When Chinese goddess went business class

A statue of a Chinese goddess that became a social media sensation after being pictured flying business class for a Southeast Asian tour has headed home after putting her feet up at a premium airport lounge in Singapore.

Jul 11, 2017, 11.07 AM IST
The heavenly treatment
The heavenly treatment

A statue of a Chinese goddess that became a social media sensation after being pictured flying business class for a Southeast Asian tour has headed home after putting her feet up at a premium airport lounge in Singapore.
1/5AFP
​Chinese sea goddess Mazu
​Chinese sea goddess Mazu

Adorned in brightly coloured clothes, an extravagant headdress and garlands of flowers and cash, Chinese sea goddess Mazu got the chance to relax a little in the lounge early Friday before a flight home -- on business class, no less -- following a whirlwind seven-day tour of Malaysia and Singapore.

The statue made headlines after it was pictured strapped into a business class seat on the way to Kuala Lumpur from a temple on an island in China's Fujian province, believed to be the birthplace of the goddess, who is revered as a patron of sailors and fishermen.

Luxury treatment on the first leg

But after the luxury treatment on the first leg, the goddess and two heavenly guardians had to come down to Earth for the rest of the trip, travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Malacca by bus, before journeying down to neighbouring Singapore at the back of a lorry.

The deities' heavenly powers could not save them from gridlock last Thursday as they travelled towards Singapore from Malaysia, with their journey taking four hours longer than expected.