Bayan Lepas (English: 5.29487, 100.25954; Traditional/Simplified Chinese: 峇六拜, Pinyin: Bā Liùbài; Penang Hokkien: Ba3 Lark3pai4 , often contracted to Ba3 Pai4 ) is a district in the southeastern part of Penang Island. The district is named after the Bayan Lepas town located to the south, and includes other towns such as Batu Maung, Kampung Seronok, Kampung Binjai, Permatang Damar Laut, among others. The main road through Bayan Lepas is Jalan Bayan Lepas, formerly simply known as Main Road. It is part of Federal Route 6. In the mid 1970's the new township of Bayan Baru was created, and has since become a major suburb of a greater Penang metropolitan area.
The name Bayan Lepas means "the parakeet has flown away". According to the story, a wealthy Sumatran family had arrived by boat at the coast of Bayan Lepas some time in the late 19th century. During the commotion of coming to shore, their pet parakeet escaped. The incident became the basis for the name of the place, Bayan Lepas.
Hotels & other accommodation providers in Bayan Lepas
Many of the hotels in the Bayan Lepas area cater to visitors to the Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone. There aren't any within the village centre, with the majority in the Bayan Baru area. The bigger ones include Olive Tree Hotel and Hotel Seri Malaysia.
The Bayan Lepas area is huge, and has numerous coffee shops, restaurants and hawker stalls. Let me provide you the recommendations of the locals who are members of my Penang Hawker Food and Penang Restaurant Food Facebook Groups, based on their input on this post.
The pekan, or village centre, of Bayan Lepas. The houses along this row were demolished in 2015 for the road upgrading project. (12 July 2008)
Bayan Lepas Market (12 July, 2008)
The name Bayan Lepas is appropriate for a site that has been an airstrip for Penang since the earlier part of the 20th century. The Bayan Lepas airstrip has been expanded several times, and is known today the Penang International Airport, the second busiest airport in Malaysia. Perhaps the most famous tourist attraction in Bayan Lepas is the world famous Snake Temple, located in the area called Sungai Keluang.
Pekan Bayan Lepas
The pekan or town centre of Bayan Lepas is located at the junction of Jalan Bayan Lepas and Jalan Dato Ismail Hashim (formerly Jalan Sungai Ara). This is the location of the Bayan Lepas Market, a convenient meeting point for villages in the surrounding area. Until recently (early 2015), the old town of Bayan Lepas has remained very much unchanged. It is still lined on both sides by early 20th century shophouses, resulting in a bottleneck for traffic passing through to the southern part of Penang Island. The town is the site of a major police station as well as a market, which was built in 1930.
Bayan Lepas pre-war townhouse, one of those demolished for the road expansion. (4 February, 2014)
Pre-war shophouses demolished for the road expansion (4 February, 2014)
Chong Shan School Union Building, now demolished (4 February, 2014)
Updates on Bayan Lepas
7 November, 2015: The Star reports that the state government has approved land reclamation in the Bayan Bay and Bayan Mutiara neighbourhoods of Bayan Lepas. The reclaimation is to be carried out by Ivory Tropicana (14 hectares/35 acres) and Gim Ventures (10 hectares/24.79 acres). The reclamation will enable the construction of 2,100 houses, a velodrome, a football field, basketball court, volleyball courts, an international standard swimming pool and diving pool.
During the second quarter of 2015, some forty shophouses on the south side of Jalan Bayan Lepas were demolished to make way for the road expansion project. They include a number of pre-war houses. This is part of a RM207 million federal project that will also affect the Bayan Lepas Police Station and its quarters, the Department of Civil Aviation and the Bayan Lepas Community Hall.
The road expansion will include two overhead bridges - a four-lane 750-meter elevated structure from Jalan Teluk Kumbar to the Penang International Airport, and an elevated U-turn.1 This is part of a parcel of Federal roadworks to alleviate traffic congestion following the completion of the Second Penang Bridge.
Musallah Kampung Bukit with its religious school, Madrasah Khairiah Islamiah in Bayan Lepas (2 February, 2013)
Getting there
Several Rapid Penang buses pass through the Bayan Lepas area as well as its towns and villages. Among the buses include 302, 304, 305, 307, 308, 401 and 502.
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Thank you for visiting my website. I started it in 2003, and today it has over twenty thousand pages of information. My name is Timothy Tye. You can call me Tim. I have been writing my website full time since 1 November 2007, and I am enjoying every moment of it. I write my website to satisfy my own curiosity, but I am glad if the information is useful to you.
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Aerial view of Bayan Lepas (6 January, 2017)
, often contracted to Ba3 Pai4 
The pekan, or village centre, of Bayan Lepas. The houses along this row were demolished in 2015 for the road upgrading project. (12 July 2008)
Bayan Lepas Market (12 July, 2008)
Bayan Lepas pre-war townhouse, one of those demolished for the road expansion. (4 February, 2014)
Pre-war shophouses demolished for the road expansion (4 February, 2014)
Chong Shan School Union Building, now demolished (4 February, 2014)
Musallah Kampung Bukit with its religious school, Madrasah Khairiah Islamiah in Bayan Lepas (2 February, 2013)
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