Lourdes, a pilgrimage town in the Southwest of France

Flashback to 31st may 2007...

Bette Midler sang "Song of Bernadette" in which she recounted the story of a girl who once saw the Queen of Heaven...I always wondered what she meant by all this until I came across the story of Saint Bernadette in the Holiest Town in France - Lourdes.

It is the site of the miracle in which The Holy Mary appeared to the then little Bernadette and the rest is subject of theological studies.

Well, I didn't visit Lourdes for religious reasons but since Toulouse was not that far away, I thought it would be interesting to visit the city that receive huge amount of pilgrims each year. Even the Pope comes here...

The town is dominated by a small hill that overlooks the town, severed by two rivers gushing with icy-cold water. On top of this hill sits the Chateau Fort that now functions as a Pyreneen Museum. It is one of the oldest structure in town, dating back to Roman times. For a French tourist town, things are unusually cheap here, especially the trinklets but then again, they are mostly conceived for religious purposes. Everything on sale has one image or another that is connected to Catholicism or the Mother Mary. Even blessed water can be bought in bottles from the souvenir shops (water from the Grotto reputated to have miraculous effects). even public toilets are unusually numbrous here, a real rarity in France as far as tourist sites are concerned.
I did not make the bee-line to the Grotto by the river but managed to visit the Basilica, the underground congregation, I'm not so sure if I didn't confuse it with the Grotto...well, it was supposed to be the single largest congregation hall in the world, that's all that I could retain. However, the visit to the museum was quite an event as the impressive height of the escalator leading to the chateau was something to remember. Inside, there were displays of the ancient way of life here in the Pyreneen culture as well as scaled-down models of chateaux in the region of Midi-Pyrenees.

The general ambiance of this town is remarkably calm despite the amount of tourists. As our visit did not coincide with any religious festivities, I suppose the traffic was not there...

Part of the town view from the route to the underground church...

This impressive basilica is in fact really a tw0-in-one as the front portion is actually the Basilique de Notre-Dame de Rosarie (Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary) and the rear structure (connected) is actually the Basilique de Notre Dame de la Conception Immaculee (Basilica of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception).

a closer view from the entrance

Outside, on the square of the basilica

The Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary - beautiful adornement with Byzantine-inspired decors

The coupole, or the domed ceiling of the basilica. Observe the rich decor inspired by Byzantine esthetics

View from the roof of the basilica

The crown of Heaven, decorating the roof-top of the basilica

Can't resist a good photo-op

A beautiful building on the hill on the other side of the river from the basilica

view of the Chateau Fort

View from the top of the Chateau Fort

The river that runs through the town...

a display inside the museum

Another view of the town. Notice the fanciful architecture

The humonguos underground congregation hall. Pilgrims on wheelchairs are aplenty in this town...even inside this cave.

Urgent Conservation Issues - Lata Jarum Recreational Forest Reserve in Raub

If you advocate conservation of our natural heritage, your help and support would very much be needed to help protect some of the last remaining treasures from our jungle.
Recent development of the touristic sector, in an attempt to bring in some tourist dollar had adversely affected the three sites of rafflesia in Lata Jarum Recreational Forest Reserve in Raub, Pahang, Malaysia. Reckless and untrained tourist guides had brought thrill seeking tourists to these sites and had resulted in the near destruction of one of the known rafflesia sites. As these unique plants thrive in an extremely delicate and special environment, any disruption to its habitat could result in irreversible damage. As there is only one caretaker assigned to the site, his hands are tied and anyone wanting to visit this site should at least go through the right channel (Raub forestry department) and NOT hiring local tour guides-non are licensed nor trained in handling nature. I have even seen orchids and plants being uprooted by tourists...

So, the next time anyone invite you to visit this place, please go but do it the right way:

Take nothing but photographs
Leave nothing but your footprint
(And THAT includes not trempling where your feet should not be, please)

a foot-wide bud of the rafflesia cantleyi

a nice row of developping buds

an even larger bud...

the remains of a wilted flower

the bloom of a melanostoma spp.

hoof prints in a puddle of water

leaves of a sappling of meranti, Shorea spp.

pale yellow flower of the lemba, a plant frequently found in forest fringes. The fruit from this plant is a natural sweetener.

wild berries from a shrub

red fruiting bracts of a forest tree- ingkar burung

beautiful orange bloom of a wild mussaenda spp. on the forest fringe...

an insect...

a millipede on the forest floor

white fungi

a fallen fruit of a species of wild durian

intense red flower bract of a terrestrial ginger

encore some wild berries

a bract fungus in salmon pink

fruiting body of a wild ginger

strange white fruits

an ixora spp. maybe?

a fallen blossom from a forest tree.

Au marché de fermiers...1 August 2009, Benta, Kuala Lipis

The farmers' market at Benta, Raub opens every Saturday evening. Even though there isn't much to it, one can still fine a few interesting local produce...

Petai and salted fish...

Cockles in a huge wok, simmering in a spicy sauce.

Sata, a local delicacy of fish meal and grated coconut wrapped in banana leaf then chargrilled

Perah, a seasonal nut from the forest

Health food from the jungle, an 'incontournable' (meaning indispensable) ingredient called Serai Kayu from the fringes of the jungle used frequently in the local nasi ulam.

Siput sedut, a freshwater snail commonly found in the farmer's markets of Raub. This snail is usually cooked with cocnut milk, serai (lemon grass), tumeric and daun kaduk. Equally tasty in cantonese styled dry-frying using chilli, salted soya beans, garlic and ginger. This snail is only found in flowing fresh water streams.

Don't be fooled by the wrapping of this palm sugar as it is NOT the famous gula melaka of coconut origin. This is gula kabong, a palm sugar made from fish-tail palm and currently, there's only 2 known site producing in very limited quantity - one in Benta itself and the other in Kg. Dong, Raub. Scarcity is due to the increasing difficulty in obtaining the sap from the jungle palm as well as lack of interest in cottage industry. What set this rare palm sugar apart from the normal palm sugars is the fact that it exudes a very different and subtle fruitiness. A real treat in traditional kuehs.

Perkasam, or preserved fish, is exclusively made from fresh water river fish (in this case the lampam sungai, or kepiat) with rice and asam gelugur. For the initiated only.