New Year 2022 Trip- Perlis

 Dear lovely readers,

It has been quite some time that I haven't write a thing in this space. Somewhat a 'hidden' gem. Anyways, I wanted to share on my recent visit to Perlis. Hopefully, this can help those who planned to have a nice weekend later on. 

Alhamdulillah, me and my husband decided to make a trip to the smallest state in Malaysia celebrating the New Year 2022. Since the border is still open for the time being, it is certainly the best opportunity to grab before it closes back due to pandemic. 

Why Perlis tho? 

Perlis has been underrated for the past few years, as people might think that there's not much of fun things to explore there. Anyways, this state has grew a lot these recent years with so many attractions despite of the current pandemic. Okay, let's straight to what we have done in this Indera Kayangan state. 

So we started our journey on Saturday, 1st January 2022 from Sungai Petani, Kedah. We chose Padang Besar as our first pit stop of the day. Padang Besar, or local called it as Padang Besaq is situated at the border of Malaysia - Thailand. It is a free-trade commercial area where so many business people selling goods from Thailand. The price of the items sold were quite cheap and many warehouse sellers came to this place to stock pile their selling items. However, due to pandemic, I would say the numbers of traders and items sold were reduced and not many varieties as before. But I would encourage to all of you to come over if you wanted to get a very good price of beddings and Thai-based food such as 'Maggi Serda', tom yum paste and Thai fruit produce. 

However, since Padang Besar is the border to our neighbouring country, you will have to get through UPP (Unit Pencegahan Penyeludupan) under the Department of Immigration, Malaysia. This is to ensure that there is no suspicious items from Thailand or from Malaysia to get through the border without consent. 

Some of the goods can be found in the market.

Some of them selling Thai food ingredients. I was excited to see the Thai sugar which is can be used for som tam and some other delicacies. 

Since we were there during monsoon season, it is advisable to bring along your umbrella or raincoat. Because the distance between the parking area to the market was quite far and you don't want to get a free bathing session in the midst of shopping. 

After almost two hours strolling at Padang Besar, it's lunchtime! Earlier, we planned to have a good lunch at Restoran Anjung Keli, situated in Kangar. But due to high traffic (New Year weh, do expect a massive number of people going out from their house), we changed our plan and eat at the nearest restaurant. We don't mind as long as we can have our lunch. 

Our next pit stop was to check-in our stay, which was Guest House Gua Kelam, Kaki Bukit, Perlis. I chose this place due to its serene location, located just in front of the Gua Kelam (Cave of Darkness) and surrounded by the mystical forest. It was a cabin style guesthouse with affordable price and I love the fact that my room is facing the valley of the Banjaran Nakawan. 

This is the view from our room.

This was the interior of our room. It was minimalist and complete with toilet inside the room.

A sneak peek of our surround from our cute room. Our room is located at the first floor of the cabin.

Then we decided to have a rest after a long drive (almost two hours from our house) and the rainy shopping session previously. 

After having a good rest, its the moment that we have been waiting for- visiting the cave! Since it was public holiday and weekend, we have to bear with the numerous people coming in and out of the cave area. We need to be extra careful due to the pandemic tho. Here are some of the memories taken at the cave 

I like it how those trees were discussing not to trespass each other haha, they also do have boundaries!

Trying out the infamous pulut ayam. Verdict? not my cup of tea I supposed.

Did not missed out the pulut mango tho. Forever delish!

The magnificent view from the viewpoint.

Dear husband, with the lake background.

The river stream into the main lake behind the cave.

Hello guys!