Fortune

Comfortable and spacious, these accommodations signify abundance and opulence as well as the good life surrounded by family and happiness. 

For those who migrated to Phuket, some stayed temporarily to earn enough money and return home, whereas others saved their wealth and settled in order to build themselves to higher positions and provide a better life for them and their families. Chinese Hokkien immigrants are one of these groups, with those arriving often being young single men, or young boys that came with their families. Later on as they grow up, they create their own families with the local people here. These families of mixed cultures created their own traditions of which are referred to as “Peranakan” which is a Malay term meaning “of mixed race”. However in Phuket, these descendents are named Baba for men and Nonya (in Thai, Yaya) for women.

For these Baba & Yaya families, success came in many forms. One such example would be those who settled down and built their own shop houses. The shop house buildings are considered a legacy of the booming economy back in the tin mining days of Phuket. The architecture is a blend of Western and Chinese styles known as ‘Sino Portuguese’, with columned structures of Western influence mixed with the Chinese traditional patterns on the doors, windows and interiors. There are a variety of these types of shophouses, with the most popular being the two-storey “Lao Teng”, often seen around Phuket as well as surrounding areas in the Andaman such as in Penang and Singapore. 

Another example is of families from more wealthier backgrounds who came over and settled in mansions called “Ang Mor Lao”. In Hokkien Chinese, the word “Ang Mor” means “red hair”, a term used to refer to foreigners of European or caucasian descent whilst “lao” means “building” or “manor”, thus the word ‘Ang Mor Lao’ means western style mansion. There are only 20 Ang Mor Lao houses left in Phuket Old Town. 

Jewellry was especially important to these families. Men were usually the breadwinners whereas women remained mostly uneducated. As such, they were often gifted precious jewellery which were passed down from generation to generation. These accessories were one of the only tangible possessions that they could call their own and at the same time, the precious gold and gemstones could also be a form of security in times of need. 

One of the pieces of jewellery of note are the brooches called ‘Pin Tang’ in Thai. Pin Tang in Malaysian language means ‘star’, with a distinctive six-pointed star shape. These brooches were used to decorate a bride’s gown when they got married or attached to gold chains to create necklaces to wear during festivities. The grooms also sometimes wore the brooches as a hat pin or on their suits to indicate their wealth and position as the head of the family as well. 

Hence, this room art encompasses all of these elements, to show the varying levels of success from families with their shop houses to Ang Mor Lao mansions, as well as the rich traditions and jewellery of the Baba & Yaya culture.

Our rooms that depict this concept are: