The Sri Mahamariamman Temple in KL Chinatown Looks Like Candy!!

I changed the settings of my camera to Super Vivid when I took some of these pictures of the Sri Mahamariamman Temple.  I just had to since the temple looks so beautiful as it is, I had to do justice to it!

Mama and I Marvel at The Sri Mahamariamman Temple, KL Chinatown (Set 1 Pictures)

I have never been to an Indian temple before so it was really a treat to see the Sri Mahamariamman Temple in the KL Chinatown.  According to Wikipedia, it is the oldest and richest Indian temple in Kuala Lumpur and it's situated in the edge of Chinatown.  It was actually beside the Gathayiri shopping center where we bought the Indian fabrics!

The entrance is free but you'd have to take off your shoes.  You can wear socks though like me.  You have to put your shoes on the edges.  You can also take photographs everywhere.  The temple is very compact and small (for Catholic church standards), just about 100 square meters in a 200 square meter lot, but it does stand out in the hustle and bustle of Chinatown.

I decided to put all these pictures into different sets since the temple has many facets to it.  This was the rear side of the temple (we entered from here).  All these statues of these gods were encased in glass, I guess to protect them from being vandalized.

At this side also was this mini tower with many petit sculptures.

At 4PM, there was a ceremony where they bathed one of the deities.  It was pretty interesting to watch.  Some of the men were shirtless but had these sarong cloths on.  The women also prepared these things which looked like vegetables or lemons to me - and the ceremony was accompanied by music which looked like some sort of guitar to me.

I Wear Indian Garb as Mama Shops for Their Fabulous Beaded Fabrics

It was a pity I wasn't able to photograph the fabrics Mama bought.  They were ALL so beautifully crafted and beaded and they definitely looked fabulous when draped on the body!  As our Hop On Hop Off bus winded along the busy Chinatown district, Mama spotted this building which had many mannequins in Indian women's dress.  She said she wanted to go and see that.  I, on the other hand, wanted to see the Indian temple in Chinatown!  It was  a bit weird that we were looking for things Indian in Chinatown and not in Little India!  So we went down the station and headed for that building.

The fabrics were quite reasonably priced but I suggest you haggle hard since they are willing to give you a good price for it!  For example, one six-meter fabric cost RM210 (Php 2849.79) but Mama haggled it down to RM60 (PhP811.48).  In her next buy, she was able to haggle another beautiful cotton sari cloth from RM110 (PhP1,487.96) to just RM40 (PhP540.07)!!  I asked Mama not to shop so much since fabrics are heavy to bring so I told her to just buy enough that we could carry around comfortably, since we were still in the Hop On Hop Off tour!

The whole store named Gathayiri occupies two huge floors and it had offered many choices and if you have money to burn and you love Indian fabric and clothes, this is the place for you.  The store seems popular among the Indian populace since it had several branches in the different cities around Malaysia.

Since I waited for Mama, I had my own fun too wearing Indian garb, and the male sales person gamely assisted me!  It was wonderfully beaded too but it was not stretch cloth so it was difficult to wear it haha, he had to assist me to take off the shirt!  It was also warm and I don't know how it would wear outside the oppressive heat of KL or even India!  Kulang na lang actually is the turban to complete the look!

By the way, the temple I wanted to see was just right beside it!  Great coincidence!