Sights in Peninsular Malaysia – West Coast
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Kek Lok Si Temple
The largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia was founded in 1890 by an immigrant Chinese Buddhist. To reach the entrance, walk through arcades of souvenir stalls, past a tightly packed turtle pond and murky fish ponds, until you reach Ban Po Thar, a seven-tier, 30m (98ft) tower. The design is said to be Burmese at the top, Chinese at the bottom and Thai in between.
In another three-storey shrine, there's a large Thai Buddha image that was donated by King Bhumibol of Thailand. Presiding high above all the temple structures is a striking bronze figure of Kuan Yin, goddess of mercy. The temple's name translates, quite delightfully, as 'Temple of Supreme Bliss'.
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Eastern & Oriental Hotel
The Eastern & Oriental Hotel dominates the seafront end of Jln Penang. Originally built in 1884 as the Eastern Hotel, it became so popular that the following year it was expanded and renamed the Eastern & Oriental Hotel. The stylish E&O was the archetypal 19th-century colonial grand hotel, established by two of the famous Armenian Sarkies brothers, Tigram and Martin, the most famous hoteliers in the East, who later founded Raffles Hotel in Singapore.
In the 1920s the Sarkies promoted the E&O as 'The Premier Hotel East of Suez' (a catchy phrase the brothers later used to advertise all their hotels) which supposedly had the 'longest seafront of any hotel' in the world, at 8…
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Bukit China
East of Little India is Bukit China, which, besides being the largest Chinese graveyard outside of China, is also Melaka's best jogging track. More than 12,500 graves, including about 20 Muslim tombs, cover the 25 grassy hectares. Since the times of British rule until today there have been several attempts to acquire Bukit China for road widening, land reclamation or development purposes. Fortunately, Cheng Hoon Teng Temple, along with strong community support, has thwarted these attempts.
In the middle of the 15th century the sultan of Melaka imported the Ming emperor's daughter from China as his bride, in a move to seal relations between the two countries. She brought w…
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St Paul's Church
St Paul's Church is a wonderfully breezy sanctuary reached after a steep and sweaty climb up a flight of stairs. Originally built by a Portuguese captain in 1521 as the small Our Lady of the Hill chapel, St Paul's Church is a sublime testament to Catholicism in East Asia and offers bright views over Melaka from the summit of knobby Bukit St Paul.
Inside the decaying stone interior are hefty, intricately engraved tombstones (of the Dutch nobility that are buried here) that lend an eerie air to an otherwise light atmosphere. The church was regularly visited by St Francis Xavier, who performed several 'miracles' in the church, and following his death in China the saint's bod…
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Sungai Pinang
Winding and farting through the heart of Georgetown before spewing into Selat Selatan (South Channel), Sungai Pinang is considered the filthiest river in Malaysia. Over the years it's become a drain for a 50km urban spread of factories, markets and tightly quartered residents who have freely dumped whatever they've wanted into the flowing sludge. Today it not-so-proudly bears a Class V classification, which means it is unable to sustain life and contact with the water is dangerous for humans.
In December 2005 a clean-up project began with goals of turning what many consider to be a sewer into a clean Class II river for swimming and boating. Optimists imagined fish flutte…
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Rumah Berhala Tow Boo Kong
If you're a Chinese-temple freak, it's worth checking out Rumah Berhala Tow Boo Kong which began its existence as a shed on a rented piece of land in 1971. The temple blossomed little by little and was completed in its final form in the year 2000. It's exceedingly ornate for a modern edifice, with a dramatic roof swarming with curving pagodas and golden dragons. It's home to a Taoist group who worship the Nine Emperor Gods, the nine sons of the Queen of Heaven, who are the patron deities of, among other things, prosperity and health.
Their festival, called none other than the Nine Emperor Gods Festival, is held on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month each year when the …
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Wat Buppharam
Is there a question in your life that needs answering? Head to Wat Buppharam , a 1942 Buddhist temple bursting with cartoonlike sculptures of Thai, Taoist and Hindu religious figures. The ornate Thai entrance archway is the largest in the state. The wat is home to the 'Lifting Buddha,' a 100-year-old, gold-leaf encrusted Buddha statue about the size of a well-fed house cat.
As a seeker, kneel in front of the statue, pay respects to the figure with a clear mind and then ask, in your mind, the yes or no question you wish to have answered; ask also that you wish for the figure to become light for an affirmative answer. Try to lift the statue. To verify the answer, ask your …
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Snake Temple
Perhaps the most misleadingly named destination in Penang is about 3km before the airport. Not that there’s not snakes in the Snake Temple. But c’mon – you read ‘Snake Temple’ and expect beating drums, pythons coiled around lithesome sacrificial virgins, mad monks wielding trained vipers…nah. It’s just a temple with some doped up (or seemingly doped up) snakes. It’s dedicated to Chor Soo Kong, a Buddhist priest and healer, and was built in 1850 by one of his grateful patients. The several resident venomous Wagler’s pit vipers and green tree snakes are said to be slightly stoned by the incense smoke drifting around the temple during the day, but at night they slither dow…
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Porta de Santiago
A quick photo stop but a must for anyone visiting Melaka, Porta de Santiago was built by the Portuguese as a fortress in 1511. The Dutch were busy destroying the bulk of the fort when forward-thinking Sir Stamford Raffles came by in 1810 and saved what remains today. Look for the 'VOC' inscription of the Dutch East India Company on the arch; ironically, this part of the fort was used by the Dutch after their takeover in 1670.
In November 2006, work on a highly controversial 110m revolving tower at a site near the tourist office, uncovered another part of the famous wall, thus halting further tower construction. Locals are thrilled that the sure-bet eyesore will be relocat…
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Chitty Museum
As well as the Baba-Nonya, Melaka also has a small community of Chitty - Straits-born Indians, offspring of the Indian traders who intermarried with Malay women. Having arrived in the 1400s, the Chitties are regarded as older than the Chinese-Malay Peranakan community. Their area of town, known as Kampung Chitty, lies west of Jl Gajah Berang, about 1km northwest of Chinatown; look for the archway with elephant sculptures beside the Mutamariman Temple.
It's a pretty district in which to wander and see traditional Malay-style houses. This tiny Chitty Museum makes a great excuse to stroll to Kampung Chitty. It's a community effort with a collection of colourful artefacts suc…
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Chinese Clan Houses
There are five great Hokkein clans that formed the backbone of early Penang: Cheah , Khoo, Yeoh, Lim, Tan. Between the mid-1800s and the mid-1900s Penang welcomed a huge influx of Chinese immigrants primarily from the Fujian province of China. In order to help introduce uncles, aunties, cousins, 10th cousins, old neighborhood buddies and so on to their new home, the Chinese formed clan associations and built clan houses to create a sense of community, provide lodging, help find employment, and more, for newcomers. In the associated temples the clan would worship patron deities.
As time went on, many clan associations became extremely prosperous and their buildings grew to…
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Tua Pek Kong
The name is ostensibly Tua Pek Kong, but this recently renovated structure, resplendent in red and gold and with polished black columns, has quite a few more aliases: Hock Teik Cheng Sin, Poh Hock Seah, Hokkien Kongsi and Tong Kheng Seah, among others. What’s with all the names? Well, besides serving as a temple and assembly hall, this building has also been the registered headquarters of several secret societies (Aside: secret societies register their headquarters? Really? With who?). Each society occupied a different portion of the temple, which became a focal point during the 1867 riots/war between societies. The fighting got so intense a secret passage was built betwe…
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Sri Mariamman Temple
For local Tamils, the Sri Mariamman Temple fulfils the purpose of a Hokkien clanhouse: it’s a reminder of the motherland and the community bonds forged within the diaspora. In this case, those bonds don’t come from a benevolent society, but a typically South Indian temple, dominated by its entrance tower or gopuram. Erupting with sculpture, the tower serves several purposes: it represents Mt Meru, the cosmic mountain that supports the heavens, and delineates the line between this world and the realm of the gods, which begins in the temple compound. Local Tamils pay homage to Tamil Nadu by worshipping Mariamman, a mother goddess popular with diaspora Indians who repres…
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Kota Mahsuri
Back around 1819 (the date is debated), the Malay princess Mahsuri was unjustly accused of adultery and executed by stabbing. With her dying breath she cursed Langkawi with seven generations of bad luck and expired, supposedly bleeding white blood, a sign of her innocence. Not long after, the Siamese invaded the island, and some 160 years later, in 1987 (that’s about seven generations) Langkawi took off as a tourism destination. That’s the story anyways, and its been commemorated by Kota Mahsuri, a historical complex that includes Mahsuri’s Shrine (a fenced-in slab of white stone) as well as a re-creation of a traditional house, a theatre, a ‘diorama museum’ and some …
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Temple of the Reclining Buddha
The Temple of the Reclining Buddha is a typically Thai temple with its sharp-eaved roofs and ceiling accents; inside it houses a 33m-long reclining Buddha draped in a gold-leafed saffron robe. The icon represents the Buddha’s attainment of nirvana and peaceful passage from this existence, although the claim that it’s the third-longest reclining Buddha in the world is dubious. The symbols on the Buddha’s feet represent the marks of a true Buddha (a title that means ‘enlightened one’ as opposed to a name). Also note the entrance and exit; the former is set off by a Naga, a Southeast Asian water dragon, while the latter is marked by a Chinese dragon, the East Asian equivalen…
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8 Hereen Street
Run by the Heritage Trust of Malaysia, this 18th-century Dutch period residential house was restored as a model conservation project. The friendly host will show you around and describe what era each style of the building came from (some as far back as the Portuguese occupation) and what life would have been like inside its walls over the centuries. The project was partially chronicled by Lim Huck Chin and Fernando Jorge in their beautifully designed coffee-table book Voices from the Street, which is for sale at the house along with other titles on historical Melaka. You can also pick up an Endangered Trades: A Walking Tour of Malacca’s Living Heritage (RM5) booklet and…
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Toy Museum
If your kids have seen Toy Story 2, they might feel bad for the more than 100,000 toys locked up in the Toy Museum with nobody to really love them; no one has tried to break Woody free yet. Don't miss the Chamber of Horrors (not suitable for very young or sensitive kids), Chamber of Monsters, Cave of Dinosaurs, Hall of Cartoons, Chamber of Comic Book Heroes and Hall of Beauties (for lovers of Barbie).
Some displays have voiceovers and sound effects but other than that there's not much action. Still it's a fun kitsch place to visit; chances are that everyone will see some old friends in the collection. The most expensive toy is a 1.8m tall Gundam Robot from Japan - but we'…
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Pinang Peranakan Mansion
The wealthy Baba-Nonyas of the Straits colonial period had some of the most eclectic tastes of their time; their wealth and their home’s position on so many trade routes afforded access to English tilework, Scottish iron embellishments, continental European art and furniture and, of course, the heights of Chinese opulence in interior design. All of the above crash together rather beautifully in the restored Pinang Peranakan Mansion, former home of Chung Keng Quee, 19th-century merchant, secret-society leader and all-round community pillar. His ornate home is full of antiques and furniture of the period he lived in. There’s also an exhibition on Nonya customs, and guided…
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The 'Street of Harmony'
The 'Street of Harmony' houses a church, three Confucian-Buddhist-Taoist temples, two mosques and a Hindu temple. You can savour the relaxed multicultural and multilingual environment. At the southern end is the 'Secret Society' enclave, where sociopolitical organisations carved out their territories in the 19th century.
They formed cross-cultural alliances to gain control over territory, manpower, opium and other concessions, rather than fighting along ethnic lines. Today, it is a marvellous neighbourhood of mosques and Chinese clan temples, with clandestine gateways and hidden passageways leading to courtyards. We can literally retrace the covert trails and escape route…
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Penang Museum
From the town’s foundation site, it’s only a short stroll to the Penang Museum, one of Malaysia’s best presented museums. The permanent exhibition is a comprehensive walk-through of Penang’s history, festivals and cultures. No settler group is left out and all are admirably described in sympathetic detail, a testament to this state’s admirable record of tolerance. Look out for the beautifully carved opium beds, inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and the incredible silk-brocade outfits once worn by the Baba-Nonya (Straits Chinese) population. Temporary exhibitions are eclectic, ranging from galleries of colonial prints to displays on traditional Malay seamanship.
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Masjid Tranquerah
Masjid Tranquerah takes a back seat to Masjid Kampung Hulu in terms of age but is still one of the oldest mosques in Malaysia (over 150 years old). In its graveyard is the tomb of Sultan Hussein of Johor, who signed over the island of Singapore to Stamford Raffles in 1819. The sultan later retired to Melaka, where he died in 1853. The mosque is out of Chinatown about 2km towards Port Dickson along Jln Tun Tan Cheng Lock, which turns into Jln Tengkera.
Avoid visiting this and any Malaysian mosque during prayer times, always remove your shoes and dress conservatively (knees to elbows covered). Although not required, women should wear a headscarf if possible.
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Boh Sungai Palas Tea Estate
The Boh Sungai Palas Tea Estate is up in the hills north of Brinchang, off the road to Gunung Brinchang. The approach road leads past worker housing and a Hindu temple (tea pickers are predominantly Indian) to the modern visitor centre, where you can watch a video on the history of the estate. There’s also a gift shop selling every version of Boh tea you can imagine and a pleasant cafe where you can sip tea while looking out over the lush plantations below. Free 15-minute tours showing the tea-making process are conducted during opening hours. Wait for a staff member to collect you from the visitor centre.
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Kuan Yin Teng
On Lebuh Pitt is the temple of Kuan Yin Teng – the goddess of mercy, good fortune, peace and fertility. Built in the early 19th century by the first Hokkien and Cantonese settlers in Penang, the temple is not large or especially impressive, but it’s very central and popular with the Chinese community. It seems to be forever swathed in smoke from the outside furnaces, where worshippers burn paper money, and from the incense sticks waved around inside. It’s a very busy place, and Chinese theatre takes place on the goddess’ birthday, celebrated on the 19th day of the second, sixth and ninth lunar months.
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Cheng Ho Cultural Museum
A lengthy paean to Ming Admiral Cheng Ho (Zhenghe), this extensive museum charts the tremendous voyages of the intrepid eunuch Muslim Chinese seafarer. As a favourite servant of the Chinese emperor’s fourth son, Prince Zhu Di, Cheng Ho later became an army officer and ultimately the admiral of China’s ‘Treasure Fleet’, a convoy that solidified China’s control over most of Asia during the 15th century. It’s a great stop for history buffs, although there’s too much information here for anyone expecting a casual visit. The ticket price includes a 15-minute film presentation on Cheng Ho.
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Protestant Cemetery
Here on Jln Sultan Ahmad Shah, the mouldering tombs of colonial officials huddle together under a canopy of magnolia trees. Here you'll find the graves of Captain Francis Light and many others, including governors, merchants, sailors and Chinese Christians who had fled the Boxer Rebellion only to die of fever in Penang.
Also here is the tomb of Thomas Leonowens, the young officer who married Anna - the schoolmistress to the King of Siam made famous by Deborah Kerr in the King and I. The 1999 remake, Anna and the King, was filmed in Malaysia, including some scenes in Penang.
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