Showing posts with label Malaysia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Malaysia. Show all posts

Saturday 10 October 2020

I Don't Really Have a Sweet Tooth, but.....

.... I Used to Like Desserts

Time was we would go out and eat a three-course meal, today it is usually main course only (though in the Time of Covid we have not been out since we took up that nice Rishi Sunak’s invitation ‘to eat out to help out’). Part of the problem is the increasing size of pub main courses, but most of it is our increasing age – we just can’t eat like we use to.

So, this post is a celebration of all things sweet. It is not quite a fond farewell, we are still in 'one dessert, two spoons' territory, and of course there are many occasions where the casual purchase of something small and sweet is deemed appropriate.

My dessert at Rick Stein's Seafood Restaurant, Padstow (2007)

So where to start?

Portugal, Obviously

Why obviously? Because we have spent a week or two in the Algarve every October this century, and would be there right now if our flight had not been cancelled by the Curse of Covid.

The Algarve to us means, first and foremost, sea-food, fresh from the briny and expertly cooked, but a meal should not stop there.

Dessert menus generally involve a large glossy folded card produced by a manufacturer of synthetic desserts and ice creams. Stuck somewhere on the card there will be a small, sometimes hand-written, list of desserts for grown-ups, many of which will have been made in-house. Ever present is pudim flan, a rich eggy caramel custard, which is perfect when you have too little room for anything heavier. Sometimes it is just perfect.

Lynne and a pudim flan, Martin's Grill, Carvoeiro

Many residents of the dessert menu are equally at home with a morning coffee - another of the pleasures of Portugal and the reason why each trip is traditionally followed by a diet.

Coffee and Cakes, Ferragudo (2012)

An assortment of bolos (cakes) and tartes (translation unnecessary) are made from local produce including (but not limited to) almonds, figs, carobs, oranges and apples. The cakes will always be made with one egg more than would be normal elsewhere and are universally wonderful.

Different cakes (and cups) but at the same place in 2011

Apple Cakes

Portuguese apple cake is moist, flavourful and lovely. Elsewhere apple can be a little dull, though Lynne’s Dorset apple cake is always a delight and a French apple tart can be a thing of beauty. So is Moldovan apple cake – who knew there was such a thing? We made it our lunch in the ambitiously named Eco-resort, actually a clutch of traditional painted houses, in the village of Butuceni. Butuceni sees few visitors – it deserves more (click here to find out why).

Lynne and a Moldovan apple cake, Butuceni Eco-Resort

Pasteis de Nata

Our favourite and most frequent accompaniment to morning coffee is the pastel de nata (literally, if misleadingly, ‘cream pastry’)

Cafe con leite and a pastel de nata

Baked fresh every day – the supermarket version is cheap but a shadow of the real thing - the pastry is crisp and flaky, the filling rich with vanilla and egg. It can be enjoyed anywhere, but I know of nowhere better  than the Pastelaria Fabrica Velha in Carvoeiro, one of our favourite Algarve coffee spots.

I will also briefly mention Lord Stow’s Garden Café in the former Portuguese colony of Macau, just across the Pearl River estuary from Hong Kong. (Click here for our visit and ‘Lord Stow’s’ unusual back story.)

Lord Stow's Garden Café, Coloane, Macau

Lord Stow’s egg tarts are based on the pastel de nata; the pastry is first class, but they look a little too tidy and the oversweet filling lacks the subtlety of the real thing. Expanding from the Garden Café, Lord Stow bakery franchises can now be found in several east Asian luxury hotels.

Lord Stow's egg tarts, Coloane, Macau

SE Asia (and Mexico)

Vietnam

Having reached Macau we shall stay in Asia. There are many sweet foods in China, but there are no desserts because there are no courses. Dishes are ordered, arrive when they are ready and are shared by everybody.

The same is not true in Vietnam which has its own distinctive style. Finishing a meal with soup seems odd to us, but why not? In Hanoi (click here) our first dinner ended with che bo bo, a soup (though che means ‘tea’) described on the menu as a sweet southern dessert consommé.

Lynne and Nhu (representative of Haivenu Travel) at the Ly Club, Hanoi - we had not quite reached the dessert soup yet

At the other end of the country, Ngon is a Saigon institution. The huge restaurant is housed in a colonial mansion where tables fill the entrance hall, atrium, courtyard and every ground floor room. It was packed with office workers, students and suburban ladies on shopping expeditions; everybody, it seemed, headed for Ngon at lunch time.

Fortunately, we had a booking and a waiter led us confidently through the throng to the only spare seats in the building (for the full story click here). Sweetness is all-pervasive, so making good desserts is easy, but sublime desserts are rare. At Ngon, my glutinous rice balls swimming in a ginger and coconut milk sauce presented a combination of flavours and textures that hit that mark. I had difficulty grasping the idea that, for the locals, such delights are ordinary everyday food.

In the former imperial city of Hue, in Vietnam's narrow waist, we were treated to an 8-course imperial banquet. The food was all right, no more, but the presentation of each course was memorable. The dessert of sweetened red bean paste formed into fruits was one of the most inventive, though of course the fruits all tasted the same, regardless of colour or shape.

Fruits made from Bean Paste, Placid Garden Manor Restaurant, Hue

Malaysia

Malaysia is a great place to eat, but desserts are not a high priority. Cendol is a sort of national dessert available everywhere from 4-star hotels to street food stalls; the price varies, but the quality is much the same. It consists of shaved ice with coconut milk, green coloured rice noodles, a few red beans and a lot of unrefined palm sugar – simple, but pleasing.

Lynne eats cendol at a street food stall, Penang

Durian is popular from southern China southwards. The big, green spiky fruit smells like a chemical toilet left out in the sun, but if you can ignore that, and it is not easy, they taste wonderful (allegedly) – as the locals say ‘smells like Hell, tastes like Heaven.’

Green durian and red dragon fruit, Banh Thanh Market, Ho Chi Minh City

Malaysia is peak durian territory. There are shops entirely devoted to durian and the pastries and confections made from it. One-bite durian puffs are an easy way to approach the challenge, but the ‘one-bite’ is important. Attempting two bites deposits a surprisingly large slick of durian slurry over an extensive area (as well I know). The smell is repressed by the cooking and the flavour is actually quite pleasant.

The one-bite durian puff, Malacca

Emboldened, we tried a durian ice-cream on a stick in Kuala Lumpur, and actually enjoyed it.

Durian ice-cream. Are we beginning to develop a taste? Central Market, Kuala Lumpur

Ice Cream

So, having reached ice cream, here is a brief rant.

Ice-cream parlours figured large in my youth, or at least Borza’s on the prom in Porthcawl did. I know others remember Borza’s fondly as the last time I mentioned them complete strangers contacted me asking for further information. Unfortunately, all I know is that the Borza’s moved on, those that didn’t can be found in Porthcawl cemetery, just across the path from my grandparents.

In the late 1950s Borza’s did few flavours, but they did the most exquisite creamy-textured vanilla - a vanilla nut sundae was a once-a-holiday treat (well it cost 1/9d!*). For Borza’s, vanilla was not a synonym for ‘plain’ it meant ice cream flavoured, quite strongly, with actual vanilla. To get an ice cream that good today you have to visit a high-end restaurant where they make it in-house. (Click here for the Walnut Tree in Abergavenny).

Since then ice cream has diversified into a host of mostly synthetic flavours and lost its texture. Some American makers have gone so far astray that ice cream has become merely a filler of the interstices in pots of crumbled brownies, cookie dough or honeycomb.

Ice Cream in Mexico

Rant over, now please join me in a leap across the Pacific from Malaysia to Mexico.

To complete a street food lunch in Puebla, 100 km south of Mexico City, we ventured into an ice cream shop. We had rarely seen such a vast array of flavours.

Ice-cream choices, Puebla

But it was not the number that amazed us, it was the flavours themselves. With our rudimentary grasp of Spanish we could see the usual suspects, strawberry, chocolate, rum and raisin, even vanilla tucked in the end. But what about vino tinto? As an ice cream? And queso (cheese) or queso con zarzamora (cheese with blackberries) or chicle (bubblegum)? Our local guide helped with the translations, but even he could not render maracuyá or guanabana into English, so that was what we chose.

Eating ice-cream in Puebla

We enjoyed both. Maracuyá was familiar though we could not quite place it, guanabana remained a mystery. We googled them later; maracuyá is passion fruit, so we should have recognised it, and guanabana is soursop. No? Nor me. It is, apparently, a spikey, vaguely pear-shaped fruit that grows on an evergreen tree throughout the tropical Americas. Its flavour, according to Wikipedia is a combination of strawberry and apple with a sour citrus note. It makes a decent enough ice cream.

Now, back to Asia

India

Mava

Mava or khoya is made throughout the sub-continent by stirring gently boiling milk until its consistency approaches a soft dough. It can be sold like that…

The Bhirandiyara Mava Center, Gujarat

… and the result is surprisingly sweet.

Lynne eating Mava, Bhirandiyara

Gulab Jamun

But it is also the basis of several sweets and desserts, my favourite being Gulab Jamun. Mava is rolled into balls, which are deep fried in ghee at low temperature until they are golden brown, then soaked in a light syrup, sometimes flavoured with cardamom, rose water or saffron. I have eaten many, but never photographed them, so I have borrowed this one from Wikipedia. In my experience they are rarely as elegantly presented as this.

Gulab Jamun with Saffron
Photo by Prakrutim, reproduced under CC Share-Alike 4. 0

Nimish

Nimish, a speciality of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, is another dairy based dessert. Double cream, icing sugar, rosewater and saffron are stirred together and topped with pistachios and silver leaf. The silver leaf has no gastronomic purpose, but the cuisine of Lucknow is the cuisine of Nawabs, so everything must look opulent.

Nimish at Lucknow market

Served here in an eco-friendly bowl of pressed leaves, it was sweet and lovely and slipped down very easily.

Nimish, Lucknow market

Turkey

Another westward skip brings us to Turkey. South-East Asia and India possess two of the world’s great cuisines and although few would say the same about Turkey, the country has, by my count, made three major culinary contributions; one is the donner kebab, the other two I like very much.

Turkish Delight

Turkish Delight, lokum in Turkish, really is a delight and Istanbul has whole shops dedicated to it.

A whole shop full of Turkish Delight, Istiklal Cadessi, Istanbul

The concept is simple, a gel of sweetened starch is cut into cubes and dusted with icing sugar. The ‘delight’ comes from the inclusions (dates, pistachio, hazelnuts, walnuts) and flavourings (rosewater, bergamot, orange, lemon). Other inclusions and flavourings are possible. It is not covered in chocolate like Fry’s Turkish Delight, which is a very poor approximation to the real thing inside.

Baklava

Baklava may have been developed in the imperial kitchens of Istanbul’s Topkapı Palace. Layers of filo pastry filled with chopped nuts and bound with syrup or honey make a rich dessert entirely suitable for an emperor – and pretty much anyone else. It has always been a favourite of mine, but in the only photograph I have of baklava, it is already half-eaten (I wonder why?).

Light lunch with ample sugar - Baklava, Turkish Delight and sweet Turkish coffee, Istanbul

United Kingdom and Ireland

Leaping athletically across the rest of Europe, we arrive home.

Posh Desserts

Sugar is such a dominant flavour that desserts can be a problem for high-end restaurants where subtle flavours are important. One solution is to create a variety of textures, as in this dessert from the Michelin starred Loam in Galway. Called 'Strawberry, Juniper' it involved strawberry ice cream, shards of juniper meringue, sweet pickled cherry, lovage sponge, coconut butter, white chocolate mousse, white chocolate bonbon, hazelnut crumb and a hint of smoked hay. All the elements, some very small, made their contribution providing a variety of textures and flavours beneath the dominant sweetness.

Strawberry, Juniper - Loam, Galway

Another is to go architectural as in this henge of fruit and meringue from the then Michelin starred Box Tree in Ilkley.

Dessert, The Box Tree, Ilkley

Despite my garish lighting effect (it is as good as I can get it) this mille-feuille of raspberries with lemon curd and elderflower was very pretty.

There are fewer problems lower down the pecking order. While banoffee pie and tiramisu have become ubiquitous, there has also been a renaissance of the traditional British pud.

Bakewell Pudding

Nothing sounds and feels quite as traditional as a Bakewell pudding (and I mean ‘pudding’ not ‘tart’, but that story is complicated - click here for Bakewell and Haddon Hall). A two-person pudding in the ‘Old Bakewell Pudding Shop’ eaten at 11am (and not quite finished) kept us going until dinner at 8.

A Bakewell pudding for two, served with cream and custard(!)

The jammy, almondy, marzipany flavour of the not quite egg-custard was toe-curlingly lovely, at first, but it was so sweet that even this wonderful flavour became cloying surprisingly quickly.

Sticky Toffee Pudding (STP)

And finally a mention for Cartmel Sticky Toffee Pudding. Sadly, the only photo I have is of the factory in Flookburgh, 2½ miles from Cartmel, where STP has been made since demand outgrew the resources of Cartmel village shop. It seems wrong that a factory-made pudding that can be microwaved in minutes should be so good, but it is.

Cartmel sticky Toffee Pudding factory, Flookburgh

And finally, finally

That would be a dull picture to end on, so here is my dessert at the Makphet Restaurant in Vientiane, (the capital of Laos, as I am sure you know). Makphet exists to take children off the streets and train them for careers in the hospitality industry, so a worthy charity as well as a fine restaurant.

Top dessert, Makphet, Vientiane

Coconut ice-cream, fresh, sweet pineapple, cane syrup and a dusting of chilli powder. All my favourite flavours on one plate (although if they could have stuck in some ginger….)

*For the benefit for youngsters under 60, that is Old Money; one shilling and nine (old) pence – the equivalent of 8½p. That was expensive, in the 1950s when you could go round the world for half a crown and still have change for a fish supper.

Thursday 25 June 2020

Praying Facing West: The Variety of Mosques Part 2

This post and its companions (Praying Facing East and Praying Facing South) have been developed from the November 2011 post ‘Three Favourite Mosques’. The world has many fine mosques we have yet to visit, but we have now seen more than enough to make ‘Three Favourites’ a very limited ambition – indeed the 'favourites' now fill three posts.

Islam is the world’s second largest religion with 1.9 billion adherents. It is the majority religion in 49 countries, centred on the middle east but with a vast geographical spread. In 2005 we visited The Great Mosque in Xi’an in China. Some distance away an English-speaking person with an overloud voice (his nationality was immediately obvious) was giving his Chinese guide the benefit of his knowledge of Islam. ‘They have to pray facing East,’ he announced.

This map comes from Wikipedia. It is the work of Tracey M Hunter, the figures are from Pew Research Centre
It is reproduced un changed under Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike

Muslims, of course, pray facing Mecca, the city, now in Saudi Arabia, that was home to the Prophet Muhammed. To make sense of my collection of mosques I have split it into three, depending of the (rough) direction of Mecca. The mosques I have selected are old or beautiful or quirky or have an interesting history, or any combination of those four.

I should also point out I am not a believer, in Islam or any other religion, but I do like religious buildings.

For ease of access and because I have occasionally broken my own rules, countries are allocated as follows

Facing East

Jordan, Oman, Egypt, Libya, Portugal

Arab Countries (with one obvious exception!)

Facing South

Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Bulgaria, Albania, North Macedonia, Bosnia & Herzegovina

Countries wholly or partly in Europe

Facing West

Iran, India, China, Malaysia

An ethnic mixed bag

9 of the 18 are Muslim Majority countries, the others have or had an indigenous Muslim population.

Iran

In 2000 we followed the green line anticlockwise from Tehran to Tehran
The featured mosques are in Shiraz, Isfahan and Tehran
Thanks to Encyclopedia Britannica for the original map

Iran is the land of my birth, but in 1951 the Iranian government nationalised its oilfields and had no further use for British engineers, or their families. I left before I had taken my first step. In 2000 Lynne and I took a journey through Iran to find my place of birth (that story is told in Finding my Way Home and two subsequent posts) and to see the country.

The Iranian regime can be difficult, particularly when Western governments flail around with no concept of the society and culture they are dealing with, but the people are open and friendly.

For a country with Islam at the heart of both its government and the lives of its citizens we saw surprisingly few mosques, but the following is a small collection of truly memorable buildings.

Nasir-ol-Molk Mosque, Shiraz

The ‘Pink Mosque’ in Iran’s ‘Rose City’ was built between 1876 and 1888 on the orders of Shirazi aristocrat Hassan Ali Nasir ol-Molk, whose endowment foundation still funds the mosque.

Nasir ol-Molk Mosque, Shiraz
Shah Nasir al-Din (reigned 1848-96) was an enthusiast for European culture. During his reign coloured tiles depicting landscapes and European architecture instead of the traditional geometric patterns were imported in large quantities from Europe. Some were used at Nasir ol-Molk along with brightly coloured stained glass, to give the interior a particular glow.

Nasir ol-Molk Mosque interior, Shiraz

My photographs do not do the mosque justice and all the tiles they show have geometric patterns. With no digital cameras in 2000, every press of the shutter used up precious film and there was no instant feedback. I would do better now (I hope).

The elegant city of Isfahan has a wealth of architectural gems, including three of the finest mosques in Iran.

The Friday Mosque, Isfahan

The first mosque on this site was built in 711. That burned down in the 11th century during the time of Turco-Persian Seljuq Empire and was replaced by the basis of the current building consisting of four iwan (vaulted open rooms) facing each other across a central courtyard.

The Southern iwan of Isfahan's Friday Mosque indicates the direction of Mecca - so it actually faces south west. The outline of a brick dome can be seen to the left and above.

The brick chambers behind the southern and northern iwan have the largest domes built in the period. Squinches are the architectural devices which permit circular based domes to be built on rectangular buildings. Elegant and often highly decorated they are a feature of many mosques.

Intricate brick squinch beneath the brick dome, Isfahan Friday Mosque

The iwan are connected by prayer halls, and hypostyle areas with cupolas and piers. The Mongol, Muzzafarid, Timurid and Safavid rulers who followed the Seljuqs all contributed to their construction, so the mosque displays a history of 700 years of Iranian architecture.

Elaborate carved stucco mihrab commissioned in 1310 by Mongolian ruler Oljaytu, Frday Mosque, Isfahan

Imam Mosque, Naqsh-e Jahan Square, Isfahan

Shah Abbas moved his capital to Isfahan in 1598. A kilometre southwest of the old Friday Mosque he built the magnificent Maidan-e Naqsh-e Jahan (Image of the World Square), now also known as Maidan-e Imam (Imam Square). The 560m by 160m square is framed by rows of two-storey shops. Among these he built the Royal bazaar on the north side, and the great Shah Mosque – now Imam Mosque - on the south, and oversaw the powers of commerce and religion from the Ali Qapu Palace on the eastern side.

Imam Mosque, Isfahan

The Imam Mosque has taken over the functions of the old Friday Mosque, but when we were there it was undergoing extensive repair work. It was a little difficult to appreciate the ‘pinnacle of Safavid architecture’ when peering through scaffolding at decoration removed for conservation.

The Sheik Lotfollah Mosque, Naqsh-e Jahan Square, Isfahan

The Sheik Lotfollah Mosque on the west side of the square was one of the original ‘Three Favourite Mosques'. Built a little later in Shah Abbas’ reign it was completed in 1618, and is a little gem.

Sheik Lotfollah Mosque, Isfahan

It has no minarets as it was intended for the private use of the Shah's hareem. Allegedly connected to the Ali Qapu Palace (from which the photo above was taken) by a tunnel under the square, the entrance was guarded from prying eyes. It is now open for all to enjoy.

The inside of the dome, Sheik Lotfollah Mosque, Isfahan

The Mausoleum of Ruholla Khomeini, Behesht-e Zahra, Tehran

Strictly speaking this a mausoleum not a mosque, but let’s not be picky.

Behest-e Zahra (The Paradise of Zahra) is a vast public cemetery on the southern edge of metropolitan Tehran containing 1.6 million graves. By far the most noticeable is that of Ruhollah Khomeini. Ayatollah Khomeini was the guiding hand behind the revolution that overthrow the Shah in 1979 and when he died ten years later the authorities immediately started building this mausoleum.

The mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini, Tehran

Much as the Shah deserved overthrowing, Khomeini was not an easy man for outsiders to like - if he was not dogmatic, humourless and unempathetic, he did a good impression of it. His mausoleum is not an easy building to like either – it looks tastelessly ostentatious to me. On the other hand, foreigners (without their cameras) are welcome inside where the atmosphere is remarkably peaceful. After a more than routine frisk the guard asked where I came from. ‘You are welcome!’ he said when I told him, and gave me a beaming smile.

India

14% of Indians are Muslims, but India has such a vast population that 14% means 189 million people. Hindu majority India has the world’s third largest Muslims population after Indonesia and Pakistan. There are, therefore, a lot of mosques and I am choosing four; not because they are typical – typicality means little in a country of such diversity – but because they caught my eye.

India with Kerala ringed

Mappila Mosques, Kozhikode (formerly Calicut), Kerala

Kerala faces the Arabian Sea in India’s southwest corner and has traded across that sea for millennia. More diverse than most states, Hindus are only just a majority (56%) and there are substantial Muslims (26%) and Christian (18%) minorities.

Mappilas are the Muslim descendants of native converts, some with part middle eastern ancestry from the earliest trading days. Most Mapillas live along the northern part of the coast and are so integrated into Keralan society that their mosque look more Keralan than Islamic.

Mapilla Mosque, Calicut

The overhanging eves and slatting were designed to keep interiors cool in the days before air-conditioning. They are remarkably effective and admit more light than you might expect.

Minaret of Mapilla Mosque, Calicut

The interiors of Mapilla Mosque are usually plain.

Interior of a Mapilla Mosque, Calicut, Kerala

Mosque in Madikeri, Karnataka

Karnataka is ringed,
Madikeri is in the south west, near the Kerala border

Neighbouring Karnataka is overwhelmingly Hindu (84%), while Muslims (13%) are a small but historically important minority. The tiny Kingdom of Kodagu (or Coorg) in south west Karnataka sought British protection in 1790 to protect itself from the aggression of the Muslim Tipu Sultan of Mysore. At independence Kodagu’s strong identity led to it briefly becoming a state in its own right, but now it is one of the 30 districts of the State of Karnataka. Its capital is the pleasant small town of Madikeri (pop:33,000).

There is nothing special about this mosque in Madikeri, I just liked the way the minarets are echoed by the telephone masts behind – both are structures designed for communication.

Mosque in Madikeri, Karnatika

Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, Northern India

Asafi Mosque, Bara Imambara, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh

Lucknow (pop:2.9 million), capital of the northern State of Uttar Pradesh is very different from Madikeri. It was the centre of the 1857 ‘Indian Mutiny’ which destroyed the East India Company and the Mughal Empire and ushered in the British Raj. Previously, it had been capital of the Kingdom of Awadh, which emerged in 1722 and accepted British control in 1764. Awadh was one of many princely states where a Muslim nawab or sultan ruled an overwhelmingly Hindu populace

An Imambara is a hall where Shia Muslims gather on the anniversary of the death of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet, at the Battle of Karbala (680 CE).

Lucknow has several imambaras, but this is the largest and its mosque is as fine any in northern India. It was built by Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula between 1784 and 1791 as a workfare project after a series of bad harvests had threatened famine.

Asifi Mosque, Bara Imambara, Lucknow

see Lucknow (1) City of Nawabs(2013)

Delhi (ringed) the capital of India

Majid-i Jehan Juma, Old Delhi

If Awadh was just one of many Muslim ruled Hindu states, the Mughal Empire (1526-1857) to which all eventually became vassal states, was the ultimate case of Muslims ruling Hindus.

The Empire had several capitals before settling in Delhi in 1648 once Shah Jahan had completed the Red Fort. An indefatigable builder Shah Jahan started on the Masjid-i Jehan Numa (Mosque of the Celestial Sphere), also called the Jama Masjid (Friday Mosque), in 1650 before completing the Taj Mahal (1653). The Taj was built as a tomb for his beloved first wife Mumtaz and he was buried beside her in 1666.

The Masjid-i Jehan Numa is one of the largest mosques in India. The prayer halls either side of the iwan are relatively small, but local weather usually allows worshippers to pack the courtyard and stand six deep along the tops of the walls. Allegedly the mosque accommodates 25,000 worshippers at Eid and other festivals.

Majid-i Jehan Numa, Old Delhi

The weather is not always good. When we visited in February 2013, Delhi was cold and drizzly.

Lynne in the drizzle by the Eastern Gate wearing the dressing gown given to all potentially immodest western women

see Delhi (1) mainly Old Delhi, but some New Delhi, too

China

China is the only country in the world with more people than India and 3% of its 1.4b citizens (42 million) identify as Muslims. I dislike the way India’s Hindu Nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi has goaded and marginalised India’s Muslims, but he is a paragon of virtue compared with China’s President Xi who is determinedly leading China backwards to the bad old days.

Xinjiang in Red

25 million of China’s Muslims are Uighurs, one of the 55 official minorities. Of all the ethnic minorities I have encountered or read about the Uighurs and Tibetans are, in different ways, the least like the majority Han population, in religion, looks, diet, language and script. Each has a homeland, Xizang for the Buddhist Tibetans and the huge Xinjiang Autonomous Region for the Uighurs - but there has always been distrust between the Uighurs and the Han.

Officially encouraged Han migration means that the Uighurs are no longer a majority (45%) in their own homeland and are only 12% of the population in the capital, Urumqi.

The Id Kah Mosque, Kashgar

Kashgar in the far west of the region - closer to Beirut than Beijing – has 500,000 inhabitants, 90% of them Muslim Uighurs. Id Kah Square is the heart of the city and Id Kah Mosque, originally built in 1443, though much altered since, was when we visited (2008) China’s oldest and most active mosque.

Id Kah Mosque, Kashgar

Non-believers are welcomed but we found the interior disappointing. I doubt it was ever an architectural gem and after so many refurbishmentsit has lost all sense of antiquity. Two outdoor pulpits and a large, plain central prayer hall - spoiled as a place for meditation by the guardian playing music on his mobile phone - sit beside a rose garden. Ten thousand regularly attend Friday prayers but Sunday morning was very quiet.

We liked Id Kah Square in the evening when the locals gathered to watch television on a big screen in one corner….

Watching TV, Id Kah Square, Kashgar

….while elsewhere children played and families strolled.China has one time zone, Beijing time, but most Kashgaris work on unofficial local time two hours behind. Maybe this accounts for the large number of children out well after 10pm.

Id Kah Square in the evening

Emin Mosque, Turpan

The Turpan depression is a huge oasis taking up the north-eastern quarter of Xinjiang. It lies below sea-level and the city of Turpan at its centre is the hottest city in China.

The largely Uighur populated city is surrounded by vineyards, famous for their intensely sweet green raisins. Beside the vineyards on the edge of town is the Emin Mosque. The region was taken from the Dzungar Mongols and incorporated into China during the Qing dynasty. The Uighurs had sought Chinese protection from the Dzungar Mongols and the mosque, completed in 1778, honours Emin Khoja, a Uighur general who had fought alongside the Qing

The Emin Mosque, Turpan

I love the clean, simple lines of this building, which was another of the original ‘three favourites.’ The huge pepper-pot minaret - at 44m the highest in China - recalls the great mosques of Samarkand and Bukhara.

Corridor Inside the Emin Mosque

seeTurpan: Ruined Cities of the Silk Road (2008)

The building is government owned and no longer functions as a mosque; so I expect it is still there. I am less certain about Id Kah.

The endless niggling security we encountered in 2008 wound me up, never mind the traditionally rebellious Uighurs. Having provoked more trouble Xi Jinping – a man of very fixed ideas - used the excuse to stamp his heel onto the Uighur throat and keep it there relentlessly. Bulldozing mosques while detaining over a million Uighurs in 're-education centres' is a Crime against Humanity but no one has the will to challenge him, let alone the ability to stop him.

The Great Mosque, Xi’an

Not all Chinese Muslims are Uighurs; the Hui are another group over 10 million strong. Although one of the 55 recognised ethnic minorities, the Hui are the only Muslim group with no language other than their local Chinese dialect. They are indistinguishable from the Han majority except for the women’s headscarves and men’s white hats.

Young Hui chef pulling us some fresh noodles, Huizhou, southern China

Although more frequent in the north-western provinces, Hui live throughout the Han heartland. Xi’an, right in that heartland, has a Hui Muslim quarter and a Great Mosque built in the 14th century, though much changed over the centuries. This is the mosque where I heard that individual giving loud and confident voice to his ignorance.

The mosque has a prayer hall….

Prayer Hall, Xi'an Great Mosque

…and an ‘Examining the Heart Tower’ which I took for a minaret.

Examining the Heart Tower, Xi'an Great Mosque

Most mosques show some level of Arabic influence, but some, like the Mappila mosques in India and Xi’an’s Great Mosque are entirely in the local vernacular.

I will look at mosques in Malacca (Melaka), Kuala Lumpur
and Kuala Kangsar further to the north

Malaysia

All Malays are, by law, Muslims, but Malays only account for 55% of the population. A further 14% are from other indigenous groups, about half of whom are Muslim, half Christian bringing the country’s Muslim population to about 61%. 23% of Malaysians are of Chinese origin mainly followers of Buddhism, Taoism and Chinese folk religions. A further 7% are of Indian origin, mainly Hindus.

Malaysia is complicated. There are tensions between the groups at political level, but to the traveller the Malay Peninsula presents a gloriously harmonious diversity of ethnicity, religion, tradition and cuisine.

Kampung Kling Mosque, Malacca

Jalan Tukang Emas in Malacca showcases Malaysia’s diversity. Almost side by side are a Buddhist Temple, a Taoist temple, the Kampung Kling Mosque and a Hindu temple. Christ Church is in Dutch Square at the end of the street.

Jalan Tukang Emas. Malacca, photo taken from the Buddhist temple

Originally built in 1748 and extensively restored in 1872, Masjid Kampung Kling, like the Indian Mappila Mosques and Xi’an’s Great Mosque shows little Arabic influence. It is, I read, Sumatran in style, but I have not been there (yet) so I have seen nothing like it.

Masjid Kampung Kling, Melacca

The wudu for washing before prayers features Portuguese and English tiles and a roof supported by cast iron Corinthian columns. An eclectic mixture that is typically Malaysian.

Wudu, Masjid Kampung Kling, Malacca

Unlike churches, mosques rarely have a graveyard attached, but Kampung Kling does. Elaborate memorials are not the Muslim way, a simple stone marker is enough – your status in life no longer matters, all are equal in the sight of God.

Graveyard, Masjid Kumpung Kling, Malacca<

The Jamek Mosque, Kuala Lumpur and the Ubudiah Mosque, Kuala Kangsar

Kuala Lumpur means ‘muddy confluence’, though today the confluence of the Gombak and Klang Rivers is tidily canalised and mud-free. The confluence is the site of the Jamek Mosque, KL’s oldest functioning mosque (it opened in 1909 - KL is a young city). Now dwarfed by the surrounding buildings it can accommodate 5,000 worshippers and was the national mosque until the Masjid Negara, was built in 1965. The design, variously described as a Moorish, Indo-Saracenic or Mughal, was by English architect A. B. Hubback.

Jamek Mosque, Kuala Lumpur

Hubback was responsible for several other buildings in the city and the Ubudiah Mosque in Kuala Kangsar, the royal capital of Perak State 240Km to the north. In 1911, Idris Shah I, Sultan of Perak, was taken ill and vowed that should he recover he would build a mosque. This is the result.

Ubudiah Mosque, Kuala Kangsar

It looks to me, from his mosques and other buildings, that Hubback had swallowed the myth of the ‘mystic orient’ and was attempting to capture a romance that only ever existed in European minds. But Idris ordered it and Idris liked it (as far as I know) so perhaps I am wrong. Another interesting question is how did this Liverpudlian brother of an Anglican bishop come to design two of the most important mosques in Malaysia?

See also

See also

The Variety of Mosques (1) Praying Facing South

The Variety of Mosques (2) Praying Facing West

The Variety of Mosque (3) Praying Facing East