TacoCat’s Travels #202 (Penang): Ascending the Pagoda of a Thousand Buddhas!
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Hey Hive!
If you missed the last few posts, I started sharing about our short getaway to Penang Island, Malaysia, back in July 2022! It was our first trip post-covid and we decided to take a short 3 day trip there! It had been a good decade since either of us have visited Penang so this was a semi-new experience for both of us.
Last week, we had an early start to our second day and went to have brunch at Restoran Zim Sum which was apparently really good according to online reviews. It was different than what we expected but thankfully we were not disappointed but on the contrary pleasantly surprised by the spread and quality of the food!
After a very filling brunch we took a ride to go see Kek Lok Si Temple, which is the largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia!
I'm personally not Buddhist, and neither of us are religious but it is still a very impressive sight and they do allow visitors so we thought we'd check it out. And the architecture blew us away!
It was a warm day so we tried to take shelter as much as we could while enjoying the sights and design of the temple. There was an inclined lift we could take up to the top to see the biggest Bronze Kuan Yin Statue (standing at 120 ft) which was truly very impressive!
25 July 2022. Monday.
After marveling at the statue and enjoying the view of Penang from the top, we headed down this pathway to see more of this outdoor area.
Turns out there is another smaller prayer hall up here surrounded by a lovely garden with stone statues of the Chinese zodiac!
We each took pictures with our zodiac statues - Sean's being a rooster and mine a piggy.
We went closer to the prayer hall but there were quite a few people there paying their respects so we didn't want to disturb them.
The surrounding garden was also very pretty and they had these adorable stone benches with the animals on either side! If I had a garden big enough I would totally put something like that as well. It kinda made me wish Animal Crossing had a bench like that. XD
We were so high up that we could see the clouds obscuring part of the mountains in the distance.
Back in the garden there was a beautiful little pagoda in the middle of a large pond. It was really warm out but we endured it for this shot.
It was approaching noon and we were starting to feel the heat so after a quick look around at the other statues we left.
And back down the inclined lift we go! It was my first time riding an inclined lift but Sean had bad memories of being in one since there was no ventilation in the older ones he rode and they had to squeeze with a bunch of other people. Thankfully this one had some air conditioning and we had it all to ourselves by the time we went down.
We admired the view and the cool air while taking a ride down the mountain. It wasn't a long ride unfortunately since it was quite comfortable but it was truly remarkable that they built all this back in the early 1900s!
I assume the lift was added later but the statue must have taken a long time and was actually completed in 2002! It replaced the previous white plaster Kuan Yin statue which was damaged due to a fire a few years earlier.
We arrived back down to what I refer to as the main prayer hall since this had a bunch of urns in front of it and seemed the most fancy with huge golden statues.
Other than the first prayer hall I think we didn't set foot in any others just to be respectful. I wasn't too sure if they allowed photography in there and since this was a religious place I didn't want to break any rules.
But the rest of the temple was just as amazing to see! There were some aspects where you could see the age of it but I expected it to be much older considering this was built in 1905.
We passed through yet another gift shop selling all sorts of souvenirs and merchandise, even snacks and stationery!
There was an outdoor balcony where we could see the pathway we came in and a whole row of turtle statues!
The other main sight of the temple was the striking seven-storey Pagoda of the late Thai king Rama VI, which was known as the pagoda of Ten Thousand Buddhas with 10,000 alabaster and bronze statues of Buddha!
There was a paywall barring entry to the pagoda and Five Region Buddha Hall but since it was only RM2 it wasn't much so we just paid it.
Turns out the Pagoda's design was also inspired by different types of Buddhism as the different levels were derived from Chinese, Thai and Burmese Buddhism! I'm not sure what the differences are but I assume the Buddha designs we would find there would have different designs.
To go to the pagoda we passed by the large Five Region Buddha Hall and the design just on the exterior walls were astounding!
Since we had to pay to enter this part of the temple we knew it was safe for tourists so we went inside the prayer hall to admire the architecture and man, it was really something!
The ceiling blew me away more than anything else it had such eye-catching patterns, and the stone pillars had such intricate designs to match the outside walls too.
It was definitely the most well designed prayer hall we'd seen yet, so it was understandable they'd block this area for paid visitors only.
Even if you're not religious or an architecture buff I think you'd be able to appreciate buildings like this. It really was quite impressive.
Outside the prayer hall was a pathway with plants and a very fancy urn.
Just beside the yellow archway was the famous pagoda! It looked a lot taller now that we were this close to it.
Before we headed up the pagoda, we took a look around this area first and there were some nice archways in this garden.
The temple complex was so big if not for the pagoda I wouldn't know where we were. But we must've been a little high up already since there was a balcony that afforded us a view of the lower prayer halls.
Thankfully there was some cloud cover now but the weather was still very humid and warm. I was actually afraid of mosquitos being around all these plants in the garden but I did get this very cool shot!
There was even a little shelter for some of the plants that needed shade. On the bright side, the air was pretty fresh.
After that we headed inside the pagoda and the ground floor was already so elegantly gilded! Everything was shiny and golden and there were two statues people could pray to.
There was also a scale model of the pagoda but it did look quite different in real life.
We were actually confused on how to go up until we saw this helpful sign with some cool info about the pagoda! Turns out this was completed in 1927 and indeed combines Chinese, Thai and Burmese designs with a Chinese octagonal base, middle Thai design and Burmese crown! I wonder how they decided the order though.
We didn't know how high it was but we started our climb and arrived at the first floor which had this very impressive gold statue surrounded by scaffolding. I'm not sure who that is exactly but I suppose he's a king from the 1900s.
There wasn't much else on this floor so we headed up the stairs behind him.
The staircase was a little narrow and uneven so we made sure to be careful. Thankfully there were railings as well.
The next level had a more modest looking statue and the white paint gave it a nice clean look compared to the all the golden we saw downstairs.
Each floor came with windows of course and there was already quite a view from the second level.
We found the stairs beside the statue and headed up another floor to come to this more modest looking display of statues. I think we arrived at the Thai tier since these statues looked different.
Even the windows were different and had designs suited to the influence of that floor. The view was getting better every time.
The next floor was more modest with an encased lying Buddha and without a kneeling cushion. I guess they figured not a lot of people would go up so high.
Compared to the lower floors this floor had a balcony you could exit and there were more Buddha statues out here!
I also noticed there were light bulbs along the outside of the pagoda and found out that the temple is actually a focal point for festivals like Chinese New Year! For 30 days following the New Year, the temple remains open until late at night whilst thousands of lights turn the scenery into a sea of light, that look something like this:
Source: photoculturetravellogue
I wish I knew that before coming here, but I figure it must be really crowded around Chinese New Year if this is such a popular temple for people to pay pilgrimage to. This would definitely be a worthy sight to see though!
We were slowly going higher and higher; thankfully neither of us have a crippling fear of heights. We did see a multi-storey building that we had yet to visit, but I think it might have been more for the monks. It seemed like a monastery of some kind.
After admiring the view we headed up the stairs once again.
The designs for the statues were becoming smaller and more modest as we headed up for sure. But this one had a kneeling cushion while the floor below did not, which was confusing.
But this one had some interesting tiling beside the stairs.
The staircase was actually getting narrower and narrower, and the floor space was smaller as well, which made sense if you consider the structure of the pagoda, being narrow at the top and wider at the bottom.
We actually lost count of how many floors we had gone up so we were always surprised to find more stairs after the third statue. At this floor though we could start to see a little bit of the Bronze Kuan Yin statue in the distance!
The stairs just kept going! The next floor had an encased statue in the display cupboard with vases and a modest looking stool. I wonder who actually comes here to pray though.
We were now quite a ways up and looking out the window we could see most of the temple complex from here!
We thought we were at the highest floor so we took some time to admire the view from here and it was incredible!
The air up here was actually quite cool as well, and kept getting cooler the higher we went up. Apart from a few warm breezes it was quite nice if you weren't under the sun.
While I was taking pictures out the windows, Sean found yet another flight of stairs!
Finally we came to the highest floor of the pagoda! We searched the whole floor for another staircase and there actually was one, but it was blocked by boxes and planks so we figured that was for staff only.
The highest floor of the pagoda had a very narrow balcony and we stepped out to admire the view while also being very cautious. And man, what a view it was! We could basically see the whole temple complex from up here!
Although the air was cool, the heat from the sun was still blazing and made it warm. Even the balcony railings seem to radiate heat.
We were pretty tired from climbing up all that way but I'd say it was well worth it for the view! It felt like we could see almost all of Georgetown from here!
After taking a bunch of photos we started making our descent and were curious how many steps we actually climbed so we counted on our way down.
The stairs going up here were so narrow it was single file only. It was a faster descent since we were going with gravity and didn't stop to admire the statues this time. Turns out it was a total of 120 steps! So that was 240 steps we just climbed!
When we got back down to the bottom we were pretty exhausted from all the climbing but it was definitely worth it! The different designs were amazing and the view was spectacular!
There's still a little bit more to share from the temple but I'll leave that for next time! Thanks so much for reading!
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
Check out my previous post in this series!
TacoCat’s Travels #201 (Penang): Delicious Dim Sum before Visiting the Biggest Temple! 😋
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