This Kek Lok Si temple in Air Itam is one of the landmark of Penang. The pagoda has been there for many decades. Few years back, they built another temple higher up on the hill.
Nowadays, you can take a cable car from Kek Lok Si temple to the Kuan Yin temple. The Kuan Yin statue is very high and can be seen from several parts of the island.
I went to this Kuan Yin temple and the Air Itam dam two weeks ago. They are on the same hill. I had forgotten these photos until I saw that our local Star Metro is featuring the place. 🙂 So, I also uploaded a few photos just to join in the Chinese New Year countdown.
(Ignore my tilted photo. I am terrible with getting my horizon straight. 🙂 Do you see a white ‘opening’ on the cloudy skies. Nice eh? I did not photoshop these photos, just upload directly from my camera. )
Do make a trip to this temple, even if you are not a devotee of Kuan Yin. The view of the island is magnificent from the top. Moreover, the garden is well-kept and I simply love the kois in the pond. By now, I think they have lighted up the place and at night, they are beautiful.
Wooooo! This is my favourite photo of the batch I took the other day. I am not sure who this deity is but I think he must be in charge of hades or something from his fierce look. 🙂 There is a pair of them ‘guarding’ the island, perhaps? Can you spot Komtar in the photo?
All these photos are available in 800 pixels (shown here are 500 pixels) at my Flickr site.
Some previous posts from PenangFaces
1. Quan Yin
2. Kek Lok Si night view
Your favourite picture looks familiar somehow..
hmmmm
[…] Reading Malaysia Best: Kuan Yin temple and Kek Lok Si got me quite excited, seeing that I was in Penang under a month ago. I go to Penang only for the food, and not much else, but on this trip, I decided that visiting the Kek Lok Si, and driving up to the Kuan Yin would probably make sense, seeing that the statue and the area is generally ready. […]
On vacations to visit grammy. all the grandchildren used to race each other up that kek loksi steps, then parents LOL get conned to buy kangkong to feed the turtles… Brought my daughter back 10 years ago— so saaad. she cried– the pond was over filled with starving turtles. Seems the ponds were bigger and more room when we were kids…:(
There used to be an assam laksa stall at the foot of kek lok see many years ago. Wonder if it’s still there?
Cocka Doodle – Now there are lotsa stalls until dunno which is which liao. The place is too commercialised now.
romantic – I think the turtles population grows because everyone wants to release turtles to release sins.
ST – Yeah, from the same angle.
Wow! brings back loads of memorable times. I have not been to Penang in a long time. Thanks for sharing. Enjoy your recipes. Once a Malaysian always a Malaysian especially those mouth watering homecook meals.
[…] Air Itam Dam, Kek Lok Si and huge Kuan Yin statue on the hill. These three places are located on the same spot. Every tourists will enjoy the trip to Air Itam because of their ethnicity. You can find flowers, local fruits, colour stalls selling all sorts of local goods and don’t forget the laksa. (photos on my Flickr album) […]