Northern Malaysia Peninsular trip: Part III (Kedah)

Continue from the last part…

On the 3^rd day of our trip (17/12/2017), we finally reach the Kedah State of Northern Peninsular Malaysia!

Kedah State

Kedah, I believe many of you who lived in Malaysia or even foreigners certainly do know this state being famous of its paddy field and Pulau Langkawi (Langkawi Island).

Map of the Kedah State

Kedah state is bordered by Penang State at the south, Perak State at the southeast, Perlis state to the northwest and Thailand to the north. The rivers play an important role in making the state’s natural border. Sungai Muda (Muda river) is the natural border of Penang state and Kedah state, while Sungai Kerian  is the natural border of Perak State and Kedah State. The state’s capital is situated at Alor Setar (Which was also the place my family travelled to), meanwhile the royal capital of Kedah State, however, located at Anak Bukit (which is 10km north of Alor Setar).

On 17^th of December 2017, my family and I “check-out” from my aunty house to the North (Kedah). My father chose to use old trunk road to go to Alor Setar so that we could get to see more scenary of rural areas in Seberang Perai’s outskirt areas as well as the small towns long the road in Kedah. The actual trip shown on google maps used roughly 90 minutes to reach Alor Setar from Butterworth (IF you didn’t stop and rest at anywhere lah…). Here are the place we stopped and travelled.

Sungai Petani

            Sungai Petani is one of the industrialized areas in Kedah State. The town itself already has lots of amenities such as Rapid Penang bus service from Penang State and Shopping Malls. 

Furthermore, just like Kulim town, Sungai Petani is also very near to the Penang State centre (31 km away from Butterworth and 59km from Alor Setar, Kedah). Therefore, this helps the town to develop rapidly to be on par with the major town of Penang’s Seberang Perai. Lastly, I forgot to mention that this town is connected with KTM train service from KL sentral to the Thai Border station of Padang Besar… (IF you backpackers are willing to visit this place lah…)

Landmark of Sungai Petani

Landmark of Sungai Petani part 2

Gurun

            Gurun is only the small town located between the road from Sungai Petani to Alor Setar and has KTM train station. Nothing much to talk about, expect the Gunung Jerai (Mount Jerai) nearby there.

            After passing by Gurun town, there is a magnificent view of paddy field along the way from Gurun outskirt to Alor Setar outskirt. There also has the Malaysia’s longest paddy irrigating system and canal from Alor Setar to Gurun, namely Wan Mat Saman Aqueduct. 

Magnificent view of paddy field

Alor Setar

Alor Setar, capital state of Kedah, We arrived at Alor Setar at noon. Under the hot scorching sun, we find a typical chinese restaurant to settle our lunch before we go on our one day trip in Alor Setar.

There are few places to go in Kedah such as Alor Setar Tower, Pekan Cina (Chinatown), Tun Mahathir Mohamad’s birthplace house, Pekan Rabu (Wednesday market), Wat Nikrodharam and Paddy Musuem. Due to lack of time (rushing to Taiping in the evening), we only go for few places from these destinations.

Alor Setar Tower is the communication tower for the Kedah State,,,

Even though the tower is not as tall as KL tower in Kuala Lumpur, but it does give you a great view of the city…

Brief history of Alor Setar Tower

Pekan Cina is the Chinatown of Alor Setar. It is located at the riverbank of Kedah River and besides of Pekan Melayu (where the Pekan Rabu located at). Albeit of that, the Chinatown is still comparatively quite than the Chinatown in other states…

Tanjung Chali, Alor Setar

The youtube video shows food trip of Alor Setar...

Then, we said goodbye to Kedah state and travel to Taiping, Perak. It is possible to have one day trip in Kedah state, IF you began your journey in Penang State…

Coming out next, Taiping, Perak.

Merry belated Chirstmas, everyone…

Northern Malaysia Peninsular trip: Part II (Pulau Pinang)

Northern Malaysia Peninsular trip: Part II (Pulau Pinang)

Continue from the lastpart…

In the next morning (16/12/2017), we travel to the island of Penang state…

Penang Island

Penang Island is well known for its historical herritage and tourist attractions compared to the mainland… Therefore, more tourist from other states in Malaysia or the foreign countries travel to there. The island is also held the only “Bandaraya” status of city – George town in the Penang. The island is divided into two districts namely Northeast district and Southwest district.

Highlighted area of the map is North East district of Penang island

Map of Penang state

There are 3 methods to reach to the destination (Penang island). The first one is through Penang Bridges (one in Perai, Seberang Perai Tengah and another one in Batu Kawan, Seberang Perai Selatan). The second one is through ferry ride from Butterworth straight away to the town centre of George town. The last one is through airplane ride to Bayan Lepas International Airport in Penang island. The former one is quite practical way for the tourist from other parts of Peninsular Malaysia to travel there.

 

Ferry service

Bayan Lepas International Airport

I only focus on George town and Balik Pulau because my family travel to these 2 places…

Balik Pulau

            Similar to the Nibong Tebal in the last blog post, Balik Pulau is quite laid back compared to the other parts of the island. This is because the town itself is located far from the city centre of  the island (George town), 29 km from George town and yet the roads access to the town are also the hilly and curvy road… This town is the capital of the South West district. The main road to the town is Jalan Tun Sardon whcih begins at Paya Terubong in Northeast district and end at Balik Pulau. The road is slightly steep and curvy.

              If you go to the outskirts of the town, you will likely to get to taste the Durians… However, like most of part of Penang, this town also being famous for its Hokkien Mee… (Basically every parts of Penang, you will get to eat Hokkien Mee). Hokkien Mee which I mentioned in the previous blog post, the soup is made from the prawn essence while the noodle is in yellow colour. In conclusion, the prawns are basically the important item in this dish…

Hokkien Mee Penang

Old man mural art in Balik Pulau...

Old shop houses...

George town

George town is obviously the capital of the Penang State… The administrative building of Penang state (Komtar) is located in this capital city… The city is also considered as the UNESCO World Herritage Site together with Malacca State. I briefly talk about this city only lah, as this city is being too popular in the country and overseas.

Certainly, the city has lots of places to go… such as the mural arts in the city centre (Armenian Street), Khoo Kongsi (nearby the mural arts), Chew Jetty (A jetty used to settled by the Chew surname chinese and transformed into a tourist site) and Gurney drive (where you can enjoy the view of the seaside). We traveled these places only under thee hot scorching sun, even though the are more places to go in the city centre and nearby towns such as Tanjung Tokong and Tanjung Bungah.

Typical street art in the street...

Khoo Kongsi

Chew Jetty

Inside the city, you can also rent a bicycle to travel around the city centre.

After travel finished the city centre, we went back to Butterworth (my aunty house) via ferry service.

Note: You are need to pay for the ferry ticket, if you travel from the mainland to the island. However, if you travel from the island to the mainland, the fee is exempted.

Inside the ferry

Next state to go - Kedah…

Northern Malaysia Peninsular trip: Part I (Seberang Perai, Pulau Pinang)

Hello everybody! It is being a long time for my blogger to be inactivated. Let’s make this blogger revives for a period of time by posting this potato blog post!

            

December – Public school holiday month. I believe each and every of the families will plan for a trip either in the country or going to overseas. Let’s cut the crap. My family and I went to Penang state in the first day of the trip (15/12/2017). The trip began from 15/12/2017 to 19/12/2017.

Penang

Penang state is one of the densely populated state in Malaysia. Penang is bordered by Kedah state at north, east and south, while Perak state at south of Penang. Penang state being classfiled as two different areas such as the island (Pulau Pinang) and the mainland (Seberang Perai). This state is quite unique compared to other states in Malaysia as this state has highest chinese population compared to the rest. Certainly, there are many places to travel in this state.

 

North Seberang Perai being highlighted

Seberang Perai

Seberang Perai (Province Wellesley) – the mainland of penang, does have some interesting places for you to travel. It is being divided into 3 parts (North, Centre and South). Besides, it borders Kedah to the north and east, and Perak to the south. Its principal town is Butterworth, while its local authority, the Seberang Perai Municipal Council, is centred near Bukit Mertajam. As of 2010, Seberang Perai had a population of 815,767, making it the second most populous local government area in Malaysia. It was originally being part of Kedah state until the British acquired this land for agricultural and military purpose to safeguard their interest on Penang island (One of the Strait Settlement of British) since 1800. I focused on Nibong Tebal and Butterworth as my family and I only travel to these places in Seberang Perai.

Nibong Tebal

Nibong Tebal, the southest small town in Penang State which is nearby the Perak’s border town – Parit Buntar. Nibong Tebal is the capital town of the district of Seberang Perai Selatan (South Province Wellesley). This town has KTM train station also.

However, this town is forgotten by many people. This is because the town’s location is quite far (35km) from the Principal town of Seberang Perai – Butterworth. Therefore, the town is quite laid back compared to other parts of Penang.

I suggested to my father to travel to this place. This is because I am trying to find the so-called cheapest Laksa in the Penang (sell in RM2.50 – some legends said) in Nibong Tebal but I couldn’t find it. It’s okay lah… At least I can take some photos in the small town.

 

Dead town...

 

Road to see firefly...

Butterworth

Butterworth or sometimes being known as Bagan in Malay, is the principal town of the whole Seberang Perai. It is located in the district of Seberang Jaya Utara (North Province Wellesley). It is one of the busiest port in Malaysia. Furthermore, due to its proximity to the Penang island, so there has a ferry service to load vehicles and passanger to and from Penang island. Moreover, this town has also KTM train station that connects to Padang Besar, Perlis to the north and KL central. Therefore, Butterworth is the transportation hub of the Penang.

Butterworth ferry terminal (adopted from trip advisor

Right after travel in Nibong Tebal, my family and I stayed in my aunty house… (Heng ah! Got relative stayed in Penang!). Then in the night, she took us to go to the well-known Taoist temple in Penang (Tow Boo Kong Temple). The temple will jostled with people during some chinese tradition festivals…

Butterworth's oldest wet market...

 

Random street art in Butterworth

Tow Boo Kong Temple main entrance

On top of that, the Jalan Raja Uda in the town is also quite well known for its delicacies. A brief story lah, this road used to be a notorious gangland in Penang in the 70’s and 80’s… Fortunately, every things are changed, this road became the food street in Butterworth. A famous pasar – Apollo Market is also located there. The market is basically selling everything from the clothes to the food…

Apolla Market

Hokkien Mee

Bonus* - Bukit Mertajam

            Bukit Mertajam is the major town in the district of Seberang Perai Tengah (Centre Province Wellesley). This district held the highest population in the whole Seberang Perai (the population only slightly higher than Seberang Perai Utara). Even though my family and I didn’t travel there, but there still have their own famous delicacy – Yam Rice.

Yam Rice...

There is more people living in the Northern and Central of Seberang Perai as they are close to Penang island and have lots of job opportunity from the industrial and service sectors compared to Southern Seberang Perai. For me, personally, I like to live in Butterworth as it is one of the important transportation hub in Peninsular Malaysia and it has very delicious of Hokkien Prawn Mee and Penang Chay Kuey Teow.

Coming up next –Penang (island)