The candi temples
Brick and stone bases in the grounds.
Anandajoti — CC BY-SA 3.0 · abdullatif hamidin — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Blackhurrem — CC0 · Blackhurrem — CC0
The richest archaeological area in Malaysia spreads at the foot of Mount Jerai along the Merbok River. From the fifth to the fourteenth century it was the centre of a thriving coastal kingdom on the trade routes between India and China, whose people followed Hinduism and Buddhism before Islam reached the region, and excavations have uncovered more than fifty temples of brick and stone, known locally as candi. The Bujang Valley Archaeological Museum in Merbok displays the key finds: inscribed stone caskets, tablets carved with ancient script, Hindu icons, ceramics and pottery, and metal tools and ornaments. In the grounds around the museum several temples have been reassembled, the best known being Candi Bukit Batu Pahat with its stone base and steps. Entry is free, and it opens daily from nine in the morning to five in the afternoon, with a short break at midday on Fridays. About ten kilometres away lies the Sungai Batu site, where archaeologists have uncovered ancient iron-smelting furnaces, the remains of a river jetty and a brick structure that researchers date to the first centuries AD. It is about an hour's drive from Alor Setar or from George Town in Penang, so combine it with Mount Jerai in one day. Come in the morning: the temples are in the open and the afternoon sun is strong.
Brick and stone bases in the grounds.
From the fifth to the fourteenth century.
Iron furnaces and an ancient jetty.
Merbok, Kuala Muda district, about 60 km south of Alor Setar
Because it shows that the north of the peninsula was, more than a thousand years ago, a centre of trade and culture linked to India and China, among the oldest known organised settlements in Southeast Asia, which is why it has been proposed for the World Heritage List.