Another Festival Around the Corner

The Christmas spirit is yet hovering with the Christmas trees and decorations still in much evidence at the shopping malls.

However red is the favored color making its presence felt as the next festival is just three weeks away. The Lunar Year, the Year of the Dragon is waiting in the wings to emerge next month. As such, displays featuring red ornaments, red paper lanterns,flowers, small decorative lion heads and different soft toys in the shape of dragons are everywhere.

Even in the street markets, canisters of Chinese New Year cookies are in full display, with samples for customers to try before the vendors coax them to buy. These are the home-made cookies, which taste better than those produced commercially en masse.

Among the different varieties are the Dragon biscuits, pineapple tarts, peanut cookies,arrowroot crisps, seaweed crisps, love letters (crispy wafer like biscuits made from egg, coconut milk & flour , etc.

CLothing displayed in the shops are also red and the designs have mandarin collars and Chinese buttons. Some dresses even have the dragon motif embroidered or painted on them.
The Chinese community await the coming of the Dragon Lunar Year with great anticipation and the children look forward to receiving their money gifts in auspicious red envelopes, some of which have special designs, such as Angry Birds.

A Feast for Sore Eyes

The end of the year always sees a rash of beautiful designs that showcase the interior decorators' creative talents in shopping malls.

One large mall in Kuala Lumpur has a beautiful center court dressed in colorful renditions of underwater life. Scallops dominate while shoals of fish dance above the shoppers. Such creative displays attract many visitors who take countless photographs for their albums.

Many of the visitors are not purchasers but are there simply to enjoy the festive decor and the air-conditioning. I went there to feast my eyes on the creative displays in the various parts of the mall.

If not for the distance and traffic snarls, I would visit more malls just to see and compare the ingenuity of their displays.

Christmas Mania

It's the Yuletide season once more! Shopping malls are vying with one another with their Christmas decor and Christmas trees of differing heights are dressed very beautifully with lovely ornaments and different color themes.

Outside a swanky shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur were groups of United Buddy Bears on display. A total of 147 colorful painted bear sculptures, standing 2 meters tall with raised arms represent people of different countries and cultures. Each bear is from a different country, painted by an artist from that country.

They are on a world tour to promote living in peace and harmony, apart from raising funds for needy children throughout the world.

The world tour began with its first exhibition in 2002 in Berlin and the Buddy Bears have made their appearances in many cities such as Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul, Sydney, Cairo, Buenos Aires, Helsinki, Instanbul and now they are in Kuala Lumpur for the next two months. This is the only non-upright bear. It's a polar bear with a painting of Einstein.

The Bear representing Malaysia shows four people of different races, the Rafflesia flower, the orang utan and behind the bear is painted the Twin Towers.

Ancient Jade Artefacts

We visited a museum called the Shinegood Culture Gallery which houses some of the most beautiful jade artefacts, all of which are between three to four thousand years old.

A guide walked us through several chambers, telling us about the artefacts and where they came from.

There are many more photos of the artefacts but I won't be sharing them as it takes far too long to upload. It was a real pleasure to see these lovely pieces of jade that have been so well preserved for posterity.

The FengDong Rock

This is the entrance to the FengDong Rock.

Perched precariously on the edge of a cliff, it is a scenic spot for photography.

This Dongshan Fengdongshi Rock is actually a part of the ancient Tongshan city which was built in the Ming Dynasty. It used to be a fortress on a hill. The scenery here is very beautiful.

Another ancient temple is found here, the Guandi temple, built during the Ming Dynasty. It is renowned for its beautiful carvings and is listed as a State Protected Historic site.

Here is a close-up which shows the beautiful intricate carvings on the roof of the entrance to the temple.

There is also a hall to commemorate the God of Wealth ( Choi San ) who has been acknowledged as the creator of the abacus.

The grounds of the whole scenic spot are well-kept and there is an extended board walk which leads down to the beach..

This is a signpost showing the whole scenic area.

Qi Lu Fort, Shi Qi Lu Battery Park, Shantou

The Shi Qi Lu Park in Shantou, China, has a unique circular fort, the Qi Lu Fort, which was initiated in 1874 and completed in 1879.Its building was approved by Emperor Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty. It is surrounded by a moat. It faces the sea and was the first bastion of defence for the city. 18 cannons both on the upper and lower levels are pointed seawards where the aggressors would approach. This fortification covers an area of 5.8 hectares.

This fort has unique features. The upper level is flat while the base is arched. There are holes in the ceiling of the ground floor. These holes provided ventilation and allowed sunlight into the ground floor where the soldiers were.

Soldiers stationed at the ramparts would use the ventilation vents which looked like little chimneys, to communicate with those on the ground. There are 72 of them altogether.

They would shout for reinforcement or additional supplies of ammunition and their comrades on the ground would hasten to deliver barrows of ammunition or cannon balls, pushing them up the Ripple staircase.

This Ripple staircase is ingenious as the 27 steps are rounded to enable the wheels of the barrows to be trundled up to the ramparts to deliver the ammunition.

This fort was later used as a military camp but in the 1990s it was turned into a
a commemorative park and it makes a picturesque background for photo shoots. It is also known as the Shi Lu Pao Tai Park.