Photos of Thean Hou Temple - a visit after 30 years

[StephenAbraham]

Malaysia, a country where people of many ethnic groups and religions live together in peaceful harmony. Each ethnic group has their special and unique place of culture and worship. I can remember vividly that sometime over 30 years ago, I had visited a great beautiful temple in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, but hadn’t taken the time and effort to figure where it was. It was out of mind and out of sight for that many years, well, until recently. A few other fellow Local Guides in Malaysia helped me rekindle that old memories and we located and went to visit the Thean Hou Chinese temple in Kuala Lumpur. It is apparently one of the most beautiful Chinese temples in Kuala Lumpur, and the reason for me to not knowing about the place for over 30 years escapes me. Still, with united knowledge from others, I was back there, reliving my vivid memories.

A few of our many photos of the very beautiful Thean Hou Temple. Google Maps location: https://goo.gl/maps/LKUhG7NfDK52

Photo below: Main entrance to the temple

Photo below: Main entrance with the central incense jar

Photo below: Sea of red lanterns

Photo below: Main deity the Goddess of the sea in the inner sanctuary

Photo below: devotees offering lit candles

Photo below: the ceiling dome of the inner sanctuary

Photo below: decorative roof carvings

Photo below: beautiful sculptured pillars

Photo below: Long rows of lanterns

Photo below: the outer statue garden

Photo below: incense and joss sticks for purchase

Photo below: fortune sticks where one picks a stick and reads the corresponding fortune

Photo below: beautiful bronze statue of the Buddha

Photo below: Animals of the zodiac in the zodiac garden

Photo below: Opening hours

A must visit place when visiting Kuala Lumpur. Wonder why it had taken me so long to realize this place. Happy I finally got here, with my fellow Malaysia Local Guides.

*all photos are self captured.

[Haseeb]

wow beautiful place, I need to visit it too
Thanks for sharing bro @StephenAbraham

[TsekoV]

Hi @StephenAbraham ,

This post is a WOW! I cannot actually believe that you got to find out the name of this temple after 30 years. What was the feeling to be there again? Did you have the same feeling as when visiting it the first time or was it somehow different?

To tell you the truth, I also visited Kuala Lumpur last summer and to my regret I didn’t quite well plan my visit there. Actually I was alone and had a limited time. There are so many places I would love to visit such as the Batu Caves.

I also have some photos taken from a Chinese temple in the center of Kuala Lumpur, but just as you, I couldn’t remember the name of the place. Here is a photo from that place:

Maybe someone would recognize this temple, hehe.

[StephenAbraham]

@TsekoV Wow, amazing that you visited that temple in the middle of town, and hope you get back here so we can go visit more places and eat more and more food.

The temple you visited is the Guan Di Temple in the center of Kuala Lumpur.

https://goo.gl/maps/C8TFADNKcoL2

We actually had a pre-Chinese New Year meet up 2 months ago where we also explored the same area and that same temple. Read about our meet-up below.

https://www.localguidesconnect.com/t5/General-Discussion/Malaysia-Local-Guides-explore-Chinatown-Kuala-Lumpur-26th-Jan/m-p/1259334#M271864

This is the inside of the Guan Di Temple.

[SaifIS]

@StephenAbraham Wow, these photos are so colorful and pleasing to eyes. Thank you for giving me a nice photo tour!

[marcorp]

Stunning pictures! What a place to visit!

[HiroyukiTakisawa]

Hello, @StephenAbraham

What’s a beautiful post! I want to visit there now!!!
Thank you for sharing this;-)

[KarenVChin]

That is what I miss when I am not in Asia - the sea of bright red and gold - @StephenAbraham in your photos.

This temple is beautiful. Thanks for sharing all your wonderful photos here.

Tagging @FaridTDF . Here is yet another reason to travel to Southeast Asia and visit places like this temple.

Cheers,

Karen

[system]

Very beautiful @StephenAbraham

Thank you.

[AbdullahAM]

Beautiful photos, it looks a nice Temple @StephenAbraham

Thank you for sharing with us.

[ReemaGandhi]

This is by far the most interesting temples I’ve ever seen. I’m so intrigued by the pictures you shared. The kind of detailed work you focused on, the intense red lanterns, intricate carvings on the roof, the entrance simply magnificent.

It might be a silly question to ask but how does the fortune sticks work?

[Christina-NYC]

@StephenAbraham What a beautiful series of photos! You captured some great images of your experience there! Thank you for sharing!

[A4387ke-4]

Lovely temple. I saw similar temple in Beijing, China

[duenbenz]

Thanks to you @StephenAbraham beautiful photos …I enjoy a lot and many places that you referred to, all is attractive.

[davidhyno]

Beautiful temple and amazing photos @StephenAbraham .

I really admired how you can capture the details even with perspective photos.

Truly a joy for the eyes and for the spirit this temple!

Bye,

David

[StephenAbraham]

Thanks everyone for your kind comments.

@ReemaGandhi Thanks, For the fortune sticks, we were observing the faithful, and this is how I understood it. There are about 100 sticks, and all are hosted in a cylindrical container. One will say a short prayer, carry up the sticks in both hands and drop them back to the canister. And the stick that stands the highest is the fortune. One will read the number on the stick and retrieve the fortune from the correct number box at the bottom of the device. And then make a small donation.

Actually one of our members did that, and apparently got very good fortune.

[ReemaGandhi]

Well, that sounds interesting!

Thank you for the info (:

[mdimran0809]

Thanks @StephenAbraham superb photographs

[RahimTraveler]

Really Very Nice Place. I wish for life one time i could visit there.

[wmw]

Great!