Now, as told in the story on Tanjung Dawai, I was supposed to go to Alor Setar, the capital of Kedah right after I'm done with Yan. So I got delayed for a day because of the turn events. In fact I nearly got delayed another day because I had to entertain some people in Tanjung Dawai. Dusk was approaching within the hour and the family which hosted me there asked me to stay another night but I was adamant I must go to Alor Setar that very day even if there's no more public transport left. Even if I have to walk and hitchike until the next day.
So a member of the family decided to take me to Yan by bike nearly 30km away. At least I can get busses to Alor Setar up till 9pm or so. Suffice to say, I arrived at night. The picture above of the riverside near the famous Pekan Rabu (literally translated as the Wednesday market) was taken the next day...
OK... Having let that off my chest. Now I'll be very brief so that I could complete the last few stories of the trip up north in January ya... Above is a monument commerating the 250th year of the opening of Alor Setar.
Another monument commemorating the announcement of Alor Setar (never mind the spelling ya as some prefer to use Alor Star, some Alor Setar) as a city, can't remember when, a year or two ago or so...
This plaque commemorate the particular area where Alor Setar got its name...
The drain used to be an alor (can't find the exact English word off-hand but it is like a drain without water). Next to it grows a setar tree (again, I don't know the actual translation)... So Alor Setar... Get it?
Masjid Zahir, the old main mosque of Alor Setar... I will do a story on it in the bi-lingual blogspot SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART) soon, God willing!
A view of the street in front of the mosque leading to the 100-metre high or so Alor Setar tower...
A view of the Kedah river behind Masjid Zahir...
The Balai Besar or "Big Hall" in front of Masjid Zahir which used to be a venue for royal functions...
The Balai Nobat or the hall where the royal musical instrument is kept, as least that's what the plaque says... There are people who beg to differ saying this building is actually what's left of an old mosque which was destroyed to erase the history of the existence of a different ruling family. Hmm...
That very day, 22nd January 2007, I decided to go to the mythical island of Langkawi. The nearest jetty is at Kuala Kedah 15km west of Alor Setar. Above is a picture of the jetty complex with an odd little building in front. What building is that? Let me veer away from the question for the while...
Oh... Just for the record. Earlier during the day, I made a trip to Langgar some 11 km north-east of Alor Setar. The Kedah royal mausoleum is located there and I've posted the story here more than 3 months ago. Have a look at A visit to the royal mausoleum at Langgar, Kedah?
Before embarking on the ferry to Langkawi, I decided to visit Kampung (village of) Pasai nearby... Why? Because I have a liking for the name Pasai which is the name of an ancient kingdom located in present-day Aceh. And so the village above (too bad, I took pictures of the ugly parts. The whole village seems pretty run-down to me) is named after a group of people who migrated from the Pasai area some time ago...
Now we can get back to the odd building in front of the jetty. For information, it houses the tomb of a certain personality known as Tok Pasai. He is said to be a warrior and religious scholar of saintly status from Pasai who migrated here in the 19th century. That's why the tomb is still here... The story goes that the area in front of the jetty used to be an old graveyard which was relocated to make way for development. But the authorities can't do anything about this particular tomb... It seems the machines went dead when they tried to touch it while the workers involved felt sick. Hmm... OK, on to the next story... :]
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