Chinatown in Kuala Terengganu: from rot to a riot of colour, as murals give old town on Malaysian coast new life
The ‘five foot alleys’ of the historic Chinatown on Malaysia’s east coast, a cultural melting pot for centuries, have been transformed by themed murals celebrating the settlement’s history and its great and good
The car stops beside the coastal highway to Kuala Terengganu. Ismail jumps out and trots up to a tree. He scrapes at the bark and jogs back with a strip of it.
“This is gelam bark,” my guide announces. “It’s used to join the planks in boat making here.” The off-white substance has a curious springy texture.
Within the hour we have rumbled onto a wooded island at the mouth of the Terengganu River and stopped at a boatyard. In an open-sided shed stands a hull under construction, its chestnut-coloured wooden panels tightly fixed and beautifully curving towards a high prow.
“You see those white lines between the planks?” asks Ismail, clambering to a spot where he can touch one. “That’s the gelam bark. They don’t use anything else, not caulking or glue, just that stuff to fix the hull together. They make the boats without any plans, just using knowledge passed down from father to son.”
The image of the finished boat, the bending of the planks, the carving of the dowels, the pounding with mallets, all are etched into muscle and brain.