Lembah Bujang Archeological Museum

Idlan had always been keen on museum. So, I thought on our way to visit my Aunt in Sungai Petani, we should take a detour to Merbok and visit Lembah Bujang. Idlan learned about the place in his History lessons in school. He was naturally curious.

Getting to the place was quite straight forward with the help of Waze. Signage was otherwise poor as expected, but the road was pretty straight forward coming off the PLUS highway in Sungai Petani and driving towards Merbok. Initially we didn't know what to expect as there were not much written about the museum in blogs and the interwebs.

Just a small sign at the frontThese are ancient ....How the whole area looked like in 3DWhen we reached there, we were very pleasantly surprised. The place was clean and the facilities were good. The whole compound comprised of a museum building - one of two as the other one was closed. They had a waterfall with picnic area, which unfortunately during this dry season did not have much in the way of streaming water. There was also a few archeology sites just up the hill from the museum with decently built walkways and steps.

Parking space was ample and well organised. They had toilets and surau next to the car park, shades and chairs to sit on and chill. If you're adventurous, there was a trail leading up to the top of Gunung Jerai from here. I might one day just do that ...

The museum was actually more spacious than it looked on the outsideEach items tell a story and the whole exhibit was well-curatedIs that a cat?The actual museum was air conditioned, and much better than I expected. And the entrance was free. It was opened every day except for Hari Raya. Not many people was there though and Sunday being a working day in Kedah, that was not a surprise. The care taker was really friendly and talked about the museum to me and Idlan.

The artifacts were well laid out and lit. Everything had a label both in Malay and English. Very professionally done. After half an hour in the museum, we then ventured up the hill to some of the temples. Nice green fields, helped by the overcast weather made for a pleasant walk.

Time to venture outsideReaching the topHave to compliment their visitor's facilitiesI must say that I was more than impressed and would recommend a visit to everyone who was interested. Getting there might be tricky due to poor signage, so, it was best to use Waze, or if you were lost, look for Pekan Merbok. If was just up the path from there, around 2 km in. This place would be a site for a quick family picnic, or even the base for a walk up Gunung Jerai. That would be a different kind of adventure and I would be doing a bit more reading before venturing so.

More entries on this trip can be seen here.

Morning Walk Part 2

Halfway down the street, I took a right turn at Love Street, seeing the many colourful hotels and hostels there. A backpacker's paradise, and more snaps. Next was Lebuh Muntri. A misspelling of the Malay word Menteri, it used to host dignitaries from out of town. Many old building still stood, some being turned into museums and some into guest houses. A few nice modern cafes as well had mushroomed up, balancing the old and the new.

There were street markets and vendor but at that time, the number of cars were already building up. I wished that the whole place was turned into a car-free zone ....

I also noticed that there were plenty of bicycles and moppet for hire available at the area. Expensive and they mainly targeted the tourists. If you knew the route, you could cover the town centre and experience the charm in double quick time.

After I was done with Lebuh Muntri, another turn took me back to my hotel within 10 minutes. Which was just as well since the boys were already up and they were ready for their breakfast. I stayed back to have a shower before joining them.

The walk lasted almost a couple of hours, and my GPS recorded the distance I covered to be just below 5 kilometres. A nice morning work-out. And an enjoyable one as well. And the photos? I just uploaded 210 snaps onto Flickr just then. Not bad .....

More stories from this trip here.

Morning Walk Part 1

It was too early for the boys, and Anita was still asleep. A quick peek out the window and as predicted by the weatherman, the morning would be overcast. No chance of setting up the GoPro for the sunrise capture.

So, I bide my time and once the morning broke, I took my camera gear out and headed towards Lebuh Armenian. Nice breeze, although a blue sky would have been great. Due to the cloud cover, I decided to go telephoto. I attached the 56mm on the X-T1, switched on my GPS and started walking.

I walked from the hotel towards Penang Road via Lebuh Leith, reaching the intersection with Lebuh Chulia. Walked further down taking a left along Lebuh Kimberley, later turning north at Lebuh Carnavon to join Armenian Street.

There was plenty to concentrate on on this walk. With the lens, I mainly did close-up of the windows and building facade. Colourful, gorgeous architecture, a mix of the later 19th Century Chinese influence and a later Art Deco styling. Eclectic mix to be quite honest, wishing that I was better versed in the arts.

It was still early in the day and being Saturday, there was hardly many cars. Plenty of tourists though with their cameras on tow. Some of them already settled for breakfast at the cafe alongside the streets, outnumbering the locals.

At the end of Armenian Street I took a left turn up Lebuh Pantai and another left at Lebuh Ah Quee. Plenty more subjects and mural here.

More stories from this trip here.

The Ferry Ride

Back when I was a young boy, a trip to Penang from Kepala Batas would mean a trip on the ferry. The First Penang Bridge was only opened in 1985, and since then the ferry was reserved for those who prefer to take a motorcycle or cross by foot. But a tragedy in 1989 when a section of the old Butterworth Jetty fell down due to overcrowding made the ferry ride less popular.

Nowadays, almost everyone - unless you're making the journey on foot - would be using the bridge. We now have two bridges, but traffic was still a problem especially getting on and off the bridge.

When I was in primary school, my parents tended to take us across to Penang on foot as he was not keen to find parking spot and wading through the heavy traffic. We would take either the bus or a taxi from Kepala Batas - still a tiny town then - to Butterworth Jetty. Walk across into the ferry, enjoy the 20 minutes ride before alighting in Georgetown and took another bus to the shopping malls.

On our last trip to Penang, I took my boys on the ferry again. I suspect that there was only a small number of ferry still in service at the wait at the jetty was quite long. The ride took about 15 minutes, and all of us actually got out from our van to enjoy the crossing. It was nice to feel the wind brushing our space, and not to mention the smell of diesel ..... memories ....

Definitely worth a ride if you were not on a rush. Since we took the trip from Georgetown to Butterworth, I was not sure how much the cost of the crossing. You'd have to pay for a single way from the mainland. Not sure how patient I would be if I was short for time.

Back to KL

It was a great idea to drive on Monday instead of during the weekend. Traffic was smooth, and we managed to get back to KL before the rush hour started. Now unpacked and about to hit the showers. Anita had made the orders for deliveries. That would be dinner for tonight.

Will be back to clinic tomorrow morning, and the usual mad first day back. Expect some aggravation. And I have a few meetings already lined up ....

For tonight, I would have to get the photographs I took in Penang and my blog in order. Early night of course and going through the emails.