Johor & Kedah - Malaysia

Johor - Malaysia

Johor is one of the states of Malaysia and it’s situated in the southeast part of Malaysian Peninsular. Johor is adjacent to Singapore and it is the gateway for people who are traveling to Malaysia through Singapore. The word Johor derives from Arabic word Jauhor (جَوْهَر) which means precious stone. As the meaning of the word implies Johor is full of wonderful cultural, natural and architectural wonders. People who are traveling to Malaysia for tourism purposes shouldn’t skip Johor as it has lot to offer to them. Johor is the home ‘TanjungPiai’ the southernmost tip of Asia. Johor is rich with unique culture as it can be seen in the local clothing, songs, folk dances, hamdolok and cuisine. The city houses unique Island and beaches, historical buildings, world class shopping centre, International theme parks, National parks and forest reserves with full of wide range of wild animals.

Folk Dances and Music

Zapin and KudaKepang are two famous and popular folk dances in Johor. Zapin was initially composed to use exclusively for religious ceremonies. With time Zapin has developed into a form of recreation for local people. In Zapin performers dance in pairs and accompanied by traditional music ensemble which usually consists of gambus (a short neck lute), accordion, rebab, rebana (drum),amarwas (bongos), and dok.

KudaKepan dance usually depict a group of horsemen wearing colorful cloths while riding horse which are made from woven bamboo decorated with beautiful colored paints. The dance group, depending on circumstances, consists of 2 to 8 persons usually drawn from local community start their dance by mounting rattan horses accompanied by traditional instruments like angklung, gongs, and dog-dog drums. Usually Kuda Kepang is performed during wedding ceremonies and other cultural and ritual festivities like a boy’s circumcision or rite of passage.

National Parks

Johor has five national parks and several smaller forests serve as a recreational spot most of which are based around mountains. Famous for its conservation afford to preserve its huge biodiversity and many exotic species of animals Johor national parks are perfect place for tourist who seeks to explore the natural wonders through the rainforests, exotic mountains, mangrove swamps and coral reefs all of which are located within the national parks. One of the famous natural parks is TanjungPiai National Park which is only two hours away from Johor Bahru’s city centre. Tanjung Piai Park. Recognized by UNESCO and gazette as a Ramsar Convention, Tanjung Piai National Park is famous for its feeding ground of many migratory birds and home for colorful mangrove crabs, crab eating macaques and wide-eyed mudskippers.

Endau-Rompin National Park is another famous national park located on the Johor-pahang border. Endau-Rompin National Park is a protected tropical rainforest with long forest trail, beautiful waterfall and salt licks. Famous for its wild variety of animals like the highly endangered Sumatran rhinoceros, Asian elephant, wild boar, Malaysian tiger, slow loris, deer, leopards and long tail macaques Endau-Rompin National Park is a great place to have a journey in the wide Malaysia. Other national parks includes: GunungLedang National Park, PulauKukup National Park and Mersing Marine Park, each of these have their own unique attraction.

Danga Bay

Facing towards the straits of Johor, 7km away from Johor Bahru city centre, this 25km long waterfront offer some of the best scenery around the world. Danga Bay is one of the largest recreational area of the whole Malaysia with luxurious hotels and condos, convention centre and marina residential properties. Danga Bay is the perfect place for couple looking for a romantic place to enjoy each other company with mesmerizing waterfront view in front of them while enjoying delicious cuisine. The night view of Danga Bay is amazing with its beautifully lit colorful road and contrast scenery which are also perfect for night landscape photography. It’s also a great place for a family with kids as the place as lots of kids attraction like theme parks. Theme parks like Danga World Mini Theme park provide fun filled activities like pirate ship ride, merry-go-round, and bumper cars, flying elephant ride, roller coaster ride and many others for a memorable journey to kids.

Kedah - Malaysia

Kedah is located in the northwestern part of Peninsular Malaysia. Anyone interested in visiting peaceful, picturesque scenery with lots of ancient archaeological history to explore should visit Kedah state. It is an ancient Malaysian state with more than 1900 years old history and culture. The Kedah state constitute with mainland with relatively flat terrain and anarchipelago of islands including the famous island resort Langkawi. The mainland with its relatively flat terrain is used to produce paddy in large area, in fact it is the biggest paddy producing state in Malaysia. Kedah is home of Asia’s first Geopark. The state capital, Alor Star, has lots of historical and modern architectures. Langkawi is often called the jewel of Kedah mostly because of its iconic natural scenery it has to offer. Langkawi offers beautiful blue beach with breath taking sunset scenery, a chance to feed eagles at the mangrove swamp or a enjoy a relax carefree days in your resort. From large paddy fields to beautiful beach, from rivers to mountains, from mainland to island Kedah has so much to offer to the visitors.

World Geopark

Langkawi is recognized by UNESCO in 2007 as a World Geopark. In Langkawi Island there are three main conservation areas – Machincang Cambrian Geo-forest Park, Kilim Karst Geo-forest Park and Dayang Bunting Marble Geo-park. These three parks are the most popular tourism area with Langkawi Geo-park. Langkawi has two main island areas – one is Southern Island which attracts the most tourists and other is northeast which is relatively isolated. Langkawi also has a number of beautiful beaches enrich with white sand, accompanied by many restaurants and bars for your evening entertainment.

The beach is lined with tall coconut and casuarinas trees perfect for your enjoyment of iconic and droll worthy sunset watch. Some of the most popular beaches of Langkawi are Pantai Cenang, Pantai Tengah, PantaiKok, Datai Bayand Burau Bay. Other tourist attraction in Langkawi includes Cable car and Sky Bridge, Underwater World Aquarium, various cruises services, shopping and much more.

Arcaheological Site

Located between GunungJerai in the north and Muda River in the south, Bujang Valley in Kedah is the oldest civilization of Southeast Asia. The ancient Bujang Valley civilization ruled by Hindu-Buddhist kingdom goes back as early as 110 A.D. The jetty remains of temple, clay bricks; iron smelting sites signifies the civilization’s proud and rich history. Kedah also holds the title of holding the richest archeological area in whole Malaysia. More than fifty ancient tomb temples, called candi dated back to as early as 3rd to the 12th century AD are discovered in Kedah. Various relics such as inscribed stone caskets and tablets, ceramics, Buddha Statues, Hindu icons, metal tools and ornaments are found in these temples. Go to Lembah Bujang Archaeological Museum to fulfill your thrust to see the ancient Malaysian civilization relics.

Local Market

Curiosity is idiosyncratic about local culture of Kedah, their delicacies and their everyday interaction. Then go to the local market known as PekanRabu or “Wednesday Market”, located at Alor Star it is a great place to see and buy local handicrafts products, clothes and enjoying local foods. PekanRabu provides one of the best places to get traditional Malay foods such as serunding (chicken or beef floss), dodol durian (durian sweet confection) and belacan (shrimp paste) and much more. During the months of Ramadhan the market is most populated with locals and tourists eager to get their hands on pristine locals’ goods.