Two Beautiful Temples in Harmony Street

I had big plans for today. Today marks the beginning of a four day Hindu festival called Thaipusam. It is a huge event in Kuala Lumpur and Penang and still significant in Malacca. The problem I encountered was establishing where and when exactly events were to be held. Especially since the only temple I could find anything for is a half hour Grab ride away.

So we headed in to Jonker Street to the Chinese Temple instead. The first temple we visited is the Cheng Hoon Teng temple. The temple site dates back to 1645 during the Dutch Malacca era. It is a Chinese temple practising the Three Doctrinal Systems of Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism. It is a beautiful temple with a gorgeous main gate that opens into an open courtyard in front of the main prayer hall dedicated to the goddess of mercy, Guan Yin. This hall is ornately decked out in rich dark timber and lavish gold.

Encircling the main building is a series of shrines and smaller prayer spaces. Some were filled with memorial plaques with a small image of the person to whom they were dedicated. Others contained large images of a deity with offerings left on tables, incense burning alongside.

Along the street a little from this temple was a second less ornate but equally lovely temple, the Xiang Lin Si Temple. This temple follows a different branch of buddhism, Mahāyāna Buddhism which apparently originates in ancient India. From the upstairs window is a great view of Harmony Street, so-called because there are the two Buddhist temples, a mosque and a Hindu temple all co-existing harmoniously within close proximity to one another.

We were ready to leave the area as the crowds began to build and the day began to get hotter but first we stopped for an iced coffee and a pastry.

See the recording of the livestream here: https://www.youtube.com/live/411ALgS4HdQ?si=LK8…Read more