Kek Lok Si

Kek Lok Si!

We got off the Rapid Penang #201 bus at the Air Itam Market and walked a short distance to the alleyway near the Kong Min school. After a few breathless minutes walking up the steps we decided to turn back, and headed to the foothill car park area of Kek Lok Si that was situated rigth beside the Kong Min school.

Here we stumbled upon (what was in our minds) a new and much appreciated addition to the temple, a new inclined from the foothill car park. This saved us an immense amount of time and energy well worth the RM16 fare (aprroximately USD/EUR3.60) that included: 

• an inclined lift to station 2
• a buggy ride to station 3 
• another inclined lift to station 4

Kek Lok Si is the largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia, and an important pilgrimage destintaion for Buddhists from most Southeast Asian countries. Kek Lok Si means "Sukhāvatī Temple". In Hokkien, Kek-lok literally means "supreme joy", itself a translation of Sukhāvatī, a paradise. Si means "temple". This venerable temple has also been translated as "Heavenly temple", "Pure Land Temple" (Sukhāvatī is one of the pure lands), "Temple of Supreme Bliss", and the "Temple of Paradise".

We took the inclined lift, then a buggy before riding the second inclined lift all the way to the top to see the Guan Yin Temple. From Wikipedia: "In 2002, a 30.2-metre bronze statue of Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy, was completed and opened to the public. It replaced the previous white plaster Kuan Yin statue which was damaged due to a fire a few years earlier. 

The bronze statue is located on the hillside above the pagoda. The statue is complemented with a 60.9 metres three-tiered roof pavilion (with 16 columns made of bronze supporting the pavilion) which was completed in 2009.It is the tallest Guanyin statue in the world".

We then wandered around the zodiac themed garden and took some wefies at the little man-made waterfalls. We then rode the inclined lift back down to station 3 and took a stroll along the columns of Buddha statues before taking the buggy down to Station 2.

After a while of strolling we took the last inclined lift back to the foothill car park and walked back to Pekan Air Itam. An experience not to be missed if you visit Penang, this and Penang Hill (Bukit Bendera) are the two main landmarks that we recommend to everyone without hesitation.

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📍 Location:
Pekan Ayer Itam - https://goo.gl/maps/M1tLVwVLwKeDCYAk8
Kek Lok Si Temple Car Park - https://goo.gl/maps/k68vJPwvzqCaQrbn8
Kek Lok Si’s Pagoda - https://goo.gl/maps/dQUjbL1PBNjr5de5A
Kek Lok Si Temple - https://goo.gl/maps/tPsCXddRm7dTMNjE6
Guan Yin Statue - https://goo.gl/maps/CkG8f1TBATdgCr5LA

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