Are You Hungry Tonight??? - Hungry Ghost Festival

The Chinese believe that during the 7th lunar month that usually falls in July-August, hungry ghosts are allowed to roam the world in order to satiate their desire and hunger for food and materialistic needs. Therefore food and ritualistic offerings are prepared for these roaming, hungry spirits in order to keep peace with them and also perhaps extract a favour or two as well.

Lanterns signal an ongoing
Hungry Ghost festival -
Sentul 2016

Offering prayers to the King of Hades (Da Shi Yeh) -
Ampang Mewah 2016

The Hungry Ghost festival or also known as Ullambana by the Chinese Buddhist is actually not confined to the Chinese alone. The Bon festival (where you get to see the Bon-Odori dance) is the Japanese version of this Hungry Ghost Festival. The concept of the festival, whether Chinese/Taoist or Buddhist remains the same, ie offerings of relief (in the form of food, material belongings or merits) to these suffering beings known as hungry ghost.

Priest conducts prayers for the spirits of the departed in conjunction with the festival -
Ampang Mewah 2016

The face Da Shi Yeh catching fire as he was being burnt
at the end of the 15 day celebration in
Bukit Mertajam (2015)

In South-East Asian countries with a high number of ethnic Chinese, such as Malaysia, Singapore, and certain parts of Thailand, you can see such offerings being given to these spirits on the roadside as well as in temples and makeshift altars set up specifically for the festival. The make-shift altars, known as Phor Thor (or Universal Deliverance Prayers) comes with a large amount of food, paper offerings and huge paper effigies of the King of Hades or Da Shi Ye and his retinue of underworld deities and officers to keep watch of the roaming hungry ghost to prevent any  incidence of mischief by them.

The famous Bukit Mertajam Da Shi Yeh

Opening the eyes of Da Shi Yeh -
Sentul 2016

Chinese opera at Lim Jetty Hungry Ghost Festival  -
the troupe is from Fujian, China

And to keep the ghost happy, entertainment in the form of Chinese opera, stage performances (know and getai/khor tai and can range from just singing to almost lewd performances), Chinese puppet show and various martial arts display are usually put on with rows of seats are that purposely left empty. These (usually front) seats are not 'empty' in the sense they are actually reserved for the ghosts and roaming spirits. And to top it off, a small amount of food and joss-sticks are placed on the chairs, just in case 'they' need a snack to go with the entertainment.

Besides keeping the ghosts fed, it is also a time for people to make merit by donating food that are distributed to the poor or needy, as well as feeding the less ghostly visitors of the event. Hence piles of rice cakes, roasted pig, vegetables and rice are offered and given away during the Phor Thor event which can run for one, three or even up to 15 days!

At the end of the prayers (be it one, three, five or 15 days) the effigies of the King of Hades and his retinue, together with paper money and paper cars, houses, servants etc for the hungry ghost will be dispatched in a huge bonfire that concludes the ceremony. Some even have processions and parades to bring the festivities to an end.

A Monkey God medium in the procession from Brickfields's Seng Hong Temple
Kuala Lumpur 2016

A Thai medium cutting his tongue as
part of the purification ritual -
procession from Brickfields Seng Hong
Temple, Kuala Lumpur.

Sending off the King of Hades and his retinue -
Ampang Mewah 2015

So if you see offerings being placed on the roadside in July-August, or see large makeshift shelters with flags, lots of joss-sticks and loud music going on... beware for the hungry ghost are hungry out roaming at night.

The Hungry Ghost Festival month runs from 

• Aug 3rd to Aug 31st in 2016 
• Aug 22nd to Sept 19th in 2017
• Aug 11th to Sept 9th in 2018

Misty Morning On the Farm... in Nuwara Eliya

Mooo... on a rainy, misty day, in Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka

An evening at Jugra

Sepetang di Jugra... taken with a Tokina AT-X 116 Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8 @ 11mm, f/10,
1/1250s, ISO 640.

Jugra is a small town on the mouth of the Langat River in Klang Valley, Malaysia. A former royal town for the Sultans of Selangor, it is now just a quaint little fishing village that one goes to for seafood or a popular Chinese dish called Beggar's Chicken. In Jugra, most of the seafood restaurants are by the riverside, so you can watch the sun set over the mangroves on the Straits of Malacca and the fishing boats that go by as you enjoy your meal.

View of one of the many jetties in that area.

Good for:

• Quiet seafood meal by the Straits of Malacca
• Relaxed fishing
• Watching the sunset over Carey Island 
• Landscape photography
• Romantic spot for lovey-dovey couples to hang out

Drawbacks:

• Mosquitoes especially in the evening and at night
• Nothing spectacular about the seafood
• Poor cellphone coverage

Puffing Away

Power vaping???? 35mm, f/9, 1/200s, ISO 800

A Newari man in Khokana village on the outskirts of Kathmandu, Nepal smoking a traditional bong/pipe. The village is a living museum, and despite showing damage from the 2015 quake, the people are still living in those traditional houses in the village.

Reflection of Life on Dal Lake

What is Srinagar in Kashmir without Dal Lake? A forlorn, dusty, and tired town. And what is Dal Lake without its human inhabitants? A ring that has lost its jewels, deplete of its gleam and glitter.

The people and their colourful shikaras, with the trinkets and carpets that they sell... they reflect the life and the vitality of the lake; ever moving and ever changing. Just like the pretty clouds that skip over the mountains frame the lake physically, the people of Dal Lake frame and bring out the endearing spirit of the lake.

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加油。。。加油。。。 (Come on)

加油。。。加油。。。 (Come on, come on - literally meaning add
fuel) 60mm, f/6.3, 1/80s, ISO1000

The photo above was taken at a Datuk Kong temple celebration in Klang, Selangor Malaysia. The bed of charcoal was lit for a fire walking ceremony in conjunction with the deity's birthday celebration that ran for three days.

Smoke... the veil between the realms

Reaching from other side...
(130mm, f/6.3, 1/100s, ISO1250)

Smoke... the veil between the realms' is a black and white essay that revolves around the use of smoke, incense and kemenyan (gum benjamin) during spirit medium consultations and trances. The smoke here appears to the photographer as the thin veil between the realm of the living and the other side, with objects being passed over smoke to bring out the magical, mystical properties of the spirit world. Hence the smoke represents the gateway that the medium breaches through and back, connecting both worlds.

Incense and smoke is a common denominator in many religious practices. Whether it is agarwood, frankincense, gum benjamin or a concoction of psychoactive herbs,  they have been employed as a means of offering, purification or a way to reach the other world

Menurun.... (Going into trance) (35mm, f/6.3, 1/50s, ISO1000)

Memotong... Tongue cutting for blood to write talisman.
(65mm, f/6.3, 1/50s, ISO1250)

Besides smoke, various acts and objects are always associated with trances, especially with local deity trances. Issuance of talismans, whether they are paper talismans written with ink or blood, or objects like limes, consultation on personal matters, 4-digit lottery numbers and even traditional healing remedies, all which requires the use of smoke to sanctify or empower it.

Menanya(kan soalan)... Consultation with the medium.
(18mm, f/5.6, 1/80, ISO640)

Faces - Teochew puppet and puppeteer

Look there... Teochew puppet and puppeteer
100mm, 1/60s,  f/6, ISO1000.

Fire Me Up

Firing up a hot air balloon at Penang Hot Air Balloon Fiesta 2016. 27mm, 1/50s,  f/5, ISO800

The Face of Penance... Thaipusam 2015

The Face of Penance... Thaipusam 2015, Penang.
185mm, f/5, 1/320s, ISO 320

Colour, Black & White Collection - Empty Chairs...

A row of chairs set out in front of a stage show for the Hungry Ghost Festival in Ampang, 2015.
Are the chairs empty or are they taken??

The mirrored and B&W version juxtaposed on the strong colour and contrasty image begets us to ask what if what we see may not be all that is there? There could be something else out there, or it is merely a product of our imagination? With the removal of the blue and purple stage lights that clashes with the bright red chairs, it reduces the 'in-your-eye' image to a series of light and dark, and playfully teases the mind to think there could be more than meets the eye in the image... perhaps the shadows belong to someone, or something out there.

Levels and Curves to Photo.Culture.Travelogue

A medium at a temple festival in
Banting

After long deliberation, I have finally made the decision to separate my photography works from my other activities and blog (gardening etc - in Half A Pound of Treacle). Whilst announcements of activities will still be posted over there, the photo stories and commentaries will appear here. In this way, I will have more flexibility, especially in terms of time, to tell the story behind the pictures.

The original name for the blog (Levels and Curves) tells the nature of the blog, that is the play of levels and curves, brightness and contrast, hue and saturation that makes up a visual image. And with that visual image, the author spins a tale to tell the audience. However, after some consideration, I decided to make it less heavy and more fun, hence:

Photo.Culture.Travelogue