Ten days (without a car) in Kedah and Perlis
by prudence on 09-Feb-2013
According to The Star today, there is one vehicle for every 1.2 Malaysians. That's 22.7 million vehicles for 28 million Malaysians.
Heavy and uncontrolled traffic detracts from many of Malaysia's lovely towns, and the fixation on cars distracts attention from the need to provide better public transport and pedestrian-friendly urban areas.
Last time we were in Alor Star, we did the easy stuff. The longest journey was a short taxi-ride.
So this time, in search of something new, we had to be a bit more enterprising. And it's really difficult not to have to fall back on taxis. Here are some things you can do:
Go to the fort at Kuala Kedah. This involves a bus ride from Alor Star, and then a walk of 2km or so. A nice walk, mind -- you get good views from the bridge, and if the market's on, there's lots of activity. The fort was interesting. So many ethno-historical pawprints: Thais, British, and Japanese have colonized this land; Acehnese and Bugis have fought up here; at one point, the Thais got the Portuguese to attack because they thought the sultan was getting too close to King Ava of Burma... If you wait long enough, you will get a bus back to Alor Star, even on a Friday. Don't do as we did, and succumb to a taxi just that bit too soon.
Go to Lembah Bujang, where you can explore Malaysia's only Hindu architectural vestiges (a temple base in situ, lots of other temple bases brought from other spots nearby, and a museum displaying the artefacts that were found with the ruins). I love this kind of thing. But even if you're not into temples, this is a gorgeous place, on the lower slopes of Gunung Jerai, and full of birds and butterflies. Bring a picnic. Getting there is a bit of a mission, though. You can bus from the Pekan Rabu in Alor Star to Sungai Petani. But you'll have to be patient. Even when you're waiting at the right bit of the bus stop (which we weren't to start with), buses to Sungai Petani don't come along frequently... From SP, you can take another bus heading for Tanjung Dawai, get off, and walk the 2 km or so to the park. It had taken us so long to get to SP, however, that we actually thought we wouldn't have time to do this, so we resorted to a taxi. Twenty ringgit (not bad for 20+ km), and the deal was we'd phone when we wanted to be picked up, and pay another 20 ringgit to get back. Which we did. And there was time to grab some nasi kandar before getting the super-slow bus back to Alor Star.
And, of course, go to the wonderful Alor Star eating area I described earlier. Dim sum breakfasts, and that wonderful evening snack street. In addition to what I've already described, there was the best otak-otak ever, excellently crispy curry puffs, and all manner of wonderful cakes, many featuring that inimitable duo, pandan and coconut. No transport needed here. Just feet.
When you move on, go to Kuala Perlis. It's easy to get a bus here from Alor Star, but you have to go via Kangar, and the bus from Kangar to KP goes from a different bus station from the one you come into from Alor Star... If you just want to crack right on, a taxi costs somewhere around 15 ringgit, and the journey, through rice fields and past karst outcrops, is very pretty.
Don't expect anything big or remotely glitzy about Kuala Perlis. This is very much a one-horse town, and a little lacking in walking objectives. It's famous for its ikan bakar, and I had kind of imagined a few ladies with simple barbecues down by the sea. But this is more like industrial-scale sea-food provision. I'm not sure how full the huge eateries routinely get, but they completely take over the little promenade in places.
Now, I don't want to be mean about Kuala Perlis. There are some lovely things here. Laksa Kuala Perlis is one of them. The views across this wonderful stretch of water towards Langkawi are another, especially as the sun goes down. And then there is the Floating Mosque. Not floating, really, as the tides seem mostly so low that the legs are always exposed. But from this mosque come some of the most beautiful calls to prayer I have ever heard. An amazing range of trills, shakes, and tremors makes them a delight that I will remember for a long time to come.
You'll no doubt want to go back to Kangar for more of a look round. If you go to the bus station in Kuala Perlis, you'll be assured there is no bus. You know there must be, but it's hard to figure out where to catch it with zero information, so you're back to the taxi again... This is where Malaysia loses out. It's climbed up the income ladder to the place where it's priced out a lot of informal public transport, but hasn't yet replaced it with a reliable formal equivalent (not that many "high-income" countries provide much of an example in this respect). In Songkhla, you just stand by the road, and you're overwhelmed with cheap offers for minivans and songtheows. Here -- the taxi rules. Not that the prices up here are bad. It's just the principle of the thing.
Anyway, Kangar does offer the space to walk that Kuala Perlis is lacking in. There are tree-lined streets, a park or two, a diminutive but pretty Chinese area, and they have made a bit of an attempt to create a walking path along the river -- although a little more planting would be nice. But you do have to cope with crossing some fairly vicious roads, and all those cars make it difficult to photograph anything. And, well, walking is pretty much all there is to do. That, and having the best teh tarik for ages at a place near the bus station, and some nice rice-and-stuff at the breezy place by the river. Because you've now sussed out the right bus station for the bus back to KP, established that there's a bus at 1.30, and ACTUALLY CLIMBED ON THE BUS, you really do begin to think you've broken out of the taxi trap. The driver gets in, turns the key -- and the bus won't start. Battery dead as a dodo. Driver goes off, presumably to arrange backup. But nothing seems to be happening, and the temperature's rising. We stick this out for a while, and then -- you've guessed it -- we take a taxi...
Kuala Perlis is one of the jumping-off places for Langkawi, where we spent a few days in 2010. This time we just did a day trip, along with stacks of others who take the one-hour ferry ride in order to take advantage of the duty-free shopping. You can walk very pleasantly round past the Big Eagle, and through the Taman Lagenda (mind the red ants), to the part of Kuah where the duty-free shopping starts. All pretty quiet today (I guess everyone's stuck in CNY traffic jams somewhere), but we had a nice Indian lunch, dutifully did some shopping (work shirts for me, a replacement hat for Nigel -- and Whittaker's chocolate...). With lots of sitting under trees admiring views, this fills in the day very nicely.
This has been a nice little interlude. Again, it was sight-seeing interspersed with work, so we weren't full-time, dedicated tourists. But to see more of Kedah and Perlis, we'll need to come back with a car. Which always seems a pity...
Heavy and uncontrolled traffic detracts from many of Malaysia's lovely towns, and the fixation on cars distracts attention from the need to provide better public transport and pedestrian-friendly urban areas.
Last time we were in Alor Star, we did the easy stuff. The longest journey was a short taxi-ride.
So this time, in search of something new, we had to be a bit more enterprising. And it's really difficult not to have to fall back on taxis. Here are some things you can do:
Go to the fort at Kuala Kedah. This involves a bus ride from Alor Star, and then a walk of 2km or so. A nice walk, mind -- you get good views from the bridge, and if the market's on, there's lots of activity. The fort was interesting. So many ethno-historical pawprints: Thais, British, and Japanese have colonized this land; Acehnese and Bugis have fought up here; at one point, the Thais got the Portuguese to attack because they thought the sultan was getting too close to King Ava of Burma... If you wait long enough, you will get a bus back to Alor Star, even on a Friday. Don't do as we did, and succumb to a taxi just that bit too soon.
Go to Lembah Bujang, where you can explore Malaysia's only Hindu architectural vestiges (a temple base in situ, lots of other temple bases brought from other spots nearby, and a museum displaying the artefacts that were found with the ruins). I love this kind of thing. But even if you're not into temples, this is a gorgeous place, on the lower slopes of Gunung Jerai, and full of birds and butterflies. Bring a picnic. Getting there is a bit of a mission, though. You can bus from the Pekan Rabu in Alor Star to Sungai Petani. But you'll have to be patient. Even when you're waiting at the right bit of the bus stop (which we weren't to start with), buses to Sungai Petani don't come along frequently... From SP, you can take another bus heading for Tanjung Dawai, get off, and walk the 2 km or so to the park. It had taken us so long to get to SP, however, that we actually thought we wouldn't have time to do this, so we resorted to a taxi. Twenty ringgit (not bad for 20+ km), and the deal was we'd phone when we wanted to be picked up, and pay another 20 ringgit to get back. Which we did. And there was time to grab some nasi kandar before getting the super-slow bus back to Alor Star.
And, of course, go to the wonderful Alor Star eating area I described earlier. Dim sum breakfasts, and that wonderful evening snack street. In addition to what I've already described, there was the best otak-otak ever, excellently crispy curry puffs, and all manner of wonderful cakes, many featuring that inimitable duo, pandan and coconut. No transport needed here. Just feet.
When you move on, go to Kuala Perlis. It's easy to get a bus here from Alor Star, but you have to go via Kangar, and the bus from Kangar to KP goes from a different bus station from the one you come into from Alor Star... If you just want to crack right on, a taxi costs somewhere around 15 ringgit, and the journey, through rice fields and past karst outcrops, is very pretty.
Don't expect anything big or remotely glitzy about Kuala Perlis. This is very much a one-horse town, and a little lacking in walking objectives. It's famous for its ikan bakar, and I had kind of imagined a few ladies with simple barbecues down by the sea. But this is more like industrial-scale sea-food provision. I'm not sure how full the huge eateries routinely get, but they completely take over the little promenade in places.
Now, I don't want to be mean about Kuala Perlis. There are some lovely things here. Laksa Kuala Perlis is one of them. The views across this wonderful stretch of water towards Langkawi are another, especially as the sun goes down. And then there is the Floating Mosque. Not floating, really, as the tides seem mostly so low that the legs are always exposed. But from this mosque come some of the most beautiful calls to prayer I have ever heard. An amazing range of trills, shakes, and tremors makes them a delight that I will remember for a long time to come.
You'll no doubt want to go back to Kangar for more of a look round. If you go to the bus station in Kuala Perlis, you'll be assured there is no bus. You know there must be, but it's hard to figure out where to catch it with zero information, so you're back to the taxi again... This is where Malaysia loses out. It's climbed up the income ladder to the place where it's priced out a lot of informal public transport, but hasn't yet replaced it with a reliable formal equivalent (not that many "high-income" countries provide much of an example in this respect). In Songkhla, you just stand by the road, and you're overwhelmed with cheap offers for minivans and songtheows. Here -- the taxi rules. Not that the prices up here are bad. It's just the principle of the thing.
Anyway, Kangar does offer the space to walk that Kuala Perlis is lacking in. There are tree-lined streets, a park or two, a diminutive but pretty Chinese area, and they have made a bit of an attempt to create a walking path along the river -- although a little more planting would be nice. But you do have to cope with crossing some fairly vicious roads, and all those cars make it difficult to photograph anything. And, well, walking is pretty much all there is to do. That, and having the best teh tarik for ages at a place near the bus station, and some nice rice-and-stuff at the breezy place by the river. Because you've now sussed out the right bus station for the bus back to KP, established that there's a bus at 1.30, and ACTUALLY CLIMBED ON THE BUS, you really do begin to think you've broken out of the taxi trap. The driver gets in, turns the key -- and the bus won't start. Battery dead as a dodo. Driver goes off, presumably to arrange backup. But nothing seems to be happening, and the temperature's rising. We stick this out for a while, and then -- you've guessed it -- we take a taxi...
Kuala Perlis is one of the jumping-off places for Langkawi, where we spent a few days in 2010. This time we just did a day trip, along with stacks of others who take the one-hour ferry ride in order to take advantage of the duty-free shopping. You can walk very pleasantly round past the Big Eagle, and through the Taman Lagenda (mind the red ants), to the part of Kuah where the duty-free shopping starts. All pretty quiet today (I guess everyone's stuck in CNY traffic jams somewhere), but we had a nice Indian lunch, dutifully did some shopping (work shirts for me, a replacement hat for Nigel -- and Whittaker's chocolate...). With lots of sitting under trees admiring views, this fills in the day very nicely.
This has been a nice little interlude. Again, it was sight-seeing interspersed with work, so we weren't full-time, dedicated tourists. But to see more of Kedah and Perlis, we'll need to come back with a car. Which always seems a pity...