Super early morning, after sending a friend off at the airport, I didn't want to go back home and be alone with my thoughts. It so happened that it was Thaipusam day 1, and since my bus was passing by the center of town, I decided to drop off and watch the festival after so many years not witnessing it.
Above I googles the route of the procession. They even have an app to show you where the chariot is in real-time! I though that was rather impressive, until the app kinda crash and stopped working, lol. Must be the high load. Thaipusam is a super grand festival in Penang island. For one or two days, the whole of Penang island stood still to witness this magnificent event.
I dropped off near Gama supermarket, and immediately saw mountains of coconuts arranged along the route. My aunt has recommended that I watch the procession here. But since I was super early, I decided to walk towards the procession to see what else was interesting there.
It was my first time going to the festival in day time. I used to go at night when I was a kid. We were always at the Botanical Garden area waiting for the chariot to arrive at the foot of the temple. And the chariot was always late. After witnessing the processing this year, I now know why.... lol. Anyway, as I was walking along the road, I saw many stall with food prepared. At first I though these were for sale. Then I saw some people just walking up and being offered packets of food or drinks. So I did the same and got myself a pack of fried bee hoon and noodles for FREE! Wow! So all these food (vegetarian of course) were all prepared and given away for worshippers! How cool is that! A full day of free food!
Since it was a super hot day, there were tonnes of water available too. But since I brought my own, I didn't take any from the stall, only the food. I ate my nice beehoon while waiting for the chariot somewhere at Magazine Road, just outside 1st Avenue Mall. Fried beehoon is such a simple dish, yet the version in Penang always brings me back to my Primary School Days. I ate the same dish everyday when I was in primary school.
There were also small worshiped tables set up outside smaller indian temples along the way. I was even contemplating whether to just follow the route of the chariot and walk all the way back Gottlieb Road area! If only the weather was not that hot!
The app to track where the Chariot was! Note, the app works even if the chariot doesn't appear to be moving. Due to the overload of offerings by the devotees, the chariot move at a turtle speed. It takes forever to go thru a single road. It is amazing that they can even make it to the Botanical Garden temple by night fall!
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