In Yan to find the Aceh connection...

After leaving Merbok, I went staight to Yan.The Kedah town and district situated between the Melaka Straits (sorry... I refuse to use the Anglicised spelling Malacca) and Gunung Jerai was said to be opened my immigrants from Aceh. And being a person with ancestors coming from that land myself, I decided to go to Yan to look for some sort connections, physical or otherwise...

I arrived in Yan afternoon 18th January 2007. It was my first time there and I decide to immediately scout for the main mosque as a possible place to spend the night.

On the way, I saw this school... I was immediately struck by the name Langkasuka... Refer to Sultan Muzaffar Shah, the first king of Kedah? for a brief story of this ancient Malay kingdom... Is this the connection I'm looking for? It might not be immediately related to Aceh but it could be related to ancient Aceh under a different name... Just like Kedah was part of Langkasuka... So was Kelantan in East Coast Peninsular Malaysia and Patani ruled by the Thais, all part of the more ancient Langkasuka... Hmm...

There, the main mosque of Yan... Looks welcoming enough...

The pink-coloured halls... Why chose this rather girlish colour bringing aura of Barbie dolls to mind? Never mind... I have found myself a cosy spot for night. So its time to explore Yan...

I walked to Yan's very own 'beach'... At least there some stalls to have meals and drinks... Well, it is situated by the seaside but you can only call it a beach at certain times... Why? Just look at the pictures below...

Notice the mud? Maybe you can call it a beach during high tide but not at this hour... By the way, this is the view towards south...

The view towards the north shows an island the locals call Pulau Bunting... Bunting as in pregnant (not the English bunting as in big promotional posters and such) because they said it looks like a pregnant woman lying down.

I looked at it and try to 'find' the pregnant woman in question. Nope... I can't really see it. Either they are wrong or the woman in question is physically deformed, heh! Just kidding...

Anyway just look at the mud... Would you swim at this 'beach'? Yes, the place is pretty scenic but for one to take a dip and suffer the conquence of having mud smeared all over? Urgghhh!!!

Still, it is called Pantai Murni which literally translates as the 'pure beach'... Hmm... Somehow the words ring a bell but in a very unflatering way, hehe! :]

Anyway, I left the 'beach' at dusk... Look, the view of Gunung Jerai as night dawned...