Word: penang
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...Penang's snake temple has a problem. The deadly pit vipers that have made this Chinese Taoist temple their refuge since the 1850s have, according to a tourist brochure, "mysteriously" disappeared. "One day they just stopped coming," says the temple's custodian. We are standing at the back of the shrine where the view, which once stretched over the vipers' nesting grounds to the mountains beyond, is now blocked by a semiconductor plant. "Yes, it's a mystery," he says, with a wink and a nod toward the factory...
...Development is a sensitive topic in Penang these days. In recent years the island once described by British colonials as the Pearl of the Orient has staked its fortunes on high tech at the expense of its unique natural and cultural assets. With the computer-chip industry in a slump, Penang's residents are now wondering if their enthusiasm was misguided, and whether they can lure tourists back to their beaches and historical treasures. Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, whose penchant for progress inspired much of the high-tech push, did not help their cause when he called Penang...
...hopes of improving their chances of conceiving. "George Town isn't one big monument like Borobudur or Angkor Wat," says local historian Khoo Salma Nasution. "It's more about vernacular heritage?the living culture such as food, the multicultural heritage and the tangible architecture. That's what makes Penang special...
...spice and the lure of easy money drew traders and settlers from across Europe, the Arab world, India, China, Thailand and Burma. Their diverse traditions still resonate in the heart of George Town's old city. The grand colonial architecture of City Hall, the court buildings and the Penang Museum and Art Gallery cohabits comfortably with ornate Hindu and incense-wreathed Buddhist temples, Chinese clan houses, Muslim mosques and serried rows of peeling and shuttered shophouses. Cultures collide at every intersection. A walk down Lebuh Chulia, a major thoroughfare, will have your mouth watering at the spicy aromas from Chinese...
...dash of Hollywood, a dollop of history, Penang is one of the few places where progress hasn't yet sucked the soul out of the urban community. See it before it "mysteriously" disappears...