Alor Star- Kaki Bukit-Sungai Petani Trip, Day 1

I have been delaying this post for quite sometime now. Finally, I now get to start on it. Actually, I had another post on my mind, but then again, erm..I seemed to lost the pics for that one. So now, it's this one.

Ok, Matt began to tell me about a trip to Alor Star and Kaki Bukit during the weeks before the exams. It was to be during the exams. I checked my schedule and I felt it was entirely ok to have a break, because there was a gap about 4 days between my second last and my last paper. And after a few exam papers, I packed my bag and followed the gang to Alor Star..Wuhooo!

(At matt's aunt's place, in Alor Star)

We took Juliet (lynx's car) all the way up to Alor Star. We had some praise and worship session in the car. As soon as we got to matt's place, we were famished! we only had erm, curry mee and some pork for breakfast (hey, I'm growing, k?) Well, we put our bags and off we go to get some food.

(awesome assam laksa!)

So matt brought us to a place to have a great plate of assam laksa, and it's cheap too. It's just RM 1.80 for a plate. The broth is just right. There were two choices, one with lemak, and the other without. Needless to say, I tried the one with lemak. Well, the broth is just creamy and the noodles are good.

(fried yam with glutinious cake)

Matt also bought us some fried finger food. We had fried yam with glutinous cake and some friend corn with flour (below). The fried stuff was a god combo. And it's fresh too! Real crispy and nice.

Well...we then washed down the assam laksa with a bowl of ais kacang. I shared with Alex. And imagine that, a bowl for just RM 1.70. I don't think you can get that in KL nowadays. Well, it was refreshing, although the taste could have been better.

After the meal, we wanted to visit a famous tourist place, the birth house of the ex-Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir. But being there on a Friday noon was not a good idea, as the place was closed for Friday Prayers. So, we went back to watch "Wanted". After that erm...violent and parental guidance advised show.lol..we went out to the place again.


The place is not just a home now. Most of the original structure was preserved and there were additional buildings built around it to tell more of the leader's past. About his childhood, his writings, his marriage, his lineage, his practice and for sure, about his political involvement, prior to him being a Prime Minister. However, as my friend noted, there were only information before he was Prime Minister, not during his rule. Well, I guess there was something to be said, eh?

Anyways, there are no admission fees, but you do need a few hours, if you want to go through the exhibits in the other buildings. The original house were seen to be preserved well. The architecture brought back memories of a village life. It struck me on how a leader can always be born, no matter of the circumstances, or the origins. True, good tree bear good fruits but you can never say that the tree does not bear good fruit, when the time has not yet come to judge *wink*.

No photography or any other form of recording was allowed in the house. So, matt took a pic from the outside. well this pic does remind me of the four kings and queens of Narnia. Well, go figure. lol. We then made a trip to the fort in Kuala Kedah (I think*scratch head*) The fort was an old remnant and we took quite a number of pics.

The setting of the sun in the nearby see signaled the coming of dusk. We got one final picture there before we left. ^.^v

(group pic, especially loved this one !!)

There were much more pics and crazy stuff that we did, including erm a run from one end of the fort to the other.hehe. But too many pics may take a long time to download this page. Anyways, with our visual, and hearing sense satisfied, we proceed to feed a very important sense, the tummy (hey, I think it's a very important sense, you know?)

So, our stop was in one of the food courts (ask Matt). We spotted a stall that makes claypot chicken rice with charcoal, how cool is that? We immediately ordered one pot for each one of us. And lo and behold, it did not dissapoint. Although, we underestimated the size of the pot. It seemed tiny, barely able to have one plate of rice. But when we scooped it up, it was almost 2 plates.
The gravy was thick and the flavour and aroma was top-notch. well, matthew went to get some fried stuff and we had it before hte claypot came in. The claypot did take sometime, as the charcoal needs a longer cooking period. Well, good food needs time and effort, right? So, the fried stuff was good. Real crunchy and tasty. Mouth-watering.

(erm, I forgot about not asking for plastic bags)

Located next to the food court, was a peculiar sign that caught my eyes. It was a club for blood donation! How cool is that?! I had been an advocate of blood donation (but I slacked off recently) and organ donations, so seeing the sign was akin to rabbits seeing a horde of rabbits ( or something like that..lol..) So, that is a totaly cool club. I wonder what is the membership fee? Hmm..maybe a blood donation? And the club activities? Hmm..something to think about eh?

So, after a hearty meal, we returned to matt's place, to bathe and then take turn on the Playstation. After a few rounds of Tekken and Need for Speed, we settled for Hellboy 2: The Golden Army. I did stay up late to watch Mamma Mia after that and tried to erm appreciate Cats, but my tiredness got into the way. Hehe..I think I slept around 3am, or something.

The first day was a great one. The only regret was that it ended all too soon ;)