Emma Exploring

As per usual wherever I go in Asia, I found myself in yet another temple. I’m not at all religious so I’m still at a loss to explain why I love temples so much! Generally, I just find them really peaceful and visually beautiful places which have a tonne of interesting history and cultural significance. I think I also love temples because they’re one of the very first memories I have of my time spent in Hong Kong as a teenager, so temples remind me of fond memories I have from there.

Thean Hou is actually Kuala Lumpur’s largest Chinese temple, and it’s affiliated with Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. It has 6 levels (quite a lot by temple standards!) and is located on 1.67 acres of land up a large, steep hill.

Then Hou was built in 1987 making it quite new by temple standards but it doesn’t make it any less beautiful. It’s namesake is the goddess Tian Hou (also known by a variety of other names) who is the patron saint of seafarers. Worshippers pray to her in the hopes of keeping sailors and fishermen safe at sea.

Unlike monotheistic places of worship, temples aren’t necessarily affiliated to just one religion. I think this is largely because religions like Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism etc. are polytheistic (they worship more than one god/goddess). If you want a bit of a crash course in Buddhism, check out my blog post on the free night tour I took of Longshan Temple in Taipei. It was genuinely interesting and our tour guide made it fun too. Make sure you go on the tour too if you’re in Taipei!

But on the subject of Thean Hou temple, I’ll just let the photos do the talking from here. There’s quite a few, I know… Please humour me! I promise these really are only the highlights…! Enjoy.