how i spent my hari raya ;p
while our malay counterparts were busy celebrating hari raya, i was "busy" going to temples coz it was "jiu wang ye" (loosely translated as the 9th emperor)'s bday on the 9th day of the 9th lunar mth... it wasnt the actual day but it was better to go earlier than on the actual day coz of the crowd..
buses dropping off bus loads of devotees
lotsa yellow lanterns (looks like the other temple with red lanterns in my cny pictures) was dragged out of bed early in the morning to go to this small temple in defu industrial estate. hv been going there since we were kids but nvr knew wat it was all abt except that we have to tie this yellow cloth on our hands for the whole month. even though the temple was out of nowhere, plenty of pple came to pray. there were bus loads of pple coming either from community centres or all the way from m'sia.
the paper boat which they are going let out to the sea when they are sending the gods off to sea (the red papers are all slips of paper with names of devotees on them)
"jiao zi" (dunno how to translate ;p) for the gods to sit in
i was chopped on the hand coz i didnt want them to stamp on my clothes :P in the afternoon, went with dad n his frens to kusu island for the annual "pilgrimage" to pray there. tink tis is the only period of time when pple actually still goes to kusu island. there's nothing much to do there except visit the temples n maybe hang round the beach abit. the ferry terminal has shifted from "hong deng ma tou" or clifford pier @ raffles area to this ferry terminal @ an ulu area @ marina south. (speaking of marina south, tink it has become a gathering place for philipino, banglahs, chinese nationals etc etc to gather for picnics n cheap food. there were so many of them waiting for their frenz to gather there ;p)
the ferry we took
had to take a train down to marina south n take bus 402 fr there to reach the terminal. took one of those penguin ferries (like those we take to batam, suspect these are the older smaller types they used last time to ferry pple to batam). the ticks were veri ex nowadays, $14 each for adult during wkends n ph.
welcome to kusu island~~
was pretty disppointed coz despite being a ph, it wasnt crowded at all. missed the earlier days when pple came in crowds n the whole place felt like a carnival. maybe like wat mum said, the ferry ticks are too ex nowdays n hence detering families fr coming. only spent ard 2hrs plus on the island praying, taking pics n strolling ard the beach b4 returning to mainland.
temple
view fr inside the temple
wishing well
statues of turtle donated by devotees 30yrs ago
152 stairs leading up to the malay gods on top of this mini hill
malay temple
tink this is some lucky 4d tree which has markers for devotees to write their numbers all over like wat the lady was doing. those red plastic bags hanging on the trees are filled with stones. in the past, all the trees were hung with such plastic bags by devotees to make wishes. so disappointed the trees were mostly bare nowadays
the beach facing to main land. see how the stupid haze blurred everything
another pair of huge marble turtles
amazingly green n clear waters
top of the new ferry terminal for pple to sit ard
