Tan Jetty

This guide to Tan Jetty in Penang Island starts with the 2006 demolition of two neighboring stilt villages, Koay Jetty and Peng Aun Jetty, and the question of whether Tan Jetty would be next. It then reaches back over a century to the Tan clan boatmen who sailed from a fishing village near Xiamen, arrived in George Town with nothing, and built their own village on stilts over the harbor water rather than compete for land on shore. Look for the small red temple at the jetty's end, dedicated to the seafarers' goddess Mazu, where fishermen once lit incense before every voyage.