Kampung Pulai

Kampung Pulai is a Hakka Chinese village deep in the Kelantan interior, and its interest is its age and isolation: the settlement is traced by local tradition to Hakka gold miners who came inland centuries ago, before the plantation and tin migrations that produced most Chinese communities in Malaya, and it survived surrounded by Malay and Orang Asli villages far from any other Chinese settlement. The result is a community with its own accommodations - Hakka spoken alongside fluent Kelantanese Malay, local dress and food habits, and a village temple to Guanyin said to date from the early period, which is the centre of the place and the focus of its festivals. The village is small, agricultural and quiet, and there is no tourism infrastructure; visits are essentially a drive out to look and to talk to whoever is about.

What to look for

• An old Chinese village - founded, by local tradition, by gold miners in the interior.
• A Guanyin temple - the old village temple at the centre of the settlement.
• Hakka and Kelantanese Malay - both spoken, an unusual language mix.
• Isolated rural setting - farms and forest, far from any other Chinese community.

When to go

All year; temple festivals bring the village together. Half a day.

Practical notes

There is no tourism infrastructure at all - no signage, no facilities, nowhere to eat. It is a small residential village; visit quietly and ask before photographing. A car is essential.

Nearby

Gua Musang is the nearest town; the jungle railway runs through it.

Key facts