Wesak Day 2023 - Celebrating Buddha's Birthday, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

So it’s Thursday 4th May 2023. Today is the birthday of the Buddha, and it’s an annual holiday observed by Buddhists to celebrate Wesak Day. And I’m in Brickfields at the Maha Vihara Buddhist Temple, a Sri Lankan temple in Kuala Lumpur to join devotees offering their prayers, light oil lamps and candles for peace and prosperity, and chase away darkness and evil. 

And then after sunset a procession of floats which have been absent for the past few years due to covid will return to parade through the streets of Kuala Lumpur for 12 km. I hope you enjoy the visuals I captured for the Buddhists special day.

My first impressions of Kuala Lumpur. I’ve got plenty of time to explore the different districts and check out the lay of the land. You have a different agenda as a long term traveller. Well I do anyway. You may also consider these things when you’re on a fleeting visit, but I generally ask questions like - Would I want to live here full-time? Where is a good area to live?
How much is condo rental short-term/long-term? Is there a supermarket nearby? Do I like the food? Are there a number of different food options in your neighborhood. How does living in KL compare with living in the Philippines, Thailand or Vietnam? Is it safe?

I’ve visited Malaysia twice before. First time was in 1988, we visited KL and also some islands on the east coast, such as Tioman. Then I came again in 2008 when I took a boat from Thailand to Langkawi, then visited KL and Penang whilst waiting for my visa for India to be processed.
So 15 years ago.

I didn’t recognize KL at all. I love cities. I’ve spent a lot of time in big cities such as London, Tokyo, New York and Bangkok. But KL felt quite daunting for me this time around. Just getting my head around the different transport options. BRT, LRT, MRT, plus MONorail and Rapid KL buses. Plus the KL free bus service.I’m an experienced traveller. But boy to begin with I really didn’t wanna start to contemplate how to navigate the transport system. So I walked. Well I always walk anyway. As walking is always a good introduction to a new city.

There’s so much life going on on the streets. You can never get bored walking around a city. I love it when all the lights come on and the buildings take on a different dimension. I enjoy being outside videoing at night. Something I never did in the Philippines as I didn’t really wanna roam the streets of Cebu after dark. But also Cebu doesn’t have the same visual appeal as other big cities such as Bangkok, Tokyo or Saigon has.
And it’s not like being out you’re gonna get cold after sunset. If anything it gets hotter. But it’s just great being out wandering the streets in the evening…….you lose track of time and suddenly you realise it’s getting late.

You have a different sense of timing as a traveller. I could stay in Malaysia for 90 days on a tourist visa if I wanted to. I wasn’t just in KL for a 4 day break, so I didn’t feel the urgency to tick off all the tourist sites. I don’t like tourist sites anyway although I do love visiting them to see how tourists respond to them. Like how important it is for them to have their photograph taken with the Petronas Towers behind them. Look where I am everyone. Actually I’m contraDicting myself as I did this in my last video. But it’s not as if I’m taking 200 selfies with any landmarks. Just a video. Ha!

Anyway this is just a taster of my first few days in KL.
I’ll be answering all these questions over the next few weeks with my different videos so stay tuned.

EQUIPMENT USED:
Canon Sureshot G7X Mark II.
Recorded at 60fps at 1080p resolution.

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