Batu Caves

The first thing that caught my attention as the taxi from Kuala Lumpur pulled into the parking area for the Batu Caves was the nearly 14 story tall golden statue of Lord Murugan (Hindu god of war) that dwarfed the long flight of stairs up to the cave entrance to say nothing of the people climbing them. Made of 1550 cubic meters of concrete, 250 tonnes of steel bars and 300 liters of gold paint and taking 3 years to build, it is the world's largest Muruga statue.

Before reaching the first of the 272 stairs leading up to the Cathedral Cave, we got to enjoy watching Alex play with the many pigeons in the courtyard. Evidentially, however, Steve and I couldn't put it off any longer and began to climb the steeper-than-normal stair case. I thought it was funny that every stair was numbered. Makes me wonder if there is some significance to the number 272 and the counting up to it in the Hindu religion? Along the way we are kept company by a couple of Cynomolgus Monkeys that were looking for food. Even though these guys didn't look as friendly as some of the other monkeys we had seen, I still love the fact that there are monkeys everywhere we go in Southeast Asia.

At step 272 (almost 100 meters above where we started, or 33 stories straight up) we were greeted by as sign that proclaiming "No Exercise Beyond This Area", however this turned out to be not quite true because just after entering the biggest of the caves around here (called the Cathedral or Temple Cave) there is another flight of steps down, and on the far side another flight up. Yet, none of that bothered me once I was confronted with the majesty of this beautiful cave reaching yet another 100 meters up.

The paved cement floor and concrete Hindu shrines were a little distracting from the natural splendor, but this is one of the most visited and popular Hindu shrines outside of India. It's also where the Malaysian Hindus (as well as others from India, Australia and Singapore) celebrate the festival of Thaipusam.

After walking around and checking out all the nooks and crannies, especially on the far end of the cavern where the Lord Murugan Temple is with its natural skylight, we headed back down the stairs. This time we stopped off to check out the Dark Cave, about halfway down the stairway. It looked to have some amazing rock formations and there was much less human impact made on these caves. However, given our time constraints we decided to head back to the base and return to Kuala Lumpur.

Silver Pagoda

Cambodia's Royal Palace compound in Phnom Penh is home to several amazing buildings and shrines, but the place that really took the cake was Wat Preah Keo Morokat, which translates as 'The Temple of the Emerald Buddha'. However, it is more popularly known as the Silver Pagoda here in the west.

Commissioned by King Norodom and built out of wood and brick, in the usual Cambodian architectural style, between 1892 and 1902, it was originally know as Wat Uborsoth Rotannaram because it is where the King worshiped, prayed and practiced every Buddhist Silas Day. It is also where Buddhist ceremonies were held by the royal family and other officials. Unlike most pagodas no monks ever lived here, however, King Norodom Sihanouk lived there for a year when he entered the monkhood in 1947. In 1962 it was torn down and rebuilt out of concrete and Italian marble.

Walking up to this large and beautiful structure I was anxious to see what an authentic emerald Buddha looked like and what other treasures were inside. Just before entering I had to go through, what by this point in my trip had become very familiar, the ritual of taking off my sandals and finding a place to store them. Entering the pagoda, my eyes took a second to adjust to the darkness, and then I was overwhelmed by the over 1650 cultural and religious treasures that were stored inside. This large collection of riches is the main reason this pagoda was untouched by the Khmer Rouge. They could see how this collection could be used for propaganda purposes. However, there were 3 main things that captured my attention and wouldn't let go.

First, there was a life sized Buddha in the middle of the room weighing in at 90 kilograms (about 200 pounds) of pure gold. Called the Buddha Maitreya (Buddha of the Future,) it was commissioned in 1904 by King Sisowath and is covered with 9,584 diamonds. The largest diamond, at 25 carats, is in the crown, how ever the one in the chest is only slightly smaller coming in at 20 carats. I stood in front of it for what seemed like hours memorized by its beauty and opulence.

Behind that was the small 17th century "Emerald Buddha" of Cambodia sitting on a gilded dais above all others in the temple. It is said to be made of emerald or baccarat crystal.

Finally, I learned why it's called the 'Silver' Pagoda. The floor is covered in 5329 handcrafted silver tiles. Added during the reconstruction in 1962, each one weighs in at about 1.125kg (close to 2.5 pounds). Only a small section of the floor is visible while the rest is protected by carpet. I did, however, manage to position myself so that I could take a couple of steps, with my bare feet, on the silver tiles, and let me tell you, it was quite a sensation.

Unfortunately, photography is prohibited so I was unable to capture the spender, but I did manage to find an image online that must have been taken when only flash photography was banned.

Joan of Arc Memorial

Every time I drive up 39th from I-84 towards Belmont (usually so I can quench my thirst with some friends at one of the fine watering holes along that street) I have to pass through a roundabout at the intersection with Gleason. Normally, this would provoke some indignant response from me due to my admittedly irrational distain for roundabouts (especially ones where you have to stop anyway before going around...why not just make a normal damn intersection!). This roundabout, however, draws my attention away from its inherent annoyance and makes me wonder, "Why is there a big, golden statue of Joan of Arc in the middle of Portland?" Well, enough is enough and its time to get to résoudre ça mystère.

First thing I need to do is get a closer look at it. I parked my car on one of the side streets off 39th, about a block south and walk up to the roundabout. The first thing we noticed (I had Virginia with me since I was taking her home after work via the B-Side) was that there is no crosswalk to get to the park in the middle. The lanes do go from 2 to 1 next to the bus stop, so we crossed over to that and quickly made our way across the street to the park.

Getting a close up look at the statue I could see a stoic yet determined look in her face that is impossible to see zipping by in a car. There were no dedication plaques, but there were little tidbits of information on the statue. On the front of the pedestal it reads:

Joan of Arc
Maid of Orleans
1412-1431

That pretty much confirms that it's a statue of Joan of Arc. I was always told that's what it was, but since I didn't know what the 15th century French heroine looked like (mostly because there are no known depictions of her that survived till modern times) I just sort of took their word for it.

The pedestal also seems to indicate that she is riding into battle during the siege at Orléans in 1429 (or she was just ridding in to clean up the place). This was a major turning point during the Hundred Year's War because, among other reasons, the French actually achieved a military victory (never thought I would say that). It all began with Joan going to the uncrowned King Charles VII with a tale of how God told her to kick the English out of France. For whatever reason, Chuck bought into her story and sent her to Orléans which had been under siege for six months. Joan showed up on April 29th and by May 8th the English had packed up their tea and crumpits and left. So you see, the French can win...they just need to be lead by someone with the balls of a 17 year old girl. While we are on the subject of French bashing; the war probably took so long because the French soldiers refused to fight more than 35 hours a week, 39 hours being far to taxing on them.

On the right side (if you were sitting on the horse) of the statue, just under the hooves, there is an inscription that reads, "F. Barbedienne, Fondeur. Paris, France". At first I thought this might be the sculptures name, but it's actually the mark of the F. Barbedienne foundry located in Paris. These guys invented a way to mechanically create bronze reproductions of statues, which they did from 1838 till 1952 (with the exceptions of 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War). Our statue is one of eight castings. Four of them are in France, one is in Melbourne, Australia, one is in Philadelphia, and the youngest one (dedicated in 1972) is in New Orleans. The original was commissioned in 1874 by Emperor Napoleon III and sculpted by Emmanuel Frémiet. That statue is in the Place des Pyramides in Paris.

On the other side we found another engraving, "A Gift to Portland from Henry Waldo Coe M.D. 1924". Now things start to fall into place. Henry Coe was a psychiatrist who owned the Morningside Hospital nuthouse in East Portland. He also seemed to have a thing for donating statues to Portland. Aside from the Joan of Arc (donated in 1924, as indicated), there was also the Theodor Roosevelt (1922) across from Art Museum (Calvin Coolidge did the ground breaking ceremony), there was a ten-foot, bronze Abraham Lincoln (1926) situated in the South Park Blocks between SW Main and Madison, and finally a George Washington (1927) that sits on 47th and Sandy Blvd. In 1905 he also donated the material for Alice Cooper to make the Sacajawea statue in Washington Park.

Dr. Coe donated the Joan of Arc statue to memorialize the American "doughboys" that fought alongside the French during World War I. The statue was unveiled on Memorial Day 1925, not coincidentally the anniversary of Joan's martyrdom on May 30, 1431. The statue was unveiled in what is now known as Coe Park at the center of the Laurelhurst neighborhood. On May 30, 2002 there was a rededication of the statue after it was restored (new, very shiny gold-leave coating, new flag and new laurel wreath on her head).

The only other thing I noticed was the peculiar placement of the statue itself. Rather than being in the center of the park, it is on the southern side. Turns out the reason for this is related to the name of the neighborhood. Prior to 1921, this whole area used to be owned by the Laurelhurst Company and called "Block A". They set up an office on the north side of what would become Coe Park because the Portland Railway Light and Power streetcar line (the Montavilla line) ran through the center of the circle. The property was sold to the McFadden Building Co. in late 1921 who wanted to develop the area but after a ruckus caused the local residents the area was deeded to the city in April 1922. In 1924 the only place to put the statue was the southern edge of the circle. Eventually the Laurelhurst Co. building moved, and the tracks were filled in when buses replaced the streetcars leaving us with a big grassy roundabout and an off-center, golden statue of Joan of Arc.