Hand woven attap made of palm fronds
There are some really beautiful and almost undiscovered Orang Asal homes in Perak. Good friend Jan invited me for an exploration trip to a region around near Ipoh to look for a waterfall. I skipped work and went with Jan. It was all worth it. Not only did Jan found his waterfall, but I too was equally amazed with the beauty of the people and the jungle there.
The knowledge and skills of the Orang Asal in identifying, selecting, preparing and building the traditional homes is amazing. A dying art, these original people of the land are slowly departing from their traditional ways to embrace modern lifestyle. This village is one of the few that I have seen that still retains parts of their traditional homes.
Some of the Orang Asal homes along the way into the jungle
The jungle homes are built above ground using natural materials and can house quite a number of people. Bamboo in this village seems to be the main material used. They are used to make the walls of the huts, the flooring and some of the attap supporting beams.
After about another hour walk, following a trail lead by our local guide, we come to yet another Orang Asal village. Here, there are some abandoned huts but also nearby a bigger and what seems to be a grander jungle hut is on its way. It is a shame that I could not spend time to see it being built. Would love to document that very much.
A local told us the occupants of this hut has moved out to stay closer to the city
A new hut is being built here
Note the neat lashings used on the hut building
Rattan is commonly used for lashing
Look closely and we noticed that one of the main supporting vertical beams has a plastic tied at it’s end. Our trail guide pointed out to us that the ‘wrapping’ usually means that particular pole is the ‘Tiang Satu’ or ‘Pole No. 1′. Tiang Satu is important because it is the first pole to be erected and it symbolizes many things to the different community. And of course, it comes with a lot of do’s and dons as well. As the main structure in in progress, work is also on the way to see the completion of the natural hand wooven attap made from palm fronds.
This is probably the 'Tiang Satu'
Palm fronds being weaved to make natural attap
This particular hut being built is rather long, easily spacious enough for two families. When it is fully built, it would probably look as nice or perhaps even better than this other Orang Asal jungle home that is located just a few hundred meters away.
A beautifully built jungle hut by the Orang Asal of Perak
It is very interesting to see how different indigenous people who have lived on and are associated with a given landbase for many years have learned to build homes that fit into the landscape and thus, are protected from the perils of the area.
The traditional malay houses also have tiang satu, or known as the tiang seri. some claim that it has magical powers , and is routinely smoked using kemenyan and some have yellow cloth tied at the top.
nice looking houses , first time seeing the walls made of attap leaves. the one I usually see are made of bamboo.
The attap roof actually lets the house breathe, very visible when there is a smoky fire inside. You can see the smoke exit through the roof and not through other vents ( doors / windown )
cool stuff keong!
Hi Nadir! Thanks for sharing. Yes, I heard about Tiang Seri as well. Being the first one erected, its only natural I guess that it is treated with respect, case and mysticism. Amazingly beautiful and unique they are.
Some create walls out of kepong barks, bertam fronts, bamboo with the kepong bark a tedious task in turning it into walls.
Try upper Sg Tiang and upper sg kenderong as well as upper kenyir rivers in Temenggor to see more original asli huts.
Hi Forest…thanks for the info sir. I will check the two places out that you mentioned. One is in Kedah and the other near Hulu Perak. Thanks again for your inputs.