accompanied my mum and a gaggle of aunties (10 in all) some two weeks ago to Batu Pahat for their regular "Arapaima touching" plus temple visiting plus seafood eating excursion.. i love to join them 'cos they can be quite funny and they are all so nice to me.. hahhaha..
pretty amazed at the variety of rituals temples have devised to make aunties part with their money.. there were prayers for 4D and Toto numbers by spinning wheels of all kinds, touching the head of the gigantic south american arapaimas (which can grow up to 5 metres long - you can see my mama in the top picture with 2 of them), washing of feet and bathing with the special "well water" at the room designated for you depending on your chinese astrological sign (pic above), prayers for family safety and harmony by floating lotuses on the murky river next to a "floating temple"; and praying to a shrine with a hundred idols (very economical use of time).. there was supposedly even something called "hugging the pineapple" though i didn't see any auntie doing that.. haha..
some of the idols and prayer items are downright whimsical looking.. like the stylised drawings on the prayer paper and the ferocious looking statue on the top right hand with 4 sets of eyes on his body.... ummm... and the odd incense container in front of my mum as she lights the incense sticks.. there were many more (like gods with fish and shrmp heads and pearly white "buayas" (alligators)) but i couldn't fit them all in..
the last pic shows the really rustic kelong, with good coastal bird life like egrets and herons (just before a light drizzle), that i relaxed in front of as the aunties (including my mum) repeatedly cajoled the arapaimas to be touched in the two large ponds in the temple complex.. so i had a good 2 hours or so to just sit and chill.. :) it was a nice day out..
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