malaysian custom, we need to park our car and got out to go to chop our passport. I waited so long at the queue for like half an hour, very very very slow Thai officer. I was like OMG and the line was so long already.

Mom told me to place RM1 note or 10Baht inside the passport when passing it to the officer. I didn’t know about this because the place didn’t have any sign for us to pay 10Baht for going into Thai, I think this is tips for them.

After the long long wait at the immigration, finally I got cleared and got into Thailand. Mobile phone still showing Malaysian mobile at that time and after a while it only changed to Thai roaming mobile.

It’s not Hat Yai yet, it’s only I-don’t-know-what-it’s-called after the border. I still have to sit in the car for another 45 minutes to reach the city of Hat Yai.

There’s no high rise building but you will see building almost the same height at like 7-10 floors and there’s the city. After a long hour car ride, we arrived in Hat Yai, the city. We went to lunch first only then to look for the hotel. We didn’t have any hotel booking in advance which made us encountered a little problem when looking for hotel.

Dad dropped grandma at a relative’s house, only we went to look for hotel. We actually wanted to go for New Season Hotel, but then it’s fulled. Then walked down a few blocks to May Flower Hotel, it’s full again, in the end went to Novotel Central Hotel. Mom doesn’t really like that hotel because she said the toilet is not very clean. They like New Season Hotel more.

Now we only know that so many Malaysian like to come to Hat Yai on the weekend and we need to book the hotel in advance.

Hat Yai is much alike like other place in Thailand, like Phuket and Bangkok, they all look the same with many cables and not so pretty building and same Thai architecture.

After we parked the car at the hotel carpark, checked in, dropped all our luggage in the hotel room, we went out to walk! Dad went to massage, mom went to shopping, I went to walkaround. Stay tune!

January 21, 2010

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