Penang Island's west side villages (pt1)

This photo journal, part 1 of a 2 part series on the traditional kampungs (villages) on the west side of the island north & south of Balik Pulau, features the villages & traditional Malay houses & other structures Jon & I saw on the first part of that junket. There were several villages along the way & to be honest, I'm not sure which was which. We used highway P16 & P237 (Jalan Bahru), with a detour on P232.

The 8 villages we encountered or at least passed were Kampung (Kg) Sungai Pinang, Kg Sungai ... (more)

This house had a nice garden
& landscaped yard.

This attractive building is a school.
(Thanks Savid). These photos are shown here in the order I took them. We were...

Deluxe shophouse & small Buddhist temple

Small mosque & landscaped park

Boys at the local swimmin' hole

Typical traditional stilted kampung
(village) house. There's lots of them on this side of the island,...

Another one but a little fancier
with a veranda. The house has also been modernized so that the open...

Another Buddhist temple

The tall building with the red roof
is full of swallows building nests that are 'harvested' for...

Sheikh Tahir Astronomy Center
and observatory.

Exceptional but modernized
traditional house which is no longer on stilts. Note the lacy lattice...

Another large one

Peck peck.....
A hen & her chicks pecking in the front yard, a common sight.

A better look at a truly traditional
stilted house with its compatible additions. Note again the louvered...

Another brown kampung house
with a painted colorful one next door. Note the long awning over the front...

Note the charming decorated gables
on this traditional house.

A pseudo-traditional house that has been
modernized, ie color, closed in lower level, & windows vs louvers.

We had lunch here.
Jon, who is a foodie, had heard about this popular place which...

This canal was in the same village.
It might have been Kuala Sungai Pinang??

The long view

Delighful little bridge

Good sized mosque
Wish I could recall which village it was located in ;o(

Belacan (shrimp paste) drying
in the sun & very smelly. Belacan, one of the important ingredients in...

article published 06/16/2008

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Thanks for such an interesting article. I love the traditional Malay houses and unfortunately they seem to be disappearing. Some of these remind me of the ones I saw in KL. Melaka has an open air museum for Malay houses but I did not get there...by the way, shrimp paste does taste good ;O)
— Ben Hsu, June 29, 2008

The building of the second photo is a school.
— Savid Tai, June 18, 2008

Thanks, Lorraine, for these excellent photos! I am glad to see them, but sad that the traditional architecture is dying out. there are some outstanding examples of how it USED to be, in the Chicago Museum of Science & Industry (?) I think?
— Eleanor Robb, June 17, 2008

Ho ho ho.. i am NOT a foodie.. it's just majority of penangites are.. so you catch on.. i was glad we made that trip.. the kampung houses are just exquisite.. again u've captured them beautifully..
— Jon J. Tan, June 16, 2008

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