Tur til træskærer og moske i Selangor
En dag kørte vi en tur sammen med Johnny og Bitten.
Vi skulle ned og besøge den træskærer på den lille ø Carrie Island, som var i gang med at snitte vores “Tiger”.
Efterfølgende gjorde vi et top ved Den Blå Moske i Shah Alam.
Carrie Island
Carey Island is famous for two things – great seafood and the indigenous Mah Meri (pronounced Mak Miri) people who have a reputation for some of the world’s finest wooden masks.
Located just off the mainland, they have assimilated into modern life, with jobs in the nearby plantations and farms, but they retain their unique culture and way of life. Apart from exhibitions of their traditional dances and music, the Mah Meri are also known for their evocative sculptures, fashioned from a kind of swamp hardwood known as “Nyireh Batu”.
Mah Meri Wooden Carvings
From the tourist’s point of view the main attraction on Pulau Carey is the aboriginal community, the Mah Meri, one of 18 Orang Asli tribes living in Malaysia (orang aslimeans original people).
This community of around 1400 people is famous for its unique wooden statues and masks carved from a rare red swamp hardwood called Nyireh Batu which belongs to the mahogany family.
There are said to be around 25 craftsmen and they can produce over 100 different designs, each with its own significance and purpose in their culture. The best place to see them is Kampung Sungei Bumbun where there are a couple of stalls and a newly built craft centre which has never been open on my two visits.
You can buy these carvings or request them to make one for you. They are not cheap but they take weeks to make and the wood is becoming increasingly rare.
If you do not have the time to visit Pulau Carey yourself but would like to buy a carving you can also find them at Kompleks Kraf Kuala Lumpur (Handicraft Complex) on Jalan Conlay. They are cheaper if you go direct to the source however.
Shah Alam
Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz shah-moskéen
Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Mosque (Malay: Masjid Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz) is the state mosque of Selangor and possibly the most significant tourist attraction of Shah Alam. It is the country’s largest mosque and also the second largest mosque in Southeast Asia after Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Its most distinguishing feature is its large blue and silver dome. The mosque has four minarets, one erected at each of the corners.
The mosque was commissioned by the late Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz, when he declared Shah Alam as the new capital of Selangor on 14 February, 1974.
Construction began in 1982 and finished on 11 March, 1988.
The Mosque is also known as the Blue Mosque owing to its blue dome.
The building has the largest religious dome in the world measuring 51.2 m (167 ft) in diameter and a height of 106.7 m (350 ft). The 4 minarets are the 2nd tallest in the world and also the the world’s tallest group of minarets, they are placed at each of the four corners and are 142.3 m (460 ft) tall.