Kedah Paddy Museum

Kedah Rice Museum (30 April, 2005)


Kedah Paddy Museum (GPS: 6.19107, 100.32648), also known as Muzium Padi or National Rice Museum, is a specialty museum in Alor Setar, Kedah. The only museum of its kind in Malaysia, it celebrates Kedah's rice-growing heritage. The museum is located at the foot of Gunung Keriang just north of Alor Setar.

The Rice Museum was built on land belonging to MADA (Malaysian Agricultural Development Authority) at a cost of RM24.7 million. The museum building resembles bushels of harvested paddy stalks. Throughout the Rice Museum, the rice motif is repeated everywhere, on the banisters, and even on the fence and gate outside.

Entrance to the Rice Museum.

Contact

Muzium Padi Kedah
06570 Alor Setar, Kedah
Phone: +60-4-7351315

Interior of the Rice Museum (30 April, 2005)

Rice Museum Travelogue (30 April, 2005)

I discovered the Rice Museum when I was sights in Kedah. I found it almost by chance when I saw the Rice Museum signboard by the roadside, and decided to turn in for a look, and was surprised to find this huge museum in the middle of nowhere. "Nowhere" here refers to almost 100,000 hectares of paddy fields. This is after all the Rice Bowl State of Malaysia.

The Rice Museum consists of two main levels and a top portion accessible by a spiral staircase. As you tour it, you are given a thorough explanation of anything involved with rice. Some are simply trivia, like songs dedicated to rice - this kind of reminded me of the Cat Museum in Kuching.

Information on rice growing in the country (30 April, 2005)


There are several galleries with panoramic murals. These are the result of painstaking work by 60 artists from North Korea. My favourite gallery is 59 steps above, accessible via a spiral staircase. What you find here is a massive circular mural measuring 103 metres in circumference, and 8 metres in height. You enter this gallery from the middle, and immediately the scene of the surrounding Gunung Keriang region unfolds around you. As you stand there admiring the mural, you are taken in by the sheer size of the murals.

Panoramic mural of the paddy fields of Kedah (30 April, 2005)


Indeed you cannot be sure where the ground is, and where the mural begins. Another thing, as you view the mural, you feel that the scenery was moving. Soon you realised that you are standing on a revolving platform, and by simply being still, you will have the scenery rotate around you. It was truly a mermerizing experience.

The Rice Museum is open daily from 10am to 6pm. On Fridays it observes a 12.30-2.30pm recess. Admission is RM3 for adults and RM1 for children. This museum can be one of the stops in an AsiaExplorers trip through Kedah.

View up the spiral staircase at the Rice Museum (30 April, 2005)


Rice motif on the railings at Rice Museum (30 April, 2005)

Getting there

From Alor Setar, take Lebuhraya Darul Aman (Route 1). It continues to Jalan Anak Bukit. From Jalan Anak Bukit, take a left turn to Route K2. You will see Gunung Keriang, the huge limestone outcrop, in front of you. The museum is located at the far side of the mount. Take another left turn to K351, followed by a slip road (there's a signboard pointing to the museum) that leads you to the museum.

The Kedah Paddy Museum is on the map of Alor Setar

Tim & Chooi Yoke at the Rice Museum (30 April, 2005)

Back to Discover Kedah mainpage; list of Museums in Kedah and Museums in Malaysia

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Hello and thanks for reading this page. My name is Timothy and my hobby is in describing places so that I can share the information with the general public. My website has become the go to site for a lot of people including students, teachers, journalists, etc. whenever they seek information on places, particularly those in Malaysia and Singapore. I have been doing this since 5 January 2003, for over twenty years already. You can read about me at Discover Timothy. By now I have compiled information on thousands of places, mostly in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, and I continue to add more almost every day. My goal is to describe every street in every town in Malaysia and Singapore.