Balik Kampong: A 3-Day Return to Kampong Chitty, Melaka
This is a return. Balik Kampong brings us back to Kampong Chitty in Melaka, where the Chitty Melakan community has held its ground for generations. Here history is not something you read about, rather something you walk into. Homes, temples, food, and language all carry traces of a past shaped by seafarers, trade, and adaptation to agriculture.
Over the three days, we spend time within the community, not as visitors passing through, but as guests being welcomed in. We learn through food, through conversation, and through the quiet rituals that continue to hold meaning. We will also share our own childhood memories of school holidays spent in the kampong.
Days with cousins climbing trees, fishing, running barefoot, and always gathering around the most delicious home-cooked food. A key part of this journey is visiting the 10 temples that sit within and around the kampong, each one a reflection of devotion, history, and continuity. The kampong itself reflects centuries of blending, South Indian roots meeting Malay, Chinese, and local influences, forming something distinct and deeply rooted.
This is what defines the Chitty Melakan identity today. There is a simplicity to the experience, but also depth. It is in the way offerings are prepared, the way spices are used, the way spaces are kept and respected. Balik Kampong is not about looking back with nostalgia. It is about understanding where we come from, and why it matters to hold on to it. For many, it will feel familiar. For others, it will be a first encounter.
Duration: 3 days
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