Christmas in Penang
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found the Khoo Kongsi, a temple and meeting hall for a Chinese clan. This is an incredibly ornate building with fantastic painting and carving. It was used in the movie Anna and the King, which I have not seen. When I get back to Hyde Park I'll rent it and wax nostalgic about Penang. The day had only begun. I found a Chinese restaurant with excellent nasi goreng and asked how to get to the Kek Lok Si Temple. The restaurant owner directed me to the central bus station and told me to take a bus to Air Item. On the bus, a Chinese boy next to me helped me identify the right stop and gave me directions. After a short walk and an endless series of souvenir shops, I found myself in the temple. There are two sets of stairs, one to a shrine with a large statue of Buddha and the other to the top of a seven-story pagoda. The temple itself is a maze. It's impossible to see how it all fits together. Above it reigns a huge white statue of Kuan Yin.
I climbed first to the statue of Buddha, then back down and to the top of the pagoda. At each level of the pagoda was a shrine to Buddha or Kuan Yin. People were paying homage to the idols and I joined them, feeling incredibly moved. It was Christmas day and I was halfway around the world in a wonderful country, beautiful city, and incredible temple presided over by Kuan Yin, one of my patron goddesses. Each step of my way there (and, as it turned out, each step of my way back) I was guided by a helpful stranger. I believed that I had been led there and it was where I was meant to be on Christmas Day.
More magic was yet to come. That evening I wandered by the wall along the water (the Straits of Malacca) until I reached the esplanade. In the esplanade, things were happening. A light in changing colors was bathing the courthouse. There were colored lights in the trees surrounding the esplanade and people were flying kites in the dark. Just when I thought things couldn't get more magical, there was noise and commotion across the esplanade -- a Christmas day parade, Chinese style, with dragons and Foo lions and toward the end, a wonderful float of the Petronas Towers.
I found it amazing that a country with almost no Christian population was celebrating Christmas with such enthusiasm. In India, a small Christian population celebrates Christmas, but in Malaysia the entire population participates. In Kuala Lumpur, there were decorations everywhere, and in Melaka, I had been amused to see young Muslim girls with headscarves posing for photographs in front of Christmas trees. My guide's explanation was memorable. "Everyone celebrates. Whether it's Divali, Hari Raya, or Chinese New Year, everyone celebrates. That's the greatness of Malaysia."
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