Ampang is alive with the Nine Emperor Gods Festival

The festival is here, and with the invitation of the Nine Emperor Gods, the Nan Tian Gong Temple at Ampang is bustling with devotees and curious visitors. For the attraction here is not only the devoted, but also people looking for strange, new and hippest things around in the market.

This year, let me introduce two 'hot' vegetarian food items found at the Ampang Nine Emperor Gods temple fair to you:

1. Pokeball ice-cream: With all the fuss about Pokemon Go, it isn't surprising that there were at least two stalls selling Pokeball ice-cream. Basically ice-cream in a Pokemon ball, with a cute little Pokemon inside, hehe.
   
2. Mushroom buns: These shiitake mushroom lookalikes are actually buns with a cream of mushroom and cabbage filling. Priced at RM4 each, they are surprisingly delicious albeit a little pricey.
   

So if you are free over the weekend, do drop by and get ready to be hit by the Pokemon craze, try a mushroom or two (perhaps you will grow big or maybe small) and be swamped by the usual swarm of people, smoke and sounds of the festival this year.

The Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2016

The Nine Emperor Gods festival has begun at Ampang Nine Emperor Gods Temple with the raising of the lantern pole just now. Tonight they will go out to 'invite' the Emperor Gods from a 'secret' location before the lanterns are lit.

Testing the lanterns on the lantern pole.

The edict and invitation that informs the gods that the temple will host the festival

Rushing to put the joss-sticks in at the lantern pole altar.

Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2016 is drawing near

I know, I know, it is that time of the year again... The funny turtle buns, eating stinky tofu, buying tooth-decaying candy from the stalls that are synonymous with the Nine Emperor Gods Festival, which will run from 1st Oct to 9th Oct 2016. In terms of blogging, this year I will do a slight change in the way I blog this festival.

In this blog, I will post the usual events and daily happenings of the festival that I visit, whilst in Photo.Culture.Travelogue, the content will be more of a photo-blog. So to kick off the year's countdown, let me show you snippets of photos that I have posted as countdown for the Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2016.

For more info on the happenings and schedule of the famous Ampang Nine Emperor Gods Festival, click on to Cheryl Hoffmann's site on Nine Emperor Gods Festival where she has meticulously listed down the daily events for Ampang Nan Tian Gong Nine Emperor Gods Temple. Don't forget also to take a look at her stunning and emotionally touching photos of this festival.

Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2016 Countdown - 1 More Day

Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2016 Countdown - 2 More Days

Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2016 Countdown - 3 More Days

Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2016 Countdown - 4 More Days

Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2016 Countdown - 5 More Days

Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2016 Countdown - 6 More Days

Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2016 Countdown - 7 More Days

Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2016 Countdown - 8 More Days

Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2016 Countdown - 9 More Days

Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2016 Countdown - 10 More Days

Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2016 Countdown - 11 More Days

Or you can click on this link Nine Emperor Gods Festival Countdown 2016 to view all of the post in the countdown series in the Photo.Culture.Travelogue blog.

Coming soon... Royal Floria 2016

Royal Floria 2016 is coming up, running from 27th May to 4th June 2016 with the theme “Magical World of FLORIA”, and featuring the Chrysanthemum as the theme flower. We went to see how a friend was setting up the exhibit and had a chance to see how they set things up.

Chrysanthemums - theme flower for this year's Floria

Main walkway with 'kites'

Quirky garden themes on one of the exhibit

Painting the Gingerbread House

Adding touches to the display inside the Floral Pavilion

Lights and twilight.

This year, the Magic of the Night returns to the site of Floria (ie no longer at Marina Putrajaya), which will make it easier for people to see it. The dancers were busy practicing their moves for the event in the evening.

Magic of the Night at Floria... Yippy

Istana Budaya dancers getting their moves right for Magic of the Night.

We manage to see work done on the Candy Courtyard, which is one of the large exhibits in Floria. The work done on the display is amazing.

View of the Candy Courtyard.

Love the train covered in Chrysanthemums.

Pink elephant at the Candy Courtyard

Another new thing for this year's Floria is the bonsai exhibition and competition by the Malaysian Bonsai and Suiseki Society. Many lovely specimens of bonsai will be on display at the Malaysia-China Friendship Pavillion.

Bonsai exhibition and competition

It ain't heavy, it is a bonsai...

Lovely bonsai are on display

So make a date to go to Royal Floria this school holiday season. There are many things for every member of the family. 

Jom.... Penang state pavilion being set up.

Working hard to get the flowers in inside the Floral Pavilion.

Sunset over the bridge at Floria... but work still in progress

More work in progress...

And even more work in progress to bring you Royal Floria 2016...

 

Penang Hot Air Balloon Fiesta 2016

This was my first time seeing the Penang Hot Air Balloon Fiesta as I missed the inaugural year it was held due to other commitments, So deciding to make full use of the day, I choose to go at 7am in the morning. Parking was not an issue as there were many areas that were designated parking lots, and all within comfortable walking distance to the venue which is Padang Polo.

When I arrived, the balloonist were in the midst of inflating the balloons. It is amazing to watch this process of transformation; from a crumpled, indistinguishable bundle of fabric and lines they blossomed into love balloons, some with interesting shape such as an alien rocket, ice-cream, three wise monkeys and an oversized zebra head! Entrance to the grounds is FREE but tethered rides and cold-inflation balloon envelope walk-in are ticketed but are very reasonably priced (click here for pricing).

Firing up the ice-cream balloon.

Alain Bard firing up his Alien Rocket Special Shape Balloon.

Errr.... I think there are aliens looking at us.

Mr Z must be feeling all hot inside

Mr. Z the oversized zebra head.

The middle one is the three wise monkey balloon, which was very popular with visitors.

The balloons were then deflated at around 9.30pm due to the weather, and I spend some time browsing the stalls and looking at the various items for sale around the show grounds. Only the tethered rides balloons were still up and looking great with Penang Hill as the backdrop. Alas, the tethered rides were sold out whilst I was busy taking photos of the inflation process, so I made up my mind I will come back for the Night Glow show.

The evening started with the balloons being re-inflated whislt we waited for the VVIPS to arrive for the official opening of the Penang Hot Air Balloon Fiesta 2016. After some stage performances, the long awaited night glow really swept visitors breath away, with the balloons putting on the burners that illuminated the balloons beautifully. This was definitely something worth waiting for. To cap it all, there was a fireworks display at the end of the Night Glow show.

On the back row from left to right the special shape balloons are: the Montgolfier replica balloon, Mr Z the oversized zebra head, Alien Rocket, Orange, Three Wise Monkey (only partly visible) and Ice cream.

So for those who missed it on the first day, there is still tomorrow (10th February). My advice is to wither go early, watch them inflate and be exposed to how they do it, and then enjoy the other activities on site, or go lin the evening and stay for the night glow. If possible, do both, and get the best out of this well-organized event. It is worth your time to catch it.

Kudos to the organizer AKA Balloon, the Penang state government and all involved, for this is a very well put together event and I think everyone in Penang should not miss.

Ampang Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2015 - Feeding of the Heavenly Army on Day 3

Day 3, 6 and 9 sees the feeding of the Heavenly Army at Ampang Nine Emperor Gods. This is where they put buckets of food out for the Generals and Heavenly Army of the five directions. On the 3rd day, they will also plant the five directional flags on the perimeter of the temple, signifying the Heavenly army and their generals standing guard over the temple at the four corners and in the centre.

The medium in a trance self-immolates and overseas the feeding of the heavenly army with the Taoist priest.

No, he is not going to issue you summons for parking haphazardly - the medium going around the temple inspecting the temple ground and getting rid of any 'evil' influences that might have sneaked in

After a short break, the medium trancing the Nine Emperor God will also make an inspection round of the entire temple. The fun part is to watch him inspect the dorms (where we had no idea which way he would come in or out from - kinda like a guessing game) and also of the opera stage, where he does a little twirl at centre stage.

The Emperor God and his royal entourage of priest, assistants and RELA personnel.

Presenting the Ampang Nine Emperor Gods production of.... the Nutcracker Suite.... NOT. The Nine Emperor God dances as he goes through the opera stage.

LINKS:

• Coming Up... Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2015
• Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2015 - the Preparation
• The Nine Emperor Gods are here - Invitation ceremony 
• Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2015 - First Day @ Ampang
• Ampang Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2015 - Day Two 

Ampang Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2015 - Day Two

The second day of Nine Emperor Gods Festival sees the invitation of the Finance Minister at Ampang Nan Tian Gong temple. This procession mirrors that of the Nine Emperor Gods invitation ceremony on the 12th of October, with the difference being the Finance Minister, Tian Fu Yuan Shuai is the deity invited this evening.

Fishy... Chinese love their fish. Here there are many fishes and a phoenix flying to the temple.

The other difference to this procession compared to that of the first one is that the energy levels seemed to be very high, and everyone seemed to be anxious to get the Finance Minister back to the temple. Well, who wouldn't want to be in the good books with the money guy? Especially in times of economic hardship, everyone must be praying hard that Tian Fu Yuan Shuai will bless them with money and more money...

Sushi or shashimi...

The cutest dragon and dragon dancers in town...

The palanquin leaving the temple.

The outriders for the gods do not have sirens nor flashing lights, just these plaques.

Hi ho, hi ho.. is off to the invitation we go. The ladies trooping down the road at the start of the invitation ceremony.

The number of visitors were much more too, due to the public holiday, as well as photographers, making it a mad dash for the best spot to see the happenings in the temple. So for those who prefer to see the procession at Ampang Nan Tian Gong Temple with less maddening crowd, the invitation ceremony for the Nine Emperor Gods is a far calmer, more restrained and regal in a way as compared to the invitation of the Finance Minister.

LINKS:

• Coming Up... Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2015
• Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2015 - the Preparation
• The Nine Emperor Gods are here - Invitation ceremony 
• Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2015 - First Day @ Ampang
• Ampang Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2015 - Feeding of the Heavenly Army 

Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2015 - First Day @ Ampang

The first day of the festival at Ampang Nan Tian Gong Nine Emperor Gods temple started off as a quite day immersed in prayers and offerings. However, the mood became very festive after 6pm, probably due to the next day being a public holiday in Malaysia for Awal Muharram. By 8pm, the crowds were surging in, the opera blaring away and incense smoke pouring through the vents and doors of the temple.

Devoted to her prayers... she is a picture of calm in the sea of moving devotees in the temple.

Then a heavy downpour came and somewhat slowed everything down. It was more of a gridlock scenario as devotees crammed into whatever sheltered space available to avoid the rain. The crowd then slowly thins out as the night passes.

Peace (ie safety) wherever you go... a LED sign hanging from one of the stalls outside the temple.

Reciting prayers to the Nine Emperor Gods.

Yes or no.... the lady was throwing divination blocks to obtain an answer from the Nine Emperor Gods.

Tortoise buns with lucky lottery number - a popular offering in this festival.

The atmosphere of the temple at 7pm was rather quiet, as can be seen from this shot.

The crowds came around 8pm... you could hardly move through the road without elbowing someone.

A costume's equivalent of a bad hair day - Chinese opera actors and actresses were performing on stage.

Reflections - after a heavy downpour. It didn't dampen the spirits of the visitors and they continued on despite the wet ground full of puddles.

The second day will probably be more festive and crowded as there will be a procession at 7pm to invite the Finance Minister, Tian Fu Yuan Shuai.

LINKS:

• Coming Up... Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2015
• Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2015 - the Preparation
• Ampang Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2015 - Day Two 
• Ampang Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2015 - Feeding of the Heavenly Army