Liani MK

MOST TOWNS WITH a story to tell tend to announce themselves prominently. Although there is a decorative wooden archway that welcomes you to Siniawan, a heritage town in Sarawak, this place is not trying hard to impress. Nor is anybody really expecting you to be here, especially during a hot afternoon. For anyone who grew up in George Town before overdevelopment caught up with it, this old-town feeling is familiar.

WHENEVER MY FAMILY visits each other or returns from our kampung in Kuching, Sarawak, you can be assured that there will always be packed heirloom rice to last for months, and various vegetable varieties harvested from our gardens. Favourite picks are often plump, yellow terung Dayak, pandan leaves and fresh midin ferns—these ingredients are what connects us to home. Malaysia is home to one of the world’s richest rainforests, with an estimated 15,000 plant species.

IF YOU’RE LUCKY, you might glimpse some bottles filled with light-gold liquid on sale in a makeshift roadside stand on a humid day. Then, sampling it, your senses might be confused by the commingled taste of sweetness and slight tartness that puts it somewhere between coconut water and sugarcane juice. It is likely that the sap was freshly harvested that morning, before the heat of the day could sour it. The drink is refreshing, slicing through the heaviness of a sweltering afternoon.