Langkawi, Kedah, Malaysia
December 21, 2013
It’s been an interesting week when I look back on it. It’s amazing how a week can fly past and yet at the same time things I did 7 days ago feel like they were an age ago.
Last weekend I was still living at Jeff’s and spent 3 days at a Chinese Temple festival held here once a year. It was really interesting to experience it. Over the three days I hardly saw another westerner and it really felt like I was disappearing into the local Chinese community here. Everyone Jeff introduced me to was very warm and welcoming. People taking the time to talk through what each individual part of the festival represented.
There was so much to take in and so much happening that I will never remember it all, it was information overload but great to listen to these people and learn. Various leaders and a priestess had made their way here from all over Asia. The leader and Priestess coming from Thailand. Another guy from Singapore, some representation from Indonesia, it seemed like a fairly high-profile affair within the Chinese community on this small Island.
Free food was served up 24 hours a day for the full 3 days of the event, and it was very good food. Vegetarian only for the first 2 1/2 days up until the end when the meat fast was broken after the last days fire walking and blessing ceremony at the end. Jeff had brought his large wooden Goddess along to sit with the other various statues and offerings on display. At the end on the last day he would have to walk across fire with her and take her to the blessing at the end.
Myself and Marshall, an American lad who was couch surfing at Jeff’s were offered the opportunity to take one of the many statues and offerings across the walk of fire to the last blessing and it was an offer not to be turned down. After all it’s not every day you get to take part in something like this and walk across hot burning coals at a Chinese festival.
The fire is started by the erection of what’s called a Dragon Pole which is carried by seven chosen people from the temple to a hole that has been dug in the center of the arena. The guys swayed left and right with it and huffed and puffed their way towards the hole as apparently the pole is reluctant to go into its place. Once in money that has been given by the community is buried alongside the pole in the ground and later dug up and re distributed to bring prosperity to those who have contributed.
Once this is done the Dragon pole is then surrounded with many other wooden poles into a tall cone-shaped stack of timber ready for lighting. The fire burns for many hours until it collapses in on itself. the stack of timber is still fairly tall at this point and the guys use big wooden bamboo poles to flatten a humped path across the middle. I was lucky enough to be there at the right time when the first fire walking commenced. There were still flames around 3 feet high when the first guys went over, Running at it and almost skipping across in order not to catch alight. It was way to big and hot to try myself and it wasn’t until a good few hours later when the fire had lowered and the hot embers were spread further that the main fire walking with the Statues and offerings began. I stood my turn in the queue and was given what felt like a heavy pot of coins wrapped in a red cloth to carry across the fire. I scampered over bare foot and was surprised by the fact I did not feel any heat at all. It felt like a soft warm carpet beneath my feet. We were not supposed to have eaten any meat for the previous 5 days in order to do the walk safely but Jeff also said that it is also a case of how pure and sincere your heart is as to whether you make it over unscathed. From there I had to carry my pot around the corner and into the place where the blessing was to be held.
The lead priest was surprised when myself and Marshall worked our way round the queue of blessings to stand before him as apparently no other westerners had done this before which was pretty cool to know that we were the first to walk the fire here and to be blessed at the end as a result of this.
The following day Jeff held a BBQ at his with some really good food. Plenty of meat to compensate for all the veggies that had been stuffed into us the previous few days. That night I was taken back to the animal shelter to move in properly ready to start doing full days there.
My room at the shelter is pretty basic but that’s because I share it with seven dogs. Five to my right and 2 dogs to the left…oh and one called Poppet that was asleep under my bed! On the Sunday I began working properly. The job involves walking over 40 dogs every morning, feeding them twice daily, clearing up their mess from walking, doing rotations with them in the enclosure at the front of my room so that they get a bit more exercise and run out, giving them any required medication and helping out with any additional tasks that the Vets may need help with. The dogs here are great, all characters including one called Berjaya who was in a car accident and now happily trots about with her rear legs strapped up into a dog sized wheelchair. As well as all the dogs there are many cats here at the shelter as well and on my first full day I was talked into fostering two Kittens that are too underweight to be sterilized and released just yet.
If I did not foster unfortunately the Kittens would have to be put to sleep so how could I refuse? They are doing fine now and putting on weight, one named Ren the other Stimpy and I have now since fostered another little ginger Kitten which I’ve named Custard. Custard has to be the loudest kitten I have ever heard bless her, but I think it’s because she has got lost and is constantly calling for her mam.
During the week I’ve pretty much stayed in and kept a low profile, catching up with friends and loved ones on the internet and watching a couple of films to keep the spending down to a minimum ready to head to Bali in January. The past couple of nights though I’ve been lucky enough to be invited to a girl named Dororthy’s house for some food. It’s been pretty cool like that as it’s things I wouldn’t have been able to do if I was just staying here in a hostel. Last bight I had some amazing home cooked Beef noodle soup and the night before I was lucky enough to have pork porridge with a black preserved egg that I have never even heard of, apparently it’s preserved in Horse urine, so that’s another crazy cuisine ticked of the list of new food try on my travels. Jeff, Dorothy and her boyfriend Jerome have been really nice to me and helped me settle into Langkawi.
My day off this week was a lazy one, catching up with this blog, checking my travel arrangements to Bali and I’ve borrowed a motorbike from one of the Vet’s assistants to get myself out and about this afternoon to do some exploring of the Island on my own. All my Christmas shopping is now down courtesy of Amazon even though it doesn’t feel like Christmas here in a baking hot Muslim country.
