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!