Day Trip to Alor Setar - Pekan Rabu

 

Pekan Baru, the inspiration of my day trip! Why did I want to come here? To eat local food and see local goods of course. I would have like to spend more time browsing here, but it's kinda hard to do with friend who don't shop. This Pekan was quite a walk from the KTM station. And it's also famous for being the place that Dr M used to sell fried banana fritters when he was a kid. 

Before we went to Dataran Alor Setar, we did stop by for a light lunch. I have two things I wanted to try here, laksa, and nasi lemak royale. Well, no nasi lemak was in sight, although the rice dishes looked tempting to me. But I like to savour and enjoy my food slowly, and it was hard for me to do so with a companion with me. Anyway....

We did tried the Laksa Utara, which translate to laksa from the north. It looked suspiciously like Laksa Penang, which is asam(tamarind) laksa, except it comes with hardboiled egg, and no prawn paste. Verdict? Penang Laksa nicer lah.

My friend also ordered this laksa tanjung kechai. I tried the soup and it was refreshing. I didn't like the noodles much, but I definitely like the soup! I wish they would serve it in smaller portion so that I can just savour different laksa soup! Each bowl of laksa cost 6rm, which was normal local price. 

After the hot walk around Dataran Alor Setar, we came back and had some cendol and lengcheeice. Each cost around 5rm. I'm not much of a shaved ice person, but it was nice to have something cold after walking in the hot sun. A tad too sweet for me. 

Above is what the whole pekan looked like inside. Floors and floors of stores. And I as aiming for the top floor where they sold traditional food and snacks! There were a few rattan stores at the ground floor which I liked too. But I was too lazy to carry a bulky rattan goods back with me. Plus, it wasn't as cheap as I thought it would be....

I love browsing here. So many goods! So many snacks. I came with a list of things I wanted to try. And the people were nice enough to chat with me. So I did ended up buying a few stuff. Lucky for my list, I could shop quite fast so that my friend didn't need to waste his time waiting for me. 

I bought two of these salted fish to try too, since they were famous in Kedah. Haven't cooked them yet. I just received some sambal from Malacca today, so maybe I'll cook some nasi lemak soon and try it with them :)

After shopping, my friend wanted some hot tea, so we went to have tea. Before that, I saw a store frying fried cempedak (jackfruits), and this was a snack I love. So I asked the owner how much they were selling them. She told me that they were not for sale. I didn't quite understand, so I asked why they were frying them for? She told me that they were cooking it for their own consumption. She ask me how many I wanted, and told me to just take and eat, lol. I didn't know how to react. But I really really wanted to eat those cempedak! So I asked for 4. She gave it to me and refuse any payment. I didn't even buy anything from her! I was too shocked by her kindness. They taste so good too! It was the first cempedak I ate this season. I love the smell and the taste of it so much. I've been haunting the fried banana vendor near my house to see when he would start selling them.

All in all, I don't know about my friend, but I had a great time in Alor Setar! When we reached Penang in the early evening, we went to have some Bak Kut Teh at Weld Quay area. It was delicious! 52rm inclusive of drinks for the meal above. If it's herbal bak kut teh, it can never go wrong for me. And I love it that they have mixed parts inside the bowl too. My friend ordered the mushroom version, and all he got was mushrooms in his soup, lol. But luckily we also ordered a side of extra pork belly, so I tactfully let him eat more of those. After chatting a while after our meal, we went our separate ways home. Thanks for accompanying me to Alor Setar and entertaining my crazy day trip!

Day Trip to Alor Setar - Kedah Royal Museum

 

The next free place we visited was the Kedah Royal Museum. Alor Setar was the capital of the Kedah. The museum was just at the dataran, so very convenient to visit. From the outside, it looked like a rather small traditional house. But as we enter into it, I was amazed at how big the space inside the house was. It was after all, an istana (palace) long time ago....

Some info on the museum. 

The entrance is at the back. You have to take of your shoes to go in. And apart from this hall above, no photography was allowed inside the museum. I thought that was a shame, cause I thought the collection here was quite good and informative. I spend quite some time exploring the museum. The rooms and corridors seems to never end. Although quite small and compact, it also felt quite spacious and never ending. Plus, the aircon here was fabulous! 

Some myth and background story of the royal family. 

Outside the museum, there are some area where the staff stayed. 

And I read that the mosque was build directly in front of the istana so that it was the first thing you will see when you walk out the main gate. I though that was cool, so I went to take a photograph of it. I think it makes a nice souvenir shot :)

The bigger building in front of the museum, is actually the grand hall, or Dewan Besar. It is used for official functions, and it's not open to public. The photo above, is actually taken at the back side of the grand hall. I think the stair case looks beautiful. I thought it was a pity they closed the building up. I've sure it's lovely inside as well. 

This is what the front of the Dewan look like. I actually thought this was the museum itself, because it was the larger of the two buildings. 

This is the front view. Again, beautiful circular staircase leading up to the second floor. The tiled floors were beautiful too. And the artistic carving of the pillars and roof was exquisite.

Guess that's all. There are toilets and vending machine just below the museum. You could even sit down or take a nap here as my friend did.... -_______-

Lastly, here's me with my favourite most of Kedah! There is actually more to explore in Kedah, specifically the state museum, and also the paddy museum. So maybe I'll be back soon!

Day Trip to Alor Setar - Dataran Alor Setar

We did stop by for lunch at Pekan Baru before finding our way to Dataran Alor Setar. We found a river walk that leads to that direction, so we follow it. It was a nice shaded walk, with the river just besides us. But there were some signs along the way that really needed some serious maintenance. I think it is very sad and embarrassing when your city's landmark sign are in disarray.... It means you have no pride in your city.... Am I being too critical? Coming from a state that left a sunken ferry in plain view at the jetty for all to see? Lol. There is a scientific studies on this, it's call the broken window theory. If something is left to decay, the people around it will start to do so too. And that is why, you should always try to keep things nice, and neat, and in shape. Maintenance reflects a lot of character of a person, a city, a country. 

Enough of my opinion. Let's focus on the better part of things! It was a wonderful short walk to the dataran. I guess dataran can mean square, like in city square. 

It was a marvellous view! The sheer width of the square was breathtaking. Add on the beautiful blue skies! Ah, my kinda day! We went about snapping up photos. Was this what it felt like to have royalty in the states? To have the luxury of space to have a great square and space?

We saw the retro looking Alor Setar Tower too. I took a souvenir photo of it. Ever since seeing the retro radio tower in Osaka Shinsekai area, I've been collecting photos of towers all over Japan. And this tower here reminded me of them :)  My next target is the Kobe Tower! Hope I made it since I'll be travelling with friend....

Across the road from the dataran, was this beautiful grand black and white mosque. It's called Zahir Mosque, and I think it looked just beautiful. I couldn't stop taking photos of it. I love islamic architecture. 

Here is a different view of it. We didn't went in though. My friend did ask, but i said no. I have been inside mosque before, but not in Malaysia. For some reason, I've never felt welcome in mosques in Malaysia.... 

There was also an art gallery at the square. My friend wanted to visit it, but unfortunately, it was closed for renovation. 

There were other structures around the squares too. Overall I think it was a cool place to visit. 

I've also finally saw the Nobat Tower, a place that stores the royal musical instruments. I've read so much about it in my high school history book. But this is the first time I've actually seen the place with my own eyes! I've also learned more about it in the royal museum nearby. I don't know why, but this place have always fascinated me. Why build a whole tower just to store musical instruments? Was music so important to the royal family? 

There was also this cheesy sign at the side of the dataran. I like the word "singgah" a lot. It is quite an informal word, and to me it conveys a very warm and casual invitation to linger. I do love the Malay language a lot. I find it a lot softer than Mandarin. And I'm a fan of Malay songs, especially those with well written lyrics. And in this day trip, I actually started listening back songs by Sudirman. And his lyrics, just goes straight to my heart.....

Lastly, my friend helped took a photo for me. It's been a while since I have a full length photo of myself. I would even say it was a good shot. A bit dark though. But I'll take it. Welcome to Alor Setar! Ironically, I spend a lot of weekend in Alor Setar when I was younger. My Dad would always bring me here with his friends. We even took a bus here once. But it was always to the mall area. Never to this part of town. 

Day Trip to Alor Setar by Train

Ever since travelling by train to Ipoh and Kuala Lumpur, I've been thinking of exploring more train station town around Malaysia. I've wanted to travel to Alor Setar to visit a traditional market there after seeing it in some Youtube video, but have never gotten around to it. When a friend came to visit me in Penang in August, and asked me what I wanted to do if we were to spend a day together, I told him I wanted to go Alor Setar, lol. After all, I've already took him to the major sights of Penang, I thought it would be fun to take a ferry and a train to another town to explore. Worst scenario, I would get to checked off Alor Setar from my to-visit list! So on a bright sunny Monday, we meet at the ferry terminal at 9am to start our day trip. I've gotten the ferry tickets and train tickets beforehand. We were gonna take the Komuter Utara train to our destination. Our train was at 1035am from Butterworth. Easy peasy!

The train was a slow 1hr and 45 mins ride, and the view was of paddy fields as Kedah was the rice bowl of Malaysia. Near Gurun station, you could also admire the view of Gunung Jerai. The train was surprisingly crowded, even for a weekday. When we arrived at the station, I took a souvenir shot of the flags outside the train station. I like capturing state flags and country flags in photography whenever I am in a new place. 

Walking to town was an interesting adventure. There wasn't any clear sign except this covered walkway. My travel sense told me to just follow the walkway, even though I wasn't as confident that I was headed the right direction. My GPS was also giving me mixed signal. We finally asked someone, and continued on our way down the covered path that really lead to town. 

There were a few places around town that I wanted to explore, and everything was within walking distance. Except I wasn't too sure of the direction as I didn't do much planing before hand. I was just quite happy to wander around town. But I guess my friend was more goal oriented. I wanted to hit Pekan Rabu, Dataran Alor Setar, and the Royal Museum of Kedah. All three places was public and free. I would have loved to visit the house of Dr M too, but it was closed on Monday. Maybe another trip? I have pondered to actually visit Alor Setar one day and spend a night there before going to Kuala Kedah to take a ferry to Langkawi. Future trip! 

Nothing much to see. There was a run down heritage cafe along the way. We went in on our way back and could see some renovation going on. I guess they are gonna turn it into a coffee shop. With the improvement of KTM, a lot of smaller towns are starting to develop the areas around the train station, like Ipoh, Kluang etc. I think it's a great, cause I would love to explore more around these small stations, instead of ending up in the middle of nowhere and having to take a grab to the nearest town.... Urban planning is not one of Malaysia's strong point.....

One of the building that I found interesting when we reached the town center. I assume this is a housing flat? But it has Daulat Tuanku on it. Was it a public housing? Was life different living in a state that has a Sultan or a King? Growing up in Penang, I have no idea. We often felt like orphan in the states of Malaysia cause we don't have any royal family looking after us, lol.