https://www.scmp.com/rss/501468/feed Marco Ferrarese has covered Malaysia, the rest of Southeast Asia and India from his base in Penang since 2009. He holds a PhD in subcultural anthropology and his debut novel Nazi Goreng, a quirky subcultural thriller set in Penang, was published by Monsoon Books in 2013 and banned by Malaysia's Ministry of Home Affairs in 2016. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Marco Ferrarese Marco Ferrarese The dinghy glides across the 100 metres that separate the islands of Banda Neira and Banda Api, and moors under the flanks of the cone-shaped Gunung Api, “fire mountain” in Bahasa Indonesia. My boatman, a small, scrawny fellow named Ambon, points at the beginning of the trail to the summit. The path is as clear as the morning sky, glowing after a night of non-stop rain. Back across the channel, on the southwestern corner of Banda Neira, guest house verandas line the shore by the town’s main... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3329789/volcanic-views-and-forgotten-graves-indonesias-banda-islands?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3329789/volcanic-views-and-forgotten-graves-indonesias-banda-islands?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 23 Oct 2025 09:00:08 +0000 Marco Ferrarese Marco Ferrarese No matter how hard I turn the throttle, the most macho sound coming from this rental e-moped is a gentle whirring, not the throaty roar I am used to when renting motorbikes elsewhere in Asia. But even if green electric technology has stripped the growl from one of my favourite modes of travel, I have found somewhere in the southern Chinese countryside I can ride without a driving licence. And I have found a spot that seems perfect for motorised travel – offbeat and less visited. In Guizhou’s... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3315919/ride-through-wanfenglin-guizhous-best-kept-secret?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3315919/ride-through-wanfenglin-guizhous-best-kept-secret?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 04 Jul 2025 23:00:07 +0000 To the west of Ningxia’s capital, Yinchuan, the four-lane Shenyang Highway pierces a sun-parched, rocky expanse. To one side are the city limits, to the other the eastern foothills of the Helan Mountains, a 200km-long divider separating the southern flanks of Inner Mongolia’s Gobi Desert and arid – yet still fertile – plains. The Helan silhouette hangs over the horizon like a mirage, its crevices hard to make out through the haze that blankets the sky even on this crisp and sunny October... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3300347/wine-tours-are-latest-attraction-chinas-emerging-ningxia-region?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3300347/wine-tours-are-latest-attraction-chinas-emerging-ningxia-region?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 03 Mar 2025 23:00:10 +0000 For once, I don’t mind waking up at 4am. The predawn cold at 3,300 metres is harsh but cannot detract from the spectacle: Nilgiri (7,061 metres), Tukuche (6,920 metres), Annapurna South (7,219 metres), Hiunchuli (6,441 metres) and Dhaulagiri (8,167 metres) – some of Nepal’s, and the world’s, highest mountains, in all their glory. The first rays of a new sun glow against the tips of that jagged silhouette and the peaks start dripping liquid gold. Moments later, rays shimmer against the... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3286739/nepal-trekking-without-crowds-community-spirit?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3286739/nepal-trekking-without-crowds-community-spirit?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 16 Nov 2024 04:45:08 +0000 “You see that line over there?” An old man sitting next to me, wearing a sarong and Muslim skullcap, points at a horizontal yellow line etched about two metres from the ground on a wall. “It reminds us of how high the water surged. “It was only for a few hours, but we can never forget.” Beside me and this 2004 Boxing Day tsunami survivor, the massive Kapal Apung barge looms above what was once a neighbourhood in the city of Banda Aceh, the capital of Indonesia’s westernmost province, Aceh. On... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3252840/20-years-after-tsunami-aceh-indonesias-strict-muslim-province-opening-world-arty-cafes-and-atms-take?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3252840/20-years-after-tsunami-aceh-indonesias-strict-muslim-province-opening-world-arty-cafes-and-atms-take?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 22 Feb 2024 23:15:08 +0000 Surrounded by the wide-leafed fan palm trees that grow only in this part of southern Malaysia, I feel like we’ve slipped back to Jurassic times. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a dinosaur walk past in search of ferns for breakfast. Peninsular Malaysia’s most popular rainforest is Taman Negara (a name that means simply “national park”) but I am hiking in a lesser known patch of forest, Rompin State Park, a newly upgraded reserve in the southeasternmost corner of Pahang state. Rompin State Park... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3249304/feels-jurassic-era-jungle-stay-malaysias-new-rompin-state-park-showcases-rare-wildlife-and-offers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3249304/feels-jurassic-era-jungle-stay-malaysias-new-rompin-state-park-showcases-rare-wildlife-and-offers?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 23 Jan 2024 03:15:12 +0000 Thai horror films are much loved around the world thanks to their localised ghosts, mythology and folklore. But a new film debuting later this month at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in the Netherlands could change perspectives. The Cursed Land, the debut feature-length film of director Panu Aree and screenwriter and co-director Kong Rithdee, is a Thai-Malay language film that expands the horizons of Thailand’s cinema and genre films from traditional Buddhist cosmology to elements of... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3248603/how-cursed-land-new-horror-film-thai-muslim-culture-challenges-typical-media-portrayals-and-lays?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3248603/how-cursed-land-new-horror-film-thai-muslim-culture-challenges-typical-media-portrayals-and-lays?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 17 Jan 2024 20:15:19 +0000 Malaysia’s first entirely crowdfunded film will premiere on YouTube on December 21. Directed by Ng Ken Kin and produced by Kuman Pictures, the Cantonese-language film Pendatang is a dystopian thriller that plays cleverly – even dangerously – on what would happen if the ethnic resentments that simmer among Malaysia’s different races exploded to their direst consequences. “YouTube is a ubiquitous platform for video content and most people can access it as long as there is an internet connection,”... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3244830/why-malaysian-film-pendatang-dystopian-thriller-playing-countrys-ethnic-tensions-aims-dodge-censors?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3244830/why-malaysian-film-pendatang-dystopian-thriller-playing-countrys-ethnic-tensions-aims-dodge-censors?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 14 Dec 2023 00:45:18 +0000 There should be nothing special in seeing a Cantonese-language film debut at a Chinese film festival. But new Malaysian feature film Rain Town, screening at the Silk Road International Film Festival in Fuzhou, southeast China, this week, is the first of its kind: a Chinese-language film directed by a Malay woman, Tunku Mona Riza. It is something unheard of in multiracial Malaysia, whose cinema industry is small and segmented into three linguistic and cultural markets: Bahasa Malaysia for the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3235932/rain-town-first-chinese-language-film-directed-malay-woman-we-wanted-break-norm?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3235932/rain-town-first-chinese-language-film-directed-malay-woman-we-wanted-break-norm?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 27 Sep 2023 08:15:18 +0000 Borneo’s scorching midday sun bakes the mud under my shoes as I follow a group of excited Malaysian farmers towards the fields that, they believe, could help develop tourism in a remote part of Sarawak. “Here we are.” Bespectacled farmer Tomy Pangot adjusts his straw hat before pointing at a clearing where rows of plants sway in the breeze. With barely concealed pride, Pangot chaperones us around the neat rows of his liberica coffee plants. Plump, red cherries cause the branches to bend slightly... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3234701/game-changer-coffee-farmers-malaysia-hope-plant-seeds-tourism-remote-corner-sarawak-borneo?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3234701/game-changer-coffee-farmers-malaysia-hope-plant-seeds-tourism-remote-corner-sarawak-borneo?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 18 Sep 2023 03:15:11 +0000 From now on, visitors to the Unesco-listed Malaysian island of Penang will have fewer accommodation options. After mulling it over for more than a year, on May 25, the Penang state government imposed a ban on almost all forms of short-stay accommodation in residential units – the kind typically found listed on Airbnb and Booking.com – throughout the island, with immediate effect. Penang is the first state in Malaysia, and the first tourist hotspot in Southeast Asia, to take such measures –... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3223080/malaysian-island-penang-bans-airbnb-and-other-short-term-lets-bid-reduce-number-undesirable-visitors?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3223080/malaysian-island-penang-bans-airbnb-and-other-short-term-lets-bid-reduce-number-undesirable-visitors?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 06 Jun 2023 04:45:08 +0000 On April 30, Abang Adik, the first feature film directed by veteran Malaysian film producer Jin Ong (whose full name is Ong Lay Jin), swept the top prizes at the 25th edition of the Far East Film Festival (FEFF) in Udine, Italy, which featured a line-up of 78 films from 14 countries. It is the first time in the festival’s history that a film from Southeast Asia has simultaneously won the Golden Mulberry audience award, the Black Dragon Critics’ Prize, and the White Mulberry Award for best first... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3219074/i-feel-so-happy-director-malaysian-social-drama-abang-adik-sweeping-top-prizes-udines-far-east-film?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3219074/i-feel-so-happy-director-malaysian-social-drama-abang-adik-sweeping-top-prizes-udines-far-east-film?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 02 May 2023 03:18:22 +0000 Amanda Nell Eu is about to make history as the first Malaysian female filmmaker to have a movie screened at Cannes. Her feature film debut, Tiger Stripes, produced by Foo Fei Ling for Ghost Grrrl Pictures, will have its world premiere at the French film festival next month, where it will be in competition for the 62nd Critics’ Week Grand Prix award. The Semaine de la Critique, which runs from May 17 to 25 this year, is one of the Cannes festival’s parallel programmes dedicated to first or second... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3217664/super-punk-rock-its-southeast-asian-way-first-malaysian-woman-filmmaker-compete-cannes-her-horror?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3217664/super-punk-rock-its-southeast-asian-way-first-malaysian-woman-filmmaker-compete-cannes-her-horror?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 21 Apr 2023 08:15:09 +0000 Thai director Sitisiri Mongkolsiri’s haute-cuisine-themed drama Hunger debuts on Netflix on April 8 and brings new meaning to the saying “the world is your oyster”. The film, which focuses on the unsettling relationship between young female apprentice Aoy (“Aokbab” Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying, star of the 2017 high-school heist thriller Bad Genius) and the ruthless Chef Paul (Nopachai Chaiyanam), goes beyond presenting conflicts between mentor and mentee, and fine dining and street food. Like... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3215805/how-netflix-drama-hunger-about-thai-street-food-cook-who-goes-work-celebrity-chef-uses-haute-cuisine?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3215805/how-netflix-drama-hunger-about-thai-street-food-cook-who-goes-work-celebrity-chef-uses-haute-cuisine?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 05 Apr 2023 23:15:08 +0000 “Dear passengers, good morning. Breakfast will be served soon, please queue responsibly.” The metallic voice of the ship’s steward issuing from a loudspeaker overhead pulls me back from a dream into neon-lit reality. From my inflatable mattress on the floor, I see people everywhere. The luckier ones are slumped like sacks on the few seats available, while the majority are splayed out over the floor on thin sheets of paper, surrounded by rubbish-strewn plastic trays and cups filled with cigarette... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3213913/obscure-pleasures-40-hours-overloaded-ferry-indonesia-no-berth-indifferent-food-all-humanity-here?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3213913/obscure-pleasures-40-hours-overloaded-ferry-indonesia-no-berth-indifferent-food-all-humanity-here?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 19 Mar 2023 08:15:11 +0000 Ask visitors what they would like to do while on the Unesco-inscribed Malaysian island of Penang and it’s unlikely they’ll answer “hike”. But like a compact version of Hong Kong, Penang island and a slice of Penang state on the mainland called Seberang Perai boast at least 30 hiking trails. The best known is on the island and reaches the summit of the 833-metre-high (2,733-foot) Penang Hill, arriving at colonial Malaya’s original hill station, founded by the British in 1788 to escape the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3211397/hike-amazing-trails-penang-malaysia-now-theres-finally-map-them-hikers-can-better-enjoy-areas?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3211397/hike-amazing-trails-penang-malaysia-now-theres-finally-map-them-hikers-can-better-enjoy-areas?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 27 Feb 2023 04:45:08 +0000 Standing on the open cargo bed of a Toyota Hilux pickup truck, we rock at every bump in a muddy track that cuts through endless well-tended acacias, eucalyptus and the bulbous sprouts of oil palms. Behind the wheel, ranger Jamaluddin Pase negotiates every bend in the road as if he were hell-bent on reaching the darkening horizon as fast as possible. “Be patient,” says Bruneian-Pakistani conservationist Shavez Cheema as he bumps against my right shoulder. “They’re certainly big things, but... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3202675/elephant-safaris-plantation-sabah-malaysia-new-project-lets-tourists-and-pygmy-elephants-interact?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3202675/elephant-safaris-plantation-sabah-malaysia-new-project-lets-tourists-and-pygmy-elephants-interact?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 11 Dec 2022 05:15:09 +0000 After a years-long struggle with censors, a film adaptation of Malaysian postmodern dark comedy Spilt Gravy on Rice has debuted on Netflix and won awards at home. “It’s, of course, a major relief after so many years of feeling like I was on a very slow roller-coaster ride,” Zahim Albakri, the director of Spilt Gravy on Rice (Ke Mana Tumpahnya Kuah in Malay), tells the Post. His film is an adaptation of the award-winning play of the same name by the late Jit Murad. The play was first staged in... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3202627/very-slow-roller-coaster-ride-director-netflix-malaysian-comedy-spilt-gravy-rice-films-years-long?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3202627/very-slow-roller-coaster-ride-director-netflix-malaysian-comedy-spilt-gravy-rice-films-years-long?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 10 Dec 2022 01:45:10 +0000 Seen from the elevated Puncak Waringin area, the spectacle is deceiving. Dozens of yachts, traditional wooden pinisi schooners and smaller dinghies float in the bay of Labuan Bajo town, and a modest skyline of five-star resorts is starting to obscure the sea. The westernmost port town on Flores island, in Indonesia’s far-flung East Nusa Tenggara archipelago, looks set to keep welcoming tourists. But Labuan Bajo is at the centre of a tug of war between necessary post-pandemic economic recovery... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3194402/how-indonesias-komodo-dragons-found-themselves-centre?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3194402/how-indonesias-komodo-dragons-found-themselves-centre?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 03 Oct 2022 04:45:08 +0000 Without much fanfare, Malaysia has rolled out a visa programme that may become the first fully fledged digital nomad and remote worker pass to be offered in Southeast Asia. According to a Migration Policy Institute report, at least 25 countries around the world now offer visas tailored for remote workers, but Asia has been slow to respond to the trend. Supported by the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) – a government agency tasked with promoting the country’s digital economy – the De... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3193118/malaysias-new-digital-nomad-visa-aims-make-it-southeast?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3193118/malaysias-new-digital-nomad-visa-aims-make-it-southeast?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 20 Sep 2022 21:15:11 +0000 From Siem Reap in Cambodia to Hoi An in Vietnam, Luang Prabang in Laos and George Town on the Malaysian island of Penang, inscription on the Unesco World Heritage list has turned towns across Southeast Asia into tourism success stories, boosting their economies and fuelling gentrification. If success is the rule, though, Lenggong, Malaysia’s fourth Unesco World Heritage site, is the exception. It is 10 years since the town in Perak state – or, more accurately, the valley it sits in – was... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3191145/malaysian-unesco-world-heritage-site-has-oldest-relics?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3191145/malaysian-unesco-world-heritage-site-has-oldest-relics?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 04 Sep 2022 00:15:15 +0000 A Malaysian film, Stone Turtle, bagged the coveted Fipresci Prize at the 75th edition of the Locarno Film Festival which concluded on August 14. It was the first time a feature filmed in the Bahasa Malaysia language had competed in the main category of the prestigious Swiss festival. The Fipresci prize jury wrote on the festival’s official Twitter page that the time-loop revenge thriller impressed them for the “multiplicity of perspectives on urgent themes such as violence against women, the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3189169/malaysian-art-house-film-stone-turtle-wins-fipresci-prize?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3189169/malaysian-art-house-film-stone-turtle-wins-fipresci-prize?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 17 Aug 2022 05:21:32 +0000 Standing tall and stiff in her white mourning dress, the late pop singer Mawarni “Ibu” Suwono in 2017’s Indonesian horror hit Satan’s Slaves is once again ready to come back from the grave to curse and delight horror fans all over the world. The much anticipated Satan’s Slaves: Communion (Pengabdi Setan 2: Communion), directed by Joko Anwar, opens in Indonesian cinemas on August 4 and is the first local film to be shot using IMAX technology. “We’re happy to offer this movie in IMAX in the hope... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3187414/indonesias-first-imax-movie-satans-slaves-communion-sequel?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3187414/indonesias-first-imax-movie-satans-slaves-communion-sequel?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 03 Aug 2022 03:15:13 +0000 I don’t want to believe Piyan when he stops to tell me that I have just missed the proverbial needle in a tropical haystack. One of my guides and a Batek Orang Asli – the original peoples of Malaysia – he claims he has just glimpsed the orange back of a Malayan tiger, which then shot off into the jungle. It can’t be possible; I was just a few metres behind him. Piyan walks me back to point at a sizeable footprint with four very fresh claw marks indented into the soil. I gulp, and believe. As we... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3186998/malaysias-toughest-trek-through-malayan-tigers-last?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3186998/malaysias-toughest-trek-through-malayan-tigers-last?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 30 Jul 2022 05:15:10 +0000 The reopening of Malaysia’s borders on April 1 after two years of travel curbs aimed at preventing the spread of Covid-19 could see Taiping claim a place on the tourist map. The second biggest town in Perak state, and its capital before 1937, Taiping is an hour’s drive south of Penang island but gets only a fraction of its visitors, despite having many historical and natural attractions. In March 2019, at the International Tourismus-Börse travel trade show in Berlin, in Germany, Taiping was... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3174414/new-hiking-trails-malaysia-wind-through-lush-rainforest?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3174414/new-hiking-trails-malaysia-wind-through-lush-rainforest?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 18 Apr 2022 04:45:20 +0000 Mohawks, headbanging and slam dancing are not the first things that come to mind when thinking of strait-laced Singapore, but a new documentary sheds light on a side of the city state’s culture that has been rumbling below the surface for 40 years. Scene UnSeen (2021) is a posthumous film by director Abdul Nizam, the frontman, lead singer and drummer in ’80s band The NoNames, who died of cancer in 2016 in the midst of production. It is set to debut on November 28 at the 32nd edition of the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3156959/how-singapores-underground-music-scene-survives-hostile?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3156959/how-singapores-underground-music-scene-survives-hostile?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 24 Nov 2021 23:15:10 +0000 The National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (Finas) has chosen a monochromatic coming-of-age journey set in the lower echelons of capital Kuala Lumpur to represent the Southeast Asian nation at the 94th Academy Awards next year. Known internationally as Hail, Driver!, Muzzamer Rahman’s low-budget debut film Prebet Sapu (2020) will compete in the Best International Film Category after turning heads at Italy’s Far East Film Festival, the Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival in Indonesia, the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3155254/malaysian-oscar-hope-prebet-sapu-explores-race-relations?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3155254/malaysian-oscar-hope-prebet-sapu-explores-race-relations?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 08 Nov 2021 06:15:18 +0000 Penang Hill in Malaysia was this month recognised as the Southeast Asian country’s third biosphere reserve, the others being Tasik Chini, a wetland habitat near the city of Kuantan, and the Crocker Range of Sabah, in Malaysian Borneo. As well as the million-year-old forests of Penang Hill, the 12,481-hectare (48.2 square mile) reserve includes the Penang Botanic Gardens, opened in 1884, and the coastal and marine ecosystems of Penang National Park. The inscription of the biosphere reserve... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3149973/unesco-biosphere-reserve-status-penang-hill-malaysia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3149973/unesco-biosphere-reserve-status-penang-hill-malaysia?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 26 Sep 2021 23:15:22 +0000 The first time I saw a wild orangutan in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, I was cruising on the crocodile-filled Kinabatangan river looking for proboscis monkeys. I was lucky, even though the ape was high up in the forest canopy and all that could be discerned was a maroon spot hovering against a wall of foliage. I had a closer encounter with Borneo’s endemic primate in the highly protected Danum Valley Conservation Area, but for that I had to hire a local guide with an eagle eye and deep knowledge,... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3148129/how-planting-fig-trees-could-make-sabah-malaysian-borneo?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3148129/how-planting-fig-trees-could-make-sabah-malaysian-borneo?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 12 Sep 2021 10:15:21 +0000 The feature film adaptation of the celebrated novella Moonlight Shadow by landmark Japanese writer Banana Yoshimoto, 33 years after the book’s publication, will screen in Japanese cinemas nationwide from September 10. Yoshimoto herself posted about the film on her Instagram, saying that it “is a masterpiece of elegance”, and that “the director painstakingly portrayed beautiful parts of Japan’s landscape that even few Japanese can find”. It is a real compliment for Moonlight Shadow’s visionary... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3147266/malaysian-film-director-edmund-yeo-adapting-banana?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3147266/malaysian-film-director-edmund-yeo-adapting-banana?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 04 Sep 2021 07:45:12 +0000 It’s not news that the Korean zombie apocalypse hit Train to Busan (2016) by director Yeon Sang-ho will soon have an American remake by Hollywood’s New Line Cinema. It was announced in February, but fans only took to the internet to express their concern online last weekend when the news went viral – and sparked a lot of negative reactions. The backlash seems to have started when Singaporean entertainment news portal GameSpot reposted on Twitter an earlier article dated February 19 announcing... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/k-pop/k-movies/article/3147163/backlash-train-busans-hollywood-remake-fans-korean-zombie?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/k-pop/k-movies/article/3147163/backlash-train-busans-hollywood-remake-fans-korean-zombie?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 Sep 2021 09:34:48 +0000 More often than not a film that is a cocktail of vengeance, bloody fist fights and crude machismo is a cult hit rather than a festival award winner. But on August 14, Indonesian director Edwin proved everyone wrong when his latest feature, Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash, not only had its world premiere at Switzerland’s prestigious Locarno Film Festival but also snared the top honour, the Golden Leopard, in its International Competition. “I’m super happy. The award comes at a very good... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3145580/indonesian-filmmaker-edwin-his-big-win-locarno-film?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3145580/indonesian-filmmaker-edwin-his-big-win-locarno-film?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Aug 2021 04:42:40 +0000 Protected by the aquamarine waters of the Andaman Sea, the archipelago of 100-odd islands known as Langkawi has been so far spared the worst of Malaysia’s worsening Covid-19 epidemic, which peaked above 20,000 new daily infections in the early days of August. And so the chain known as the Jewel of Kedah’s 18 months of isolation may soon come to an end: Langkawi, which attracted 3.9 million tourists in 2019, is gearing up for a mid-September reopening as a pilot in Malaysia’s Covid-19 Free... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3144774/malaysia-restart-tourism-first-langkawi-new-focus-ecology?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3144774/malaysia-restart-tourism-first-langkawi-new-focus-ecology?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 14 Aug 2021 01:15:11 +0000 On the last day of 2020, the iconic double-decker ferries connecting Penang island’s main city, George Town, to Butterworth, on the Malaysian mainland, were withdrawn from a service that has been in operation for more than 120 years.   It was the end of an era, and hundreds of people, young and old, flocked to take one last ride across the Penang Strait, the retirement apparently reminding them of the historical importance of a service that has been diminished by the practicality of the two... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3143993/beloved-penang-ferries-given-new-life-tourist?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3143993/beloved-penang-ferries-given-new-life-tourist?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 08 Aug 2021 05:15:11 +0000 Film director Chiu Keng Guan, born in Johor state in Malaysia, is well-known in his home country for blockbuster films that touch on themes of friendship, family and patriotism. His first box office hit came in 2014 – The Journey, the story of a Malaysian-Chinese father who lets his daughter marry an Englishman if the latter accompanies him on a cross-country journey to deliver the wedding invitations. The Journey grossed 16.87 million ringgit (just under US$4 million), becoming the 10th... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3141907/malaysian-chinese-filmmakers-find-success-china-your-mark?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3141907/malaysian-chinese-filmmakers-find-success-china-your-mark?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 22 Jul 2021 06:45:14 +0000 On June 20, Barbarian Invasion by Malaysian director Tan Chui Mui edged out 12 other finalists to win the Jury Grand Prix, one of two top prizes at the Golden Goblet Awards, held in conjunction with the 24th Shanghai International Film Festival. The other prize, for Best Feature Film, went to Chinese production Manchurian Tiger. The jury lauded Barbarian Invasion for its pitch-perfect pace “as it continues to subvert and surprise at each turn”. “We wanted the film to have the largest audience... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3138982/award-winning-movie-barbarian-invasion-heralds-malaysian?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3138982/award-winning-movie-barbarian-invasion-heralds-malaysian?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Jun 2021 10:45:11 +0000 Alena Murang’s second solo album, Sky Songs, continues the mission set out five years ago in her debut, Flight, which is the musical conservation of the endangered traditions and languages of Borneo, something often forgotten in official Malaysian narratives. The Kuala Lumpur-based recording artist – the child of a Kelabit father from the highlands of the Baram River in northeastern Sarawak in Malaysian Borneo, and an Anglo-Italian anthropologist mother who spent most of her life researching in... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3129796/ethnic-pop-album-sky-songs-malaysian-singer-alena-murang?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3129796/ethnic-pop-album-sky-songs-malaysian-singer-alena-murang?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 17 Apr 2021 04:15:15 +0000 As it snares awards around the world, a Malaysian independent zombie film is becoming the country’s most anticipated cinematic release of the year. It’s easy to see why: as the world’s first zombie flick with indigenous Iban actors and setting, Belaban Hidup: Infeksi Zombie (Fight for Life: Zombie Infection) is hard to forget. The Iban, a former headhunting tribe known for their war antics and symbolic tattoos, are one of three main native Dayak groups – a term that defines the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3128789/worlds-first-zombie-movie-bagging-best-horror-awards-its?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3128789/worlds-first-zombie-movie-bagging-best-horror-awards-its?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 10 Apr 2021 10:15:07 +0000 It’s pitch black and cicadas are kicking up their usual frenzy as we glimpse movement in the tropical thicket. What looks like a cross between a huge fruit bat and a squirrel breaks cover by jumping from a high tree trunk into the night. It glides gracefully until it lands on another tree, where it starts feasting on lichen and leaves. The colugo, also known as “flying lemur”, is one of the world’s strangest mammals – and because it’s most active at night, also one of the least studied. Many –... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3128074/malaysian-resort-island-langkawi-can-avoid-environmental?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3128074/malaysian-resort-island-langkawi-can-avoid-environmental?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 05 Apr 2021 04:15:04 +0000 It has become a familiar scene on Chulia Street: Mamak Indian Muslim workers sweat behind face masks as they fill brown paper bags with rice and curry, feeding residents who would prefer not to – and indeed, until a month ago, could not – dine in restaurants. Chinese uncles and aunties wait behind kerbside stalls for the next rider of a sputtering motorcycle, who will exchange a few ringgit for a plastic bag filled with hot soup and noodles. Behind them hang red Chinese altars covered in ritual... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3124188/george-town-back-being-backwater-its-if-penangs-tourism?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3124188/george-town-back-being-backwater-its-if-penangs-tourism?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 07 Mar 2021 02:15:12 +0000 Guns, hot cars and a harem of girls: like it or not, the globalisation of hip hop has also brought the genre’s alpha-male attitude to music scenes all over the world, making rap a difficult genre for women to thrive in. But girls do rap, and keep reaching milestones regardless of machismo and the coronavirus pandemic. In May 2020, American female hip-hop artists Nicki Minaj, Doja Cat, Beyoncé and Megan Thee Stallion reached the top of Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. Now comes a mean, tongue-in-cheek... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3119619/malaysian-female-hip-hop-artist-sya-whose-debut-single?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3119619/malaysian-female-hip-hop-artist-sya-whose-debut-single?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 31 Jan 2021 06:45:18 +0000 Hip-hop music has come a long way since its 1970s inception in New York in the United States. The genre has, since it became a globalised art form, spread to Southeast Asia, including Malaysia – where it exploded in the late 1990s. Malaysian hip hop became popular when pioneering Malay rapper duo Too Phat, who alternated lyrics in English and Malay, started airing on national radio in 1999. Their second album “Plan B”, which came out in 2001, went on to sell 4.5 million copies. Twenty years... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3118760/malaysian-chinese-hip-hop-given-voice-rapper-dato-maw?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3118760/malaysian-chinese-hip-hop-given-voice-rapper-dato-maw?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 24 Jan 2021 05:15:17 +0000 In recent years K-pop has exploded in popularity around the world, but in Muslim-majority Malaysia, where the music has a large fan base, the naughtiest chart-topping hits – full of double entendres and sexy dance moves – have raised Islamic eyebrows. Such songs have been branded “mind-corrupting”, or budaya kuning – literally “yellow culture” – a catch-all term for most forms of Western culture, including foreign pop and rock music. Malaysia’s younger generation is obsessed with K-pop. But... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3116962/blackpinks-ice-cream-without-sexual-overtones-malaysian?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3116962/blackpinks-ice-cream-without-sexual-overtones-malaysian?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 10 Jan 2021 05:15:10 +0000 Malaysian-Chinese film directors are earning award nominations at festivals around the world by depicting their country’s ethnic stereotypes, racial tensions and controversial history on the silver screen. The irony is that they often must do so in exile because in Malaysia their films are censored, if not banned, and misunderstood. “Malaysia’s historical and social context is full of taboos,” director Lau Kek-huat says in an interview with the Post. Lau moved to Taiwan to study cinema at 27,... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3115574/malaysian-chinese-independent-filmmakers-lauded-abroad?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3115574/malaysian-chinese-independent-filmmakers-lauded-abroad?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 29 Dec 2020 01:00:10 +0000 It was quite surprising to see Malaysia, a country where genre literature and films are often censored or outright banned, announce a low-budget supernatural horror movie as its official submission for the best international film category at the next Academy Awards. Roh (2019), which translates as Soul, is the debut feature of Kuala Lumpur-based film director Emir Ezwan. His clever short film RM 10 (2016), which follows the journey of a 10 Malaysian ringgit banknote as it changes hands on a... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3113812/conservative-malaysias-oscars-2021-hope-roh-horror-film?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3113812/conservative-malaysias-oscars-2021-hope-roh-horror-film?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 14 Dec 2020 04:15:04 +0000 The importance of Islam and Islamic culture in Malaysia has helped stereotype the country as a tough place for music, which is considered haram – forbidden – by Muslims. Female artists especially have found this to be true, and many international pop stars, from Gwen Stefani to the Pussycats Dolls and Beyoncé, have experienced Malaysian conservatism for themselves – from being fined to having to cancel their shows in the country. That is not to say that there are no popular female singers in... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3113560/14-malaysian-music-queens-you-should-hear-alena-murang-yuna?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3113560/14-malaysian-music-queens-you-should-hear-alena-murang-yuna?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 12 Dec 2020 05:15:08 +0000 It can’t feel good to be accused of ripping off another music act. For Kuala Lumpur-based girl group Dolla, though, being called a clone of K-pop superstars Blackpink has turned out to be something of a career boost. Dolla, signed by Universal Music Malaysia in 2019, are a multi-ethnic group formed by Malay girls Sabronzo and Syasya and Chinese members Tabby and Angel. “We hope that each member will translate her culture along with her own unique abilities into each song, so that Dolla proudly... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/k-pop/bands/article/3112518/comparisons-k-pops-blackpink-dont-bother-dolla-malaysian-girl?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/k-pop/bands/article/3112518/comparisons-k-pops-blackpink-dont-bother-dolla-malaysian-girl?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 05 Dec 2020 06:15:13 +0000 Gabber is back, but you’ve never heard it done this way before. The ultra-fast electronic music genre popularised in Europe in the early 1990s has been given a new lease of life by Bali-based duo Gabber Modus Operandi. Fusing the West and the East, they are crafting Indonesia’s ultimate musical globalisation at a speed well beyond a blistering 180 beats per minute. Gabber Modus Operandi (GMO) is the brainchild of electronic musician Kasimyn and vocalist Ican Harem. The duo have created an... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3041630/when-gamelan-met-gabber-bali-based-duo-fuse-blistering?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3041630/when-gamelan-met-gabber-bali-based-duo-fuse-blistering?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 15 Dec 2019 04:00:07 +0000 Driving around Lahore in Pakistan on the first day of Eid-al-Adha – the Islamic festival marking prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son for Allah – the megacity’s ample boulevards are empty. As I speed through the city in the back of a rickshaw, trails of goat blood flow into the gutters next to severed cattle heads, the leftovers from the ritual sacrifice of livestock that takes place during Eid. It’s an in-your-face introduction to a place I’m visiting to meet some of its most... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3036696/punk-rock-and-heavy-metal-pakistan-stays-defiantly?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3036696/punk-rock-and-heavy-metal-pakistan-stays-defiantly?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 09 Nov 2019 06:15:05 +0000 It’s Saturday night at Narrow Marrow, a hipster cafe in George Town, the capital of Penang island in Malaysia. Among the patrons are Malaysian mural artists Bibichun and Kang Bla Bla, as well as a number of other local creatives. They sit on low chairs while indie and electronic music blares from speakers overhead, rolling cigarettes and sipping coffees and coconut toddy mojitos until the wee hours. The cafe, tucked at the end of Carnarvon Road, the main thoroughfare leading into George Town, is... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3033519/how-penangs-art-scene-was-killed-instagram-tourists-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3033519/how-penangs-art-scene-was-killed-instagram-tourists-and?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 20 Oct 2019 03:00:11 +0000