According to my notes, this was a nicely laid out museum, not too big and overwhelming like the Terengganu State Museum. Some museums do not allow you to take photos inside, and this was one such place. As a result I cannot recall exactly what we saw here and I guess I did not learn anything I did not already know. Afterall, we had read up about the history of the places we were visiting before we started on this road trip. What we were looking out for for how each state presented its history to visitors.
There were some interesting buildings either side of the museum, the first being a replica of the Kacapuri or Malim Gateway. The original was built during the construction of the main fort (1771 - 1780), which had Indian architectual features. The original gateway collapsed during a storm in 1971. This gateway of the fort lead directly to the palace within, and is strategically located next to the Kedah River.
On the other side of the museum was this government building. I love the architecture of buildings like this and the ornamentation on the outside.
We continued walking across a large open space which had a couple of old wooden houses. I did not walk up to these to investigate as I was wilting in the heat of this exposed space. Instead I carried on to a large hanger at the far end.
The large hanger housed a couple of what looked like processional boats, so I assume this open space was part of the processional space. The first ‘boat’ was labelled ‘Layang Emas’ or ‘The Royal Ark’. It was built by Ruslin Long for the coronation ceremony of the 29th Sultan of Kedah on 14th November 2018. I imagine the sight of this ark, with its bejewelled passengers, travelling through the streets of Alor Setar must have been quite spectacular.
Back next to the museum, as beside the river, we found a cafe called Museum Signature so stopped for a drink. I selected one of their special drinks called Kembikai selasih which was watermelon with frogspawn! Of course it wasn’t frogspawn but it wasn’t until I posted this photo online that a friend explained what I was drinking. The frogspawn is basil seeds which have been soaked in water, and they provide a sharp taste to the drink.
We also discovered a tasty snack for which I have no photos, but I believe is called rempeyek. The batter is fried to a thin crisp and peanuts are added on top before it finishes frying. The resulting crisp remains crispy even after the packet has been opened for a day, so this made a really good snack to have in the car.
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