Still getting caught up on writing about our Penang holiday (start reading about it here)!Day Two was spent going breathlessly from one tourist spot to another. As I said, there was a lot to see and do, and we tried our best to see as much as possible in the little time we had.
Our first stop was the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion (pictured above), just a five-minute walk away from the hotel. It was built by a very rich Chinese industrialist for his favorite wife, No. 7 (out of a total of 8), back in the days when it was a fine thing for Chinese men to have multiple wives. Apparently, he was happy enough with No. 7 to stop acquiring wives, but since the number 8 is more lucky than 7, he decided it would improve his fortunes if he got an eighth wife.
The mansion is notable for its strict adherence to feng shui principles -- going on the tour is like getting a lesson in feng shui. So I learned that the beautiful blue shade used to paint the outside walls promotes harmony. I guess feng shui must really work because I fell in love with this color and felt very harmonious around it.
I was also charmed by the decor, a combination of both Eastern and Western styles and motifs. The house mixes English floor tiles, Gothic-shaped windows, wrought iron from Scotland, and Art Nouveau stained glass with carved, gilded wooden screens and mosaic tile work depicting dragons and scenes from Chinese operas. This ecclectic style was not entirely due to the owner's personal preferences; apparently, he made a calculated effort to appeal to both the Chinese and English businessmen he was dealing with.
It's a remarkable house and I'm sorry I don't have any other pictures of it. Access to the house was a lot more restricted than I anticipated. First, you must go on a tour to see it at all, and there are only two given each day. Then, you are not allowed to photograph anything on the inside. The only way to get interior pictures is to book a guest room at the house, as most of it is run as a hotel and banquet hall.
After the mansion tour, we had one of the hotel doormen help us get a car and driver for the rest of the afternoon. We originally balked at the expense (45 ringgit per hour, or about US$13), but in the end we were so glad we did it. Everyrthing we wanted to see was rather far away, and besides, our driver, Joe, helped us to organize our time so that we could see everything in a few hours. I think we would have wasted a lot of time and energy if we didn't have him along.
We first went out to the Kek Lok Si temple. Building started on this temple over a hundred years ago and they're still adding on to it. The lower level pagodas contain thousands of Buddha statues, peacefully standing in just about every available space.
The temple seems to have dozens of altars, some of then small and humble, while others are huge, like this one:
The temple is built against the side of a mountain. You take this cable car to reach the top...
... where this enormous bronze statue of Kwan Yin stands. The scaffolding is for a shelter being built to house the statue.
In front of the statue is a place for pilgrims to kneel and pray. There's also a table where pilgrims (and tourists like ourselves) are offered a chance to buy a roof tile that will be used to build the shelter. You get to autograph the tile with a big permanent marker and receive a souvenir postcard in return. We figured that for the price (about US$8), it wouldn't hurt to get the Goddess of Mercy on our side.Actually, there's no shortage of places to express your appreciation to the gods with your money. Votive candles are for sale everywhere:
Just about any kind of Buddha statue is for sale, in every size and every pose:
The gift shops were overflowing with every kind of religious kitsch imaginable, as well as not-so-religious kitsch. We found some of the strangest things displayed together. For example, here's a mechanical lotus plant, with glowing blooms that randomly open and close... a faux-jade Buddha sitting on a Greek architectural column... a backlit Kwan Yin painting... a digital, animated aquarium display... and a plasma ball.
To leave the temple, you walk down the hill through a catacomb of shops. They're not shops, excatly; they're simply neatly arranged piles of toys, religious souvenirs, and batik clothing displayed against the sides and hanging from the ceilings of the alleyways.
Our driver was waiting exactly where he said he would be. He then drove us off to our next destination, which I'll write about in a future post.
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