sOleiLian

I’m leaving for a 5D4N trip to Krabi and Ko Phi Phi, Thailand in half an hour for my next island getaway. Yes, you can imagine how thrilled I am right now! :D Meanwhile, I’m gonna share with you our lovely UNESCO World Heritage City ~ George Town, which got dressed in red lanterns for this Chinese New Year.

From Armenian Street towards Armenian Street Ghaut

The other end of Armenian Street

Canon Street looking towards the 19th-century minaret of Acheen Street Malay Mosque

Acheen Street

Pitt Street with the slender minaret of Masjid Kapitan Keling

At a bustling junction of Pitt Street

Han Jiang Ancestral Temple 韩江家庙 with elaborate traditional Chinese décor

Quaint lil’ door at one end of Carnarvon Street

c a t e g o r y | passport to nowhere
f l u f f e r p u f f | chinese . festivals . malaysia . penang . travel

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Pekan Cina (literally, “Chinatown”) is where the traditional heart of Alor Star’s Chinese community beats. Each year, this age-old ethnic enclave will come alive days before the arrival of the Chinese New Year. This year was no exception, as the people were eager to welcome the Year of the Tiger in a tradition that’s been repeated over and over again, year after year.

The Muhibbah Gateway with rows of Chinese lanterns at the entrance of Pekan Cina

Beautiful pre-war shophouses of Pekan Cina (left) and Pekan Melayu (right)

Chinese sausages (腊肠) for sale!

Makeshift stalls were set up and operated all through the night

That lass in the middle was my cousin

At one corner of Pekan Cina

Red lanterns marked the stall of the popular Taiwanese beverage, bubble tea (珍珠奶茶)

This particular noodle stall is especially popular among night owls, since its operating hours are from 11pm to 5.30am daily except Sunday

One of the many fruit stalls

Bought some angelica sinensis (dong quai/当归) at a Chinese herb shop

Price tag with secret business code known only to the shop owner

Stalls, stalls everywhere…

Still bustling as ever at half past 12!

c a t e g o r y | alor star . my ville
f l u f f e r p u f f | alor star . chinatowns . chinese . festivals . kedah . malaysia

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Now we were back in mainland North Sulawesi, we headed to Citraland, a prestigious address located approximately 7km to the south of downtown Manado. Affectionately called ‘The City of Blessing’, it’s renowned for its blessing giver, the colossal statue of Christ that guards the township below.

There He was! Jesus reaching out to the city’s inhabitants with the Big Ben on the left

It was certainly odd to find a huge statue of Jesus Christ in the world’s most populous Muslim country. It was even more inconceivable to learn that this monument is Asia’s 2nd largest Christ statue after the one in the Vietnamese city of Vũng Tàu and ranks 3rd globally. The statue is similar in height (30m) as the iconic Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, but it’s very much taller than its Brazilian counterpart when the 20-metre tall pedestal it was erected on is included in the count, thus pushing the overall height of this stunning religious monument to a staggering 50m.

In case you didn’t already know, there’s another 27-metre tall Cristo Rei (“Christ the King”) of Dili statue in the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (East Timor), which was a gift from the Indonesian Government to the overwhelmingly Roman Catholic East Timorese when the former Portuguese colony was still a province of the island republic.

The Christ Blessing Monument (Monumen Yesus Memberkati) is said to be the world’s first ‘flying’ statue on a grand scale. The tilt symbolizes the Resurrection of Jesus and how He blessed His disciples prior to His ascension to Heaven.

Seeing that the ruckus over ‘Allah’ has yet to totally subside, I just don’t think we’ll get to see anything like this being erected on our own soil anytime soon. Any attempt to raise a grand Christian monument will instantly be seen as a glaring challenge and threat to undermine Islam’s role as the state religion of this country, especially when Christianity has always been viewed in a negative light by the Muslim majority.

To add insult to injury, the recent move to divide Malaysian Christians into 2 geographical entities (i.e. Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia) by imposing 2 different sets of laws was totally beyond me. For the sake of political power, our Government has stooped so low to become so inconsistent in their ruling like the temper tantrums of a lil’ kiddy. And then there’s the involvement of JAKIM (Department of Islamic Development Malaysia).

Excuse me… Since when these guys have the jurisdiction over non-Muslims? All these people really think that they’re the Pope or something, trying to dictate what Christians should do and what they should not. Even the current Pope does not speak for all Christendom. Perhaps they should run for elections in the Vatican instead. 1Malaysia? Utter bullshit.

Somehow I think that Indonesia is in many ways more enlightened and tolerant than this land in terms of human rights and freedom of religion, despite the occasional religious strife and the small yet visible extremist presence. My message to our neighbour next door ~ keep it up! :)

Grand, beautiful homes in Citraland

A very nice fountain with a Graeco-Roman goddess as the centrepiece

With Christ ‘flying’ in the background, LOL!

Next, we headed to the Sawangan village in Airmadidi, a small town that lies in the shadow of Mt. Klabat. The village is famous as the site of the Waruga, the ancestral tombs of the Minahasan people before the advent of Dutch colonization.

As with other cemeteries, this place was eerily silent yet very peaceful

There were 144 of these stone sarcophagi in total, and I’d never been so full of curiosity at a graveyard before. The Waruga was said to have existed for thousands of years. The tombs in this village ranged from different periods of time, some dating back as far as the 1st millenium. Distinct reliefs of various motifs were carved on the tombstones, and they all had symbolic meanings behind it. Many of them had an interesting tale to tell.

This was supposedly the tomb of a mother who died during labour. See the baby popping out from his mother’s womb?

These unadorned tombstones must’ve been from an earlier period

The horizontal markings on the carrot-like relief tell you the number of individuals buried in the tomb. The one shown here could’ve accommodated a family of 7.

Came in all shapes and sizes…

Actually, this is not the original burial site of the Minahasans. During the 19th century, a sudden outbreak of cholera and tuberculosis had led the Dutch colonial government to outlaw the practice. Subsequently, many tombs around the region were gathered up and relocated to the present site.

Creepy-looking frangipani trees constantly reminds you of your locality

Also around the same time, the Minahasans were gradually being Christianized, whose traditions require the bodies to be interred in a proper way. These events ultimately led to the demise of this ancient burial custom as the region became increasingly Dutch and Christian in social behaviours and practices.

Besides the Waruga, one can also find contemporary graves of various religious communities outside the walls of the compound.

Wall reliefs depicting the daily lives of the ancient Minahasan people

The Minahasan men of the olden days were said to be of Herculean strength and stature, thus enabling them to hand-carve the tombs from the nearby volcanic rocks and lug these huge stones to their destination via manpower

How the dead was buried…

A museum in traditional Minahasan architecture near the entrance of the Waruga

Porcelain wares from Imperial China, possibly brought here by early Chinese traders

Even the Dutch royal family had made it here!

Compilation of MANADO & NORTH SULAWESI TRIP 2009

• PART I    : The forgotten frontiers: Tales from Manado and North Sulawesi
• PART II  : Great churches of Manado
• PART III: In the shadows of volcanoes: Manado Bay and its harbour
• PART IV : Off to Bunaken
• PART V   : Livin’ la vida Bunaken’s way
• PART VI : Bunaken’s blue, blue seas

c a t e g o r y | passport to nowhere
f l u f f e r p u f f | cemeteries . indonesia . museums . religions & spirituality . society . sulawesi . travel

21 sOleiLians