For our third day based in Alor Setar, we drove west for 30 minutes to the coastal fishing village of Kuala Kedah to visit the fort (Kota Kuala Kedah) on the banks of the Kedah River. It turned out that we were not the only visitors to this historic complex, so it was encouraging to see local tourists out and about.
On the way out of the city we spotted an old fashioned car wash, so decided to give the car a treat. I haven’t used an automatic car wash for about 30 years, so this was going to be an adventure in itself! When we lived in Hong Kong, the caretakers of blocks of flats made a bit of pocket money by the washing the resident’s cars, or that was the job of the maid. Here in Johor Bahru there are many carwash places, mostly manned by immigrant labour who come to Malaysia on the promise of a job in the car industry. They spray your car with foam detergent, wash the dirt away, wipe away the surplus water, clean and hoover the inside of the car (and the boot!), and polish the tyres, all for a relatively small sum of money. Now Alor Setar’s carwash was semi-automatic and a bit of a challenge as all the instructions had to be conveyed by sign language. Still, we succeeded and took our gleaming car to the coast.
When you are driving around Malaysia, it is best to take the smaller roads and don’t worry about how long it will take to get from A to B (unless time is limited of course). The countryside is always interesting to look at, and villages/towns are generally well spaced. Petrol stations are everywhere and good places to fill up with snacks for the rest of the journey or to make use of the toilets. Our drive today from Alor Setar to Kuala Kedah was no different; we drove through lovely countryside to get to our destination.
Fort Kuala Kedah (Kota Kuala Kedah) is the oldest Malay fort in northern Malaysia and dates from the 17th century. In 1780 to 1782, Sultan Mukarram Syah, the 20th Sultan of Kedah, rebuilt and strengthened the fort using labour imported from India. The walls of the fort were made from red bricks using some local mix including chalk from cockle shells and snail shells, as well as egg whites and honey.
You can tell it had a complicated history from just one of the many information boards here. In 1611 this fort was attacked by the Portuguese upon the orders of the King of Siam (Thailand) who was envious of the friendship between Kedah and King Ava Burma (Myanmar). Eventually the Portuguese came to a trading settlement with Kedah and the fort was used as a trading post, especially for tin ore. But by 1619 the Portuguese were ousted from the fort by the Achehnese, etc etc…..
Today the fort serves as an information centre and has excellent display boards explaining local history. I do not want to fill up my blog with all this information but would encourage you to visit this place and learn for yourselves. But because of the role played by the northern states during the Japanese invasion in 1941, I am going to quote an announcement made by General Yamashita on 14th December 1941. He was the Commander of the Japanese Army in Alor Setar and here is his announcement,
“We, children of the Rising Sun, have seized the Malay State from the hands of the British. We are your saviours right from the roots. Therefore, you need not fear us; instead return happily from your hiding places and continue with your daily life. At the same time, observe the rules of the Nippon government.”
From what I have read and heard from friends, the period of Japanese Occupation and the subsequent Malayan Emergency period (1948-1960) were some of the bleakest periods in living memory.
Here are photos of the principal buildings on this extensive site: first we have the Kacapuri Archway (Pintu Gerbang Kacapuri)...
The British Archway (Pintu Gerbang British)...
The Lighthouse (Rumah Api)… built in 1891 with funding from the Thai government.
Remains of the old palace…
The whole complex is surrounded by a brick wall, and you can see its defensive nature when you get to the part along the river; it is dotted with cannons.
And this is the view of the river, showing the strategic nature of this location.
Today the view is of a ferry terminal taking visitors to Langkawi, and the fishing boats still working the waters here.
As we still had a bit of time left in the afternoon, we decided to see if we could visit the birth place of Malaysia’s longest serving Prime Minister, Dr. Mahatir Mohamad, which is located around the back of the Alor Setar Tower. Sadly it was closed so we could only peer through the gates.
By now we were receiving quite a few tips from people following our Road Trip on Facebook, so we took up a recommendation to visit a particular restaurant for dinner in Alor Setar, located just past the Kedah State Museum. Unfortunately it was only serving takeaway so we turned around and ate at the Museum Signature cafe which we had stopped at for a drink before. I think the meal looked more interesting than it tasted but it was pleasant sitting in the open air by the river. When we drove back through the city to our hotel, I noticed all the colourful lights hanging over the main road past the Zahir Mosque, so we made a little detour to catch the lights on video.
This was our last day exploring Alor Setar as the next day we would be spending in the neighbouring state of Perlis. I really enjoyed our time in Kedah. I think too many people bypass Alor Setar when flying to the holiday island of Langkawi, but I think a few days here would be time well spent.
Here is a slide show of the photos taken on Day 11:
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