Couch Surfing & Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2013

We had a very good saturday, starting with Georgetown walk and explore with some Couch Surfers friends that i met few days back. We started off at 7.30am in front of 7-Eleven of Love Lane & Chulia St. Met Monica and Lukasc from Poland, and Alejandro from Mexico, and expecting another one but too bad, he couldn't make it. So we proceed to Chowrasta market to see the morning activities and the locals. It is a interesting place and i come here almost every weekend or two. After the visit, we head to Toh Soon Cafe at Campbell St for the famous toast and half boiled eggs. Good breakfast indeed, although it's not a very local thing :P

And as usual, the visit to Georgetown will not be completed if you don't visit and see all the street arts by Ernest Zacharevic. Unique and the use of real items such as chair, bicycles, motorcycles makes the whole art itself 3D! Look out for some of the street arts that i've shot few weeks back in the previous blog post. Next, was the Chew Jetty and Tan Jetty, which is another Unesco World Heritage Site and of course, coffee and tea as the sun getting higher and hotter! We were joined by Farah, a local CS and we head to Kapitan for lunch. Meet up with Monica & Lukasc's colleague from Intel, Vicky, Michael and Phaik Hoon.



Here's some of the dishes that we tried, cheese naan, briyani and tandoori chicken.  Not the best one as the naan is a little bit dry, but the service seems to improve. Hmmm... was it because of the guest? :P After lunch, we proceed to Little India and continue our 'exploration' to Penang Road to try out the famous Cendol and Asam Laksa!





Time flies when you're having fun and not to mention, the rain that poured on us so many times throughout the day. We have to take a shelter and decided to have a coffee at Sip & Chew Cafe. Oh well, really bad coffee and long waiting time. NOT RECOMMENDED at all! Spend quite a while there waiting for rain to stop and Alex to meet us for the next part of the trip, which is the cendol and laksa! Some of us are suppose to leave earlier, but since we  are having fun and the traffic jams are building up ( it was about 5.30pm).. i've decided to stay for the next event, the Nine Emperor Gods Festival. It was the first day of the festival, and a parade is prepared by thousands of dedicated devotees.





We meet up at the Hainan Temple, just behind Chulia Street, gather up with some other surfers, Avi, Paulie, Sam, Cat, Ang and John  before heading to Noordin Street where it all started. Rain pours again while we waiting.



I'm not very good in explaining what the festival is all about. Perhaps this LINK could help. I'll let the photos tell the whole story. Again, heavy rain hits us, but the parade goes on. This is the first time i've seen this parade and how it started. Interesting and eye opening. The rain doesn't stops anyone and the spirit is high!











Dedicated devotees even though rain is pouring cats and dogs!






Young devotees




Interesting parade






It is indeed an interesting day out, and we ends at the dinner @ Kimberly Street at about 10pm. Tiring, but great day! Thank you so much for those who came, especially the surfers, great to meet up with new friends, had good laughs and chats.. overall, thumbs up! Hope we can do it regularly :)