7 days in Malaysia- 6/16- 6/21/2024
Day 5-Jetties-6/19/2024
The Clan Jetties of George Town are one of the most evocative parts of Penang’s UNESCO World Heritage site. These are floating villages consisting of wooden stilt houses built over the water, each historically occupied by a specific Chinese clan (family surname). Established in the late 19th century, they were born out of necessity: Chinese immigrants (mostly Hokkien) worked as porters and boatmen at the nearby docks. Living on the water allowed them to be close to their work and, famously, to avoid paying land taxes to the British colonial government. While there were once many more, seven main jetties remain today along Weld Quay. Each has its own distinct personality: Chew Jetty, Tan Jetty, Lim Jetty, Lee Jetty, Yeoh Jetty, and Mixed Clan Jetty.
Chew Jetty
Our first stop is Chew Jetty, the largest and most socially significant of the surviving clan jetties in George Town. Established in the mid-19th century by the Chew clan from Fujian, China, this wooden stilt village was built by immigrants who worked as porters and laborers at the nearby docks. Today, it remains a living heritage site where residents continue to live in traditional houses over the water, though it has become a central hub for tourism in Penang.
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Right from the entrance it feels special. As we step in, red lanterns hang overhead, gently swaying and instantly setting a festive, welcoming mood. The red lanterns frame the walkway and hint at the strong Chinese heritage of this place, making the entrance feel both ceremonial and lived-in.
There is a small temple at the entrance dedicated to the clan's patron deities and is famous for its elaborate celebrations during the 9th day of Chinese New Year (Jade Emperor's Birthday). Incense, offerings, and bright red and gold details create a quiet, respectful space where residents pause to pray for protection, good fortune, and safe journeys over the water. It’s a reminder that this is not just a tourist stop, but a real community with deep traditions.
Inside the worship area, the atmosphere feels especially powerful and symbolic. At the center is an altar unlike a typical one: a huge tree trunk, cut and darkened, its surface marked as if it has been burned. Placed inside the temple space, it feels ancient and raw, almost like a sacred relic. The charred texture gives it a sense of endurance, as if it carries the memory of time, fire, and survival, very fitting for a community that has lived above the sea for generations.
View of the temple right at the entrance.
We are now entering Chew Jetty
Walking further inside, the jetty opens into a narrow wooden pathway lined with houses and small shops.
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As we walked past the middle section of the jetty, the path becomes busier with small shops on both sides. Most of them sell souvenirs, T-shirts, hats, postcards, key chains, little toys, colorful and cheerful, clearly meant for visitors passing through. The displays spill slightly onto the wooden walkway, making the space feel narrow and lively, with people stopping, browsing, and chatting.
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Continuing our walk, and one image makes me stop.
A picture of a girl wearing a helmet, riding a moped, her posture confident and free. Beneath her, almost dreamlike, fish swim below, as if the road she’s traveling floats above the sea. The sign reads “Riding with Legend.” It feels playful and symbolic at the same time, movement, freedom, and the strong connection between life on land and life on water.
We continued walking forward, and gradually the shops thin out.
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The jetty grows quieter as we approach the end of the pier.
The wooden path opens up, and suddenly there’s nothing in front of us but open water.
The view is wide and calming, the sea stretching out, boats in the distance, and the breeze moving freely.
Standing there, it feels like the perfect ending to the walk: behind us, a living village of history and daily life; ahead of us, the vast, peaceful water.
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This is the Chew Jetty Dragon Boat team. In Chinese culture, these boats aren't just sporting equipment; they are considered "alive." Before a race season or a major festival, the dragon heads are often "awakened" in a ceremony where their eyes are dotted with red paint. The red color symbolizes vitality, good fortune, and fire, which is meant to ward off evil spirits in the water.
The Chew Jetty residents are famous for their prowess in dragon boat racing. For generations, the young men of the jetty were the strongest rowers in Penang because their daily lives involved heavy labor at the docks. Today, they still compete in the Penang International Dragon Boat Festival, and seeing the boat moored there shows that the tradition is still very much alive.
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Fishing boats docked along the walkway.
Many of the residents are still active
fishermen.
Historically, the Chew clan made their living as "middlemen" for the massive cargo ships that couldn't come all the way to the shallow shore. Today, some of those boats still function as shuttle services.
Boats can transport goods to larger vessels anchored further out in the deep water, or act as private water taxis for ship crews or locals needing to reach parts of the harbor quickly.
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You get a sense of peace at the end of the pier is special because it’s a total contrast to the busy, narrow "main street" of the jetty we just walked through. With the boats floating empty, you're catching a rare quiet moment before the day's heat and the afternoon tourist crowds arrive.
Because the boats are tied with a bit of slack, they drift and sway with the tide. This gives the whole jetty a feeling of being alive and untethered from the mainland.
Standing at the very end of
The house on the right is likely the Chew Clan Ancestral Home or a prominent heritage building belonging to the Chew family right near the entrance. These buildings are often painted in vibrant vermilion or burnt orange, colors that symbolize prosperity and ward off negative energy in Chinese tradition. Many of these larger homes near the entrance serve as community meeting points or small private museums where the clan’s history is preserved.
View from the historic water village and the mainland city. Those two landmarks are very distinct to that specific corner of George Town.
The yellow, red, and green temple you see across the water or just down the quay is the Hean Boo Thean Temple (often called the Kuan Yin Floating Temple). The white buildings above the temple are the modern apartments and commercial blocks of Weld Quay and the Merdeka Village area. This contrast between the ornate, colorful temple and the stark white modern architecture is one of the most photographed views in Penang.
Folklore by the Sea mural, painted by the renowned Singaporean artist Yip Yew Chong in December 2018. This wall is actually a "cultural palimpsest." Before Yip Yew Chong painted this scene, the exact same spot featured one of the original 2012 murals by Ernest Zacharevic called "Children in a Boat." Over the years, the sea air and tropical sun caused the original to fade almost completely. Yip Yew Chong painted this new, more detailed mural over it to continue the tradition of storytelling on the jetty walls.
The man in the hammock is the centerpiece of a larger narrative. If you look at the whole wall, it depicts several scenes of jetty life from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The Man in the Hammock: Represents the rare moments of rest for the hardworking clan members who spent their days as boatmen and porters.
Daily Chores: The mural also features a woman cleaning fish and a boy jumping into the sea, capturing the self-sufficient, water-based lifestyle of the early Chinese immigrants.
The Cat: You might notice a cat perched on the roof; this is a nod to the many "jetty cats" that still wander the wooden planks today.
Tan Jetty
Moving toward
The entrance is framed by two ordinary-looking buildings, and because the houses are built so close together, they form a "tunnel effect" that blocks your view of the horizon. You can’t see the sky meeting the sea until you are at least halfway down the walkway. If you weren't looking at a map, you would easily mistake the entrance for just another narrow Chinese shop-house alley.
That "Big Reveal" at the end of the narrow alley is one of the best moments in Penang! The vast expanse of blue in front is the Penang Strait (also commonly called the Straits of Penang or the Penang Channel).
This clan settlement is famous for having the longest wooden walkway of all the jetties, stretching far out into the sea and providing a much more tranquil, open atmosphere.
The jetty is most recognized for its exceptionally long and narrow wooden bridge, which offers unobstructed views of the water and is a favorite spot for photographers, especially during sunset.
Even though people are living on the water with zero soil, the residents are incredibly creative at carving out outdoor living spaces (or "floating porches"). Since there is no ground, residents use a variety of containers to create their gardens. Because the jetty path is public, these little seating areas act as a bridge between the private home and the public walkway.
Walking further in...
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We were the only people visiting this Jetty so it felt really special and we had the whole place for ourselves.
Compared to its more commercial neighbors, this jetty remains primarily residential and is very quiet. Despite facing threats of demolition in the late 20th century when the government viewed these settlements as "slums," the community fought to preserve their lifestyle. Their inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage listing in 2008 finally secured their protection, though many of the younger generation have since moved to modern apartments on land.
At the very end of the walkway sits a small, iconic red-roofed hut. This structure has become a symbol of the jetty and serves as a perfect focal point for photos against the blue backdrop of the sea.
The gate is usually kept open during the day (typically between 8:00 AM and 8:00 PM) to allow tourists to walk out to the famous red hut at the end. However, it is locked at night to ensure the safety of the houses behind you and to prevent people from wandering out onto the long, unlit pier in the dark.
The long wooden pier past the gate is much narrower than the main walkway. It can be slippery, and there are no railings. The gate acts as a "checkpoint" to make sure the pier doesn't become overcrowded. Unlike Chew Jetty, which is very commercial, Tan Jetty is a quiet neighborhood. The gate reminds visitors that while they are welcome to see the view, they are essentially walking through someone's "hallway" to get there.
We are now on the longest wooden walkway of all the jetties, stretching nearly 200 meters into the sea.
The small red building at the very end isn't actually a house, it's a small temple or shrine dedicated to Mazu, the Goddess of the Sea. Fisherman would pray there for a safe return before heading out into the Penang Strait.
View from the end of the pier.
Lee Jetty
Lee Jetty is one of the more intimate and visually striking settlements among the clan jetties, established in the late 19th century by immigrants sharing the Lee surname from the Fujian province of China. While it shares the same working-class roots as its neighbors, its history is defined by its resilience and its modern transformation into a "lighted" landmark. is often described as the most charming and "photogenic" one because it feels like a genuine, quiet neighborhood.
The jetty was founded by the Lee clan members who primarily worked as boatmen and lightermen, transporting goods from large ships to the shore. Because they lived on the water, they were historically exempt from paying land taxes to the British colonial government, which allowed the community to grow and sustain itself through the decades.
This metal gate marks the boundary of the clan's private territory, it features the Chinese characters for "Lee" (李), signaling that you are entering family land.
The settlement was originally a simple collection of wooden sheds and piers that eventually evolved into permanent family homes as more kin arrived from China.
Unlike the massive Chew Jetty or the ultra-long Tan Jetty, the path here is quite short, allowing you to reach the open water and the cooling sea breeze in just a few dozen steps.
The curve at the end of the walkway is a signature feature of Lee Jetty, it’s much more organic than the straight "runways" of the other jetties. The curve at the end of Lee Jetty is what makes it so photogenic. It breaks the "tunnel vision" you get at other jetties and allows you to see the houses from a side profile rather than just the front doors. It also creates a natural "balcony" feel where you can stand and look back at the George Town skyline.
The red flag you see is likely a religious or safety marker. In Chinese folk religion (especially for those living on the sea), red flags are often placed at the edge of the water to mark a small shrine or to signify a "protected" area. It also serves a practical purpose: it helps boatmen see the edge of the jetty from a distance, especially when the tide is high and the dark wood of the pier blends into the water.
Seeing those wooden planks piled up on the left is a great find. We are witnessing the constant maintenance required to keep a clan jetty alive. The humidity and salt from the Penang Strait are incredibly harsh on timber. The support stilts and the surface planks (usually made of heavy hardwoods like Chengal) have to be replaced every few years. These repairs aren't usually done by big construction companies; they are often done by the residents themselves or specialized local carpenters who know how to work with the tides.
That view of Hean Boo Thean Temple from the end of Lee Jetty is spectacular. Since it’s built on its own massive platform over the water, it looks like a colorful island floating in the middle of the bay.
We first saw this temple from the Chew Jetty but here it is a lot clearer.
Looking back at the colorful houses is a relatively modern touch. Traditionally, these were plain, dark wood, but over the last decade, residents have painted their homes in vibrant blues, yellows, and pinks. This isn't just for tourists; it’s a point of pride. Each color often marks where one family's home ends and the next begins, creating a beautiful, jagged "skyline" of rooftops.
We are now leaving the area.
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Walking back to the main gate.
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Between the houses, you can see wooden planks that are a clever bit of vernacular engineering. Because the houses sit on stilts in soft seabed mud, they are prone to shifting with the tides and the wind. Those horizontal and diagonal planks act as "braces." They tie the individual houses together into one large, interconnected grid.
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Life is quiet here.
Mixed Clan
We are now at the New Jetty (Mixed Surname Jetty) which is the youngest and most unique of all the clan settlements. While the other jetties you visited were strictly for families with the same surname, this one was created to accommodate everyone else.
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The Jetty was established much later than the original clan jetties, primarily to house families of different surnames who worked at the nearby docks but didn't belong to the dominant clans like the Chews or Tans.
Because it is smaller and tucked away, this jetty often feels even more secluded than Lee Jetty.
The "Mixed Clan" Jetty was built by families who didn't have the massive wealth or the large numbers of the Chew or Tan clans. They built exactly what they needed, enough space for a person and a cart, but nothing more. In this jetty, the houses feel even closer. You can often hear the sounds of television, clinking dishes, or families talking inside. Because no single surname dominates here, the "community" vibe is very strong. It’s a literal melting pot of families who chose to live together on the water.
When you reach the back the narrow walkway at the New Jetty (Mixed Clan Jetty) is exactly what makes it feel so special. Because it’s smaller and less "touristy," the scale feels much more like a private neighborhood than a public landmark.
We are now at one of the southernmost points of the jetty cluster, the view of the Hean Boo Thean Temple (the colorful floating temple) has shifted.
From here, we are seeing the temple from a different angle, likely noticing how massive its platform is compared to the narrow wooden planks you are standing on.
You can also see how it stands alone in the water, looking almost like a colorful palace guarding the entrance to the harbor.
We visited Chew Jetty, Tan Jetty, Lee Jetty, and New Jetty. They are all from walking distance.
NEXT... Day 5- walking around George Town