On 17 June 2001, I went to
an unusual place for sight-seeing.
I went to a cementery....
yes... you read correctly...
I visited Nirvana Memorial
Park in Kajang, Selangor
about 30 km south of Kuala
Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia.
The park has 9 blocks of pavilion
for urn compartments,
which increased to 38 blocks
in 1997, providing a total of 3,360 urn compartments for doubles and 1,400
urn compartments for singles.
In 1997, the park completed
the construction of a dragon structure which can accommodate more than
6,000 urn compartments. This dragon is the world longest.
The park were given an award
for promoting tourism in the country in 1995. In 1996, the park won the
Non-Muslim religious organisation horticulture competition (State and National
levels).
For more detail, you can visit
the website of Nirvana Memorial Park at http://www.nirvana.com.my
Below you will see pictures
taken during my exploration there. And also you will find out the main
reason of my visit there.
The
entrance gate of Nirvana Memorial Park
 |
The world longest dragon structure which can accommodate more than 6,000 urn compartments. |
Blocks
of pavilion for urn compartments,
 |
Here is my main reason for this visit. To
pay my respect to a legend. I wasn't even born when she is famous but I
heard a lot about her from my grandmother age group people.
She is Bai Guang, a well known singer and actress in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Malaysia during the 1940s and 1950s. Bai Guang, with her special voice, has recorded many famous and unforgettable Mandarin songs. Today, she is still remembered by many. All her fans miss her and her famous songs, because her songs touch them deeply. She is still alive in her fans mind... whenever they heard her songs, they will feel sad and miss her. |
 |
When she retired, she lived in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia and maintained a low profile. On 27th August 1999, she passed
away due to sickness. Her tomb is located at the Family Lot of Nirvana
Memorial Park.
Her tomb occupied 9 lots which costed about RM600,000. The first row of 3 lots is a landscape with spaces for fans to stand to pay respect to her. The second row is her tomb. |
 |
The third row is a marble piano which plays
Bai Guang's famous song "Without you" whenever someone stands in front
of the piano.
Standing there listening to the touching song  ........
(Without you, how to live through the days....) made my heart overwhelmed with nostalgic feelings and tears welled up my eyes. I recorded 60 seconds of the
song from cassette into a WAV file. I hope I did not infringe on copyright
issue.
|
Below is the close up view of engravings on top of the piano which briefly tell about the life of Bai Guang. I am sorry that my knowledge of Mandarin is not good enough to ensure that I will do a good translation. However if anyone can do the translation, feel welcome to do so and email to me and I will insert the translation here.
