21-Jul-2025
Remember the thing about the thousand temples? Well, here's another. Only this one is such a biggie that it deserves a post to itself.
It's called Sui Kheu Thai Pak Kung Temple. It's on the edge of town, and a Grab ride costs somewhere between IDR 34,000 and IDR 52,000 (that's GBP 1.50-2.30), depending on your starting position.
The "biggest and grandest" of Singkawang's temples, it took about 10 years to build, and was finally dedicated in 2022.
There's a bit of confusion on the name front (well, it's probably not confusing at all for the locals, just a little testing for dozy foreigners). As well as the name I've just given, it's also known as Kulor Temple (because Kulor is the name of the village where it's located). More bewilderingly, though: "The original name of this temple is actually Tri Dharma Bumi Raya. Yes, it has the exact same name as the temple in the centre of town, which has become an icon of Singkawang. Despite the matching names, the two temples are distinct."
What we can say for sure is that it's really impressive:
Imposing setting
Cool naga stairs to climb
Inside it's just stunning, and full of the twitterings of birds, who obviously value this new nesting place
The grounds are also pretty. I kept catching a glimpse of this figure, and thinking it was a real person
Round the back, there's a huge foodcourt. Quiet today, but its extent indicates that the temple sees plenty of action on other days.
We treated ourselves to some more choi pan, a Singkawang speciality: "In Hakka, choi pan means vegetable-filled cake, with the words 'vegetable' (choi) and 'cake' (pan)... The soft choi pan skin is made from rice flour mixed with tapioca flour. The filling can include jicama, bamboo shoots, chives, taro, and so on, complemented by dried shrimp. Choi pan is served with fried garlic and a special chili sauce."
We've had these delicacies several times since we arrived here, and it's really the skin that's the distinctive part of this dumpling. Incredibly soft and sticky (a little hard to manage neatly, if we're honest), but melt-in-the-mouth delicious. Today's were stuffed with bengkuang (which seems to be generally translated as jicama, but if, like me, you've never heard of jicama, you can find out all about it here). The crunchiness of the grated vegetable certainly works well with the yielding exterior of the dumpling:
And then you Grab back to your neighbouring mall, along pretty back roads on the edge of town, and past extensive Chinese cemeteries.
These little roads would so merit further exploration... Need a motorbike really...