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Went to a museum today and learned that this island of Penang has long been an important trading, religious, and political center for this part of the world --that being Southeast Asia --
The trading part may be a bit boosterish -- as a host of other Asian cities in the neighborhood around the Indian Ocean come to mind, but the religious argument, I will give you. Political - not so sure of but if you say so.
There are scheduled religious parades like the one I blogged about earlier and then there are the ones that seem to just start.--like this Hindi one above and then we have your basic standing Buddha, (my picture of the tallest one this side of fill in the blank did not turn out so -- that one was thirty meters high)
your basic sitting Buddha,- of which there are many,
your reclining Buddha, - this one again comes with a superlative,
your huge temple grounds, (these are part of Kok Lek Si temple, the largest Buddah in Southeast Asia)
your basic very beautiful gardens associated with the temple grounds
your basic lots and lots of Buddahs,
your Thai Buddhist temple - with guard dragons outside (this was the reclining Buddha)
your Hindu multiple gods opportunities.
your Mosque, with prayer calls at appropriate hours,
your Chinese clan house for ancestor worship,
and a host of Christian options, including this Anglican Church,
and this --- there are a bunch of others - lots of store front and also some pretty big buildings. and in multiple languages too. -- it just seems like the Buddhists have the most invested in statutory in this part of the world-- I do not think they are the majority - as I think there is not majority - perhaps a plurality
There are three migrant groups of Chinese, three from India and the host Malays, the English influence on a former colony, and this being a long time melting pot so there is an incredible variety of religious study options here - as well as cultures and languages, and dress.
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