Mark Lean, a T+L Southeast Asia contributor for more than 12 years, is currently based in his home country Malaysia. How does a travel journalist who’d previously spent almost every weekend in different cities around Asia cope with lockdown while avoiding the cliches? No, he didn’t get a dog or a cat, though he did kinda-sorta embark on a well-trod path to mindfulness. Like most curious writers, he is learning new ways of being inventive. This includes sacrilegiously adding jackfruit slices to cendol, a dessert composed of green jelly slivers, crushed ice, brown-sugar syrup and coconut milk. He also matches workouts with energy techniques that tap into the body’s innate strength — magical stuff. But as events of the past year show, the best approaches are the unexpected ones.
Food & Drink
Where are the hottest new places to eat, drink, stay and spa? Check out our T+L guide.
Food & Drink
Picture it: you’ll finish that sweaty workout with a satisfying slug of… bug juice?
Food & Drink
These bars reduce, reuse and recycle, plus replant the rainforest on the path to delicious drinks. Here are a few lessons in eco-mixology, complete with climate-conscious cocktail recipes.
Inspiration
We asked our writers for their favorite places to travel domestically. Add these in Malaysia to your post-pandemic bucket lists
Hotels & Resorts
Interstate travel has just resumed in Malaysia, so whether you’re heading to the capital or just across town, here are our picks of city-stay and work-from-home hotels.
Inspiration
Our resident pan-spiritualist Mark Lean learns to pivot from a Javanese shaman at an Aman resort to the whole internet’s worth of healers.
Food & Drink
From snazzy cabaret clubs to street vendor-dessert inspired cocktails, Mark Lean trains his beer (or margarita) goggles on Kuala Lumpur’s evolving bar scene.