Barat Daya

Our tour of George Town included stops at two of the city’s most important Buddhist temples … the first one Siamese; the second one Chinese.

Wat Chaiyamangkhalaram is home to a reclining Buddha, which the locals also refer to as the sleeping Buddha.

Said to be the oldest Siamese temple in Penang, it sits on land that was granted by Queen Victoria during the era known as the British Straits Settlement. Though the land was cleared in 1795, it wasn’t until 1845 that the temple was founded. It took another 100 years or so for it to be given the name by which it is known today.

The reclining Buddha — named Phra Chaiya Mongkol — is one the world’s longest such statues. Measuring some 108 feet end to end, the statue also serves as a columbarium in which urns of cremated remains are housed.

This temple was very impressive, but the Chinese Buddhist temple we visited later in the day was perhaps more so … primarily for its location overlooking the city and its pagoda and pavilion.

Kek Lok Si is the largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia … and a major site of pilgrimage for Buddhists from all around Southeast Asia. The name translates as … kek-lok = literally, supreme joy; and si= temple.

The temple complex, which was constructed between 1890-1930, sits in the foothills of Air Itam Mountain. It consists of prayer halls; assembly pavilions; statues of the Buddha, as well as those of bodhisattvas and Chinese deities; a tiered-pagoda; a pavilion with a gigantic Guanyin statue, and more.

First, we went to the main terrace to check out the city views that had been veiled from our eyes when we were at Penang Hill. Next, we went to the pavilion that is dominated by a 120-foot tall Guanyin statue. A meander of the grounds followed … with a photo op with the Gelmans in front of the prayer hall.

Unfortunately, the heat got to us before we had a chance to climb up to the seven-story high tiered-pagoda that was commissioned for the temple by Rama VI, the Thai king who ruled between 1910-1925. The pagoda is unique in that it reflects a combination of Burmese, Thai, and Chinese architectural styles. Decorated with 10,000 alabaster and bronze Buddha statues, it is appropriately referred to as the “Ten Thousand Buddhas Pagoda.”Read more