coriander in pho

here be (sleeping) dragons

The temple’s guardians. Sort of.

Just like many buildings in Malaysia, our apartment has a Datuk gong shrine for the residents to pray. This is specific to Chinese descendants in Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. Datuk gong results from cultural assimilations of Chinese Taoism and Malay Islam.

And in front of the temple is this guardian.

Sometimes there are a couple more chilling on top of the metal drawers.

I named one of them “Sapi” (Cow)
Morning annoyance