Friday 27 October 2017

Short Escape up North (Day 1-2)

We were pulling long hours at work and it was so tiring that the few of us decided to take a break and travel up north and enjoy what there is to offer there. So we took a slow drive from Muar to Kedah after work.


We decided to stop by Auto City for dinner and it was amazing. There were so many different eateries and we had trouble deciding where to dine. Ended up walking around the place thrice before deciding.

So after dinner, we went for a walk and saw some amazingly beautiful places.

The decorations are simply breathtaking.

Well if you are bored, why not have a game of snakes and ladders. This picture did not do it any justice. It was a huge piece of snake and ladder game so kids will definitely love it.

And... there's these cutie pies.. :) :)

These are so nostalgic. The decorations make it look like an ancient time eatery so you feel like a legend in the modern world. Haha.


We put the night up at my colleague's house up in Alor Setar. As we arrived close to midnight, I wasn't able to take much photos but the next day, we decided to wake up early and explore the good food they have to offer and let me tell you something: It never disappointed me. Haha. Being a picky eater, I can fairly say that these food are amazing.


This curry fish head place at Kampung Lubok Peringgi is just simply amazing. If you are in Alor Setar, waze yourself to No. 8 Curry House and you will find yourself in a beautiful place with some Thai ambience and fill your tummies with some delectable delicacies.

After filling our tummies, we decided to go for a drive around Alor Setar which is the capital of Kedah. The Zahir Mosque was said to be one of the grandest and oldest mosques in Malaysia. It was built in 1912 and has been voted the top 10 most beautiful mosques in the world. The Alor Setar Tower on the other hand is a communication tower but tourists can have a ride all the way up and enjoy the scenery of Alor Setar.

The Zahir Mosque that looks stunning in the middle of the city. It somehow reminds me of Aladdin.

The Alor Setar Tower standing proud and tall right in the middle of the city.

Aman Central which houses many local and international brands and we spent hours here doing what girls do best. Haha. Retail therapy is a good therapy.

After burning calories at Aman Mall, it was time for dinner again. This time, we drove to Jitra (as recommended by locals) and the trip was worth it. It was a restaurant with a Thai twist of flavours. The name of the place is Restoran 5 Utara in Jitra.
The northern style otak-otak. Taste different from what we have in Muar but nevertheless, it was good and unique in its own way.
One of my favourite dishes. Not many people can handle the taste of petai and its strong flavours but I love them. The petais here are much bigger than the ones we usually get in Johore and it was sooooo yummy.



The cuttlefish was the best dish of the night. It was spicy but veryyyyy good.

We headed back to my friend's house for the night and I intentionally missed out on telling everyone that her house was surrounded by fields after fields of paddy. It was a good season to enjoy the fields as it was almost time for harvest and the paddy fields were just stunning. I woke up early the next morning to have a feel of the morning market here but alas, forgot to take photo of it as we were busy shopping (again...). Alor Setar has so many beautiful paintings and murals in their back alleys.

We woke up to this view of the rising sun. Simply stunning.

Two of the cutest childhood memories. The one on the left is a popular toy that we used to get with some chocolate balls when we were little (90s kids growing up in Malaysia would recognise this immediately) and the one on the right is Doraemon - one of my favourite childhood cartoon characters.

A painting of the late Tunku Abdul Rahman, the first Prime Minister of Malaysia who was born in Alor Setar and moved on to become the Father of Independence in Malaysia. This mural was painted to commemorate the sacrifices that Tunku had done for the nation.
A mural of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia, also known as the Father of Modernization. 

 After going around town in the morning, we decided to have our scrumptuous lunch at Seafood Restaurant in Jalan Kampung Perak. PS: We ordered more than those 2 shown in the picture but we were busy eating that we forgot to take photo of the other food. Haha.

Words cannot describe how amazing this fish was. Those golden brown toppings are fried pickled vegetables that enhanced the flavours of the steamed fish.

As the old Chinese rhyme goes: Have some leek and you will have lots of money to count (say it in Hokkien dialect and have a good laugh). 

It is now time to explore the paddy fields and we had a good time running around and playing in the fields.

These paddies are almost ready to be harvested. There's a Malay saying that goes like this: Be like paddies, the more contents you have, the lower you bow. It tells us to be humble wherever we go even though we might be the experts in what we do.

Imagine waking up to this view... absolutely amazing.

A beautiful picture of sunset by the paddy fields.

So that was how my first 2 days of the trip went. Stay tuned for updates on the rest of the trip.

Cheers
Min

0 comments:

Post a Comment