Georgetown’s clan jetties
Why this is the first thing I do every time I land in Malaysia.
Read MoreSepilok orangutan sanctuary
A closer look at one of Malaysia's most rewarding experiences.
Read MoreSipadan wall diving
Where to go next once you have seen the headline sights of Malaysia.
Read MoreMalaysia gets overshadowed by louder neighbours, which suits me fine, because it means Georgetown’s heritage shophouses and Borneo’s ancient rainforest still feel like discoveries rather than itineraries. The country runs on a genuine multiculturalism — Malay, Chinese, and Indian communities each keeping their own festivals, food, and temples fully intact rather than blended into something generic — and nowhere is that clearer than at a hawker centre, where a single table might carry laksa, roti canai, and char kway teow ordered from three different stalls. Beyond the Peninsula, Malaysian Borneo holds orangutans, some of the world’s oldest rainforest, and diving off Sipadan that rivals anywhere on earth. It’s a country built for people who’d rather eat well and hike quietly than queue for a monument.
Chapter One
Georgetown’s living heritage
Penang’s Georgetown earned its UNESCO listing honestly — clan jetties built on stilts over the harbour, kongsi houses with dragon-topped roofs, and street art tucked into alleys between them. I spent an entire day just eating my way down Chulia Street and Gurney Drive, char kway teow fried in a wok blackened by decades of use, asam laksa sharp with tamarind and mackerel. The Blue Mansion, indigo-walled and courtyarded in the old Hakka style, runs guided tours that are worth booking ahead. In the evening, Batu Ferringhi’s beach isn’t Malaysia’s finest sand, but the night market behind it, all satay smoke and durian stalls, is reason enough to stay.
“Malaysia never insists on itself, which is exactly why it rewards anyone patient enough to look closely.”
Chapter Two
Borneo’s deep green
Sabah changed my sense of what a rainforest could hold. At the Sepilok orangutan sanctuary I watched a mother swing down for the morning feeding platform, baby clinging to her side, utterly unbothered by the small crowd below. A river cruise on the Kinabatangan turned up proboscis monkeys, hornbills, and — at dusk — a pygmy elephant herd wading the shallows. Off Sabah’s east coast, Sipadan’s wall dives drop straight into deep blue, turtles and barracuda schools moving past in numbers I hadn’t seen anywhere else diving. Mount Kinabalu, Southeast Asia’s highest peak outside New Guinea, is climbable over two days for those willing to start the summit push at 2am.
The Short List
Do not miss in Malaysia
At a glance
Malaysia in numbers
- Capital
- Kuala Lumpur
- Language
- Malay
- Currency
- Malaysian ringgit
- Best time
- March to October, driest across the Peninsula
Did you know
Borneo’s rainforest is estimated to be over 130 million years old, older than the Amazon.