Travel North: Gurun + Alor Setar

It’s my 27 years old birthday, and we decided to be slightly more adventurous and travel up north. Though we aren’t really doing it backpack style, but we did let a lot of decision making to be spontaneous (and did carry a backpack and drive) and she did some basic research through the Internet.

We book for a luxury package at Pedu Lake, which is extremely far away. Thus our entire journey revolve around our route to and back from Pedu Lake. We decide to visit Gurun, and then spend a night at Alor Setar before going to Pedu.

Kedah is not really a famous tourist destination, with lots of paddy field. Our first stop is Gurun, stop by to visit Gunung Jerai. Gunung Jerai is something like a mini Fraser Hill, 30 minutes to drive up some narrow road to see a resort with lots of greenery and mountains up there. The scenery up there is pretty nice, not exactly fantastic. Supposing it would be quite nice to spend a night up here, but I am afraid we shall be bored to death.



There is an archeology site nearby, but we are running out of time and head for Alor Setar instead. Alor Setar is quite a big town, with a lot of interesting building such as clock tower, beautiful mosque and museum, and a mini “KL Tower” as well. We hit a budget hotel at RM 55 per night, and somehow all the food in Alor Setar tastes pretty good.




The next stop is Gunung Keriang, about 30 minutes away from town, with a crystal mountain in the middle of paddy field, and a supposingly fascinating paddy museum as well. It turn out the museum is quite a disappointment as well, with nothing much except a big and realistically drawn scenery of the surrounding areas displayed through its gigantic dome. Gunung Jeriang is made up of a small park, and a 10 minutes climb to a little shelter on top. The scenery was quite nice up there, overseeing the park and some paddy fields. We was told we could actually climb to the peak and sees some crystals, wind tunnel, funny trees and glowing trees at night, plus a view of the sea. Too bad I didn’t manage to wake up the next morning for the climb, as I was seduced by the cool air and cozy bed.



The 1st day ended pretty well, with about 5-6 hours drive from KL to reach Alor Setar. We missed a few tourism spot in Kedah, including the beach, the waterfall and the archeology site.

Photo Links: Mei Ru's Multiply