Chinese New Year at Sang Kiang association

Chinese New Year is a must-see in Penang where Ang Huah is probably the person who can show you most interesting hidden gems. Today on the 16 Feb I really had the chance to experience something special and unexpected.

After taking pictures of the famous popiah skin maker at Chow Rasta St and a small popiah breakfast, I was heading back to the Tune Hotel to check and download my work. Suddenly I heard the drumming of a lion dancer and I had a look. The lion dance performance impressive and very funny, the premise well-groomed.

Later it turned out that it was the Sang Kiang association, a group of people who would like to trace back their roots and maintain their original culture. The lion dancers showed an excellent choreography, made a lot of jokes and farces and threw oranges at people to catch and again I was hit by one on the head as I tried to take a close-up picture. Their performance was long, teasing and funny while at the end they had to catch the salad, tore it apart and took their ang pau or red packet with lucky money.

The San Kiang association was a group of people of Chinese heritage who would like to maintain their culture and language. Meanwhile I have carried out so much research that I know that part of my ancestors came from the Hokkian area. As I told them that my family came from that area, they suggested to trace exactly from which part of the Hokkian area I came as the area itself was quite vast. Well, I pretended to understand a bit of Hokkian and most of the time I just smiled and said either kam sia(thank you) or Gong Xi Fa Cai. Thinks may become difficult when somebody invites me for more intimate relationships and I just answer with a smile, kam sia(thank you) or Gong Xi Fa Cai(Happy Chinese New Year):-) However, most of the members were friendly and some ladies even called me "sister".

There was free food consisting of noodles, rice noodles, fried and white rice, chicken, fish, vegetarian dishes, fresh fruit and drinks such as juices and water. There were plenty of music shows and games for young and old. The Ang pau after I won the Hula Hoop game was the highlight of the day and again I forgot to charge the battery of my camera.........And the free food of course but bringing non-Chinese CSers would have been a less good idea perhaps.

In due time I thought I could make a lot of contact with local Malaysians in the hotel as well as foreign international tourists. I enjoyed Penang very much without any help of the Penang CSers.

Kuala Kangsar

Today I drove back to Penang but not without visiting the beautiful city of Kuala Kangsar. Just the scenery between Lumut and Kuala Kangsar was embedded in tropical greenery consisting of mangrove, banana trees and many other beautiful exotic flora. Unfortunately I forgot to charge the battery of my camera and there are not many photos of this beautiful place.

Kuala Kangsar is located in the middle of beautiful hills and forested areas. The combination between ancient royal architecture and nature is something that nobody should give a miss. The government put much effort in this city, a for Malaysian standards perfect walkway with beautiful plaster, all the heritage sites marked with illumination, man-made gardening all over the heritage walk.

I would recommend anybody to stay here for at least one night to do the walk in the morning or evening when it's illuminated. Kuala Kangsar is not yet well-known among tourists and therefore it is quite a local town with very cheap food prices. The tourist information is not too well organised and don't even provide maps. A very friendly library worker took the effort to draw a little map for me. This only happens when places are not swamped with visitors......

Lumut

Lumut itself has more to offer than meets the eye. For somebody who needs to chill out for some time and likes to get away from tourists, it is worth to stay for a couple of days. The ferry to Pangkor Islands goes every half hour.

The Lumut waterfront is very pleasant to walk and the park is suitable for jogging until the yacht club. Here you have a beautiful view of the islands and have a cup of coffee. There are a couple of small beaches too among others Teluk Batik. The mangrove forest is very interesting for trekking and there is some other forest where you can climb up the hill.

Dr Ridi from Couchsurfing
Last but not least, I was lucky that the only Couchsurfer in Lumut, Dr.Faisal Ridi, showed me around town. He invited me for a couple of drinks and dinners, insisted in paying my bills. I felt that Faisal would be a good friend to me despite the short intervals that we met which was interrupted by phone calls about patients from his hospital.

Not only that he works in a similar job like mine as a medical doctor, but we also clicked on a very personal level. A warm-hearted man and family father, knowledgable in medicine and traveling but a person who has never forgotten about the human sides of life. Definitely another Couchsurfer that is a must-meet in a rather unknown destination like Lumut

Pangkor Island and food

Tan Eng Kien, the only Couchsurfer from Pangkor Island
I have decided to choose my accommodation in Lumut because it was good value with higher quality compared to Pangkor. For RM 60, I had a 28 m2 room with fridge, TV, phone and balcony with waterviews right next to the jetty. This has been neceesary for me due to my work on the computer and business calls. During the day I enjoyed the tasty food on Pangkor, enjoyed the beaches, jungle treks, culture and historical sites. But everything would not be as memorable without Tan Eng Kien, the only couchsurfer who was a real local fisherman's boy from Pangkor

Kien is a warm-hearted, lively, interesting and interested guy who is enthusiastic about nearly everything, especially his future studies in Australia. He showed me around the island and then invited me for lunch with his family. we met only for a few hours because we were both tired and I actually knew the island quite well already. His mother did not speak much English, so I tried to converse with her in my basic Hokkian and some Malay. This was another experience with food as communication with other cultures without much verbal interaction. She saw that I enjoyed her delicious home-made dishes and naturally knew that I liked it. There are two jetties on Pangkor, one is the main jetty marked with"visitors" and the other one with"villagers". Kien and his family lived in the village which was not too far from the beautiful temple Foo LIng Kong, a must see, apart from the laksa and rojak in the neighbourhood


Sentimental feelings coming up in my heart as I visited the Dutch Fort. How can two different types of blood, one is Dutch(leave out the English within myself) and the other Malaysian?

The Dutch Fort on Pangkor reminds me a lot of my own Dutch Malay(si)an heritage
Foo Ling KOng temple on Pangkor Island. Beautiful architecture with miniature Great Wall
Pasir Bogak beach, my favourite on Pangkor. Unlike Langkawi, the Island is small and easily explored in 2 hours. I go there primarily for nature, beach and exercise which is very relaxing


Dutch Ford on Pangkor Island with forest background, a piece of colonial history amidst tropical nature
Foo Ling Kong temple lies amids lush tropical rain forest and gives one a feeling of piece. And few tourists know that this beautiful temple surrounded by a beautiful Zen-like garden with breathtaking views on the water is just 5 min walk from the Sungei Penang Kecil jetty.
Me eating nasi lemak with fish curry in a Malaysian coffee shop or kopitiam. Food is incredibly cheap and good value. Many locals are having breakfast while sitting and chatting around the table. You get a good feel for local life
Mee or Chinese noodle maker. The actual work is carried out by mostly foreign workers. I had to chase them to be able to make the pictures. For them it is sometimes hard to understand that people would like some photos. Anyway, when I would live here, I would certainly buy their noodles
Me on the beach on Pangkor Island. Teluk Nipah is quite clean but I find it too touristy, including the food

Health projects on Pangkor Island

Final health counselling by a health worker from the local department of the Ministry of Health

Students taking blood
All results are written on forms
The students can put all the theory they have learnt into practice and collect experience with patients. For rural communities, free health checks and counselling is of great help.
First check is BMI or Body Mass Index
Free health checks by students of biomedical science Shah Alam

Thaipusam Penang 2010

NOt for the faint-hearted: Chinese Kavati carrier with mouth piercing

Meditating or fear?
Pierced hooks are attached to the ropes and Kavatis(offerings). The hooks placed into the back of the devotee
Devotees are carrying Kavati or offering attached to piercings into his body
Poking a large spear  through the mouth. The family and supportes always chant 'vel, vel, vel' during this procedure and the pilgrimage walk to the temple. Vel means spear and was used by the God Lord Murugan to combat evil spirits

Is Thaipusam piercing really painless?

The Thaipusam is not for the fainthearted but I decided to watch this ritual. As I preferred non-tourist spots I went to the temple near Times Square in Penang. People there suggested me to go to Lorong Kulit because the piercing ritual was over. This was not really true as on my way back home, I saw some people carrying Kavatis(offerings pierced into someone's body) leaving the temple. Obviously they do prefer more privacy which is totally understandable for me. Since there were many tourists and visitors hungry for a sensational experience, I could imagine this would disturb the real purpose of the ceremonies.

As I said before in my previous article, the breaking of the coconuts and fruit baskets were one of the offerings. On the next day, the families would present larger offerings in the form of several fruits, flowers and milk. The "carrier" is chosen by the family and mostly a fairly young man(devotee) within the family. The Kavati or huge offering will be then pierced into the body of the devotee.

Piercing ritual
The family allowed me to approach very closely in front of the adventure-hungry tourists. However, I still believe that most families were spiritual believers where donations are welcomed but not mandatory. The devotee or chosen man by the family would stand praying along with the other family members chanting and dancing. This is accompanied by intriguing meditative drumming. The drumming and chanting became more intense as though they were firing the devotee. This became extremely strong as the priest placed the huge mouth and tongue piercing.I saw the western tourists dancing along the rhythms as though it was a Brazilian drumming concert. Apparently some of them had no idea of the content of the rituals.

The devotee is given some time to prepare himself and pray. After this he lays down on the mat. The chanting and drumming becomes very intense to probably encourage him or put him into deeper trance. The holy priests will place the small and large hooks into a intercuteneous area(within the layers of the skin). There was no blood flooding and I assume they placed the hooks into areas without blood vessels and spare nerves as much as possible.

Nothing for the faint-hearted, the small hooks seem to enter the skin(it could be even intercutaneous or into the upper part of the skin) while the large hooks were inserted in with more force(ouch) probably into a subcutaneous part or underneath the upper part of the skin. These hooks will later be attached to the Kavati or the offering burden and the man will carry the offering(flowers) with hooks pierced into his body. The scariest part was the mouth and tongue piercing where even someone like me who is used to medical procedures will start to gasp.

What would be a more rational reason for this ritual? Is it really as painless as people say?
I observed a few devotees and they closed their eyes as the hooks were placed into their skin. Obviously it was when not painful at least very unpleasant for them. Along with the family chanting, some men didn't show any expression, some closed their eyes during mouth piercing and their facial expression became tense, some of them were quite in pain and the priests needed to put a lime into their mouth. Part of the family and priests patted their shoulders to give them more courage. Sometimes a lime was inserted into their mouth during more invasive procedures and afterwards they spitted out the lime they had chewed. It seemed that it could relieve stress and pain too.

I smiled for an hour as one young man kept showed his pokerface throughout the procedure. After it was all over he kept on joking with his family and asked us to take as many photos as we wanted. He was the most good-looking man too and it seemed that he loved to be in the limelight. Overall, the pierced young men were keen on tourists and smiled into the camera.

As I was in Singapore, these men had to go through an 8-days fasting period and given religious instruction. I think after this fasting, they had lost a bit of their sanity which makes it easier for them to endure the procedure. Interviews with other families in Penang revealed that some of them didn't fast or received any religious instruction.

It does make sense that they believe so strongly that they could master the pain, exactly like self-hypnosis in chronic pain therapy. But if they had lost their sanity, how could they still deliberately stand in a certain pose in front of the camera, give instructions to the family and answer questions in English.

The Chinese community also played a large role in this ritual. I was very impressed by their generosity and courage. The piercing techniques were about the same but the mouth and tonge piercing was a lot heavier and longer than most of the Indians. I have also noticed that the Kavatis differ in size so did the amount of piercings, especially the mouth and tonge piercing.

Some men were given a waistbelt to help to carry the burden, so the kavati was not carried by the piercings only. But I saw quite a few men, especially the Chinese men, who administered it in the traditional way. The Kavati was held by the skin piercings only.

We can ponder and discuss for hours but I still think it is amazing how these people could go through this procedure. As I could observe it up close, I saw the differences how each of them individually could deal with the physical martyrium. Some braver than others because it may not be a pleasant procedure even for the chosen ones.

The men had to walk around 5 km in nailed shoes in the sun and the alleged weight of the Kavati is supposed to be around 30 kg. And I already complain doing a bushwalk in the sun in a trackless area? Now I can understand the fanatism of the Malaysian Hash House Harriers. Who would like to go through this penance and make offerings to the God Murugan?