Sunday evening, right after work I drove to Butterworth for the firewalking in Tow Boo Kong temple in Butterworth. On the way, I picked up a friend along. The sky was getting dark when we arrived.

From afar, a gigantic temple arch standing tall greets us. I heard it was just completed a few months ago.

As we went nearer, we saw throng of people swarmed the food stalls along the road, setup in conjunction of the Nine Emperor Gods Festival. It is the time of the year where devotees are on strict vegetarian diet for 10 consecutive days. Today is the last day.

The arch really stand tall and attracted a number of onlookers who really admires the arch carving beauty. I took a few shots of the arch before move closer to the firewwalking area for a good spot.

Some of the devotees were praying when I was searching for a good spot. I managed to take a few shots of them. One of them even said, “cheese”! A funny guy, indeed.

A long and big joss stick.

Finally, I found a good place to stand and shoot. As my shooting progress, I realised I still haven’t learned the right techniques to shoot at night. Imagine, a person with limited photography skills and a D40 without external flash and tripod, shooting his maiden shot in a temple at night.

It was around 8.30pm when more and more people surrounded the praying altar near the firewalking place. Too bad, I cannot enter the place. The temple committees have setup barriers to prevent outsiders from disturbing the firewalking place.

The volunteers were busy keeping the floor cool.

And then, it was time to take out any charcoal that did not burn from the fireplace.

Followed by flattening the charcoal to make it even and easier to walk past. At this time, hundreds of people started to flock to this place in anticipation of the start of firewalking.

All of a sudden, the spotlights went off. Totally dark as I hardly can see the people face. Just left, the  light from the temple and the burning charcoal to illuminate the whole place.

Total darkness,indeed. To add matter worst, I watched the firewalking with dismay as I was so far away from the place. Not a good spot anymore.

30 minutes later, it was all over. I left the temple armed with a new experience that made me wonders whether firewalking is a myth or psychics.

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