A Visit to St. Anne's Church

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On 29 July 2012 a call in the early hours before dawn woke me up. It was from Antony Chan, my ex-college mate from KDU. He was driving up from Ipoh with his family to make their pilgrimage to St Anne's Church on occasion of the St. Anne's Feast Celebration held annually. The journey covers a distance of approximately 138 km and takes about 1 hr 45 min so I had time to reconnect & have breakfast with his charming wife & two beautiful kids.

This festival is a major draw among the Catholics & peoples of other faiths from across the country as well as from all over the world and has been marked on Penang's tourism calendar as a 'not to be missed' event. The celebration normally begins a week before the last Saturday of the month of July and ends with a novena procession in the church's grounds located on Jalan Kulim, Bukit Mertajam, PENANG. This year's theme is 'Go Green Go Clean' in support of the Penang state government's efforts to make it a green state. A body of volunteers worked relentlessly throughout the week & especially hard during the last night of the event to pick up trash round the clock. The success of their tireless efforts can be seen in the almost rubbish-free compound that greeted the visitors on the day after the celebration.

A Visit to St. Anne's Church video