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Home / Blog / Ah Kong’s House (Grandfather’s House)

Ah Kong’s House (Grandfather’s House)

By: 👩‍🦳 Paul · Published: 🖨 January 31, 2018 · Updated: 💻March 3, 2019 · 🗨 5 Comments

Ah Kong’s House (Grandfather’s House) – childhood visits to my paternal grandfather’s house and Penang’s idyllic rural life in the 1970’s.

Ah Kong's House (Grandfather's House) - childhood visits to my paternal grandfather's house and Penang's idyllic rural life in the 1970's. | MalaysianChineseKitchen.com

Not all childhood memories are happy. Some are a mixed bag of sadness, delight, and other things that should not be in the same place, and yet they are. My grandfather’s house (or Ah Kong as we called him, 阿公) and memories of him occupy such a space in my mind. My parents, especially Mom had a very troubled relationship with her in-laws. For a while, Dad did not allow us to come into contact with Ah Kong. Until I was 9, I only knew my maternal extended family and they all lived in George Town. Ah Kong lived alone in a village house far away from the city.

Visiting Ah Kong’s House

We started visiting Ah Kong’s House on a regular basis after my paternal grandmother passed away in 1973. It was a culture shock for me. Unlike the English-educated Peranakan relatives I was used to, Ah Kong and my paternal aunts and uncle were Sinkeh (or new arrivals from China) who spoke only Hokkien and Mandarin. Most of the time, my brother and I would accompany Dad to Ah Kong’s House. Mom would rather be at her sisters’ places. The latter option was really not that much better for her, but I guess blood is thicker than water.

Ah Kong's House (Grandfather's House) - childhood visits to my paternal grandfather's house and Penang's idyllic rural life in the 1970's. | MalaysianChineseKitchen.com
Ah Kong’s House as seen from the road in between two houses

Hoi An Village

Ah Kong lived in a Chinese village perched along the opposite slope of the same hill that the famous Kek Lok Si monastery and temple complex is nestled in. By contrast to the famous hillside that adorns many tourist brochure, Hoi An village was a collection of closely spaced wooden houses surrounded by banana groves and rambutan trees.

Ah Kong's House (Grandfather's House) - childhood visits to my paternal grandfather's house and Penang's idyllic rural life in the 1970's. | MalaysianChineseKitchen.com
The road leading to Ah Kong’s House

The village road was barely wide enough for just one car. It joins to Paya Terubong Road and goes straight up the side of the hill in a pretty steep incline. To get to Ah Kong’s House, one takes a particular path that branched off from the steep, straight road, past several neighbors’ houses before cutting between two houses to get to Ah Kong‘s front door.

Ah Kong's House (Grandfather's House) - childhood visits to my paternal grandfather's house and Penang's idyllic rural life in the 1970's. | MalaysianChineseKitchen.com
Continue up the hill on the road leading to Ah Kong’s House
Ah Kong's House (Grandfather's House) - childhood visits to my paternal grandfather's house and Penang's idyllic rural life in the 1970's. | MalaysianChineseKitchen.com
The road leading to Ah Kong’s House in between two houses

Ah Kong's House (Grandfather's House) - childhood visits to my paternal grandfather's house and Penang's idyllic rural life in the 1970's. | MalaysianChineseKitchen.com

A House Partially Built on Stilts

The house itself was what we called pua phu kah lao or a house partially built on stilts. The wood and cement house comprised of two sections. The main one was actually the original house built on stilts or columns. The single storey annex attached to that structure housed the kitchen, bath space, and toilet. There was a staircase leading to the upper floor. The owners of the house later built walls and windows around the stilts of the main house. Thus, enclosing the area under the upper floor to form a living space. This last room on the ground leads directly to the annex. It was this ground floor room that Ah Kong was renting, with shared use of the annex with the people living upstairs.

Cousins

Occasionally we would run into our male cousins, Ah Ghee and Ching Yik at Ah Kong’s House. Both of them were Chinese-educated, while we were English-educated but we shared the same mother tongue in Hokkien. Our play was mainly just chasing each other with sticks, running along the village path. We had to be careful not to trample the vegetables and bushes that the other villagers grew. People were especially protective of their sugar cane groves. The Hokkien people harvest them once a year for worship to the God of Heaven on the 9th Day of the Spring Festival.

Ah Kong's House (Grandfather's House) - childhood visits to my paternal grandfather's house and Penang's idyllic rural life in the 1970's. | MalaysianChineseKitchen.com

Streams in the neighborhood

There were several clear streams that ran around the periphery of that village. One stream had a particular hollow that was fun for us to wade in and see fishes. In the nearby bushes, quail chicks formed little fuzzy clusters. They would scatter when we approached them. Even to this day, I often think and dream of that cool clear mountain stream running into that hollow. Since I wanted so much to run away to that stream to play, Ah Kong used to call me “The Cat” which was Hokkien vernacular for a disobedient kid. I mistook it for the fact that cats were drawn to fish and quail chicks!

Ah Kong's House (Grandfather's House) - childhood visits to my paternal grandfather's house and Penang's idyllic rural life in the 1970's. | MalaysianChineseKitchen.com

Idyllic Rural Life in the 1970’s

As the 1970’s drew to a close, Ah Kong grew blind and could no longer live alone. After he was moved to live with my 3rd Aunt, we did not go to Hoi An village anymore. Even so, the place was forever etched in my memory of idyllic rural life. Who cares about adult quarrels anyway? Over the years, I imagined that the village and slope on which it sits would have fallen victim to the development of hillside apartments. On my recent trip back to Penang I asked a good friend to take me there. To my delight, the place was exactly as I had last seen it in 1978! And I have the pictures to prove it!

Ah Kong's House (Grandfather's House) - childhood visits to my paternal grandfather's house and Penang's idyllic rural life in the 1970's. | MalaysianChineseKitchen.com

Ah Kong's House (Grandfather's House) - childhood visits to my paternal grandfather's house and Penang's idyllic rural life in the 1970's. | MalaysianChineseKitchen.com

Categories: 🗂 Blog, Stories Tags: 📋 Malaysian Chinese

About Paul

Paul is co-author of Malaysian Chinese Kitchen. He also runs his own scale modeling blog at Paul Ooi Modelworks.

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Comments

  1. Boon Ooi says

    February 1, 2018 at 11:48 pm

    Paul, I enjoyed reading your blog and an relate to your memories. I grew up inAir itam Penang in the 60’s and 70’s. Unfortunately for me I never knew my Ah Kong. Both died before I was born. My wife has been a faithful follower of Malaysian kitchen and she pointed me to your blog.
    I left penang in 1976 to attend volleying he is where I met my wife. We have been back numerous occasions each time enjoying what I see and the food yet missing all the things that have changed like the Tok tok mee man or the boy on his bike selling Kueh or the ban cheang Kueh (my wife’s favorite) seller
    Thanks again

    Reply
    • Paul says

      February 5, 2018 at 6:06 pm

      Dear Boon Ooi,

      There are many Penang-lang who left over the years, and find themselves drawn back to the place. I am glad that my stories help others like yourself to recall the place. Some things have changed forever in the name of development. I remember as a kid following my grandfather to Air Itam where the river ran beside the shops and the water used to be clear, now it is muddy. Memories and stories help even Penang people today to see what the place was once like, and to appreciate it more.

      Paul

      Reply
  2. Boon Ooi says

    February 1, 2018 at 11:51 pm

    Sorry for autocorrect usurping what I typed, replacing college with volleying etch…..

    Reply
  3. Ivy Lee says

    February 2, 2018 at 1:49 am

    What a beautifully written account of your childhood. It was so well-written that I had to read to the end of what had been attached to my mail.

    Thank you,
    Ivy

    Reply
    • Paul says

      February 5, 2018 at 6:08 pm

      Dear Ivy,

      Glad to hear from you. There are several other childhood stories in our blog that may interest you as well. Please keep reading.

      Paul

      Reply

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