Unbelieveably right … Chef and co-owner of Spice I Am Sujet Saenkham talks about his craft

One of my favourite Dr Seuss books is the one about green eggs and ham, and the thing about Spice I Am, is that like the aforementioned dish you can eat Spice I Am anywhere.

If you ever find yourself in Sydney’s Kings Cross on a Saturday night, I know a place where you can get away from the crowds and enjoy some of the city’s best Thai cuisine.

I say some of the best only because Spice I Am – Sydney’s iconic Thai eatery – has two other locations, one in Balmain and one further downtown in Wentworth Avenue.

But back to Spice I Am Darlinghurst, a short stumble from the Coke sign.

I get there late on this particular night and my date is running even later. The light is subdued but you can still find your way around without stumbling over things or tripping on handbag straps. There is polished dark timber everywhere soothingly reflecting the gentle lights.

Outside, next to us through the huge glass window a group of eight girls are sitting under the heaters laughing and cheersing each other.

We start with cocktails – a lychee martini for me and a lychee mojito for her.

“This mohito has everything I like about mojitos and nothing I don’t like,” she pronounces.

We swap. It’s the best mohito I’ve ever had, all the sweetness – without being too sweet, and none of the vinegar rictus some mojitos can give you. My martini is pleasantly spicy.

Then it’s on to entrees – steamed spicy fish wrapped in banana leaf parcels. “It’s like a Christmas present and dinner all in one,” she says, again writing my review for me.

The minced fish is spicy. Very spicy and loaded with finely chopped kefir lime leaves. We are both starving and this is just what the doctor ordered on this chilly night.

By now the cocktails have disappeared and have been replaced by an Austrian gruner veltliner by Nigl.
If I had my way everyone would eat Thai food with this awesome grape the Austrians have been growing since they were flogging it to Roman legionaries in Kremstal, Niederosterreich.

More food arrives, deep fried betal leaves topped with prawns – like a giant crunchy prawn chip. Then the crispy pork belly with chilli jam.

Spice I Am’s co-owner and executive chef Sujet Saenkham gets this dish so completely right it’s almost unbelievable. The crackly is still crunchy, yet the pork is still melt in your mouth.

It’s very rich and I have to struggle to save room for Spice I Am’s signature dish, the roast red duck curry.

This comes served in a fresh coconut with the top hacked off.

It’s rich and spicy and unctuous all at the same time and no trip to Spice I Am would be complete without this dish. Let me say it again. Only a gibbering idiot would go to Spice I am and not order the roast red duck curry.

What we can’t eat is taken home, because after all, you can eat Spice I Am anywhere, right Sam?

Spice I Am

www.spiceiam.com

info@spiceiam.com

The family that surfs together, stays together … Greg Bunt samples one of his creations

Have you ever wondered where the awesome food comes from when your are staying in world-class luxury retreat? Lunch Magazine’s Lauren Arena talks to expat chef Greg Bunt, of Sundara the new beachfront restaurant at Four Seasons Resort Bali at Jimbaran Bay

What inspired your decision to become a professional chef?

In all honesty it was the prospects of travelling and being based in different countries as well as the being able to experience different cultures.

How is Sundara different from other places you have worked?

We have created a real beach feel with the cuisine at Sundara, simple plating with fresh and light flavours.  It is very different from what I used to cook being based on in a fast paced city environment. To me, the venue and surroundings have a profound influence on the style of food I put on a plate and this applies to not only a resort destination like Bali but anywhere in the world.

What do you like most about Bali?

I love surfing and so Bali is an ideal location for me. And my other passion, cooking, I love the exotic ingredients found in Bali.

When you’re not in the kitchen, what do you enjoy doing in Bali?
Simply put, besides the obvious of discovering Bali with my family – surfing.

Tell me about your experience living and working overseas.

 I have lived in Hong Kong and Macau and cooked throughout Asia.

Chefs are constantly learning and this is what really drives my passion for what I do. I have a very fond memory of living with a Thai dessert chef whom I met at a market. He really took me under his wing and taught me a great deal about Thai desserts, working with Asian sugars and flours. This and many other anecdotes make for amazing experiences in the life of a chef.

Describe your work/life balance

There is little time for much else when you are a professional chef. That is, if you want to be excellent. When I am off, I am generally thinking about new combinations of flavour or what I have to achieve when I return to the kitchen. I enjoy moments with my family which normally brings me back down to earth.

What is your signature dish?

Signature dishes for me are always changing, at the moment I really enjoy cooking a salt bush lamb rack for two persons served with broad beans, artichokes, mint leaves, rainbow chard and tomato relish.

What is the most unusual ingredient you’ve worked with/use?
Bali flower heart, a sour little red heart-shaped flower.

What is your most complex dish?

All our dishes are complex in the steps and methods to prepare them.

What are your thoughts on modern cuisine versus traditional cuisine?
There is a place in today’s world for cuisines, both modern and traditional. I never close my mind to anything new or anything traditional.

What is your advice for young chefs?
Keep your attitude to yourself, be humble, listen, watch and learn the good and take note of the bad, travel and cook in as many countries as you can and never believe you have learned it all.

”What local ingredients do you use to blend your own take on traditional cuisine?
Coconut saour, a toasted coconut spice mix that we use together with mangosteen, prawns, ikan bilis, herbs and spicy dressing in our all day menu.

What makes a five-star dining experience?

A timeless space, discreet and unintrusive attentive service, a well planned beverage list and constant ever-changing food.

The name Sundara is the Sanskrit word for “beautiful” and pays tribute to the glowing sun that warms this Indian Ocean hotspot.
Immediately positioned as one of Bali’s top dining destinations, Sundara offers the perfect mix of five-star flair and relaxed beach-club vibe.

With its direct beachfront location and panoramic views of Jimbaran Bay, Sundara provides a sexy and sophisticated hideaway – all day from lunch until late night.
“Sundara will become a must-see landmark for all of Bali,” says Michael Branham, General Manager of Four Seasons Resort Bali at  Jimbaran Bay.

“We’re creating a very social meeting place that will attract a stylish crowd from well beyond our Resort.

It’s part of our ongoing desire to evolve and deliver an outstanding and exciting experience for our guests.”

Helmed by Greg  and the restaurant’s General Manager Jan-Peer Lehfeldt, Sundara feels modern yet relaxing, cutting edge yet natural.
The menu is eclectic and international. For lunch, you can choose from shared plates of sushi, salads and wood-fired pizzas, served
on the open-air rooftop deck with panoramic views.

For the afternoon, you can book a daybed by the infinity edge pool, change into swimsuits and enjoy cocktails and casual cuisine by the water.

In the evening, Sundara transforms into one of Bali’s most sophisticated dining experiences. you can expect an abundance of vibrant, innovative and classic flavours, celebrating steak and seafood.

www.fourseasons.com/jimbaranbay/dining/restaurants/sundara/

A recent survey of the global hotel market revealed Oceania as a global leader, with the most positive sentiment of any region in the world when it comes to current levels of optimism and growth in the hotel sector.

The Horwath HTL biannual Global Hotel Market Sentiment Survey, released earlier this month, demonstrated a positive sentiment across all regions, with Oceania leading the way with the most positive sentiment for general market performance.

One of Australia’s most cherished… Hotel Windsor

The attractive market outlook in New Zealand heavily influenced the region’s top ranking as well as the particularly strong growth expectations for the Oceanic region overall.

For Hotel Windsor CEO, David Perry, the results came as no surprise.

“Globally the major change would have to be the more positive sentiment coming out of the USA which is still the world’s largest economy,” said Perry.

“We’ve just had the busiest February and the busiest March since records began throughout the hotel’s 130 year history with February seeing an occupancy rate of over 89 per cent and March seeing occupancies reach a dizzying 92 per cent.  With occupancy reaching peak levels the only thing to expect is for rates to steadily rise following what had been a relatively flat three years.”

While the Americas, Africa and the Middle East show improvement for 2013, China and Europe remain flat. Even as the UK recorded some residual positive effects from the Olympics, sentiment in the overall region remains stifled as the Euro crisis enters its fifth year with little sign of resolution.

The Middle East and Africa were most pessimistic in regards to the impact of global oil prices yet most positive about local tourism trends.

In the US there are strong indications of a recovery beginning to take root, as the first half of 2012 saw a US$17 billion increase in international travel spend by US travellers – up seven per cent from the previous year.

The Chinese hotel market remains relatively cautious and the feeling amongst hoteliers is ominous, but only for the time being. China still has one of the few rapidly growing markets in the world and in such markets new supply takes time to be absorbed.

Earlier this year Federal Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese, pointed to the significant growth coming out of China stating, “A decade ago only three Chinese carriers offered just 11 services per week from China to Australia whilst none of our airlines flew here. Now there are 82 weekly flights between our two countries with both Qantas and Jetstar flying into Chinese destinations”.

www.thehotelwindsor.com.au

Sitting in the low-ceilinged loft of a smoky bar in Yangjiang – China’s answer to Sheffield – Zheng Guogu has just learned the English for ‘piss artist’ and likes it so much he says it three times over.

Piss artists… the Yangjiang Group

With the kind of arresting rawness that you only get when foreigners or very young children swear, Zheng relishes the fact he has no idea what he’s really saying and lets out one more emphatic ‘piss artist’ just for good measure.

Zheng and his collaborators in the Yangjiang Group, Sun Qinglin and Chen Zaiyan,use Chinese calligraphy and alcohol to occupy exactly this space – the unconscious mind seething up through the cleft created when you know vaguely what it is you’re trying to say, but you’re so bladdered on the local Zhujiang Beer you can barely hold an ink brush.

“When we first started working together we used to drink and then by accident we found things that we’d written that we couldn’t remember doing at the time,” says Zheng, who first began working with the other two 10 years ago.

The power and clarity of these calligraphic works impressed them so much that drinking became a pre-condition for their Jackson Pollock-like art jams, sometimes binge drinking for up to three days at a time.

“When you’re in this mental situation you don’t remember what you’ve done,” says Zheng. “It’s exactly this distance and unfamiliarity between your state of mind and what you are doing that draws you to a higher state of art.”

Often taking preposterous news stories for inspiration, the calligraphy is so sloppy the viewer is forced to read the label to find out what the work is referring to.

The results are hilarious and disturbing at the same time.

Hilarious and disturbing… drunken calligraphy

One piece entitled “The Morning After: Masterpieces Written While Drunk, No. 1: ‘I Need a New Kidney to Kill Bin Laden’” references American would-be assassin and dialysis patient Gary Brook Faulkner who launched a private mission to kill Osama bin Laden; the dribbles and spatters of the drunken calligraphy highly suggestive of madness.

Another “Bloodwritten Letter on Imprisonment with the Opposite Sex” uses calligraphy to retell the shocking news story of a 16-year-old girl who, in 1996, was imprisoned for a week with two dozen male suspects who sexually abused her. Zheng writes the text over an unrelated photograph of what appear to be binge-drinking revellers.

The group is unusual in China in that they’ve never left their hometown for the art centers of Shanghai or Beijing. Yangjiang is an unprepossessing coastal industrial town in the southern province of Guangdong famous for producing one-in-ten of the knives in American households.

Staying at home means the money from their growing international reputation (they say there’s little interest in their work in China) goes further.

In the past couple of years, they’ve built a sprawling studio in urban Yangjiang in the shape of an iceberg and in the countryside a complex of interconnected exhibition spaces, rooms and gardens that ranges over several acres and is inspired by the video game “Age of Empires”.

Zheng says there’s little in the way of planning or design in the studio or the complex, the various rooms are created depending on discussions with the builders on the day, and there’s nothing in the way of official planning permission for the buildings.

Urban iceberg… Yangjiang Group studio

He says he even once made an exhibit of the receipts for the bribes he had to pay to various authorities to get his architectural projects through. Kickbacks in China are often demanded through semi-official means, for instance overly rigorous fire safety requirements and the like.

“Oh yes, a lot of people complained,” Zheng says matter-of-factly about his own flat, a warren of connecting chambers built on two presumably illegally constructed floors on the top of a central Yangjiang apartment block. In China, obstacles such as bent-out-of-shape neighbours are usually simply a matter of compensation.

While the group is not overtly political, and they say the authorities take no interest in what they are doing, their works are radical and directly challenge the complex position of calligraphy in China where it is regarded as something of a sacred art.

Chen Zaiyan, who studied calligraphy at university, says simplified characters – a system introduced under Mao Zedong which drastically reduced the number of strokes and characters in a bid to lift literacy – is still unable to take complete hold in the country even after more than 50 years.

He says there’s a gravitational pull towards traditional script because the characters carry a deeper cultural sense, which he says comes shimmering out of the characters “like a mirage”.

“Most calligraphers habitually tend to write in traditional script,” says Chen. “I think in 20 years or more China will return to traditional script.”

Their calligraphy and installations not only keenly identify where the written language is debased, but where it is most vital.

Their Presidential Decree of the People’s Republic of China No. 74 takes the dead language of a screed of bureaucratic text outlining the minimum aesthetic requirements for the modern Chinese city and breathes life into it by blowing it up to 30 metres high and slapping it on the side of a glass tower in Shenzhen.

Meanwhile, their installation Last Day, Last Struggle gives a new context to the kind of bold and direct messages you can see on any market stall in China – “I’m bankrupt and suicidal. Everything must go” says one sign, “I’m old, I’m poor and my wife has left me” reads another.

“In China you can’t just go on the street and protest,” says Zheng. “In many ways, these people are using their shops and these signs to demonstrate.”

As for China’s many calligraphy associations and academies, Zheng says the Yangjiang Group has yet to receive any formal approaches.

“From these groups,” he says with a deadpan and faraway expression, “We have had very little interest”.

Lauren Arena

Australia has a reputation for producing great wine – from unctuous reds born out of Barossa dirt and the Yarra Valley, to clean, crisp whites coming from McLaren Vale and Margaret River. Even Tasmania, with its cool climate, has a boutique industry that produces premium sparkling wine.

Cheers… Klaus Kuerten

But when it comes to bubbles, it seems Aussie wine-lovers prefer to go abroad – and not to France – but to Germany.

Henkell, Germany’s leading sparkling wine, recently celebrated its long-standing presence in Australia with a masterclass hosted by winemaker and global brand ambassador, Klaus Kuerten.

Kuerten, who flew into Sydney from Wiesbaden, said Australia was a key market for sparkling wine brand, established in 1856 and circling the Australian market since 1881.

“Australians, like Germans, love the bubbles,” says Kurten.

“Australia is the seventh largest global market for sparkling wine per capita and a big focus for us.”

Lunch Mag attended the masterclass at the Langham Hotel, sipping Henkell Trocken, a dry white drop with a hint of tropical fruit, and Rosé, which has an alluring bright salmon colour and a fine, fruity character with caramel undertones.

While Henkell’s Trocken is a best-seller in German, Kuerten says rosé is driving the sparkling wine market, particularly down under.

“The Australian climate is perfect for drinking sparkling wine and Australians love to celebrate with a glass of pink bubbles.”

After several glasses, a couple of cucumber sandwiches and perhaps one too many macaroons, the masterclass closed with a bang – with Kuerten introducing his newest wine, Henkell Riesling. Light effervescence, with a deep gold colour, crisp flavour and hints of peach, the Riesling is not yet available in Australia, but Kuerten assures me it’s on its way.

www.henkell.com

Vibrant… Wanfujing night markets

Indulging in this fine sample of Chinese gastronomic tradition is just one of the sensory experiences that make up Travel Indochina’s newly launched food-lover’s tour of the China.

The 13-day China Culinary Discovery tour takes wandering foodies through Beijing, Xian, Chengdu and Shanghai to explore the country’s colourful culinary scene – from sampling street food in the Forbidden City, to hands-on cooking lessons in hutong houses.

The journey begins in Beijing, the country’s bustling capital, where travellers explore some of the few remaining hutongs (ancient alleyways) and feast on a lip-smacking Peking Duck feast at one of the city’s most popular roast duck restaurants.

The culinary quest continues through Xian’s vibrant Muslim Quarter where a sumptuous dumpling banquet awaits.

A short flight then takes tour guests to Chengdu to see the captivating Giant Pandas and shop for ingredients at a traditional market to use in an afternoon Sichuan cooking lesson with the locals.

The tour culminates in Shanghai where foodies immerse themselves in the lively back streets of the Chinese Quarter and the former French Concession area of the city.

Travel Indochina’s inaugural China Culinary Discovery tour departs on 8 April.

www.travelindochina.co.uk

Australia is rapidly running out of international icons. It doesn’t have many internationally recognizable brands it can be genuinely proud of. I only think of this as I sit becalmed in an ageing late-running Qantas tinny on an asphalt pond at Sydney airport. It’s a sad reflection of what Qantas has become – fewer flights everywhere is the new business plan at the same time as more of the world’s consumers take to the air.

Iconic… Penfolds

A mechanic scrambles onto the wing with a can of WD-40 and a few minutes later we’re disgorged back into the airport with $20 food vouchers. I’m trying to get to Adelaide where Penfolds are holding a tasting of their 2013 Bin series as well as their luxury and iconic wines such as the 2008 Grange.

Having spent my Qantas $20 exceedingly well I’m thinking Penfolds might be one of the few true international Australian icons. It’s a brand that hasn’t been spoiled by crazy management decisions and might just be our only international luxury brand thanks to Grange, RWT, Bin 707 and St Henri among others.

Then again, the magnificent bluestone heritage-listed Magill Estate, just a few minutes from the heart of Adelaide, is ripe for a casino development. Attach a billionaire to it and it will be green lit within hours.

When I do finally arrive in Adelaide I’m led to a hushed room where Penfolds chief winemaker Peter Gago flits silently around a small assembly of leading wine writers. None of them seem overly engaged and I’m reminded of a recent chat with a high-profile Sydney sommelier who was fairly nonplussed by Penfolds wines because “it’s Penfolds” – an altogether pathetic excuse.

As for this year’s release and the “it’s Penfolds” crowd, they’d be doing themselves a monstrous disservice. Reason being is the latest release features a line-up from the 2010 vintage which, to put it quite mildly, was a cracker of a vintage in South Australia.

A few highlights included:

Yattarna Chardonnay 2010

Sourced primarily from Tasmania (around 96 percent), the latest Yattarna is a gorgeous reflection of the new age of Australian Chardonnay. Lots of beautiful stone fruits pushing through on the nose with just a subtle hint of oak followed by slightly creamy caramelized peach flavours on the palate and almond nougat. Wonderful.

Bin 23 Pinot Noir 2012

A sweetly fresh example of Adelaide Hills Pinot Noir, the Bin 23 is not one of the marquee names in the Penfolds stable but it’s such a cute, young wine. It dances with the freshness of youth, like a stolen swig from your great Aunt’s liquor cabinet with its nose of wild raspberry and cherry liqueur. On the palate the dancing fruits punch through before the tannins ensure a more sophisticated finish.

The flagship… 2008 Grange

Bin 150 Marananga Shiraz 2010

A relative newcomer to the Penfolds stable, the Marananga is a sub-regional Barossa Shiraz from the 2010 super vintage. On the nose there was the dark nuttiness of a strong espresso melded with crispy skinned Peking Duck and plum sauce. A delicious mix slightly let down by the almond essence or Amaretto flavours on the palate. It’s definitely one to watch though as the lingering finish of licorice and a berry fruit pannacotta promises a tasty middle age.

2010 Magill Estate Shiraz

This is your homecoming queen. Everything in this masterful single estate wine is sourced, created and blended at Magill. Hand-picked fruit and lovingly handcrafted with spicy sausage and dark-roasted coffee on the nose, it delivers like a posse of hired guns riding in to save a small hamlet from bandits. On the palate, there’s a real slow reveal that will deliver over time a savoury meaty richness.

2010 RWT Barossa Valley Shiraz

Things step up a lot at this level. It’s a bit like Steve Carell killing a man with a trident in Anchorman – The Legend of Ron Burgundy. This particular RWT slowly reveals itself in the glass before opening up to a fullness of dark fruits, blueberry and ginger. It’s the ultimate smoothie on the nose before it comes down a level with a hint of sage and thyme tossed onto slightly damp earth. The palate is gloriously silken and smooth. A generous mouth feel with vanilla mascarpone daubed on almond biscotti and gently dipped in wine – a beautiful creation with a menacing promise of power to come.

2008 Grange

The flagship. I walked in already knowing this wine had been awarded 100 points by Lisa Perrotti-Brown from the Wine Advocate. It may have coloured my judgment but this is a classic Penfolds ball-tearer of a wine. Three regions – the Barossa and Clare Valleys as well as a little from Magill Estate make the 2008 a true flag bearer of Penfolds multi-regional house style. On the nose there’s an immediate lift of eucalyptus bark melded with smoked tea tree – it’s time to get the hookah pipe out with this baby. It’s like sitting around the campfire on the ultimate glamping experience. The palate unveils toasted savoury dark chocolate with a high cacao content as well as toffee malt and blackberry fruit – a tremendous wine from one of the great Penfolds vintages.

www.penfolds.com

In the hayseed towns of southern China, municipalities where the population barely nudges 700,000 people, little more than a dozen words of Cantonese will get you a pretty riotous response.

The standard reaction goes something like this: your interlocuter immediately starts as if he or she has been addressed by a talking horse or dog. Consternation quickly softens into relief and hilarity on the realisation the sounds are intelligible. As curious and friendly bystanders gather, a gratifyingly large amount of praise is then heaped on you.

“Wah! You speak Cantonese! How clever of you! How long have you been here? Five years! Five years and you can speak a dozen words! That is astonishing!”

It’s such a stock response it’s surprising it’s not in the first chapter of every Cantonese language text – it’s only later that you realise this form of phatic communion is used solely to promote warmth among foreigners. A real relationship in Cantonese is based exclusively on blunt put-downs of the this-lift-won’t-move-because-you’re-too-fat variety.

new ideas, new styles… Kaiping Diaolou

When all communication comprises critical personal remarks, then you are within the keep of a person’s closest associates.

And so it was, as my travelling companion and I basked in the gentle backwash of this flattery in Guangdong province, that a thief struck with such speed and audacity that it more or less ruined the rest of the trip.

It wasn’t bad enough that he managed to extract 1000RMB from a plastic wallet leaving everything else intact, but he practically showed me how it was done.

Diving like a heron into my rolled up jacket, which I had carelessly placed above my head in the luggage rack of a bus, he removed the cash from a zipped inner pocket, left behind anything that could identify him and dropped the money into one of the small black plastic sick bags provided on all buses in China. All of this in one deft move only just out of my line of sight.

Then using the time-honoured diversionary tactic of revulsion, he walked past me and hawked and spat into the bag on top of the fold of bills. Certainly by the time he was in full view, whatever was in the bag was no longer a subject of investigation.

The discovery of the theft in the next town released a powerful surge of primitive emotions. All the free cups of tea and warm smiles were suspect, everyone a potential enemy: we were suddenly in bandit country.

While it wasn’t much money, the theft shattered the mood of the trip and we sat in gloomy silence on a bus out of Yangjiang the following day. It was on this road, under this pall, that I saw a strange dreamlike structure.

Most architecture in China – certainly anything from the 1970s onwards – pays a deep tribute to the public toilet. Covered with off-white tiles and planted like an inverted L, these clusters are utterly ubiquitous and uniformly depressing.

But rounding a corner on the bus, I saw an assemblage of 19th century Qing Dynasty hovels from the middle of which shot two square five-storey towers capped with Byzantine domes supported by a series of arches formed by columns with Ionic capitals.

Bizarre… Guangzhou Kaiping Diaolou

The odd mixture of classical Western tropes on a Chinese building was eery and unsettling. I saw two more of these bizarre structures looming above separate small towns before the bus cruised on to Zhuhai. It’s rare in travel these days that you see something before you’ve heard about it and the towers left a lingering impression.

Back in Hong Kong, I retraced our journey on Google Earth but the villages we passed were a pixelated blur. Sifting through the Panoramio happy snaps of the area, I marveled at why anyone would take, let alone post, a photo of a motorway culvert or an irrigation ditch.

Eventually I found a picture of a squat version of the type of tower I’d seen and at least had a name – Kaiping Diaolou – or the watchtowers of Kaiping. With a UNESCO listing just four years old, the watchtowers are one of the world’s newest and strangest world heritage listings.

There are 1,883 of them remaining in the counties of Kaiping, Enping, Taishan and Xinhui – one small area of Guangdong province which, between the 1890s and 1930s, had a disproportionate number of emigres to the new world. Returning from Canada, the United States and Australia with new ideas and new styles, the emigres built towers to protect their families and fortunes in a lawless region governed by rival warlords and gangs.

The style – a kind of martial Edwardian with baroque and neo-classical features – caught on in the region and eventually more than 3000 of the towers were built, turning the province into a Chinese version of Italy’s San Gimignano.

The Fang Clan Watchtower – a typical example of the style – stands on a short rise outside Zili village. The dome on the stout five-storey watchtower covers a pavilion that housed a searchlight that swept the paddy fields for approaching brigands; a marriage of 20th century technology with medieval security solutions.

I asked my driver, Mr Fong, on a subsequent visit to the area, if the ornate style meant the towers were largely for show.

“No, they (bandits) used to come in their hundreds – sometimes on horseback,” he says, conjuring up a scene straight out of Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai.

A closer look at the diaolou reveals that many of the architectural fittings have a nasty and efficient business end – overhanging eves hide snipers’ spider holes that point straight down to the front door step, the diaolous’ generally good state of repair is due to the fact they were made from reinforced concrete and the internal metal doors often have complex systems of bars and wheel locks designed to keep home invaders from making it to the next floor.

The diaolou, however, were not just a show of force but also a show of wealth, reflecting grand styles in the country where the emigre had amassed his fortune. At various junctures, Mr Fong’s local knowledge gives out – towers not on the Kaiping city’s guide could only be found by asking locals or making dirt track detours.

“The German diaolou is around here somewhere – I know it is,” he says, finally pulling up beside a collection of tiny farm shacks from which a Chinese version of Schloss Neuschwanstein erupts, its turrets, known locally as ‘swallows’ nests’, pinpricked with tiny gun ports.

The best clusters of diaolou are museum pieces – many of them with their original furniture – and form part of a growing tourist industry, with Kaiping the jumping off point. Thankfully, the kitsch of diaolou-themed hotels is a good 30 minutes from the best clusters and it pays to hire a bicycle to thread through the paddies on your own. What you find is Chinese history snap frozen.

Some of the towers still show graffiti or signs of forced entry from the Cultural Revolution. Even more remarkable are the groups of ‘yang lou’ or foreign villas which have yet to gain heritage protection.

After 1928, when the warlord era nominally ended in China, the architecture in the region began to relax and wealthy families constructed elegant two- and three-storey Italianate villas with minimal fortification.

Most of them are empty and where people aren’t in southern China, agriculture rushes in. Peering through the windows reveals bundles of hay and firewood stacked against sticks of 1940s furniture or beneath beautifully executed wall murals. A common theme of yang lou and diaolou murals is the modern ocean liner, usually shown steaming towards a Fritz Lang-style metropolis, the conduit of the family’s wealth and the source of its dislocation.

Riushi diaolou is the high point of the style. A baroque confection with Chinese characteristics, it is still privately owned but after calling the mobile number pinned to the door and after a small consideration, the owner Mr Huang will take you around the nine-storey tower and tell you a little of the family history.

His story is typical of the region. His father, a successful businessman in Hong Kong, had moved most of the immediate family to the British colony but returned before 1949 with the young Mr Huang to attend to a sick relative. History and events overtook Mr Huang and his father. They remained in communist China while the rest of the family still lives in Hong Kong.

Standing in the pan-opticon of the top cupola next to a rusted 1930s searchlight, I asked Mr Huang if the tower had ever been attacked.

“No,” he says, with more than necessary directness. “They never came.”

Back on the road on my bicycle, I get my second Cantonese lesson, a chapter that should be entitled ‘How much did you pay for that?’. A small group of women near a fruit seller were reasonably impressed that I’d hired my bicycle for 40RMB a day, but 12RMB for a handful of lychees! Was I an idiot? Oh well, what could I expect? I was in bandit country after all.

Rockin… Hard Rock’s Sound your Stay program

But now it seems everyone can nail a power chord with a sleek Fender at the Hard Rock Hotel, Penang.

The hotel offers musical room service where guests can select from a menu of 20 Fender guitars including Stratocasters, Telecasters and even bass guitars to rock out with during their stay.

The guitar is then delivered to the room, complete with a Mustang Floor Amplifier and SOUL by Ludacris headphones – allowing for a high-volume jam out session with zero noise complaints.

Making up part of the hotel’s Sound of Your Stay program, guests can also download playlists carefully curated for Hard Rock by celebrities and music professionals to encourage guests to channel and unleash their inner rockstar.

“Music is the heart and soul of the Hard Rock brand,” said John Primmer, General Manager of Hard Rock Hotel Penang. “That’s what truly sets the Hard Rock Hotels apart from other brands as a travel destination.

“Our newly implemented amenity programs aim to further enhance and expand the musical dimension of our guests and already it’s working a treat with both the young and old.”

http://penang.hardrockhotels.net 

When I meet Ben Quilty he looks and smells exactly as I imagined. He’s dressed in a flannelette shirt, jeans and sneakers, with scruffy hair and a beard that’s fiercely thick. He smells of oil paint and I can see it still jammed under his fingernails. Sitting in a leafy courtyard at the National Art School, Quilty disarms me with his warm and welcoming presence despite the obvious emotion he displays as we start discussing his latest exhibition.

On the war path… Ben Quilty

Quilty was commissioned as an official war artist by the Australian War Memorial to document the experiences of Australian servicemen and women and spent a month in Afghanistan back in 2011. The resulting exhibition After Afghanistan has quickly become the most hotly debated of his career. Interestingly, he was officially given the Australian Defence Force (ADF) stamp of approval but, perhaps ironically so, it has stirred up quite a few emotional responses since it’s opening last month. The 21 studio paintings – in Quilty’s signature oil on linen – and 16 sketches reveal a lot more about the human face of war than the ADF is perhaps willing to admit.

We’ve been speaking for only a few minutes but I can already see the incredible effect this collection of work has had on the artist. He speaks with intense emotion, his eyes are wide and concentrated and just as captivating as his words.

“It was dark and sinister and overwhelming,” says Quilty of his time in Kandahar.

“The thing I wasn’t prepared for was the constant threat and rockets landing inside the basin, that was horrifying.”

But Quilty’s exhibition isn’t one that celebrates the war hero in a traditional sense, rather, it focuses on the intense physicality of the soldiers and the emotional and psychological consequences of war.

“They carry with them an emotional experience that is almost physical and I wanted to record that emotional weight,” says Quilty.

Emotive… Troy Park, after Afghanistan

Works like Trooper M, after Afghanistan and Air Commander John Oddie and after Afghanistan no. 2 are not portraits of the traditional heroic nude, but images imbued with the lasting experience of war. The faces in the impressive canvases are frightened and hollow and the bodies stripped bear appearing fragile and contorted without the protection of armour or a uniform.

Quilty spent 12 months creating the works in his studio in the NSW southern highlands where he invited the troopers he met in Afghanistan to sit for him upon their return from deployment.

“It was very confronting, particularly watching these guys fall apart and unravel. There’s a sense of team morale while the troops are in Afghanistan but when they return to their green, safe, first world Australia that’s when they fall apart and that’s the classic time when post-traumatic stress hits.

At work… Quilty in his studio

“They have nightmares, they become very violent, they often drag their partners out of bed and hold them on the ground and scream for cover and I’ve heard that from many young guys who are dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I’ve had their wives and girlfriends in tears in my studio talking about their experience being married to these people.”

This is an overwhelming part of a largely untold story.

“Three guys have been diagnosed since I started working with them and most are going outside of the ADFA to find their own private specialists to help them and at the moment the ADFA isn’t making things easy for them.”

Quilty explains subjects like Trooper M are part of the Special Operations Task Group and are therefore classified under protected identity status.

“They are fighting a war every single day and they are engaging with enemies, risking their lives and dealing with high enemy casualities. There is constant death around them, extreme pressure and because of their status, they’re not allowed to talk about their experiences, which is doing them a big disservice.

“The stories [Trooper M] told me about Afghanistan, the triggers to his post traumatic stress, and the experiences he’s had are like nothing I’ve ever heard in my life. And most of them have these stories.”

Throughout the painting process, Quilty says he wanted to provide a vehicle for his subjects to tell their stories, confront their fears, and shed a light on the darkness so many are suffering – often in silence and with little help.

Vulnerable… Captain Kate Porter, after Afghanistan

“I found the commission so much more important than my career and in the end the work that I made is not my opinion of who they are, it’s the truth about how they feel, what they are confronting. It’s about their future and their past,” he explains.

Australian soldiers, sailors and a number of air force personnel have come to the National Art School to view the exhibition and have expressed their gratitude to the artist for telling a story that no one else would.

“The arts are crucially important to a healthy society. I’ve seen it with my own eyes, I know what I’ve achieved with this exhibition and how cathartic it has been, on a personal level, for the guys I’ve worked with,” says Quilty.

Yet, in a nation obsessed with sporting heroes and the pursuit of physical excellence, the arts seem to fall to the wayside.

“The underfunding and lack of respect for the arts in this country makes me very sad,” says Quilty, his voice raised a few decibels.

“The arts isn’t just about painting; it’s about film, theatre and literature – these are so important and make up the real fibre and substance of a community.”

In fact, his exhibition is on show at the National Art School in East Sydney because the Australian War Memorial in Canberra doesn’t have an exhibition space.

“The Australian War Memorial has one of the biggest collections in Australia containing some of the most profoundly important work about war, death, sadness and hope, and yet, no exhibition space. In the past they probably thought their collection was worth a lot of money but not really important to their audience.

“I hope I’ve proved them wrong.”

 After Afghanistan will tour New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Canberra until May 2015.

www.awm.gov.au/exhibitions

www.benquilty.com

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