Thaipusam 2009

I'm kinda lazy lately, hence the delay in posting. The following are photos taken during the recent Thaipusam Festival (earlier this month, on 8 February 2009) at Waterfall Road, on the way to Botanical Garden in Penang. I have taken a total of 600++ photos but I will only post a few here due to space constraint.

A group of Hindu devotees assemble in front of Waterfall Temple.

Devotee carrying pot filled with milk as offerings.

Devotee receiving blessing as well as a dab of ash onto the forehead, by the Hindu priest.

Milk overflowing..

Small kid drinking milk while the adult devotee carrying pot of milk as offering. :)

Parents carrying a small boy/or girl to the temple using sugar canes.

"People mountain people sea" aka human traffic jam, definitely not for those with crowd phobia.

A young kavadi bearer, I wonder how old is this little boy?

A group of devotee coming out from the Hindu temple. What u notice in this photo? Besides the body piercing and the colourful Hindu God statues on top of the milk pot, the second guy in the picture walked with closed/covered eyes.

Extreme body and face piercing with mini pots hooked to curved needles.

Oucchhhh...

Piercing the cheek with skewer.

Close up shot of the back piercing.

Huge hooks with the gigantic heavy weight pot..

I can feel the pain by just looking at the gigantic hooks piercing the skin and muscle, but it leave no pain to the person in trance.

Chinese devotee. Not for the faint-hearted.

*Gulp* I can't help but to think of... Will it leave behind a big hole on the cheek when the skewer was removed subsequently?

Devotees along Waterfall Road.

Till we meet again next year :)

Pineapple

I saw this Pineapple Ong Lai joss stick or incense last weekend (on Chap Goh Mei/last day of CNY when I strolled along the Pitt Street (aka Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling). We are so used with the Gigantic Dragon joss stick but pineapple joss stick? Interesting... First time I came across such a scene. Hence I can't resist but to take one snapshot. :)

Chap Goh Mei

So fast time flies, today is Chap Goh Mei, aka the last day of Chinese New Year. Have you had enough lokam or tangerines? I haven't have enough yet. Since today is also the Chinese Valentine, anyone throw any lokam into the river/lake/sea? If u have any extra lokam or tangerines, don't waste it by throwing into the river but pass it to me. But NOT the rotten one, please ... the edible one, of coz. LOL

Arrowhead

I had read about chinese arrowhead (also known as nga ku or chi ku in Cantonese) but never get to taste this little bugger waterchestnut-like thingy in the past as it's not available in my hometown. Poor me.

Finally I get to eat the thick arrowhead chips this year. My goodness.. It's so yummy and addictive. Chomp... chomp... chomp... and within minutes it's all gone. Forget about my favourite potato chips. :P

Too bad.... Arrowhead chips is only available during Chinese New Year period. Sigh.. :(