Five reasons to visit Perlis Malaysia

Perlis Malaysia is the country’s northern-most State and it’s really small. Known mainly for its extensive rice fields, the State has four main towns – Kangar the Capital, Arau the Royal town, Kuala Perlis for food and ferry services as a jump off point for Langkawi and Padang Besar for the border crossing with Thailand. So why should I visit Perlis? It was never on our bucket list, but when we were invited to join a group of friends to check it out, we jumped at the chance.

Because it’s so small, it’s a great stop before or after visiting Langkawi or Thailand. But our recent visit made it clear why you should spend a few days there, to enjoy what’s on offer. The State government is also working with Tourism bodies to promote Visit Perlis 2024/25, and they’ve got quite a few things to show off.

Visit Perlis 2024/25

As the State welcomes visitors with their Visit Perlis campaign, we discovered a few great things you shouldn’t miss, whether you want to Relax, enjoy the Scenery, or indulge your Foodie love of something new to try or Things to see, and every Malaysian’s hobby, Shopping! You can scroll and zoom the map to see all the places mentioned. Don’t forget to check right at the top, in Padang Besar! To open a larger map in a new tab, click the top right hand corner of the frame.

Relax and enjoy the culture

Choley kampung Warna Warni Kuala Perlis

• Address: 188, Kampung Tengah,
  • Seberang Ramai,
  • 02000 Kuala Perlis, Perlis
• Open: daily from 9am-7pm.
• Stay: At least an hour to wander around.
• Phone: 019-444 9672

Kampung Warna Warni (Colourful Village) is made up of 7 smaller, colourfully decorated kampungs and 15 lanes. The houses are well kept and the residents have formed a co-operative (Koperasi Perkampungan Warna Warni Kampung Tengah Berhad) to oversee the Colourful Kampungs project, which is an initiative of the Raja Muda (Crown Prince) of Perlis, Tuanku Syed Faizuddin Putra Ibni Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Jamalullail.

Not only are the buildings colourfully painted, the villagers have recycled/reused items like plastic bottles and horseshoe crab shells to decorate their homes. There are also beautiful gardens throughout the villages. The main entry to Kampung Warna Warni is via Kampung Tengah, where events are usually held in the open space and a communal building.

To ensure authenticity, the villagers still maintain their lifestyle, mostly as fishermen, who sell their catch at Kuala Perlis. They do much of the painting in their free time and since Kampung Warna Warni became a tourist attraction, the village’s total income has been increasing steadily from tourists who spend in the kampung. The cost of paints is provided by various state and federal-related organisations including the Perlis Islamic Religious Council (MAIP).

Apart from the decorated houses, a must see is a traditional Perlis Malay house, characterised by a ‘long-roofed house’. It can be divided into three main parts, which are the ‘mother’s house’, the kitchen and the household/house. You’ll pass the traditional house on your way to the colourful Tuanku Syed Petra bridge, which spans the Sungai Perlis (Perlis River) and from where you can see the ferry terminal, just behind the customs and market buildings across the river.

We found the locals conservative but friendly and very welcoming to visitors and if you’d like to stay, there are homestay options available. This would be a great way to meet the locals, especially on your way to or from Langkawi. From the front entrance of Kampung Warna Warni to the Ferry Terminal across the other side of the river you can walk 1.5km across the colourful bridge. According to Google Earth, this will take about 20 mins.

Four ferries: (There may be more but these are the ones we found and we do not have any connection with any)

• Langkawi Ferry (Passenger only) Website
• Sani Ferry (Passenger only) Website  Facebook
• Langkawi RoRo (Vehicles and Passengers, 1 trip daily each way) Website  Facebook
• Langkawi Wantas RoRo (Vehicles and Passengers, 1 trip daily each way) website

Have a Spa treatment

Wahyuni Beauty & Muslimah Spa has three outlets offering Shariah compliant ladies only head-to-toe spa services. They also prepare their own products which can be purchased online. 

• Jalan Penjara, Arked Kayang, 01000, Kangar, Perlis
• 5 Jalan Medan Satu, off Jln Padang Behor, Kangar
• Mon – Sun, 9:00am – 6:00pm
• Phone: 0175410679
• Email: [email protected]
• Website: Koperasi Wahyuni Perlis
  • and this one which is still under development.

The founder, Azarina, began business as a mobile spa service but now has three outlets (two in Kangar and one in Alor Setar in Kedah). We visited the one in Jalan Medan Satu in Kangar where this writer enjoyed a serious foot massage by the founder at that left her feet feeling very grateful.

Prices are reasonable and they also offer a range of beautiful massage oils, jamu and similar products, also available online. They also run training programmes at the spa outlet in their Kampung Sena outlet.

Wahyuni provides 3 types of massages: Malay massage, Urutan Malaysia (specific Malaysian Massage that infuses the various massage techniques from Malaysia’s ethnic groups), and relaxing massage.

Enjoy the Scenery

Perlis from above is a sea of green during the time rice is growing and apparently there is a place where you can get a 360° view of the landscape. We didn’t actually go there, but a description of the view from the top of Bukit Cenderawasih makes me want to start planning another trip. However, stuck to ground level as we were, we were still spoilt for photographic choices, the rice fields were beautiful, limestone hills dramatic, the houses were neat and ‘rural’ and the skies were just magnificent, not a word used lightly here. The dry weather common in Perlis makes for brilliant skies and the clouds are the sort that make for beautiful sunset/sunrise shots.

Eat something different

Proximity to Thailand means there is some Thai influence in the food and products you can enjoy. In addition, the hot and dry weather provides great growing conditions for rice, mangoes and durians.

Kampung durians

Before the introduction of hybridisation, what fell from the tree, was what you got, kampung durians. Yes, that’s true, they literally fall from the tree with a thud so you don’t use this as a shade tree! We had the opportunity to try out some kampung durians and jumped at the chance.

The quality is variable, but when you eat the traditional way, on a mat or table at the stall, they’ll change the ones that are not good. We returned a few, but generally the quality was good, with creamy flesh and a mild flavour. After we’d had our fill, we used the empty shells to hold water and rinsed our fingers (a few times) to remove any lingering durian smell.

Harumanis mangoes

Warung Hutan Temin,
Kampung Hutan Temin,
Kampung Mata Ayer,
02500, Perlis

Phone: +60125795109

The hot and dry weather is perfect for growing a large, very sweet mango known as the Harumanis mango, which is seasonal (April to June) and only harvested once a year.

Apart from the hot and drier weather, this mango requires soil that is rich with the limestone also found in Perlis, to flourish. We dropped by Warung Hutan Temin where they grow Harumanis and though the season is just finished, we were still able to enjoy the fruit, which has been frozen to make juice and allows the farm to remain open year long selling their Harumanis juice.

Miang kham

Miang kham is something we’d never seen before, even during a trip to Laos, where it’s popular, as it is in Thailand. It seems the name miang kham translates to ‘one bite wrap’, from miang (‘food wrapped in leaves’) and kham (‘a bite’).

Daun kaduk (Piper sarmentosum), not to be confused with daun sirih (Piper betle) is used to wrap a mix of roasted coconut shavings with shallots, chili padi (the hot ones), ginger, garlic, lime with the peel dried shrimps and chopped nuts. The whole package is popped into the mouth and we can confirm that the mix is delicious. We tried it both with and without the chili, according to our taste buds.

Definitely one to try again! You can find the ready prepared ingredients, enough for about a dozen, in the markets when the leaves are available.

Pasar Terapung JPS Perlis,
Koperasi JPS Perlis (KOPESA) Bhd
Kompleks JPS Perlis,
Pengkalan Asam,
01000 Kangar, Perlis

There are lots of family friendly activities available in the area around the floating market, small stalls anchored at the edge of the lake. It had been raining, but as the weather cleared, the area filled with families out enjoying the Petting zoo on a small island in the lake as well as feeding the carp swimming around the island.

The self-peddle boat rides were also popular and it was a good opportunity to try some of the tasty snacks on sale at the floating market stalls. We discovered the wiggly raindrop cake and had the opportunity to pick up a plate of miang kham to take home to wrap ourselves.

Go Shopping!

WareMart

If the tasty ways of parting with your money described above leave you wanting more, head over to Padang Besar and Waremart, the largest of an enclave of shopping outlets. 

Padang Waremart is managed by Koperasi Perbadanan Kemajuan Ekonomi Negeri Perlis and has been operating since 2017. We had lunch at a restaurant inside the complex before setting off to explore. But first, we enjoyed a performance by a group of Thai schoolgirls, from just across the border, performing a dance known as Manorah Dance, a spiritual dance from Southern Thailand.

As would befit a centre of rice production, there were small packets of different varieties of rice on sale, side by side with piles of reasonably priced imported nuts (the macadamia shells are half cut for you). Also available were freshly made sweets as well as popular snacks. One stall had a large pile of salak ‘snake fruit’ (Salacca zalacca) on sale and another was offering petai ‘stinky beans’ (Parkia speciosa). Check them out in our video above. Neither is for the faint hearted, you either love them or you…don’t.

There are over 200 retailers based in this marketplace, a mix of locals and foreigners, mostly Thais. They also sell fresh and cooked food and further inside the complex are many stall selling mostly clothes and bags.

Economy Traveller visited Perlis with our friends from Gaya Travel Magazine and is eager to revisit this State with so much to offer. If you don’t have your own wheels, the ETS train from Kuala Lumpur will get you there in just over 5 hours and it’s not difficult or expensive to use ride share options to get around. If you need a bit more help to organise your activities in Perlis, we noticed a ‘standee’ in our hotel advertising a tour company that will assist you. We have no connection with Smart Leisure Travels, but they focus on tours in Perlis and Sarawak and with Visit Perlis year on-going, they may be able to assist.

Do check out our video at the top of the page to find out more and see their version of a coconut ice cream at the end of the video. You can also discover more about ideas for breakfast and Perlis products we discovered during our trip.

images©ET