khoo-kongsi

This is going to be a bumper post. Stick around and I promise to make it interesting for you. :)

The focus of Day 3 was “Khoo Kongsi” – the preeminent Malaysian Chinese clanhouse. It was truly spectacular to behold up close.

khoo-kongsi-name-lantern khoo-kongsi-main-hall

The workmanship that went into everything was amazing.

main-hall-interior

khoo-kongsi-entrance khoo-kongsi-corridor

Although the museum told the history specifically from the point of view of the “Khoo” clan and those with that name, I felt it was fascinating even for a non-Khoo because the story of the Chinese diaspora in South-East Asia is such a rich one.

These are copies of the books which used to trace all known members of the Khoo clan around the world, starting from its genesis in China. I wonder if they have it computerised now.

khoo-clan-genealogy

On the walls in two rooms are these name plaques of Malaysian Chinese “Khoo”s who are university graduates. They dated back to the early 50s. As the Khoo-clan increased exponentially, the name plaques got smaller and smaller, as you can see in the contrast between the top and bottom rows.

name-plagues-2

I saw this person who had an unfortunate name. I wonder how he went through school with it? :P

unfortune-name

On the day, there were a lot of trishaw drivers milling around. They were waiting for the busloads of tourists which will be coming later.

marvin-trishaw-drivers trishaws

I managed to take this photo which I like very much.

trishaw-drivers

And in case you were wondering, the Ooi Kongsi was located in an old Chinese-style bungalow which didn’t look as well-maintained or visited.

ooi-kongsi-front ooi-kongsi-interior

ooi-kongsi-interior-2

These shots were taken from outside through security gates. It was closed to the public I think and I didn’t see anyone there. My father wasn’t a member so we never got in.

ooi-kongsi

Which is just as well, because it was nothing to write home or you know, blog about. Especially not after I’ve just seen how magnificent the Khoo Kongsi is. ;)

On to other things, here’s the obligatory food pic for this post. This is Char Koay Teow (or Fried Koay Teow, stir-fried rice noodles with beansprouts, prawns and clams) which is one of the quintessential dishes of Penang.

char-koay-teow

A couple more shots of food hawkers. The ones on the right are making deep-fried doughy snacks. Mmm. Deep-fried.

food-hawker-4 food-hawker-5

Another obligatory urban shot.

penang-street-scene-4

And check out this colonial mansion which has been converted into a KFC. Sacrilege you say? I say better that than having them demolish a beautiful building and put in a bland-looking store that looks like a KFC anywhere else in the world.

kfc-colonial-mansion

That more or less ends Day 3. Thanks for reading up to this point. The next day would entail visits to some Buddhist temples. It may seem weird for me to be doing a lot of touristy things when besides KL, this was the second home of my childhood and I have seen many of these places before. But I want to be able to blog it for posterity because Penang was really “where I came from” even though I was born in KL.

And I definitely have to thank my uncle KJ and aunty Nelly for warming to the idea when I told them about it, and for patiently driving us around. I hope that they had fun rediscovering these places too. :)