Hakka Village @ Balik Pulau, Penang. (客家山寨)

01:56 Jia Ying 2 Comments

As most of us live in busy bustling city, sometime we forget to give ourselves a break and discover the beauty of nature. The ambient sounds of a busy road, hazy environment and the sky without the stars is what we have everyday in a big city.  Can you imagine how our ancestor life look like?? The life without air-conditioning, hot shower, Internet.... etc....

Here come to the great idea from the founder of Hakka Village, who create an environment in hill for people who want to experience the simplest life ever like our ancestors. Hakka, one of the main dialect among Malaysia Chinese, which spoke by Hakka people. These people are said to have migrated south from Northern China over the centuries.

In Penang Island, beside the well known Heritage city,Georgetown, there is another small town, Balik Pulau, which offering a laidback kampung lifestyle. As its name "Balik" "Pulau", the town located at the west coast of Penang island, which is an opposite side of Georgetown. Hakka village located in Balik Pulau. It provides not only accommodations, the village also promote the food, culture and history of Hakka in Balik Pulau.  The Hakka village also divided into 2 locations; the restaurant and museum are at Balik Pulau town area, the accommodation and the activity areas are located at the hill.

Thanks to the friendly staffs from Hakka village, who fetch me from Balik Pulau Bus Terminal up to their hill, to visit the Hakka village. The road up to the hill is quite narrow, and on the way, I can see some fruit farms. The weather at the hill is quite comfortable, with very refreshing air. As I come to the common areas of village, I saw some introduction of Hakka cuisine.






There are quite a few of tents in the hills, and as I see, you can really experience how to survive in the hills with most simple thing given ever. This is definitely one of a good place to have team building and bonding for a group.




Each tent given a very unique name with a Chinese proverb.




While you are in the hills, you may not able to connect internet or have a signal to call, you will have plenty time to think about your future. The village is quite creative to create a "Dream" wall, which you can write down your dream to fulfill in your life.


Besides, the Hakka village's host of recreational offerings such as karaoke, projector screen,etc... to ensures the guests can have plenty to do with your group during your stay in the hills. The guests normally can have their own activities here and it's like a common area for all the guest to communicate with each others.





A nice view of sea and forest from the hill.






Next, come to another location of Hakka village, which is at the town area of Balik Pulau. The rows of red lantern really attract me a lot. Very catchy for those who pass by here.





You will notice there are a lot of wall painting throughout the village and all are nicely designed. I don't see any "blank white" wall in this village. There are restaurant in the village, which serves wide variety of Hakka traditional cuisine.
Here to the entrance of  museum about the Hakka culture and history.





It's not a big museum, but quite informative. I learned more about Hakka in Malaysia after visiting and amazed with the collection displayed by the museum. Here's come to the beautiful founder of Hakka village. She is not only the founder of the village, she is also a successful businesswoman.





Inside the museum, all the collections are related to the thing used by the old Hakka in Balik Pulau. From the cooking utensils, living room, bed room,etc. The museum has totally displayed the lifestyle of old Hakka. For your information, most of the Chinese who live in Balik Pulau are mainly Hakka.








Overall, I quite impressed with Penang Island, with a very bustling, Heritage city of Georgetown in the east, and the totally opposite side of Balik Pulau in the west, preserving the beauty of nature and kampung living style. Instead of staying in a luxury hotel, if you visit Balik Pulau, you should follow Balik Pulau style, experience as simple homestay in Hakka village.

You may read their recent feature in Expat Magazine
e-magazine link: http://en.calameo.com/read/003393572a663240f162f





More information about Hakka village aka BALIK PULAU LODGE :
Address: 61, Jalan Bukit Kebun Kha, Pulau Betong, MK 7, Balik Pulau, Penang, Malaysia 11020
Phone for reservation : +6016-411 6666 / 04-2829666
Email : info@balikpulaulodged.com
Website : www.balikpulaulodge.com
FB page (Mandarin) : https://www.facebook.com/balikpulaulodge



How to get to Balik Pulau from Georgetown??
Rapid Penang's bus 502 and 401 do travel to Balik Pulau. You can get the bus from Jetty Terminal. The fares for single trip is RM 3.40 (August2015).



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