1 October 2011
SEARCHING FOR AUTHENTICITY
Above is pictured my home for a few days, the Black and White house at Temple Tree, Langkawi. The tiny resort, next to sister property Bon Ton is only about ten minutes drive from the airport, and I arrived on a connecting Malaysian Airways from Kuala Lumpur. I am on a research mission to find the best of the island’s Malaysian food.
Langkawi has some gorgeous international five star hotels, all with amenities that well-heeled travellers expect; TVs, phones, golf courses, sandy beaches, a multitude of restaurants and bars and carpeted rooms so that when you awaken you could be anywhere in the world. But why travel to do that? Tick another destination off the list?
Temple Tree is different. Owner Narelle McMurtrie and her business partner Alison Fraser sourced eight almost derelict 80-100 yr-old villas with different cultural influences from all over the Malaysian peninsula. They were dismantled, every piece of timber numbered and then rebuilt on a secluded site near the coast and adjacent to local wetlands. Black & White, a Malay style house was originally in Negri Sembilan but sits beautifully in its new surrounds and should last another hundred years. The floors are the original ancient hardwood planks and I love the way when I take a shower the water just runs down back to the ground through the cracks between the boards. Electric fans whirr over head to keep me cool and a few of the cats from Narelle’s Langkawi Animal Shelter & Sanctuary (LASSie) have adopted me.
Also on the site there’s a choice of two attractive lap pools and the Eurasian style Straits Club House (shipped from Penang) where guests and tourists staying elsewhere on the island can snack and enjoy delicious food. Bon Ton next door is open to all too, and there Narelle gathered eight traditional Malay Kedah houses on stilts and set them around another lovely pool. The main adminstrative centre is there, the resort restaurant, and Chin Chin Bar & Lounge, an original Chinese shop house, is ideal for relaxing and enjoying Langkawi cuisine. Narelle is a real Foodie so this is known as the best restaurant on the island.
When I think about all those tourists attracted to the bright glitzy bars along the waterfront near by and closeting themselves in shiny hotels, I am concerned that tourism has taken a strange turn in the last fifteen years. Surely we travel to find adventure, new experiences and eat bona fide local food? It seems we’ve forgotten about the unusual, and all the authentic experiences of resorts like this, which are actually labours of love, can offer?
www.templetree.com.my www.bonton.com.my