Yeng Keng Hotel, Georgetown, Penang

With Georgetown, Penang and Malacca in Peninsular Malaysia added to the list of UNESCO heritage sites, there has been some activity in urban renewal from the freed up funding to support investment in rebuilding, renovating and renewal. I recently had lunch at one such redevelopment along Chulia Street in Georgetown - the Yeng Keng Hotel was once a family mansion, then a backpackers' hostel and now a refurbished heritage experience hotel. Much effort had gone into revitalising the motifs, foliage and ambiance in this location. The experience, as you walk through its cool passages, corridors and rooms, can be eclectic and multi-cultural but mostly Straits Chinese.

Yeng Keng is one of several sights worth stopping by as you take the Georgetown heritage walk, covering four main ethnic groups within a maximum two hour stroll. The retro hotel sits in the centre of a precinct that has Little India, Chinatown, Arab Quarter and Colonial Penang all within inspection within a kilometre. Thrown in are food stalls reflecting the variety available in south and south-east Asia, a relaxed pace and many sights and sounds to take in. Above, an indoor plant sits within a much loved and used container that reminds me of pickled rambutan fruit and water jars. Below a wall motif representing the local and tropical hibiscus utilises Arab and Indonesian influences in art.

The penchant for iconic Chinese themes - like the phoenix (below), mountain and ocean scenery and blossoming leafy flora (pictures above) - permeates Yeng Keng. The hotel has retained its imposing gateway but added a small wade pool at the back.

Above image captures the coffee corner at the front of Yeng Keng Hotel. It also has a dedicated bar and dining room apart from the main hotel building. Georgetown was founded by Captain Francis Light in the late 18th century - Light came to this part of the world based on the support of the British East India Company, after the Brits had lost the American colonies to independence. Light saw the potential of Penang Island as a middleman, broker and political controller of the rewarding trade route at the northern end of the Straits of Malacca. He negotiated the purchase and use of Penang Island from the then Sultan of nearby Kedah State on the mainland. The rest, as they say, is history - and Light's own son, William, went on to found Adelaide in South Australia.

Some of the original features of the Yeng Keng hotel building have been retained. Above, a window configuration up close and below, a cupboard displaying some of the interesting excavated items from the recent renovation of the site. Guest rooms in the new Yeng Keng have high ceilings - and the suites have furniture imported from the Czech Republic as well.

Colonial Singapore

Singapore has been touted as a melting pot of various ethnic migrants, a meeting point across trade routes and a strategic location for anchoring oneself before fanning out across the Asia Pacific region. It can be seen as soaking up good ideas, quality talent and fusion food. Walking around the Singapore River one Friday evening, I was reminded of the two great cultural, political and economic powers that have significantly shaped this island - Britain and China. Above - the lion head , one out of two, guarding the flagship branch of the Bank of China.

The fan palm (above) is symbolic of the equatorial flora of South-east Asia, and it is a favourite of the Singapore Government in the selection of plants and trees used to make the nation green. Although also found in northern Australia, Mexico and California, the plant originated from India and can be spectacular, growing to heights of six metres.

Cavenagh Bridge (below and above) is now a pedestrian bridge, but has a glorious history and tradition. It was designed by John Turnbull Thompson and built by P & W Maclellan of Glasgow, Scotland. The name of the bridge was made in honour of the last India-appointed Governor of the Straits Settlements, Major-General William Orfeur Cavenagh. It also played a pivotal role during the Japanese occupation of Singapore, when the island was renamed Syonan.

The Cavenagh Bridage, above, has more steel suspension struts than most of its peers built in the late 19th century. When completed, it was said to have been built to withstand more than four times its expected load as an open bridge for vehicular traffic. Is only drawback is its low draught. Today it plays a role in bridging the cultural and commercial precincts of downtown Singapore, and can be easily located beside the nearby Fullerton Hotel and the Asian Civilisations Museum.

Goddess of Mercy Temple, Georgetown, Penang - Lion Dances

Wushi, or the lion dance, mimics a lion's movements by two hidden but agile and strong acrobats, usually trained in a martial arts (or wushu) school. The lion costume has a red sash across its horn at the front. A popular cultural icon in East Asia, stretching from Korea and Japan to Indonesia and Thailand, they are present at festivals like the Lunar New Year and the Mooncake Festival to enhance good luck, good business and positive vibes. I captured these images here at the Goddess of Mercy temple (Kuan Im Teng in Fujian, one of the main dialects in Penang) in the colonial quarter of Georgetown, Penang, a venerable Taoist-Buddhist-Confucian institution of more than a hundred years popular with Western tourists and sitting in the midst of the declared UNESCO heritage belt.

Northern Chinese lions, originally from Ninghai in Ningbo in northern China, in such dances can be compared to a pair of Pekingese or Fu dogs, and they have shaggy orange and yellow fur, with a red bow to indicate the male an a green one to represent the female. Southern Chinese lions started their tradition in Guangzhou (old Canton), the bustling metropolis of the south, and have a variety of schools, ranging from Buddha Mountain to Crane Style and Green Lion. Watch the details of the lion heads and one appreciates the differences in requirement, meaning and colour. Korean and Japanese lion costumes depart significantly from those on the China mainland.

The lion dances are accompanied by the beating of cymbals, drums and gongs, which often require such a musician's group to follow behind the prancing lions. Businesses engage such troupes as well to amplify prosperity luck and invite such lions to pluck a leafy vegetable like lettuce, often tied at the top of a pole, as part of the procedure - once the lion successfully does that, a red packet containing the relevant currency of the day is provided as a reward. Dance competitions are held in most of east and south-east Asia to find the most talented young people to animate such lion dances; in the UK, Australia, New Zealand the United States, such talent can come from Europeans who have passion to seriously learn up wushu.

Selegie, Singapore

A stroll through Selegie Road in Singapore reveals a host of architecture, lifestyles and sights.

Maybe predominantly Indian, with touch of colonialism, but soaking in influences from this multi-cultural island. Selegie provides interesting footpath heritage, with impressions harking back to the fifties or seventies in the last century and is accessible from the Bugis Junction MRT and the Bras Basah Road precincts. It also provides a link to Singapore's Little India - Serangoon.

Albert Street Markets, Singapore

Steamed sweet cakes (picture above) using grounded glutinous rice flour, golden syrup and brown sugar, are traditionally made to celebrate the Lunar New Year. This traditional concoction is chewy-sticky and best eaten with grated coconut. Referred to as nain gao in Mandarin or tnee kueh in Singapore/Malaysian Fujian dialect, they can be consumed soft or hard, depending on personal preferences. They are steamed on low heat for up to eight hours and so are a product of patience and love. The symbolic act of eating this nian gao is to imply that one elevates one's prospects to a higher level for the new year ahead.

Two street food snacks that caught my eye along Albert Street were the kueh koci (above) and the pancake creation, the ban chien kueh. (below)

Notice that they are all served on strips of banana leaves. The koci is essentially a miniature pyramid-shaped glutinous rice flour wrap filled with sweet peanut paste and/or grated coconut mix, to be served as snacks at teatime. The pancakes below have aromatic roasted peanuts, sesame seeds and corn inside.

The whole spectrum of tropical fruits are on display above, ranging from different types of bananas, yellow and pink-tinged mangoes, hairy skinned red coloured rambutans and brown skinned longans.