The temple is only a few footsteps away from my home. It used to be a more tiny and decent small temple for the Goddess Mazhu, the protector of the fishermen. When i was still in primary school, the villager renovated it. The sad things when people renovate an old building is, they standardize the design. Chinese architecture is difference in a way that, the dialect group of Teochew, Hokkien, Cantonese, Hainanese... all have their unique difference architecture designs. But nowsaday due to lack of study or lack of people to know in these differences, all renovated temples are follow to the Northen China palace kind of design. Hence the origin of the temple gradually becomes hard to differentiate by the building itself...
At least the roof of the temple not really changed much than the structure i saw when i was young.
The temple is now so prosperous that the committee of the temple built its own building right behind of the tiny temple.
The 'wealth' of this temple is not surprising, consider it is famous among many Singaporean aunties. They either come from Tanjung Pengelih or a lot of time you see them come by chartered tourist buses all the way from Singapore via JB (at least 2.5 hrs).
When i went back home on 11 December 05, it was coincidentally a festive day to thank the Goddess for her protection to the fishermen in the past one year. At the night before, there was a Karaoke singing performance by fellow villagers. This kind of activity has added a little bit of spices to the peaceful and quiet life in the village. Sometimes i would say that, all these activities all more to please the mortal than the immortal.
The temple is near to the river mouth and right in front of the temple is the river.
i think a mud lobster mound managed to survive the 'massacre' of the villagers when they cleared the mangroves and reclaimed the river bank with red soil.
2 comments:
Where exactly is this temple? I am interested in Chinese temples. You can see them in my blog: http://chinesetemples.blogspot.com
Hey, this is not a temple in Singapore. This is a temple in Johor, Malaysia.
However if you really interested to visit here when you go to Pengerang, the direction is as below:
Walking distance of ten minutes from bus/taxi station. Walk down the road between two rows of shops and in front of taxi station. Turn left into Jalan Kurau Dua when you see the church.Walk along the road until the end of it and you will see the Mazhu Temple at your left side. On the way, you will pass by another temple at your left side also.Ask anyone that you meet, as long as they are local, they will know how to go to this temple.
Starting from this Tuesday 18 Apr 06, Mazhu temple has series of celebration for the Goddess's birthday for seven days. Chinese opera or 'getai' will be played.
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