The guesthouse is not bad, if you are a non-fussy person. My stay at there was pleasant. The owner was friendly. Room rate was reasonable. Some downside:
This was the room that I stayed.
Simple, clean and cosy. This is the famous jetty where all the residents have the same family name/ surname ' Zhou '. Street ArtOut of all the paintings which can be found throughout Georgetown streets, the one that I like most is the siblings on bicycle (i think they are siblings) It reminds me of my naughty nephew. I like the facial expression of the little boy. Some of the painting had faded off, making it less photegenic. Penang, Georgetown streetPlaces which displayed the characteristic of Malaysia
Below is my own simple explanation of Peranakan according to Singapore and Malaysia context. Peranakan is a community formed by the descendant of Chinese immigrants who married Malays during the straits time period. In Singapore and Malaysia, we called them Baba for man and Nyonya for woman. There may call differently in other South East-Asia countries. Being affected by the mix community marriage and the British Colonisation period, the community created its own unique lifestyle and customs and cuisine. For example, They celebrate Chinese festival, yet they speak Malay language, wear baju kebaya (Malay traditional clothes) etc During the 19th century, due to the British influence, most Babas were English educated and they did business with the English hence we could find British style on the Men's wearing and their house decor (ie: pillar and tiles) In this museum, we can take a glimpse at a traditional Baba’s house Entrance of the museum Overall view of the buildingFirst Level See caption Dining Hall See caption Second Level On the second level, there were displayed of furniture and items which mimicked the rooms of the past. Different from other tourists attraction, there were not blockage to all the furniture. Retro Objects I also got to find a few retro items. Display of the accessory In the past, most Nyonya were not highly education, so they spent most of their time on needle work. There is a saying in their community that their needle work skill and culinary skill, will effect whether they will get married or not. In the house, there is a long room, which I heard was once a maid room and now it is converted into a display room. From the brochure that I was given, it stated that the jewelries were from the Straits Chinese Jewellery Museum. Ancestral TempleThis temple was once a school, before it was bought by the owner who made it into an office. Later this place was converted into current purpose. My View This is the attraction sight which I like most.
I like everything about the house; it;s the architecture, interior design and its furniture which are to find in this modern day. There are many tour guides in the museum who speak different languages, English, Mandarin, Japanese etc The place is ideal for picture taking and there are many exquisite embroidery pieces and experience jewelleries. Note: From the information I received, I think this Museum belongs to an organisation. I think the antiques found in the museum were contributed by collectors (I am not very sure about this part, you may seek clarification from the tour guide if you intend to go to this place) The pictures I took are limited and not that pretty. You may google for more wow-ing pictures. It is easier to be remembered it as Blue Mansion. This place was once owned by a China Chinese business man. It went on sales on Year 1990 after the youngest son passed away on year 1989 (if I did not remember wrongly) People may wondered why did the younger generation want to sell such a historical, beautiful, expensive house? The person-in-charge, explained that, this house was just one of the many assets of the businessman. So this house actually meant nothing to them. Interesting Fact The walls were not painted blue, they were dyed blue. The materials used to build the walls were different from what we used today, Hence the use of paint will damage the wall so a special type of dye powder, imported from India, was used to dye the walls In another word, the walls of the building need to be dyed once in a while in order to maintain its vibrant colour. Living Room the first area we will see, when we first entered the house was the living room where guest was being welcome. Behind this blind was where the owner family lived. Usually visitors do not go passed this blind. The part where the the lights were, was the dinning area of the hotel. Yes, you are able to book a room in this mansion. Second Level: Exhibition One the second level, you can find information about the owner and some of the items which were used in the olden day. This house had encountered a long history. It has once at its glory and it was once being severally damaged. And now, the building was restored to its formal look. My own view
I am impressed with its feng shui (a chinese way of positioning items which assumed to bring fortunate to the family) The framework of the house is designed like a Chinese character ' 回 ' , translates to English it means Return/Back A simple explanation is a small square in a big square. To Chinese, water represents wealth. In the house, the smaller square has no roof, so the rain fall onto the middle of the square. You can imagine there is a pond in the middle of the house. As we know, the water has to be drained or else it will flood the house. So the drainage system was built in a way that the water traveled around the house before it was released out of the house. The water not only traveled in the ground but in the wall too! I am curious to know how the pipes are designed or aligned with limited technology available back at the time. What I am disappointed is that I was not able to explore the entire house. I am sure that the house is much more bigger than what I saw. I think it is because most of the space are taken up for commercial use and those area are not open to public. If you want to explore the entire house, I think the best way is to stay in the Mansion This house is also a boutique hotel. Admission fees RM17 Note The mansion is only open to public at certain timing, when tour guides are available. Other time, the mansion is closed from public. You may visit their website to find more information. This place is spectacular. The detail of the sculptures are very beautiful and impressive. The first level is the temple. The ground level displayed the history of the building. Admission fees: RM10 In this place, there is also a display kitchen, showcasing how the people in the past lived
Photographs and posters were displayed on the wall of the main hall and there were people in charge, explaining to tourists what Sun Yat Sun had contributed to the society. The person explained to me was a lady. I think she needed to improve her explanation skill. I felt that she was just picture telling. She just explained the purpose or meaning of each picture or poster. Admission Fees RM5 Interior of the Museumit has a very bright, greenly and beautiful living room, suitable to take picture;)
It has a cute kitchen too ;) I found many traditional kitchen items in there. In my posts, you may noticed that I like to explore the kitchen. In Chinese, stove is called Zhao Tou, translate to English, it means Sign. Usually Chinese only use the word on positive sign. So by taking picture at the stove, has the saying that it symbols a good sign. Many television drama, especially Singapore television drama, were filmed in this place |
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