Penang Hill, Kek Lok Si Temple : High in Height/Spirits

One thing I really like when I am traveling is temple-running! (not surprising as I am living in Brunei and the closest thing to a temple around here is a tiny one in the city) (note: I'm a Christian but I love visiting temples, cathedrals alike)

So naturally when we were in Penang. we just had to visit the Kek Lok Si (极乐寺) temple, which is the biggest and most popular Buddhist temple there.

We went to two tourist sites in one day, the Penang Hill/ Bukit Bendera and the Kek Lok Si Temple because it was sights day!

To go to Penang Hill, you had to drive around 30 mins if you were coming from Georgetown like we did. Then you had to queue to take a train to go uphill. The train looks like this:

The queue was quite long and it was very hot but good thing the queue moved quite fast

Tourist Prices

A return ticket for an adult is 30RM
For children aged 4 - 6 years old it is 5RM
Older children / students : 15RM
Senior Citizens : no discount unless you are Malaysian.

If you really want to, you can pay double for the "Fast Lane".

For Malaysian citizens who show their MyKad the prices are as follows :

Adult : 10RM
Children (4-6) : 3RM
Student Ticket : 5RM
Senior Citizens (60+) : 5RM
Students : 4RM

Disabled people can travel for free.

Information retrieved from http://www.travel-penang-malaysia.com/penang-hill-train.html

 All of us were Malaysians with MyKads except my boyfriend but the officials didn't check so we went in with MyKad prices :|

Up we go!!

I remember the tram to be really crowded so thankfully, it wasn't a long ride. Also, it is notable that we went on a public holiday.

Crowded like in a city MRT station at rush hour -_-

Quite a misty view from the top!

My boyfriend and I LOVE these things. Ok fine, maybe its just me and my boyfriend just tags along but I love putting lovelocks on anything with lovelocks that I see! Our first one was in Paris, with this being the second time. Our third will be at Seoul the end of the year :P 

^_^

With our awesome friends who drove down from KL city to hang with us!

Our love bent the bench :P

Then later, we went and took a buggy ride (of course you can choose to walk if you wish but mind you the walk is against gravity and it is around 2km). You can choose whether you want a Mandarin or English speaking guide/ buggy driver.

In the buggy going up ^_^

Bros

Towards the end of the ride and higher up the hill at the Monkey Cup Garden, there was a Kopi Hutan al fresco 'cafe' (notably the highest in Penang- literally) for us to have coffee in the woods!

As you can see, the coffee was made in a moka pot and we had snacks too while seated on rock-stools in the jungle. It was rather cooling and I was grateful there wasn't any mosquitoes!

Yvonne's lovely photography skills are king

The coffee was smooth, like the black coffee I normally drink!

Posing outside the Monkey Cup Garden. We didn't enter the Garden, which is "a collection of various Nephentes (Monkey Cup) species cultivated in a beautifully designed mossy garden at the right environment. There are original as well as hybrid species from Malaysia, Indonesia, India, The Philippines, and other countries. There will be a dedicated tour guide explain and show you around the garden." source: http://penangfoodie.com/highest-cafe-penang-kopi-hutan/

After that we drove for a bit (forgot how long!) to Kek Lok Si (极乐寺) Temple. In Penang Hokkien, Kek Lok Si means "Temple of the Supreme Bliss". So thankful we drove ourselves because it meant we didn't have to walk up!! It was a really hot day.

The 极乐寺 one of Southeast Asia's largest Chinese Buddhist temples and is one of the most well-known attractions in Penang.
I've always been fascinated with religious architecture and writings, so off we went!

We were first greeted by this huge Goddess of Mercy, KuanYin statue, which is a 30.2m of bronze. It was only completed and open to public in 2002.

We then bought these 'wishes' and placed them on wishing trees

My boyfriend made a donation for a roof tile for the construction/ upkeeping of the temple

Many other donors!

A monk handling this donation panel inside the temple

Inside the Grand Hall

The Temple is so large that we had to take a short inclined lift ride to the other side! The inclined lift ride is RM4/person:

There was a Ban Po Thar, the Kek Lok Si Pagoda in the Central Pavilion, which we entered, all 7 tiersof it! The Kek Lok Si Pagoda is interesting because of how it was built. The base of the pagoda was built in a Chinese style, the center is Thai, and the top is Burmese. So there are three sections of culture and history within the pagoda, and you can really see the difference both inside and from the outside structure. 

source: https://migrationology.com/kek-lok-si-temple-penang/

The pagoda doesn't look very tall here but the walk up was quite tiring, as some of the stairs were steep and narrow, like this:

Due to each floor being of different, we experienced each floor of different styles of Buddha, shrines and decorations that ranged from Chinese, Burmese and Thai. It was really interesting to see what each tier had. There was one with a sleeping Buddha.

The wall tiles were also different on each and every tier, with two of my favorites here:

The view when we reached the 7th level was really beautiful!

Because of the heat and the walk, my friends didn't follow us up so we had to take this using self-timer which i think turned out okay :P

Interestingly enough, brothers Aw Boon Par and Aw Boon Haw gifted the Kek Lok Si Temple this gateway. Last year, my boyfriend and I visited the Haw Par Villa in Singapore, which was built by the two philanthropist brothers.

Also, they are more popularly known to introduce the Tiger Balm ointment :)

Our friends, Yvonne and Kong

Here's a very good and informative link about Kek Lok Si Temple if you want to find out more: http://www.penang-traveltips.com/kek-lok-si-temple.htm

:)