Oh. Erm ... I don't know what he Kampung / Asian village look is. Oops. Does this reveal too much that I haven't got a clue of photography?
Anyhow, I wonder if this was taken on film, or if this is a digital photo which can still be subjected to some post processing? If the latter is the case, there might be a chance to selectively brighten all parts a bit more save the ray of light behind and on that one part of the basked to bring out some more detail in the shadow areas. Maybe - it's just a spontaneous thought I'm having about what I'd do, but then that'd be just me...