Well, the next day saw excited faces waiting for their uncle to get up from bed. The moment I got myself ready for breakfast, the kids were salivating for an action day ahead! So this is what we did!

The main town – still looks the same.

Balai Nobat
This 18 metre-tall and 5 metre-wide three-tiered octagonal tower sole purpose is to keep all the royal musical instruments including the serunai (wooden flute), nafiri, gendang (drum) and gong, which is known as nobat. This nine-piece musical set is comprised of three drums, a gong, two flutes, two instruments called the cheng-cheng, and a trumpet-like instrument called the Nafiri, which produces the haunting strains of nobat music. The skills to play nobat music and these instruments are passed down from father to son, and the person who is incharged to play these instruments called Orang Nobat. Nobat are played for specific ceremonies such as royal installations, deaths and other official ceremonies.

Masjid Zahir
Officially opened in 1912, this state Mosque is an architectural landmark as it is one of the largest and grandest mosques in Malaysia, built in the tradition of the Moorish architecture.

Balai Rong Seri or Balai Besar (Grand Audience Hall)
Built in 1735 by the 19th Sultan of Kedah, Sultan Muhammad Jiwa Zainal Adilin Muazzam Shah, this was a lovely building with wood pillars, roofs and flooring. This is truly a beautiful building. I managed to get inside once when our first PM, Tunku Abdul Rahman died and his funeral service was conducted here.

The Silver Jubilee Fountain – built when our beloved King, HRH Tuanku Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah,celebrated the Silver Jubilee of his reign.

National Art Gallery

The State Museum – I must say I was impressed with this museum.

The Rice Museum – recently built

To complete this trip, we decided to go to Gunung Keriang. Gunung Keriang is a distinct outcrop in the middle of flat padi land.

It is here that they sell crystals from Gunung Keriang.

The cave opening/entrance at Gunung Keriang

The hike up Gunung Keriang to reach a platform almost atop the mountain, as shown below.

The view from the the top of Gunung Keriang

And the walk down ( My sister, Saji, her husband carrying Keisha, while she assist Pattrena down)

At the end of this day, I realized I was getting too old too fast! Was I tired! But that did not stop me from taking them to the playground with a dilapidated lake near the stadium.

Then it started to rain! Yahoo! Time to go home!

Thank God the next day was Christmas!