Question:

What is the name of this goat?

I must say that I’m the luckiest girl in the world to accidentally be at the right place the right time for one of the largest religious festivals in the world: Thaipusam.

I’d never heard of this festival before, never ever. On Thursday,when a colleague asked me if I wanted to join her friends to Batu Caves (one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside of India and the focal point of Thaipusam in Malaysia, often attracts more than 1 million devotees & tourists during the festival), I somehow misunderstood it as “Batting Cages” and refused to go because I had been there just few weeks ago. Thanks God I didn’t miss it. Thaipusam is really really really A M A Z I N G.

We took LRT (Kelana Jaya line) to Masjid Jamek then took a bus (RM3) to Batu Caves. There were many buses to Batu Caves during the festival, but they were all packed and traffic jam was terrible.

As my friends already warned, it was super hot!! The first thing I saw at the festival was:

I don't know if they shaved their heads b/c of the heat or of the religious reasons

As I was walking innocently into the spot, a beautiful Indian lady dragged me into a meditation booth and patiently explained to me about “soul”, “life”, “religion” and “world”. Thaipusam is a chance for Hindu to recruit new members. According to their theory, we are in the last quarter of 5000-year-cycle.  2012??

I like their idea that "The omnipresence of God is a feeling, not a fact". Smart huh?

There was a free spinning box containing cards.

I picked one card and it says: "You are one who never lets go of your happiness no matter what happens". Oh really?

Suddenly people pushed me and I heard the crowd cheering up. With the best effort to elbow people out, I finally found out the reason.

This is called "kavadi"

It's hurt

Trust me, I had to fight to take those pictures

A closer look. Not easy at all

It doesn't look right for me

Beautiful

Isn't he cute??

It's very very heavy

Seriously is he on drug?

Dancing. Hot!!

Because of the crowd, my colleague and her friends gave up going up to Batu Caves. Do you think I could possibly miss this chance?

272 steps to Batu Caves

Devotees must not wear shoes

This guy looks intimidating :-s

The gate to Batu Caves

It must be very tiring so he took a short rest

Looking down

It took quite a time to get into the cave. Inside the cave is another crowd.

Jesus, where all those ppl come from?

From another point of view

One of the reason why it was so hot

They burned some white material smelling like alcohol - bone glue. Not sure what it is, but the smell was funny

There were ppl who couldn't stand the crowd

So we need medical service

Coconut milk is their holy water. They put it all over their body

But not like this. Still inside the cave. The smell made me want to puke out

The marketplace

Like an art

Sound is the best way to win ppl's attention

They tried to get me buy one of those clothes. Pft

Road show T_T

Random

Hmm

Hmm 2

Like the sun

Guess what were doing.

Tourists are rude (including myself)

Tags: Batu Caves, Festival, Kuala Lumpur, Religion, Thaipusam