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.