Rice Museum of Kedah
I spent the last weekend back to my hometown - Alor Setar, Kedah.
Kedah has the distinction of being the "Rice Bowl of Malaysia", the Kedah-Perlis rice plains produce more than half of the country's home grown rice supply. Alor Setar, the state capital, is the seat of Government and the business centre of the state. The flat expanse of paddy fields against a backdrop of rolling hills provides a picture of utter serenity that lulls the senses. This was the environment that accompanied my childhood.
I was enjoying the TV programme on Astro and hugging my favorite pillow with my legs straight resting on the sofa. My dad prompted by a sudden impulse and wanted to visit the Rice Museum of Kedah! The Museum stands under the shadows of the towering Gunung Keriang in Kedah. Since I was so free at home, of course I was more than happy to accompany dad. On top, how could I never visit it before when it is just standing under the shadows of towering Gunung Keriang (eight kilometer from my house)!
On the journey there, I fall asleep due to my habits of sleeping late at night. When we reached a turning, dad woke me up.
"What do you think? Very nice isn't it?" he said. I tried to looks outside the window with my blurry eyes.
"I see only paddy fields and wooden houses which I always see around our house," I said, "what's so special about it?"
Very soon after that, the photo on a huge signboard by the roadside changed my mind. It is a photo of a vast museum in gold colour! Without further delay, dad turned in the lane beside the signboard. I am surprised to find this huge museum in the middle of nowhere. "Nowhere" here refers to almost 100,000 hectares of paddy fields. It is nothing else around the building. This is after all the Rice Bowl State of Malaysia. The rice motif repeated on the roof, the banisters, and even on the fence and gate outside.
It is a museum devoted to rice. According to the given pamphlet, the Rice Museum of Kedah is the first rice museum in Malaysia and the fourth in the world after Japan, German, and Filipina. It is Built on land belong to MADA (Malaysian Agricultural Development Authority) at a cost of RM24.7 million, the museum itself resembles bushels of harvested paddy stalks.
After leaving our shoes outside the entrance, we were directed to enter the gallery from the middle. The scene of the surrounding Guning Keriang region unfolds around us. It was the top portion accessible by a Spiral Staircase. As we tour it, we were given a thorough explanation about rice. Some are simply finer points, like songs dedicated to rice. There are several galleries with panoramic murals. These are the result of painstaking work by 60 artists from North Korea. What we found here was a massive circular mural measuring 103 m in circumference, and 8 m in height. While viewing the mural, I felt the scenery was moving. Soon I realized that I was standing on a revolving platform, and by simply being still, I will have the scenery rotate around me. There are chairs that provided around the platform. Visitors could just sit back and enjoy the scenery of Kedah!
As I stood there appreciating the fresco, I was taken in by the absolute size of the frescos. Indeed I cannot be sure where the ground is, and where the fresco begins.
"The painting is brilliant!" I just couldn't stop saying the line to myself.
It was truly amazing with a RM 3 admission! For those of you who are going to visit Kedah in the future, don't waste your change dropping by at the Rice Museum of Kedah!
Kedah has the distinction of being the "Rice Bowl of Malaysia", the Kedah-Perlis rice plains produce more than half of the country's home grown rice supply. Alor Setar, the state capital, is the seat of Government and the business centre of the state. The flat expanse of paddy fields against a backdrop of rolling hills provides a picture of utter serenity that lulls the senses. This was the environment that accompanied my childhood.
I was enjoying the TV programme on Astro and hugging my favorite pillow with my legs straight resting on the sofa. My dad prompted by a sudden impulse and wanted to visit the Rice Museum of Kedah! The Museum stands under the shadows of the towering Gunung Keriang in Kedah. Since I was so free at home, of course I was more than happy to accompany dad. On top, how could I never visit it before when it is just standing under the shadows of towering Gunung Keriang (eight kilometer from my house)!
On the journey there, I fall asleep due to my habits of sleeping late at night. When we reached a turning, dad woke me up.
"What do you think? Very nice isn't it?" he said. I tried to looks outside the window with my blurry eyes.
"I see only paddy fields and wooden houses which I always see around our house," I said, "what's so special about it?"
Very soon after that, the photo on a huge signboard by the roadside changed my mind. It is a photo of a vast museum in gold colour! Without further delay, dad turned in the lane beside the signboard. I am surprised to find this huge museum in the middle of nowhere. "Nowhere" here refers to almost 100,000 hectares of paddy fields. It is nothing else around the building. This is after all the Rice Bowl State of Malaysia. The rice motif repeated on the roof, the banisters, and even on the fence and gate outside.
It is a museum devoted to rice. According to the given pamphlet, the Rice Museum of Kedah is the first rice museum in Malaysia and the fourth in the world after Japan, German, and Filipina. It is Built on land belong to MADA (Malaysian Agricultural Development Authority) at a cost of RM24.7 million, the museum itself resembles bushels of harvested paddy stalks.
After leaving our shoes outside the entrance, we were directed to enter the gallery from the middle. The scene of the surrounding Guning Keriang region unfolds around us. It was the top portion accessible by a Spiral Staircase. As we tour it, we were given a thorough explanation about rice. Some are simply finer points, like songs dedicated to rice. There are several galleries with panoramic murals. These are the result of painstaking work by 60 artists from North Korea. What we found here was a massive circular mural measuring 103 m in circumference, and 8 m in height. While viewing the mural, I felt the scenery was moving. Soon I realized that I was standing on a revolving platform, and by simply being still, I will have the scenery rotate around me. There are chairs that provided around the platform. Visitors could just sit back and enjoy the scenery of Kedah!
As I stood there appreciating the fresco, I was taken in by the absolute size of the frescos. Indeed I cannot be sure where the ground is, and where the fresco begins.
"The painting is brilliant!" I just couldn't stop saying the line to myself.
It was truly amazing with a RM 3 admission! For those of you who are going to visit Kedah in the future, don't waste your change dropping by at the Rice Museum of Kedah!
5 Comments:
"On the journey there, I fall asleep due to my habits of sleeping late at night."
Uhm. Did you really sleep late, or not at all? :P
hehehe....
I did sleep.
Don't always think that I am a robot okey.. :D
a concrete building amongst the paddy fields. very intriguing.
ying - Yup, it is!
I took a lot of photos inside the museum but they were taken with my dad's camera.
Have to wait for him to develop the film.
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