Seventh Day of the Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2011(九皇大帝) at Ampang (Day 7)

Today is the seventh day of the Nine Emperor Gods Festival (3rd October 2011). Just three more days to go before the festival comes to an end for this year. Despite being the 7th day and the last 3 days of the festivals (many who cannot do the vegetarian fast for nine days will opt for the last 3 days), the festival appears to be suffering from a bit of the Monday blues for it was far quieter than on last Thursday or Friday morning.

9.47am - Pretty quiet for the 7th day. The large complex to the right of the temple is the Ampang New Village School.

The crowd had already thinned out by 2.44am in the wee hours of Monday morning.

The smoldering joss stick pit and the relatively empty parking lot on Monday morning.

After a mad rush back from work (traffic crawl at NKVE and taking a detour using the Guthrie Corridor to get back to DUKE highway) and a quick shower, I make my usual dash to the temple, hoping that I had not missed out on any good shots. A quick glimpse out the window before I leave hinted to me that the Monday morning blues had totally been wiped out. Hell, it looked a lot more like a Friday night. No, make that more hectic than last Friday night. The crowd was like, let me put it this way, Bukit Bintang on a Friday night - just imagine that the temple as the Pavillion/Starhill and Jalan Merdeka as Bintang Walk, the stalls as all the al fresco dining spots and there you are - Bukit Bintang! (I could almost hear Kathy Perry's Last Friday Night playing in background, lol) Well, no quite  - can't say much about the smoke and the beggers though. The number of beggars seemed to have swelled over the last few days.

You do not have to put any effort to walk on once you are inside the temple compound, for the swell of people will push you onwards. That is how large the crowd is. There was a seance in progress in front of the Five Generals' altar, so I shuttled between taking shots on the inside the temple (I am still bent on taking photos of Marshall Tian and Lin) and standing at the threshold of the small left door to catch pictures of the seance in progress. Somehow I am awed by the medium (or the deity). He has to keep on switching between the roles of a psychologist, physician, teacher and being a divine being throughout the session. That is a lot of hats to wear!

The joss stick goes in, the workers take them out (in about one minute's time). Will post a video of the workers in action later.

The queue for the Nine Emperor Gods Fan Club starts at the main hall.

The Tian and Lin Marshall Fan Club lines aren't too shabby either.

Looks like the Nine Emperor Gods Fan Club queue just kept on growing longer by the minute.

An offering of light by a devotee.

Listening to the devotee's problems.

Inquiries on the doctor's consultation hours.

Oh my god! So so excited.
The fan club photo shots - finally one of the fans gets to meet his idol.

Wow, he gets his five minutes of chatting with his idol. And he leaves with at least one personally autograph slips (talismans).

Female fans waiting anxiously in line to meet their idol.

Oh, hurry up you cow! I have been standing here in this line for hours. I too want to meet my idol. 
Notice the black flag, which is the Or Leng Ki (黑令旗/黑令旗) that is used in every trance session to ward off evil spirits and protect the area.

The lady in purple: Hey, the bi@$%  jumped the queue. Damn!!! (they are given numbers, so the assistant will make sure that they go accordingly to their numbers). You can see another Or Leng Ki (showing the Yin-Yang symbol with the Eight Trigrams on the far end of the seance area. They form a barricade around the area of where the medium was seated.

Peekaboo, I see you! The red door under the North Star Pagoda. Reminds me of Alice in Wonderland. Half expecting to see a human sized bunny popping out of the door.

Another red door.

For your bacterial infection, please take this antibiotic three times daily after food, okay? And see me in one year's time.
The doctor (medium) and his pharmacist (the assistant) in action. The assistant will explain that some talismans are to be burned and consumed whilst the other is to be carried or pasted on walls.

Rejected Chinese TV serial script
Chinese physician: Hmmm...Congratulations, you are pregnant (after checking the woman's pulse).
Chinese Lady: But..but..doctor, I am 65, had not have sex for ages plus my factory already close down long time ago (a local way of saying that you're postmenopausal)!!! How can this be? 
Chinese Physician: Praise the Gods, it is a miracle. You are blessed indeed. 
Fairies sing: For unto a us a child is born.... Chinese lady swoons and passes out.

After getting tired of taking photos of the medium, I went off to take photos of the dragon joss sticks. They have the habit of spitting out sparks or suddenly rekindling in the wind, so photographers beware.

A forest of dragon joss sticks.

Long joss sticks crackling and sometimes bursting into flames in the wind.

I still have many more photos to post, due to time constraints will only do so after the festivals ends. Do come back and check.

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Sixth Day of the Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2011(九皇大帝) at Ampang (Day 6)

How time flies! It is already the sixth day of the Nine Emperor Gods Festival (2nd October 2011). I took a breather from editing yesterday's photos at 12.58am and stepped onto the balcony. Cars were still streaming into Jalan Merdeka from the Bandar Baru Ampang turning. The usual cacophony of announcements, auctions and the opera somehow has faded into background noise for me.

A line of cars streaming down Jalan Merdeka, heading towards the temple.

Bed, bed, they couldn't go to bed. Not for all the.... It is 1am in the morning, don't these people need their beauty sleep.

1.30pm - Went to the temple to catch the feeding the heavenly soldiers ceremony. These soldiers are under the command of the five directional generals (五營將軍/五营将军 - their altar is located on the left just outside the entrance to the main hall). The generals each have an associated colour and the number of troops under their command are listed as follows:

East Camp (東營/东营)

Green Flag (青旗) - known as 九夷军, there are 99, 999 heavenly troops in this camp. The leader is the Thunder God (雷震子 - the one with the beak)

South Camp (南營/南营)

Red Flag (红旗) - known as 八蛮军, there are 88, 888 heavenly troops in this camp. The leader is Er Lang deity (杨戬二郎神)

West Camp (西營/西营)

White Flag (白旗) - known as 六戎军, with 66, 666 heavenly troops in this camp. The leader is Huang Fei Hu (黄飞虎)

North Camp (北營/北营)

Black Flag (黑旗) - known as 五狄军, with 55, 555 heavenly troops in this camp. The leader is Zhao Gong (赵公明)

Central Camp (中營/中营)

Yellow Flag (黄旗) - known as 三秦军, with 33, 333 heavenly troops in this camp. This camp is lead by Nezha (李哪吒)

So in total, they need to feed at least 344, 441 heavenly soldiers in the all of the camps excluding the generals. Now, that is a lot of mouths to feed!

It had started to drizzle when I left my place. Luckily I brought along a small umbrella with me. There were quite a large number of people going to the temple despite the rain (and walking in the rain too).

Come rain or shine, nothing can stop the constant stream of visitors and devotees.

When I got to the temple, the priest and temple staff were arranging the altar for the ceremony. Just as I began to take some shots, I realised that I had not slotted back the memory card and was using the internal memory. A mad dash back home ensued and I got back just in the nick of time. Luckily the rain had stopped by now and I could make my way to the temple at a much faster pace. The ceremony commenced around 2pm, with three Taoist priest who did the requisite recitation and incantations.

Colourful robes of the Taoist priest.

The food was being arranged in front of the altar. I peeked into the buckets and saw that there were fried noodles, rice, and stir-fried yam

Clanging the hand cymbals whilst singing out loud prayers.

The chief priest holds a yellow tablet.

More recitations - probably the names of those who sponsored this feeding session.

Joss sticks were stuck into the food inside the buckets - this makes it available for consumption by the heavenly soldiers.

Hmm, how did I get stuck in here? Looks like the heavenly soldiers might want to ask for some Western food the next time around.

The devotees (sponsors) behind the priest on the main altar.

Psst, how long will this thing go on?? I need to go to the loo...

The 'heavenly army' of white clothed devotees - the grannies and aunties (and uncles).

After praying facing inside the temple, then facing outside the temple and also to the lantern pole, the roars of Ho lah! marks the end of the prayers after several bows. There is even a call of Huat ah! Next, the the main priest dons a black robe and the spirit medium goes into action. They proceeded to get possessed by the five generals and inspected the food offered plus a quick reconnaissance trip around the temple.

The mediums line up to the front of the five general's altar and goes into a trance afterwards. The priest (in the middle of the photo - you can see his cap with the golden crown) wears a black rope for this ceremony.

The Black Camp general slashing his back with a serrated sword. All of the mediums goes to the food area in front and do the same thing.

Waiting for the mediums to go round inspecting the temple.

Waiting, waiting, waiting.

A final blessing of the food by the mediums.

The mediums who are in a trance. The first one is the general of the Green Camp - the Thunder God.

One of the mediums having a bloody patch from all the slashing of his own back. No, the wispy white thing above the medium is not the deity floating on top of the medium - it is smoke from a nearby bundle of joss sticks that I've cropped out of the picture.

Finally when they are satisfied, the line up again at the altar and the deities return. The mediums then put back the weapons which they carried during the trance.

The entire ceremony took about one and a half hours. Due to the large amount of joss paper and paper offerings burned, the air around the temple was thick with smoke and ash was flying all about as the wind picked up a bit in the afternoon. I managed to snap the photo of the lantern even though they had a fire going beside the altar to the lantern and the intense heat was searing my face when I stood near the lantern to compose the shot.

The lantern on the pole with the South Star pagoda. You can clearly see that the main pole is covered with talisman and the pole for the lantern is actually a long culm of bamboo, complete with leaves at the end.

4pm - Just came back after watching the feeding ceremony. Tired, hungry and flustered (and burned by an old lady who carried her lit joss sticks low and literally jammed the bunch into my elbow!), I was walking back when I witness a snatch thief in action. A young pair was standing at the junction of Jalan 1 and Jalan Merdeka. I was walking towards Jalan 1. Suddenly a motorcyclist slowed down and appeared to want to tap the guy on the shoulder. I thought, hey, he saw his friend. However, the guy seemed shocked and then the motorbike sped off pass me. What sank in the fact that it was a snatch robbery was the horrified look on the face of the guy's girlfriend. I quickly spun around to look at the number plate. It was done with such tiny characters plus the material for the number was sort of metallic and diffractive, giving it a green purple colour that I just couldn't make out the number under those circumstances. The guy said he was alright when I asked, and he managed to pick up pieces of gold that was attached to the chain. A nearby resident told us that the guy on the bike has been doing his 'trade' around this area quite frequently. So for all those who are going to visit the temple, BEWARE of snatch thieves!. Leave your gold chains and other valuables behind.

Tired and still working on picking and editing the pictures of the feeding ceremony, I did not go to the temple tonight to get my dinner but instead ate at home - so no food review pics.

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Fifth Day of the Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2011(九皇大帝) at Ampang (Day 5)

The Ampang Nan Tian Gong temple on a bright Saturday morning. It is the fifth day of the Nine Emperor Gods Festival.

It is a bright Saturday morning on the 1st of October 2011, and it is also the 5th day of the Nine Emperor Gods Festival. The previous night saw a large number of visitors/devotees. This can the attested by the photo taken at 1.10am, with still a thick stream of pedestrians as well as cars crawling towards the temple.

It is 1.10am and cars are still heading towards the temple. Looks like these people have not been out partying in KL last Friday night.

This leads to a lot of unburned, collected joss sticks and joss paper. These are carted off, and taken by a lorry to the back of the large parking lot and unceremoniously burnt in an open fire. There is a tractor to help turn and keep the pile aerated to make sure all of materials are reduced to ashes.

The final destination for the collected unburnt joss sticks and joss paper. The lorry brings them over from the temple and the tractor helps keep the pile together and occasionally aerates the burning mass.

The early bird catches the...car. Parking attendants working hard early in the morning (7.30am).

After looking at all the offerings that were given to the deities yesterday, I am contemplating the idea of blogging about the deities who are supposedly the recipients of those supplication. There are numerous deities enshrined in the temple besides the Nine Emperor Gods that is never shown to the casual visitor.

2.15pm - the weather took a turn and the heavens suddenly opened and poured down on the visitors. Some came well prepared with their brollies. The shower was very much welcomed by me as it provided a respite from the heat and all of that incense smoke billowing from the temple, that has made make me comprehend for the apparent sluggishness of the vipers at the Snake Temple in Penang. There were many buses parked at the parking lot, so I guess the temple must be chock-full of people at this moment.

Oh, no, don't let the rain come down on me. I came prepared with my brolly.

A blessing from the skies as I feel that it was a very much needed shower.

3.20pm, and despite a short period where the skies promised to clear up, it appears that the Nine Emperor Gods must have some other plans - dark clouds seems to be gathering up around the vicinity and I just heard thunder crashing. Maybe Ampang Village needs to cleanse from all the stinky tofu smell that has been going on for the past few nights. As i am writing this and editing photos for this post, the sun suddenly decided to take a peek from behind the clouds. Hmm, the weather must be crazy.

Tonight I had a late start, and looking at the number of cars parked by the roadside and also those heading towards the temple, I knew it would be quite impossible to get up close and personal with the deities, especially those in the middle chamber. I did managed to photograph the North and South Star deity altar, which is in front of the pagodas as they are housed within the pagoda and the entrance screened off with yellow cloth.

The pagoda on the left of the temple (looking at the temple) houses the North Star deity (北斗星君). The joss urn is in front of the pagoda.

The pagoda on the right houses the South Star deity (南斗星君).

View of the two pagodas that houses the North and South Star deity. Look at that crowd! Now I know how a sardine in a can feels like.

I was having a hard time trying to get a decent photo of the five generals' altar located on the right side of the temple so I entered the first chamber and tried to get photos of Marshal Tian and Lin (田府林府元帅). This altar is located on the left side of the first chamber. Either someone bumps me at the moment of the shot or I get heads bobbing up and down in the shot. Hmm, the situation does look good for me, and the atmosphere inside was getting more frantic by the minute. The temple staff had to keep on asking the worshipers to be patient and queue up to put the joss sticks in the urn. Perhaps they can institutionalise a token number system for each altar, lol. I had a little more luck though with the Jade Emperor's altar. Looks like the Jade Emperor still remembers me.

The Jade Emperor. On top of the altar housing are the characters 玉皇殿/玉皇殿 meaning the Jade Emperor's Hall. He holds a jade slab emperor's tablet with both his hands in front of him and wears the Chinese flat-board emperor's crown.

Realising that I would not be able to make much progress in here, I left for the opera stage to take some photos of the Amoy Opera characters. All the seats were taken, so you just got to stand and watch wherever you can. I was trying to make out the story as I have limited comprehension of the Hokkien dialect used. (being from Penang, the only dialect that I can converse well in is the Penang Hokkien dialect).

A lady with a scarred face laments of her sorrow.

Two siblings - the one in blue is the elder brother whilst the one in pink is one of his identical twin sisters.

The arrival of the Imperial Edict.

They kneel to receive the edict. Sound like the Emperor is looking for the twin sister as a bride. The sister unfortunately is nowhere to be found. The sister has an idea - since they are identical, she will stand in for her sister lest the family gets beheaded for disobeying the Imperial Edict.

She is veiled and led to the sedan chair. The pink cloth at the side is the 'sedan chair'.

So long, farewell, I have to say goodbye...She goes inside the 'sedan chair' and leaves. Hmmm, her feet are showing - reminds me of the Flintstones' car.

The husband of the sister (whom just left, i think) shows up afterward looking for his wife. He is a physically grotesque and mentally retarded physically and mentally challenged man.

The Imperial Court - the Emperor and his very camp eunuch.

All four characters on stage.

The child who sells flowers to support her mother with an ugly face (the scarred woman). People buy flowers from the child as they are touched by the filial act. Not too sure if it is a boy or girl.

Someone took notice of the necklace around the child's neck (so it must be a girl?) and wanted to meet the child's mother.

The mother in black (well, blue and black to be precise).

Finally found out where the musicians were hiding. This is the scene where the poor mother dies after drinking soup which was poisoned (I think).

After the show took a morbid turn, I left to get food, as it was also late and my tummy growling. I headed for the vegetarian economy rice stalls located by the side of the opera stage and proceeded to pack dinner (at 11pm!). I took some fried rice and also the braised mock meat and mushrooms plus some stir-fried cauliflower with sweet pea pods. It was RM5.50 for the whole lot, which I find a little steep (as a comparison, I can get rice with two vegetable dish and one real meat dish at Bandar Baru Ampang for about RM4.40). The vegetables were very oily, possible a good thing to keep you feel full for Chinese vegetarian meals is known to have very low staying power and you will go hungry very fast after a meal.

You can either choose to have fried rice or fried noodles or rice vermicelli. Then take a pick of the various vegetarian dishes available.

Braised mock meat with Shiitake mushrooms (香菇) and stir-fried cauliflower with sweet pea pods.

I left the temple fair at around 11.22pm when it started to drizzle lightly. I am no longer surprised to see that there were still many people heading for the temple at this hour.

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