Thursday, October 18, 2012

Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2012 @ Ampang - Day 4

Oh how quickly time flies, for it is already the fourth day of the Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2012. Next in line of the 3Ses is the smell associated with the festival. Firstly, there’s the scent of joss-sticks. The whole temple is permeated with this thick, smoky smell that is acrid and will make your eyes sting and your throat irritated.
The temple is thick with the smell of joss-sticks and sandalwood. More than enough to make you cry and your throat dry.

Yet the festival would be incomplete without this smell. Faring slightly better than the smell of incense would be the smell of sandalwood. At least it is pleasantly aromatic, though standing in front of the sandalwood urn is an invitation for dry throat and stinging eyes.
Behind the parking lot is a pit where all the discarded joss-sticks and unclaimed joss papers gets unceremoniously burned to ashes.

Then there is the ubiquitous smoky burnt smell contributed by the continuous burning of joss paper and also the joss sticks that were collected and then dumped on an open burning pit. This leaves a smoky smell in your hair and clothes like you’ve just walked out of a burning house.
The final resting ground for the dragon joss-sticks. This contributes to the 'burnt out' smell that pervades the area during this festival.

Another interesting smell that you will encounter is the smell of Chinese chestnuts being fried in large huge woks. The addition of sugar to the frying mix and the caramelisation of this sugar give the smoke from the roasting/frying process a nice sugary feel to it.
A man frying Chinese chestnuts...Expensive, but a rather popular snack with visitors. A fan is used to drive the smoke away.

Next is a smell that will make some people balk at the thought of eating it – the smell of stinky tofu. This year, there are six, yes SIX stalls selling stinky tofu. They smell bad, especially when they have just hit the hot oil in the wok and the heat drives the moisture and smell out. But once fried, and together with a tangy, spicy sauce, they are quite addictive and the long queues to buy them attest to their popularity.
Stinky tofy being deep fried. They smell the worst at this stage. After cooking, they are actually quite mild, like a rather strong cheese. I occasionally can smell the stinky tofu smell from down the road and thirteen floors up!
Four pieces of stinky tofu with a tangy chilli sauce cost RM 3.20. Not bad for something that smells foul when put into a wok of hot oil.
One of the 6 stalls that sell stinky tofu. This one even sells fried Durians. They have combo sets where you can get a drink with your stinky tofu or fried Durian.

Less odourous than stinky tofu but might still turn someone off is the smell of fried cempedak, or jackfruit. The ripe fruit has a smell that is reminiscent of bottled cooking natural gas, and when fried, this smell is pretty strong. There is also two stalls selling fried durians, but I could not detect the signature smell of durian emanating from these stalls.
A fried jackfruit (Cempedak) stall. The smell of battered and fried Cempedak is unique.

So when you do visit this festival here in Ampang, let your nose be your guide, hopefully to what you like to see and eat.

My links for the 2012 Nine Emperor Gods Festival @ Ampang Nan Tian Gong



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Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2012 @ Ampang - Day 3

The sun gave a brilliant show of force on the morning of the third day of the Nine Emperor Gods Festival here in Ampang. Not at all surprising after several bouts of heavy rain before, during and after the procession yesterday. Smoke from the chimney and the refuse stack indicate that the staff have been busy cooking as well as clearing all the joss-sticks and candles that were offered the night before.
I hope Santa doesn't try to slide down this chimney, he will land in a pot of boiling water, surrounded by ladies armed with cleavers and knives. The chimney smoke is an indication that the kitchen is busy preparing food for the devotees that board at the temple.

After the first two days of the festival, I was was expecting a drop in the number of visitors to Ampang Nan Tian Gong as there are no more grand processions with floats and dragon dances for this year. Au contraire, the crowd was larger on the third day of the festival (17th October 2012). Perhaps more are here to see what this festival is all about as the word spreads across town and through the internet.
Light and hope - A young girl praying...perhaps asking the gods to bless her so that she will get all As in her exams. When she grows up, she will probably pray for a hot bf and 42DD. When she is ready to marry, it will probably be a for a husband with 5Cs. Then for a healthy child....then she will probably be praying for her kids' success. As she grows old and mature, she will probably pray that the stretch marks, cellulite and wrinkles will go away just go get nipped and tucked plus a set of botox injections.

Speaking of processions, there is still a send-off procession, but over here at Ampang it is a very toned down affair, unlike in Penang (take a look at Cheryl Hoffmann's photos of last year's Nine Emperor Gods Festival in Penang). This is understandable since the send-off here in Ampang occurs around 3am in the morning on the 10th day.
Colourful hand-held Chinese lucky windmills and Halloween balloons - a kaleidoscope of colours and culture.

Back to the post topic of the day, I think the reason for the number of visitors pouring to Ampang’s Nine Emperor Gods Festival is due to the fact that visitors get to do 3S.  No, this 3Ses has nothing do do with the Japanese 5S methodology or someone’s derriere...The three Ses that I like to think draws visitors to Ampang Nan Tian Gong are :
  1. See
  2. Smell
  3. Savour

For the third day, I would start with the first ass S, which is See (Sight) - Simply put, this is a festival that is very visually stimulating. The flickering candle and oil lamps, colourful cakes and buns, all sorts of amulets and talismans, knick-knacks, flip-flops, handheld windmills that come in various shapes and sizes, fruits and flowers, different praying paraphernalia, cute chicks and handsome hotties, queens and divas prancing around the temple with their Pradas plus different kinds of candies in bright and almost toxic colours.
Sexy lady oogling at a hunky hottie not visible in this picture. Guy in brick-red shirt drooling at the sexy lady's derriere. Oh wait, the hunky hottie is her brother and he is just coughing from all the smoke. Me bad... Besides going there for prayers, you can have a fair share of eye-candy at the Ampang Nan Tian Gong Temple.
Hello Kitty in a rather 'exposed' position...No peeping guys. Move along, nothing to see.
Is it just me or are the hairbands psychedelic and appears to be spinning?? Hmm, must be from excessive smoke inhalation. Or maybe there's more to just sandalwood in the incense burner by the Five Generals' altar.

You can also watch tattoo artist giving his artistic touch on someone body, tattered beggars and well-dressed fortune tellers , hair care products to wash away the smoky smell, bong and torch lighters if the smoke from the incense does not make you high enough and Amoy opera actors twirling all about on the stage flooded with harsh lighting.
Hair conditioner anyone? Or hair iron??
Fancy torch lighters and that thing that begins with b and ends in ng but is not bang, beng, bing or bung...you know, a vase for some plant.
From DVDs to cute little lights, there are many things available at the festival site.

The list is endless, and it will be futile for me to even attempt to show photos of the above. So come and have a look yourself, and I am sure you will not be disappointed. In fact bus loads of tourist actually come around 11pm – 1am, so it is never too late to drop by over here.

PS - been having issues with photo uploads on the previous post so I am a bit behind schedule.

My links for the 2012 Nine Emperor Gods Festival @ Ampang Nan Tian Gong


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Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2012 @ Ampang - Day 2 Invitation of the Finance Minister

The second day of the Nine Emperor Gods Festival sees the invitation procession for the Finance Minister. So it is another busy day for the temple and devotees, not to mention photographers and bloggers too.
Strong winds swaying the bamboo pole late in the afternoon. It will usually rain before a procession, so looks like today will be different.

As time draws closer to the ceremony, the sky threatened to pour down on the devotees. Wind was picking up speed and I could see the bamboo pole bend and sway wildly, being buffeted by the gusty winds. Certain parts of KL already had rain, so it was a matter of time before the heavens opened up on Ampang.
Bad dog, bad dog Bad lion, bad lion, down boy...no chewing of pillars. I was half expecting the lion to lift up its hind legs and pee on the pillar.
Hey, give me back my ball! Dragon dance in front of the temple door.

But come rain or shine, snow or fleet, sun or smoke, the ceremony must go on. So here's a few pics of the day, with more to come as I slowly put it in as my work schedule does not permit working on this all day.
All around kow ong yeah temple, the dragon chased the fire pearl, the dragon thought 'twas all in the fun, click goes the shutter. Half a pound of tuppenny rice, half a pound of treacle...
This is the way we smoke our crotch, we smoke our crotch we wash our feet, we wash our, we wash our feet...before the ceremony. Those who are involved in the ceremony purify themselves with the smoke of sandalwood and fire.
They say Guan Yin has many manifestations. I guess this 'prosperous' looking Guan Yin must be Guan Yin of Weight Watchers / Fat Fighters...the Saviour and Comforter of plus-sized people.
If there is something weird 'dirty', and it don't look good, who ya gonna call?? GHOSTBUSTERS! Wrong! Call Guan Yin Ma - she's armed with a power sprayer to wash away all that is dirty and evil. 'Dirty' is a local euphemism for something evil or sinister.Err, Guan Yin Ma, can come help wash my car ahh? Dirty wor...Must pay RM 10 ah? Ok sure!
Rock-a-bye-Nine Emperor Gods, in a sedan chair...

Below is a unedited clip of several mediums going into trance and having parts of their body pierced or skewered before the procession to invite the Finance Minister. Warning - this is not for the fainthearted or for kids. Click at your own risk.


My links for the 2012 Nine Emperor Gods Festival @ Ampang Nan Tian Gong


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