Penang

The Esplanade in Penang, Malaysia, is a historic seafront promenade that defines the character of the city's colonial past. A long granite seawall spans from the whitewashed Neo-Classical City Hall from one end to the cannon-bastioned Fort Cornwallis at the other.

I ran my tongue around my lips and tasted the lingering flavor of curry and the remnants of spices from masala tea. The morning air was thick with the woody scent of incense sticks. A breeze rustled by. I stopped and took in the grassy scent of banana leaves and a faint whiff of freshly plucked flowers as I began my experience at Thaipusam in Penang.

Since 2008, when the main city George Town was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, tourists flocked to Penang to savour the food, see the sites, and indulge in ‘heritage tourism’. Every day, you can see walking tours searching for the Insta-famous street art peppered across the Heritage Zone. However, heritage tourism is a double-edged sword; what they think is cultural heritage is, in fact, a brilliant tourism campaign promoting the historic image of Penang at the cost of the locals who live it.

Max Mara, a multi-billion dollar Italian fashion label, has been blasted on social media for stealing the traditional clothing designs of the Oma, a tiny ethnic minority in Southeast Asia.