Buddha is welcome in Kelantan

This giant Reclining Buddha (and supposedly the largest in South-east Asia) is situated in "Taliban-run Kelantan" (as according to Chua Jui Meng in 2003; see above). Wat Pothivihan is located in Kg. Jambu, in Tumpat district.

I was in Kota Bharu in April and it was a very interesting experience. I also saw a babi kampung wandering about listlessly on the roadside on the way to the Buddhist temples... a very common sight especially early in the morning, say locals who did not bat an eyelid when responding to my query. In Selangor, there probably would have been an entire Rela and Islamic Department contingent of 200 out to hunt this poor pig down!

More on Kelantan coming up later. For those intending to visit KB, here's a decent litle entry in Wikitravel.

Temple in a Cave

Sixty kilometres south-west of Hanoi is the Perfume Pagoda, a very important place of worship for the Vietnamese. It's 2 hours by car out of Hanoi, and then an hour's boat ride, and then an hour to climb up to the temple. All I can say is, thank god for the cable car!!!

The 'temple' is actually set inside a cave or grotto at the top of a mountain. It's a bit like our Batu Caves. Read more about the Perfume Pagoda here and here.

Messing around ...

... on Photoshop yielded the second picture, which I personally think is slightly more interesting, cos there's a bit more texture eh.

The most important site for Nepal's Buddhists, this is Boudhanath Stupa in Kathmandu, Nepal. It is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Read more about Boudhanath and the other 9 World Heritage sites in Nepal.

Blind Charity

"Derma kepada badan-badan amal" - "Donate to charity organisations"

Er... which ones? Malaysia Airports? Nah... I'll pass.

The cheek of them! Telling us to donate but they don't state who or what they're giving the money to!!!

This was taken at Kota Kinabalu Airport last year sometime.

Spicy!

Asian markets in general are great for browsing, and this one in Hanoi was no exception. Taken in early May 2007.

EEEEK!

Tarantula, cockroaches, grasshoppers -- you name it, they eat it in Cambodia.

Disparity

This was what I saw out the plane window when we flew out of KK, Sabah, sometime last year.

How civilised!

We saw this doggy-toilet in Macau a coupla years ago.

The local touch

... at the Rainforest Fest 2004.

Meow!

Sunset in Kuching... I was in Sarawak for the Rainforest World Music Fest 2004.

* Find out more about the Fest here.