Kapitan Keling Mosque

I went to the Kapitan Keling Mosque yesterday and spent quite a long time there. After getting a nice tour of the mosque I sat with my guide in his air conditioned office along with two of his friends, one visiting from Egypt and the other from Mexico. The three of them explained many aspects of Islam to me. It was interesting to hear about Islam from the perspective of Muslims in Asia (in this case, Tamil) but also to know that, at least within the Sunni Muslim Community, as represented by these particular men, there seemed to be complete agreement and unity regarding the religion and how to practice it.

I’ve studied about Islam in the past and it was nice to see that some of the things they talked about were familiar to me, for example, the five pillars of Islam. In discussing these I was particularly moved when they talked about the need to give to charity. They said that they have no need for personal wealth and that their primary concern is having no want for “food and drink for themselves, their families and their neighbor”. Instead of throwing out food or an older piece of clothing it is the duty of a Muslim to give it to a poor person to “help them and to lift them up to your level of living.”
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Hainan Association and Temple

Today was my first day in Penang, Malaysia. I actually started my visit to Malaysia over the weekend but I’ll have to write more about that exciting weekend in another post.

I woke up much later than I usually do in Asia because the guesthouse I’m staying in has no windows. It turns out that windows in guesthouses in the center of Georgetown, in Penang, are somewhat of a rarity. I’m staying at the Banana guesthouse and besides the windows situation it’s very clean and conveniently located in the middle of the backpacker strip, complete with a travel agency, cafe and free WIFI.

For breakfast I picked up a steamed bun with vegetables in the middle. I’m not sure what they call them here but they’re called bun bao in Vietnam. I was still hungry but I didn’t want to delay my walk around Georgetown since the day was already hot and was rapidly getting even hotter. I walked down a small street called Love Lane which leads into Chinatown and I passed several other guesthouses and homes. My first stop was to the Hainan Cultural Center where I was the only soul to be found. Even the person tending the desk at the entrance was off on a break somewhere. It’s always nice when you can wander into a place, snap some photos and hear the sound of silence around you.
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