Penang + Langkawi - Digital e-guide

SOUTHEAST ASIA / NOVEMBER 2014

LANGKAWI UNCOVERED

Digital Destination Guide

PENANG IN 6 DISHES

The Best of PENANG + LANGKAWI

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Editor’s Note

November 2014

WHERE TO FIND ME

chrisk@mediatransasia.com @CKucway on Twitter

P

enang is one of those treasured destinations that is constantly on the upgrade, managing to lure us back time and again, more often than not to eat dishes that can only be dreamt of elsewhere. Simply sitting streetside in Penang is reason enough to visit. Langkawi, its counterpart to the north, has a similar hold on our travel imaginations. In Langkawi’s case, the island has become a magnet for those seeking to enjoy the outdoors. The island’s green allure is complemented with a strong list of top-notch resorts, addresses most of us have trouble leaving at the end of any break. In both Penang and Langkawi, we uncover the subtle differences found in most corners of Asia. Every return visit offers up the chance to rediscover our favorite stops, while uncovering new gems.

Whether your aim is to get away to a strip of beach like Skull Island on Langkawi or to define the six best food orders in Penang, we’ve got you covered. Yet, your appetite shouldn’t stop there. George Town is a haven for the arts, most noticeable on its aged streets.

Within this e-guide, readers can take a step back in time with writer Jeff Chu who explores Penang with the added bonus or burden of following in his great-grandfather’s footsteps, seeing the island through century-old eyes as well as his own. Given the local history, that might just be the best route for any visit to Penang.

As mentioned, Langkawi is a combination of luxury and green-oriented awareness; a perfect antidote to Asia’s big cities. Take a tour of that island here. In the case of either Malaysian getaway, you’ll come away with one recurring thought: when can I return? That’s a great idea when traveling, particularly in Malaysia. —c h r i s t o p h e r k u c way

The T+L Code Travel + Leisure editors, writers and photographers are the industry’s most reliable sources.

While on assignment, they travel incognito whenever possible and do not take press trips or accept free travel of any kind.

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Deals

T+L RE A D E R S PECI A LS

THIS MONTH’S BEST DEALS From the buzz of Kuala Lumpur to centuries-old trees of Penang, these offers spotlight a few of Malaysia’s essentials.

PENANG Golden Circle: Fourth Night Free in Penang from Shangri-La’s Rasa Sayang Resort & Spa (shangri-la.com), on Batu Ferringhi beach surrounded by centuries-old trees. The Deal Four nights in a Rasa Superior room in the Rasa Wing. The Highlight A complimentary fourth night for Golden Circle members. Cost From RM3,090 (RM1,030 per night), double, through January 31, 2015.

Savings Up to 50 percent.

Taste of Penaga from Hotel Penaga (hotelpenaga.com), in George Town. The Deal Two

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nights in a no-balcony Hutton Deluxe room. The Highlight A 40-minute Penang Heritage Discovery trishaw ride. Cost From RM820 (RM410 per night), double, through December 31.

Savings 18 percent.

LANGKAWI Spa Indulgence from The Danna (thedanna.com), an awardwinning address set in a pictureperfect, Mediterranean-style Telaga Harbour. The Deal Two nights in a Merchant room. The Highlight A signature 3.5-hour spa program for two consisting of a 60-minute Relieving Massage, a 60-minute

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Revitalizing Polish, a 60-minute Nurturing Wrap and a 30-minute Floral Bath. Cost From RM2,645 (RM1,323 per night), double, through December 22. Savings 61 percent.

Live. Bond & Relax package from Berjaya Langkawi Resort (berjayahotel.com), traditional over-water chalets and forestsurrounded guestrooms on Burau Bay. The Deal Two nights in a Family Chalet—a couple interconnecting Rainforest Chalets. The Highlights Up to RM150 sports and recreation credit per stay; a buffet dinner at Dayang Cafe; and daily breakfast

for the whole family. Cost From RM1,860 (RM930 per night), for a maximum of two adults and two children, through April 30, 2015. Savings 16 percent.

KUALA LUMPUR Bed & Breakfast package from Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur (kualalumpur.grand.hyatt.com), 412 rooms and suites within walking distance of the city’s dining and shopping hubs. The Deal A stay in a Standard room.

The Highlights Buffet breakfast at THIRTY8 and 2 p.m. late checkout. Cost From RM650, double, through December 31.

Savings Up to 37 percent. +

C O U R T E S Y O F S H A N G R I - L A’ S R A S A S AYA N G R E S O R T & S P A

The main pool at Shangri-La’s Rasa Sayang Resort & Spa, in Penang.

Pantai Pasir Tengkorak, also known as Skull Sand.

LANGKAWI, MALAYSIA SKULL SAND you won’t see much in the way of undigested sailors, but you will be able to enjoy tremendous northerly views to the Thai island (and national park) of Koh Tarutao. These vistas make Skull Sand Beach a popular picnic destination for local Langkawi-folk, but on weekdays you’ll have the beach entirely to yourself. Pack a book and relax in the shade. On Langkawi’s northwest coast, Skull Sand is part of Pasir Tengkorak Recreational Forest.

Take Jalan Datai until you see the sign for “Hutan Lipur Pasir Tengkorak.” Park within the gate and walk through the forest to the shore.

—stuart mcdonald

RICK Y SOW

he name may sound ominous but Langkawi’s Pantai Pasir Tengkorak is a little-known getaway on the north coast that will enchant rather than scare. A number of legends lie behind the name, but our favorite refers to a whirlpool that once lay offshore, home to a feared monster of the deep. Boats sailing by would be dragged into the swirling waters and, once dragged under, the scaly beast would feast on the seamen. Apparently the beast had dietary issues and needed to regurgitate the skeletons… the skulls then floated ashore. Today, thankfully,

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food

SIX DISHES: PENANG

breakfast Koay teow th’ng at Seng Thor Coffee Shop

lunch Tamarind prawns at Tek Sen

snack Oyster omelette at Lam Ah Kopitiam

Hearty meat broth, silky wide rice noodles, fish balls redolent of the sea and pork two ways—minced and thickly sliced—make this iconic Penang specialty truly the breakfast of champions. Try to resist finishing the bowl to save room for lunch.

16 Carnavon St.; RM4 per bowl.

Plump freshwater prawns, slicked with an irresistible sweet-sour tamarind and black soy sauce glaze, are just one delicious reason you can expect to queue at this friendly, decades-old Teochew-Malaysian restaurant. 18-20 Carnarvon St.; 60-12/981-5117; meal for two RM60.

For a distinctive version of this ubiquitous Southeast Asian dish, the vendor fries the omelettes—made of thin potato starch batter topped with a broken egg—and oysters separately. An omelette with lacy crisp edges and a springy center is the happy result.

194 Chulia St.; RM6 per omelet.

dinner Lor ark at Kebaya

dessert Gula Melaka ice cream at China House

for the flight home Kueh lapis at Sunflower Homemade Cake

Gilded Chinese panels and marble tables set an elegant stage for modern takes on Straits and Indo-Chinese classics, such as this crispy confit duck leg perched atop a sliced breast, served with plum wedges in rich braising liquid heady with star anise and cloves. Stewart Ln.; 60-4/264-2333; 7terraces.com; three-course fixed price menu RM125 per person.

This final course will sate your sweet tooth. With hints of butterscotch and coffee, gula Melaka (Malaysian coconut palm sugar) was made to star in ice cream. A single scoop studded with nuggets of soft sugar pairs perfectly with their buttery macadamia shortbread. 153 and 155 Beach St.; 60-4/263-7299; chinahouse. com.my; dessert for two RM28.

Eighteen sheer layers of buttery batter, painstakingly poured by hand and baked one after the other in the same pan, makes for an edible souvenir as visually striking as it is tasty. Make sure to polish off this moist cake within a week, before it spoils. It packs well, so bring back a few to share. 117A Lorong Hutton; from RM13 for 250 Palace. har dt grams.—roby n eckDalat

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Photograped by David Hagerman

C LOC K WISE FROM TOP: A A RON JOEL SA N TOS (2); COURTESY OF SA NCTUA RY RESORT COMMUNIT Y HO TR A M

Our meal-by-meal guide on where to try the best local fare in George Town, Penang.

Clockwise from left: Travelers mill through KLIA2; the new terminal’s modern exterior; choose from 81 dining options.

Eat Pastamania (Level 2, Lot 125, Gateway@ KLIA2; meals for two from RM25) dishes up tasty Italian food. For healthy vegetarian mains, try Be Lohas (Level 2M, Lot 19; meals for two from RM40).

airports

ONE HAPPENING HUB A new budget terminal in KL is upgrading your layover. Story and photos by Marco Ferrarese Kuala Lumpur’s new airport terminal, KLIA2 (klia2.info), proves that low cost doesn’t mean low class. Launched in May, this flashy LCCT is light years ahead of its predecessor, which was pioneered by Air Asia’s Tony Fernandes in 2006 as the first ever all-budget terminal, but left much to be desired in terms of travelers’ comfort, with leg-numbing waiting chairs and dining options in dire straits. Eight years later, the boom in low cost carrier traffic has led to this snazzy US$1.3-billion upgrade, designed to cater to a whopping 45 million passengers per year. In line with its ambitious “Next Generation Hub” tagline, KLIA2 aspires to be the world’s missing link between low cost and full service flight experience.

The best part? The new terminal is only 2 kilometers 10

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away from KLIA, the main international airport, so transfers are smooth sailing.

The old LCCT was a 20-kilometer slog, and travelers were stuck hopping expensive taxis or waiting through half-hour long bus-rides to switch between the two airports.

Now the entire journey can be blissfully bus-free, thanks to the new terminal’s proximity to KLIA— conveniently linked to downtown KL via rail—and possibly our favorite new feature: 80 new air bridges.

That’s right—gone too are the days of shuttling from gate to plane aboard worn-out airline buses, or, a hated novelty of the old low-cost KUL, trekking the tarmac single-file for kilometers in torrential rain. Now travelers can strut on and off the plane via air-conditioned walkways.

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But with facilities like this and the vast, store-lined main terminal that tempts jet-setters to stop and indulge, you may not be in any rush to board. There are a staggering 81 restaurants, bars and cafés, and 118 shops spread across the 70,000 square meters of retail space, while the relaxation areas are furnished with comfy lounge chairs, laptop charging stations, and baby-care rooms. A hightech skybridge—the first in Asia—crosses over the airside giving passengers exceptional views of the airstrip. It’s a constant dance of lift-offs with more than 200 departures each day, and as plane after plane takes to the skies, KLIA2 also soars into the upper echelons of air travel. +

Drink Grab a cup of coffee at OldTown White Coffee (Level 3, Lot 27-29, departure hall; drinks for two from RM10). For a stronger drink (read: alcohol), swing by the foyer at Capsule by Container Hotel (Level 1, Lot 2/3, Gateway@KLIA2; drinks for two from RM25).

Stay For long layovers and early flights, check into Tune Hotel KLIA2 (tunehotels.com; doubles from RM188 per night), a 10-minute walk from the departure hall.

No-frills travelers can bunk down at Capsule Hotel (Level 1, Lot 2/3, Gateway@KLIA2; single beds available for three, six or 12 hours at RM45, RM70 and RM90 respectively).

Getting There Take the speedy KLIA Transit rail link. kliaekspres.com; 39 minutes to KL Sentral, RM35 per person; three minutes to KL International Airport, RM2 per person.

Ghosts and Gods of Penang

The gilt interior of restored Suffolk House. Opposite: An installation of Art is Rubbish/Rubbish is Art by Ernest Zacharevic, in George Town.

Trying to follow his great-grandfather’s century-old trail through the Malaysian melting pot, JEFF CHU encounters guilds, gilt and guilt—and realizes that the Straits isle still is dancing a delicate quadrille between past and present.

PHOTOGRAPHED BY KIT CHAN T R AV E L A N D L E I S U R E A S I A .C O M

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Penang’s grande dame has modern appeal. Opposite, from top: Architect Laurence Loh; breakfast at Eng Loh coffee shop; tuk-tuk tourism.

he violins had long stopped playing at Suffolk House by the time Laurence Loh arrived.

The Georgian manse stood on a Penang pepper estate created

by Captain Francis Light, who claimed the island for the British in 1786. In the early 19th century, nothing else on Penang matched its prestige. The governor lived here for a time. During balls, the silks of ladies’ gowns swept the wide, wooden verandas, which overlooked riverside lands tamed to resemble English countryside.

When Loh, a Malaysian architect who has restored some of Penang’s finest historic buildings, visited in the 1990’s, the house was dilapidated verging on destroyed, the forest waging a reclamation campaign.

“People said it would be impossible to bring it back to what it was,” Loh says as we sit in his firm’s offices, in a residential precinct of George Town, Penang’s capital. He starts to refer to the house as “she.” “She didn’t give up her favors easily,” he says, shaking his head. “She is a very naughty lady.”

Nobody had the full picture of how Suffolk House originally looked, so Loh played forensic archaeologist.

Meanwhile, over seven tortuous years, she won his heart. Today, he speaks of her with supernatural wonder. “Put it this way, la,” Loh says. “Suffolk House is a secular building, but she is one of the most spiritual also. You just feel the different types of spiritual energy.

Go and see for yourself.”

Later, exploring Suffolk House, I feel mainly sweaty and sad. A droopy floral arrangement sits on a foyer table. The ground floor houses a dusty, usually closed souvenir shop and a restaurant serving British cuisine, an odd nod to colonial times.

Then I climb the stairs to the colonnaded veranda, where my mind runs wild, coloring in the picture. I can smell gentlemen smoking and hear them playing cards in the drawing room. Dancing ladies whirl around the ballroom to a little night music. How is this possible?

Looking around, I see nobody. So I do a spin on the ballroom floor to a

quadrille only I can hear. Then I think, “How very Penang.”

GHOSTS AND GODS drew me to Penang. I’d come in part to retrace my great-grandfather’s missionary journey a century ago. He converted to Christianity as a young man in Hong Kong. Why he then boarded a ship to colonial Malaya is lost to history, but it’s not hard to see Penang as a proselyte’s perfect destination: a marketplace not just of spices and goods but also cultures and ideas, it welcomed hustlers, hucksters and salespeople of all stripes and sectors.

One of the Straits Settlements enriched by the British East India Company, Penang rose much like Singapore and Hong Kong did. All three owed their fortunes and diverse demographics to the seas. In its early decades especially, translators were particularly in demand in George Town: you could hear Armenian and Arabic, Chinese dialects and various English accents, French and German, a dozen languages of the Indian subcontinent and, of course, Malay.

But while Singapore and Hong Kong attained stratospheric wealth in the 20th century, Penang, the oldest by several decades, didn’t. Especially after it lost its free-port status in 1969, the economy foundered. Skylines tell the story: Hong Kong has nearly 300 buildings taller than 150 meters.

Singapore has about 70. Penang? One. Penang’s silver, teak and terracotta lining is an architectural and aesthetic fabric that’s better preserved than Singapore’s or Hong Kong’s. Six years ago, George Town’s charming historic core was declared a unesco World Heritage Site—acknowledging the past’s importance to the place’s present and future.

History matters—that’s why I was in Penang. But change is inevitable too. The unesco status has increased the premium on George Town’s storied buildings, squeezing locals out. How do you honor the old while forging the new? And who gets to decide whether street art, espresso machines, and other markers of globalizing hipsterdom and gentrification belong in a culture defined by intermingling?

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Would Little Girl in Blue have better luck than the author in entering goldsmiths’ guild Ta Kam Hong?

Opposite: Self-guide on two wheels.

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MY GREAT-GRANDFATHER left no diaries. The last time I saw him, he was in his early nineties. I was eight.

Like most kids, I had little sense of history but great awareness of the old.

I remember no conversation, just his wrinkly face and near-toothless grin.

It’s easier to decipher what he couldn’t have done in Penang than to know what he had. My first morning in town, I stand on my balcony at the Eastern & Oriental. A grande dame dating to 1885, the hotel hosted Kipling, Coward and Maugham. As I gaze at the sea that brought my greatgrandfather to these shores, it isn’t lost on me that he couldn’t have afforded a room at the E&O. After breakfast, I meet historian Marcus Langdon at China House, a coffee bar/restaurant/gallery in a restored shophouse. At RM10, coffee is 10 times the price in an old-school café. “This is a good example of what’s happening,” Langdon shouts over a La Cimbal espresso machine. There’s RM12 tiramisu. “Nothing’s local.”

As the midday sun begins to pummel Penang, we loop through the fast-changing historic center, past buildings like the gracious, early20th-century Whiteways Arcade.

Originally a general store, it houses a Subway. “There’s a lot of Western and Singaporean money coming in,” he says. “Maybe you lose the things that attracted you in the first place—the crafts, the noises, the smells.”

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Eventually, we arrive at the Eng Loh, a century-old, open-air coffee shop where the ceiling fans struggle to cut the humidity. Little seems to have changed in decades, except the portraits of Malaysia’s king and queen—new monarchs are installed every five years—who watch us from high on the seafoam-green walls.

The Eng Loh isn’t a place where one uses the term “barista.” As Langdon and I talk, a cleaver-wielding cook chop-chop-chops a chicken and another chef clack-clack-clacks his metal turner against a wok of noodles.

They’re barely sweating, whereas I look as if I’m mid-shower. My glass of iced milk tea—RM1.60—drips puddles onto a chipped marble tabletop that appears old enough to have held my great-grandfather’s tea too.

As rents rise and tastes change, can places like the Eng Loh survive?

“Penang is such an amalgamation of historical and modern,” Langdon says.

“These things have to live together.

The question is how.”

I WANT TO HUG Wazir Jahan Karim when we meet at Jawi House, her gallery/crafts shop/restaurant on Armenian Street. She gets, better than most, the potency of personal history.

“Everyone is tracing roots—maybe you find an Arab great-uncle or a Turkish grandfather,” she says. “This is what it means to be in this postmodern, cosmopolitan city.”

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Wazir, a British-educated anthropologist, opened Jawi House last year to spotlight her roots in the uniquely Malaysian culture of the Jawi Peranakan. It originated with 19th-century Muslim immigrants to the Straits Settlements from South Asia and the Middle East. Mostly prosperous and educated, they often married Malay women. “It was a very upper-middle-class, progressive, proEmpire group,” Wazir says. “Religion was the common factor.”

Over the decades, Jawi Peranakan culture faded. The government cultivated a more strictly Malay identity, and as Malaysia became more diverse, there was a desire to be seen as more singularly Malay—however historically inaccurate that is. Wazir mentions an aristocratic friend who declared: “My heritage is pure!” “The royalty she belongs to is half-Thai! ” Wazir says indignantly, “and the Malay DNA is one of the most plural in the world.”

Wazir sees shifts toward embracing diversity. Especially among the younger generation, she believes, the modern Malay identity—and the modern Malaysian one—doesn’t require homogeneity. “It’s fashionable to be hybrid now,” she says. “By reclaiming our hybridity, we’re also reclaiming our history.”

The Jawi Peranakan’s ancestral lines converge on the Jawi House menu. Hummus echoes Levantine

cuisine. Biryanis summon India. Meat rendang and serabai, a rice-flour cake traditionally served during Ramadan, honor Malay cookery, though the former immigrated too, centuries ago, from Sumatra.

The most unusual dish: lemuni rice.

At Jawi House, this Jawi Peranakan specialty features chicken curry served alongside basmati rice flavored with lemuni leaves. Also called the chastetree, the lemuni has been used for millennia to aid female reproductive health. “Try it!” Wazir prods, promising that men can appreciate it too.

Savory and visually stunning, the rice is studded with blue tualang (butterfly pea) blossoms. The dish— something borrowed, something blue—is quintessentially a Penangite union, like Jawi Peranakan culture itself. “Penang is eclectic. It is messy.

Behind that mess is something of a method,” Wazir says. “We have stories to tell, but we also have new stories to learn. We are people with many different narratives. This is where they come together.”

And, she hopes, where they

continue for generations. While Wazir created much of the menu, she handed control of the kitchen to chef Nuril Karim Raza—he’s her son.

PERHAPS MY CANTONESE great-grandfather, a jeweler’s apprentice at the time, had registered in the logbooks of the Ta Kam Hong, on Muntri Street. Founded in 1832, the goldsmiths’ guild drew its membership from Cantonese families.

The grand temple, built in 1903, honors Wu Ching, patron deity of goldsmiths. When I learned that, I doubted my great-grandfather, given his fervent faith, would have entered its gates. But I’d never know, because I couldn’t enter its gates either; whenever I walked past the building, they were locked shut.

While I only glimpsed history’s facade, present-day Penang teased me through Little Girl in Blue, a mural over the temple forecourt by Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic. He and his girlfriend, the novelist Gabija Grusaite, backpacked to Penang in 2011 and stayed, finding inspiration and a home.

“It’s the community—very unique,

Two Children on a Bicycle. Above: The two children—Tan Yi and Tan Kern—in real life, with parents Ashley Teoh and Adrian Tan. Opposite, from left: Jawi House’s lemuni rice and chicken curry; Wazir Jahan Karim and Nuril Karim Raza run Jawi House; Komtar Tower, Penang’s tallest.

multicultural, laidback,” he says when I visit his studio. “Also, it’s cheap.”

Zacharevic painted Little Girl in Blue, and the more-famous Two Children on a Bicycle on Armenian Street, in 2012. The latter is mixedmedia—the kids are painted, but the bike is real. One day, I go to the Tanjung Tokong suburb to meet the real-life kids, Tan Yi and Tan Kern; their parents, Ashley Teoh and Adrian Tan; and a friend, the artist Ch’ng

Kiah Kiean, known for his impressions of Penang streetscapes.

The family met Zacharevic through Urban Sketchers, an art group founded by Ch’ng. “Starting with unesco, people have been coming in and exploring Penang,” Teoh says. “It’s very encouraging that we’re having this exchange of culture.”

The three adults reminisce about their childhoods, mostly spent in George Town’s historic precincts. All three laugh when Teoh mentions the “toilets” of their youth. Even in the 1980’s, they used modified chamber pots—“buckets, actually,” Tan says— kept in a cubbyhole accessible from the street and emptied by sanitation workers, “usually around 6 a.m.,” Ch’ng recalls. “Our parents would say, ‘If you don’t study seriously, you’ll end up like them!’” Teoh says. (Threats of shameful professional failure survived the journeys of the Chinese diaspora undimmed.)

After lunch, we drive to their old neighborhood. They’re hankering for a coffee at an alleyway café that has endured from their youth. Parking proves pure tribulation—we circle and circle. “We used the streets as our playground. We played badminton.

There were no cars,” Tan says sadly.

“Sometimes I wonder if, with all the foreign investment, we’re actually eroding the culture. Locals have been forced to move out. Sometimes we don’t even want to come here.”

Their original move was born of modernity’s draw; now, suburban living is a practical matter. “We appreciated new things, not old ones,” Teoh says. Tan adds that it wasn’t until foreigners began buying old houses that locals realized their value: “Now that we want to own them, we can’t afford to.”

LANGDON SAID Penang beyond George Town might provide windows to a more pastoral past. So on my last day, I go touring. Within minutes, urban surrenders to rural, echoes of what Rudyard Kipling, who visited Penang in 1889, describes in From Sea to Sea. “We struck into roads fringed with native houses on piles, shadowed by the everlasting coconut palms 20

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heavy with young nuts,” he writes.

“There was a mutter of thunder in the hills which we were approaching.”

As we putter along sinusoidal roads, dodging foraging chickens, I tell my guide, Mr. Quah, a retired cooking-gas salesman, I want to visit a nutmeg farm Langdon had mentioned.

It’s one of the last remnants from the 1800’s, when plantations proliferated in a British attempt to break the Dutch stranglehold on the spice supply.

Mr. Quah insistently narrates the treescape as we drive: “Durian tree.

Rubber tree. Rambutan tree. No nutmeg! Durian tree. No nutmeg!”

Eventually, we find the Ghee Hup farm. Seedlings line the parking lot.

Under a lean-to, a saleswoman gives a five-minute primer in pidgin English about the nutmeg. “Nutmeg mace!

Good for joint pain!” she says. “See? Male seed. Cannot get baby. Female seed. Get baby.”

I buy some whole nutmeg—in foodie-obsessive Brooklyn, I might shave it on spinach and serve with a story—but as we leave the farm, I began to sense the foolishness of chasing Penang’s past. I’m finding only shadows. I can’t know the reality of what my great-grandfather experienced. And it’s both patronizing and impossible to decide what is worth “preserving.”

Yet the foreshadowing of the future seems strangely discomfiting too.

After we lunch in Balik Pulau, Mr. Quah mentions that an acquaintance has asked him to buy bread here. This is apparently no ordinary Malaysian roti. We find the shop, Yin’s, in a strip mall on edge of town. Proprietor Chan Su Yin learned to make sourdough in Portland. Upon returning to Malaysia, she tinkered with recipes to adjust for climate, opening Yin’s in 2013. “I make my own kefir too!” she says, as if from a Portlandia Goes to Penang script.

“When I got back from Oregon, I couldn’t find it anywhere.”

I buy a still-warm coconut bun, the only thing in the bakery that seems vaguely, stereotypically Penang. I swallow it nearly whole, along with my guilt, judgment and confusion.

And as much as I don’t want to say so, it’s delicious. +

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T L Guide STAY Eastern & Oriental Hotel 10 Farquhar St., George Town; 604/222-2000; eohotels.com; doubles from RM930.

Seven Terraces 2-16 Stewart Ln., George Town; 60-4/2642333; seventerraces.com; doubles from RM550.

Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion The famed “Blue House,” this century-plus-old manor of a Hakka magnate and diplomat once housed the Chinese ViceConsulate, as well as Cheong’s favored seventh wife. 14 Leith St., George Town; 60-4/2620006; cheongfatttzemansion. com; doubles from RM420.

Snacking and backpacking on Muntri Street.

Opposite, from top: Nutmeg at Ghee Hup; baker Chan Su Yin and her goods; a temple on Love Lane.

EAT+DRINK Jawi House Café Gallery 85 Armenian St., George Town; 604/261-3680; jawihouse.com; lunch for two RM50; open until 7 p.m.

China House 153-155 Beach St., George Town; 60-4/2637299; chinahouse.com.my; dinner for two RM200.

Yin’s Sourdough Jalan Bukit Penara, Balik Pulau Garden, Balik Pulau; 60-11/2419-5118; yinssourdough.com.

Eng Loh Coffee Shop 48 Church St., George Town; 604/261-5526; tea or coffee for two RM3.

Toh Soon Café 184 Campbell St., George Town; 60-4/2613754; coffee for two RM2.

Patio Opened last year, this indoor-outdoor tapas bar has live music, grilled ribs and signature sangria. 49 Weld Quay, George Town; 60-12/ 311-442; facebook. com/patiopenang; drinks for two RM60.

SEE+DO Suffolk House 250 Jalan Air Itam, George Town; 60-4/2281109; suffolkhouse.com.my; admission for two RM20.

Self-Guided Street Art Tour George Town; tourismpenang.net. my/pdf/street-art-brochure.pdf.

Ghee Hup Nutmeg Factory 202-A Jalan Teluk Bahang, Balik Pulau; 60-4/866-8426; free admission (and nutmeg-juice samples).

THE EMERALD CANOPY

Enchanting Langkawi, land of flying and mischievous monkeys, and million-year-old mountains, pulls M E R R I T T G U R L E Y in

and sends her skipping down the evolutionary brick road.

P H O T O G R A P H E D BY T H A R AT H O R N S I T T H I T H A M S T Y L I S T: T U N V A R D E E J U TA V A R A K U L . M O D E L : N I T H I P O R N L E R T N I T I W O N S A K U L .

H A I R A N D M A K E U P : W I T T H AYA K A E O A I M . P H O T O G R A P H E R ’ S A S S I S TA N T: TA N A W AT A S A S U TJ A R I T

Exploring the ancient jungle of Langkawi (swimsuit, Katarina; skirt, Emilio Pucci).

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Clockwise from above: Practice your swing between soft sands and rolling mountains at The Golf Club, Datai Bay; strolling poolside at The Andaman (dress, Halston Heritage); one of Langkawi’s many small wonders; marine biologist Dr. Gerry Goeden; spotting eagles on a mangrove tour; sail boats dock at Telaga Harbour; mischievious macaques plot their next move.

LUXURY MONKEYS.

B O T T O M R I G H T: C O U R T E S Y O F F O U R S E A S O N S

That’s how naturalist Nurhidayah Hussein describes the spectacled langurs and macaques that, though indigenous to Langkawi, have adapted perhaps too well to a certain invasive species: tourists. “These are five-star monkeys living in a five-star hotel”—namely, the Andaman Langkawi, where the little devils have conjured every trick in the book to break into guest suites and raid mini bars. “You hear a knock on the door. Room service? No! Monkey service!” Hussein warns. “They will send their cutest baby to knock at your balcony, asking for food. When you open the door to feed it, the whole family will sneak in behind you.” Why? “They will have a monkey party. Open your beers, drink your champagne, eat your chips, sit on the couch and watch your TV.”

I S H O U L D B E C O N C E R N E D, but a monkey party sounds fun. Besides, macaques learning to pop champagne corks is just the tip of the evolutionary-oddity-iceberg in this collection of 99 tropical islands off the northwestern coast of peninsular Malaysia that includes some of the weirdest animals, from flying lemurs to walking fish, and oldest landforms known to man.

“Ninety-nine magical islands? You’ve heard this slogan?” ecologist Farouk Omar asks me as we motor through the mangroves. I nod, ready to gush, but he goes on: “They aren’t islands; they’re sea stacks. Just rocks really, but I guess ‘ninetynine magical rocks’ doesn’t sound as good.”

No, Farouk, it doesn’t. But if he’s trying to keep me grounded, he’s failing. The boat tour he’s leading is only gelling my impression that Langkawi is thoroughly enchanting. As we get further into the wetlands, the vines weave into an arch overhead and I can sense the age of the land. It even smells old; millions of years of life and death, flood and drought, growth and rot, have given the earth a rich zoetic cologne. In 2007, Langkawi was awarded World Geopark status by unesco and, according to their research, most of this archipelago rose to the surface 220 million years ago—though the island’s oldest geological formation, Mat Cincang Mountain, T R AV E L A N D L E I S U R E A S I A .C O M

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may have risen from the seabed twice as long ago, following the breakup of the supercontinent Pangea. This would have been during Cambrian era, a period of great proliferation of life on Earth, and modern-day Langkawi still reflects that biodiversity, both in its wide range of topography and its miscellany of animals (there are 503 different species of butterflies alone). Naturally, there’s been an upsurge of luxury resorts that are designed, from architecture to operations, to dazzle visitors with this veritable petri-dish of earthly wonders. It was the mid 1800’s when evolutionary biologist Alfred Russel Wallace reflected, “The very finest field for an exploring and collecting naturalist was to be found in the great Malayan Archipelago.” I’m 150 years behind him, but I intend to bask in those same peculiarities of olden extant species. tells me pointing to the bark of a tree. Every rustle in the kelly tangle hides some furtive animal action. I squint in the direction she is indicating but, though I’ve spotted kingfishers, hornbills, otters and squirrels already in the past hour, now I can’t see a thing. In this dipterocarp jungle the trees fruit and flower at such towering heights that the forest floor is left dimly lit and sparsely populated. Every felled tree spawns a flurry of growth as saplings compete for the prized patch of light and climb eagerly towards the vacant spot in the vertiginous canopy. The whole ecosystem revolves around height, with animals forced to find their way into the treetops in search of food—one result of which is the abundance of more than 230 species of birds. Local folklore has it that the name Langkawi comes from a shortened version of the Malay word for eagle, helang, and kawi, which means reddish brown: Red Eagle Island.

There are a few unexpected additions to the airborne family, as well—creatures that evolved the gift of glide. There’s the flying frog, whose wide webbed feet allow it to drift through the air. The flying lizard relies on an extra membrane around its throat, like a bullfrog, to launch from tree to tree. The flying snake winds up tree trunks, then hurls itself from high branches and flattens its body to catch the draft as it cruises towards its unsuspecting victims below.

And what I’m blinking at? The enigmatic colugo, or flying lemur.

For years nobody was able to classify this animal. It looks like a big squirrel, its long nails allow it to hang upside down like a bat, and it uses the extra flaps of skin between its legs to sail through the heights. In 2002, DNA testing shed some light on the mysterious mammal, revealing that it is, in fact, a primate. But that simple answer doesn’t satisfy everyone. “The DNA does not suit the behavior,” Hussein says. “A monkey does not look like this. A monkey does not fly.”

Monkeys also don’t booze it up, but Hussein says, “I have seen them do it.” And, although snakes are not known to amuse themselves with playground equipment, there, back at the resort, is a giant king cobra slithering from a low-hanging tree down onto the kids’ waterslide. “I have chills,” a young American woman tells me as, in the relentless tropical heat, she tugs up her sleeve and wags her goose-pimply arm at me as proof. I give her a courtesy nod but, like everybody else in the thickening throng, my eyes are glued to the largest venomous snake in the world. Though it’s just a pipsqueak in king cobra terms, it is still thicker than my calf and at least 3 meters long. “Can you imagine being in the pool and having that thing come sliding right at you?” the woman asks me. “Surprise! It’s the Jungle Book, but for real and we’re all going to die.”

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E A G L E , M A N G R O V E A N D B O AT: C O U R T E S Y O F F O U R S E A S O N S

“ I T I S S L E E P I N G W I T H I T S E Y E S O P E N like a reptile,” Hussein

Clockwise from top left: Sunset from the comfort of a catamaran cruise (jumpsuit, Diane von Furstenberg); the name Langkawi comes from the Malay word for eagle, a bird that abounds on the island; an oxbow cuts through the verdant mangrove forest; weaving through limestone karsts; a cave ripe for kayaking; enjoying a morning walk on the beach.

On the bow of the Sea Falcon (dress, Halston Heritage; cuff, Chanel).

‘THERE IS JUST ONE

PIRATE STILL SAILING

THE MALACCA STRAITS,

AND YOU’RE WITH HIM’

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Clockwise from top left: Fishing buoys the island economy; a prehistoric rock formation pops out of the jungle; handling a slithering local; a spectacled langur monkey; dwarfed by giant leaves (dress and hat, Emilio Pucci).

Opposite: Catching rays (swimsuit, Katarina; pants, Diane von Furstenberg; scarf, Bvlgari; sunglasses, Chanel).

F I S H E R M A N B O AT, M O U N TA I N A N D M O N K E Y: C O U R T E S Y O F F O U R S E A S O N S

Thanks, lady—now I have chills. I look to Hussein for reassurance.

I know that she can’t offer much in the way of physical protection, but surely there’s some soothing factoid about the harmlessness of giant poisonous snakes that she can offer. “This is their house,” she shrugs.

“We just rent the space from them.” While that’s one landlord I’d hate to tick off, there’s something life affirming and profound about an island where the divides between man and nature are still blurred, where the wilderness still reigns.

“ W E A R E B L E S S E D T O B E I N T H E M I D S T O F one of the world’s most incredible geological and ecological environments, yet so few tourists realize the extent of the nature that lies beyond Langkawi’s beaches,” says the Four Seasons’ senior naturalist, Aidi Abdullah.

“There’s a lot of mind-blowing nature out there and we just want people to know about it.” To that end, the resort opened Geopark Discovery Centre earlier this year that features exhibition boards, interactive presentations and displays, which showcase Langkawi’s incredible environment.

It’s a perfect setting for responsible adventure tourism—the Kilim Karst Geoforest Park, for example, is ideal for sailing. Rife with secret restaurants tucked in quiet corners of karst-sheltered sea, this limestone labrynth is a playground for sea dogs. The more aerially enamored can board the cable car that summits Mat Cincang mountain for a visual tease of all the captivating jungle below. No wonder backpackers have been wise to the many attractions of the “Jewel of Kedah” for ages. Now the whole vibe is flush with upscale options set to multiply over the next year. A Ritz-Carlton is slated to open in 2015, the luxe Vivanta by Taj is taking over Rebak Island, and there’s a St. Regis in the works, to name a few. Meanwhile stalwarts like the Andaman and the Four Seasons are tweaking their offerings to better highlight the natural surroundings, with scientists and preservationists on call to educate guests on the island’s ecology.

Malaysia has lost 90 percent of its natural fishing resources since the 1980’s, according to marine biologist Dr. Gerry Goeden, but new coral colonies could generate fresh life. The Andaman has launched a protection program to help rebuild the thousands of years of growth that was cleared in the 2004 tsunami and to offset the impacts of commercial fishing.

Working with the National University of Malaysia, the resort is creating artificial reef modules designed to provide the right environment to protect fish eggs and small fish, a system that could lead to an extra 10,000 kilos of fish a year. Currently the Andaman has four modules anchored off its shore, and Goeden has an ambitious end goal of bumping it up to 5,000 by 2020. This would reinvigorate the aquatic ecosystem, as well as bolster the local fishing industry to help meet the increasing demand for seafood that comes with the influx of new resorts and hungry tourists.

No island vacation is complete without at least one seafood feast, but responsible restaurants ban the purchase of adolescent fish, so they can grow to reproductive maturity and propagate before they are pulled from the sea.

After the lesson on marine conservation, a short one-at-a-time snorkeling tour of the 10-by-20meter saltwater coral nursery enclosure is offered, for an up-close look at the colorful sea life. “One thousand kids a year visit and come away with a more sustainable life view,” Goeden T R AV E L A N D L E I S U R E A S I A .C O M

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says. “These are children who come from a privileged background. In 15 years they will be in the position to make a difference.”

T H E C O R A L C O N FA B H A S M E L O N G I N G for a sojourn at sea. I board Captain Todd Fisher’s 14-meter luxury catamaran, the Gone Surfin’, for a sunset cruise. I listen to the wind cracking the sails taut as we breeze through shallow waves, and from my spot on the bow of the boat I have a front row view of Thailand edging nearer in the distance.

“You need to bring your passport if you go swimming—you just may cross the international border,” Fisher tells me.

I ask him how he ended up in Langkawi.

“Sometimes lightning strikes,” he says.

I chuckle.

“No, literally: lightning struck my boat and it jammed all my equipment. I had to sail to the closest shore and that was that beach right there,” he points to Datai Bay. “That was several years ago and I keep coming back.” He’s not the first to get marooned in these waters.

Fisher nods to Koh Tarutao: “That used to be an island of political prisoners.” There were more than 3,000 Thai convicts held captive there and, during World War II, the country ran out of supplies to feed them. “They all turned to piracy,” he says grimly. “Even the guards.”

I ask if there are still pirates sailing the Malacca Straits.

“Just one,” says Fisher, “and you’re with him.”

There are more than a few medicine men in this region, however, and Shaaban Arshad is the resident healer at Kubang Badak, “buffalo wallow”, village. Arshad concocts tropical elixirs that he prescribes for everything from breast lumps to psoriasis. “He goes into the jungle behind his house,” local preservationist Irshad Mobarak tells me, pointing behind the lovely home where we are having lunch, “and that’s where he gathers the plants and spices that cure lung cancer.”

Cure? “His father was a medicine man. His grandfather was a medicine man,” Mobarak explains. “This knowledge is passed down.”

Arshad breaks into a long rant in Malay and Mobarak translates: “Medicine men act from the heart. Very passionate. His grandfather would paddle in a wooden boat across 30 kilometers of ocean every weekend just to see his girlfriend in Thailand.” “Why didn’t he just move to Thailand?” I ask. “Malaysia is between India and China and the herbs are among the oldest in the world,” Irshad says. “There are plants and animals here on Langkawi that you can’t find anywhere else on earth.”

From top: The sun says good morning; toes in the sand (swimsuit, Katarina; scarf, Bvlgari); a clown fish in the sea anemone. Right: Fiddler crab.

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I F OC U S O N T H E B U L L S- E Y E and breathe in. As I exhale, I let my arrow fly. It breezes through the jungle and lands with a thump in the outermost ring of the target. I let out a triumphant whoop, though I can guess from my instructor’s expression that this is not an impressive achievement. Still, I stand proud, bow in hand. It is 2 p.m. and I’ve already swum in the hidden Lengarra Creek; biked through rice paddies and a fishing village; trekked through boscage; climbed a limestone cliff and abseiled down; and now become a master archer.

I’m breathing thick jungle air, sweating out city life and feeling right at home as I tumble backwards into a prehistoric age.

I’m caught in a paradox: the older my surroundings, the younger I feel. Maybe it’s that on an island where fish walk, snakes fly, and one bolt of lightening can change the course of a man’s life, anything seems possible. “In all works on natural history,” Wallace wrote, “we constantly find details of the marvelous adaptation of animals to their food, their habits, and the localities in which they are found.”

Maybe I’m just evolving. +

+

T L Guide Getting There There are daily flights from Kuala Lumpur and Penang to Langkawi on AirAsia (airasia.com), Malaysian Airlines (malaysiaairlines.com) and Malindo Air (malindoair.com).

SUNSET AND CR AB: COURTESY OF FOUR SEASONS

STAY Four Seasons Langkawi This sprawling seafront estate has an adults-only swimming pool and a thick 1.6-kilometer-long private beach for multiple lounge options. The concierge can arrange rock climbing and archery in the jungle playground behind their property. Jln. Tanjung Rhu, Mukim Ayer Hangat; 60-4/ 950-8888; fourseasons. com/langkawi; doubles from RM1,780.

Meritus Pelangi Resort & Spa Designed in the style of a Malay village, this tropical resort has 352 guestrooms and suites peppered across 14 well-manicured hectares of beachfront. Pantai Cenang; 60-4/952-8888; meritushotels.com; doubles from RM850.

The Andaman, Langkawi Tucked between the jungle and Datai Bay, the recently refurbished rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows offering exceptional views.

Jln. Teluk Datai; 60-4/9591088; theandaman.com; doubles from RM1,900.

EAT Privilege Restaurant and Bar A mix of modern and classic Malaysian gastronomy, located right on Telaga Harbour. B8, 1F Perdana Quay, Telaga Harbour Park, Pantai Kok; 60-4/956-1188; privilegerestaurant.com; dinner for two RM90.

Kuah Town Seafood Far from fancy but brimming with local flavor, this restaurant is a sister enterprise of the community favorite

Wonderland Food Store and serves up the same high caliber of delicious and fresh dishes in a slightly more upscale setting. Bandar Baru Baron 33, Kuah; 60-12/470-7687; dinner for two RM100.

Ikan-Ikan Restaurant Head to this charming beachfront eatery for the Monday Fisherman’s & Farmer’s Night, featuring delectable choose-yourown-ingredients noodle stations and a lively traditional dance show.

Jln. Tanjung Rhu, Mukim Ayer Hangat; 60-4/9508888; fourseasons.com/ langkawi; buffet RM240 per person.

Eagle Rock Wash down pub food like nachos and wings with a cold beer or killer kamikaze, while you rock out to live music.

Block 5, GF, Awana Porto Malai Resort, Tanjung Malai; eaglerockcafe.com. my; drinks for two RM50.

DO Jungle Walla Explore the secrets of the mangrove forest with naturalist Irshad Mobarak. jungle walla.com; unesco Geopark Cruise RM199 per person.

Cable Car Board Langkawi’s famous cable car for a breathtaking 1,700-meter ride to the Top Station of ancient Mat Cincang Mountain. panoramalangkawi.com; RM35 per person.

Coral Nursery Learn about marine conservation and coral preservation under the guidance of marine biologist Dr. Gerry Goeden. theandaman. com/NA-coralnursery.

Last Look

Photographed by Kit Yeng Chan

Penang Swing kids The street-art trend in George Town started in 2012, when Lithuanian Ernest Zacharevic painted kids at play on the walls of the historic area.

But don’t go looking for these two

by Lou Gan on Step by Step Lane; the sign is part of the installation.

“The real Bruce Lee would never do this” That’s the title—and probably safe assumption—of this mural by the collective Artists for Stray Animals, on Ah Quee Street. Neither curiosity nor kung fu may kill the cat, but the eco-friendly paint with which he was created will fade in about two years.

Mousing away

Hoop dreams A brother and sister play basketball on Gat Lebuh Chulia’s wall, forever suspended between the waters of the Malacca Strait on one side and the travelers’ enclave, Chulia Street.

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A black mouse tries to stay under the radar in one of Armenian Street’s side lanes. Why? There’s a giant feline (painting) lurking right around the corner.

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