Hye Keat Estate, Penang

Hye Keat Estate (7 January 2018)


Hye Keat Estate is a neighbourhood of Air Itam in the central part of Penang Island. Formerly a working-class neighbourhood, it has of late seen a number of more expensive residential development. This takes places next to the existing houses that were built in the area in the first half of the 20th century.

Hye Keat Estate was named after Khoo Hye Keat, the original land owner of the estate. It was a fruit plantation, with groves of rambutan, jackfruit and mangosteen. As the terrain is at a gradient - it is a ravine slopig towards the river - Hye Keat Estate was not a choice land for residential development, which only took place when land scarcity forced its development for the working class.

Most of the people living in Hye Keat Estate are Chinese. As they settled in the area, they established a number of temples for their various faiths, leading the neighbourhood to be known as Ang3 Kong3 Tay3 [aŋ-kɔŋ-te], meaning "land of deities". You can find here temples venerating the Goddess of Mercy as well as Tua Pek Kong, Buddha and numerous shrines to the Dato Kong.

The main road entering Hye Keat Estate is Jalan Khoo Hye Keat. It branches on the left to Lorong Khoo Hye Keat, which is rather the main road in the area. This branches to the left once more, to Jalan Taman Cantik and Persiaran Taman Cantik. These roads are within Taman Cantik, a housing estate developed in the 1960s. Separately accessed, a little further uphill, is Lorong Pokok Ceri, which is often regarded as not part of Hye Keat Estate.

Map of Hye Keat Estate, Penang

Sights in Hye Keat Estate

Housing Estates in Hye Keat Estate

Roads in Hye Keat Estate

Getting to Hye Keat Estate by Public Transport

There are no buses to Hye Keat Estate. The nearest bus stop is along Jalan Stesen Keretapi Bukit (Hill Station Road), which is served by Rapid Penang Bus 204. From there, walk a short distance on Persiaran Taman Cantik into Hye Keat Estate.

Hye Keat Estate, Air Itam, Penang (18 January 2013)


The older section of Hye Keat Estate (18 January 2013)


New residential properties at Hye Keat Estate (18 January 2013)


View of the mixed development at Hye Keat Estate (18 January 2013)

Private Guided Tours of Penang

If you are seeking private guided tours of Penang, message Penang Tour Guides at penangtourguides@gmail.com and enquire with them.

 Buy, rent or sell properties in Penang

Do you have a property for sale or to rent out? Are you looking to buy or rent a property? Get in touch with me. WhatsApp me (Timothy Tye) at 012 429 9844, and I will assign one of my property agents to serve you. I will choose the agent for you, according to your property needs. So when you message me, provide me some details of what you need, whether to sell, to buy, to rent or to rent out, and what type of property, is it condo, apartment, house, shop, office or land.

 Latest updates on Penang Travel Tips

Map of Roads in Penang

Looking for information on Penang? Use this Map of Roads in Penang to zoom in on information about Penang, brought to you road by road.

About this website

Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.