Perlis is the smallest and most northern state in Malaysia which makes up one of the four states that borders Southern Thailand. The people of Perlis make up about 1% of the total 22-million population of Malaysia. It takes about 6 hours to reach there if you're driving from Petaling Jaya (or Kuala Lumpur). Back in the 1980s before we had a great highway system that runs from North to South, it could take more than 8 hours to reach Perlis. Because of its isolated location in the north, the development of roads and highways in Perlis is just beginning to catch up with the rest of its more well-developed neighboring states.

Dad is from Perlis, so as a child I had my share of visits to his kampung and because of its distance from PJ, I always had friends who'd gawk at me in awe for having a kampung that was relatively far. My ability to survive long drives at such a young age must have been an indication of unprecedented mental and physical strengths. I, in turn, used to envy the kids who had nearer kampungs like in Melaka, Perak, or even Kuala Lumpur!

For the recent Merdeka celebration, I spent my 3-day weekend soaking up the sun and reacquainting myself with what Perlis has to offer and such was the case with my visit to Padang Besar.

(That is not a typo in my photo header. Padang Besaq is how the locals would call Padang Besar. The Malay spoken in northern Malaysia, such as in Penang, Kedah and Perlis, is unique in that all words ending with the letter "r" is replaced by a nasalized "q". So besar becomes besaq, air becomes aiyaq, tidur becomes tidoq, etc.)

Padang Besar (literally: Big Field) is this huge marketplace which houses all sorts of items for sale such as clothes, watches, shoes, hats, bags, food items and most excitingly (for me, at least), cheap toys! Most of the clothes carry brand names such as Levis, Body Glove, and Adidas, while the men and women's watches sport well-known names such as Gucci, Rolex and Tissot, all at unbelievable low prices! The catch? They're all bootlegs alias ciplak!

After being racun ('poisoned') by my sisters to leave our relative's wedding a little bit earlier so that we could visit Padang Besar before dusk sets in, we set out on the 30 minute drive from Arau.

The Journey to Padang Besar

Driving to Padang Besar was a mind-releasing experience as we passed by kilometers of green sugar cane and paddy fields, all yielding under the magnificent blue and unpolluted Perlis sky with huge, puffy clouds lazily floating by.

Coconut trees grow in abundance outside city limits, especially in the north and give a very kampung feeling to the surroundings. I love those clear blue skies of the desa (countryside).

In the spirit of Merdeka Day, a Perlis school had this extremely long version of the Jalur Gemilang nailed to its fence; the white and red stripes just seemed to stretch on for miles.

We knew we were approaching Padang Besar when we saw this pintu gerbang (gateway). It was weird that we should be greeted with a sign that said "Terima Kasih. Pakat Pakat Mai Lagi" which literally translates as "Thank you. Unanimously, come again."

I would think you'd reserve those kinds of goodbyes for when people were leaving the vicinity. But hey, I'm just a visitor. If they want to say "thank you" before I shop, I have absolutely no qualms with that.

The Thai Presence

There were loads of Thai owned vehicles in the area as their owners come down to Padang Besar in Malaysia to conduct business.

In fact I encountered more Southern Malay Thais selling stuff than Perlis locals, who were mostly the customers. It was sort of surreal to interact with the Thai merchants because at first glance they seem like locals; they look and speak Malay and everything. But the minute they turn around to speak with a colleague or their bosses, they converse in the Thai language, which of course sounded completely foreign to me. It was intriguing nonetheless.

Myriads of Snacks

This snack stall was one of the first that I saw as I made my way into the market place. All sorts of snacks, crackers, kropok and pickled fruits were being sold, some from Thailand, some from Malaysia.

Those colorful flower-like snack bits that you see in the center of the picture have to actually be fried first before you consume them. So when you do fry them they will blossom into giant kropok pieces with the colorful lining around the edges. You could probably eat them un-fried too but usually un-fried kropok is very liat (tough) and you could lose a tooth filling or two.

Sis couldn't resist picking up a few bags of caramelized banana crackers and iced gem cookies. You know those ice gem cookies don't you? They're small round biscuits with the hardened sugar topping on top.

Many kids somehow preferred to break the icing off and eat those instead, leaving a pile of uneaten biscuits. I was an abnormal child and personally liked the biscuits better or thought that they should actually be eaten with the icing.

Toys Galore

My sister was trying to decide whether or not to purchase this Ultraman set of pajamas for my nephew. It even had a hood of Ultraman's mask and everything. I would have died and gone to heaven had my mother bought me these 18 years ago. Yes, I like Ultraman too.

Finally Sis just decided to buy a huge fire truck for her little tyke. My niece got this huge Bubble of the Power Puff Girls. Sis got them for RM18 each. We're pitiful hagglers, so we were mighty proud with ourselves for persuading the shop owner to sell these to us for less than RM7 of the advertised price. The Thai lady was very understanding.

The dangerously cheap consumer that I am settled with this four ringgit forlorn-looking Pink Panther with suction cups on his paws made in Thailand, for my dressing mirror. When I was little I had a humongous, almost life-size Pink Panther doll and was obviously trying to relive my childhood through this smaller version.

I also purchased a waist pouch because I was getting tired of carrying my PDA in my hands or stuffing it bulkily into my back jeans pocket. So I'm using my newly purchased item to store not only my PDA, but also my cell phone and wallet whenever I go to the mall or movies. I dislike using girly handbags, you see; I only use such things for formal functions. (After being forced at gun point by Mother dearest.)

And yes, that's probably a bootleg version of the New York Yankees logo too! I wasn't aware that the baseball team actually made waist pouches for its fans. Frankly I am very pleased with the handsome pouch; it's exactly the right size and color for me and the price was just nice at RM9. Hah, I told you Padang Besar was just a big ol' bargain bin.

Kita ni kat Malaysia ke Thailand nih??
(Are we in Malaysia or Thailand??)

Halloween Masks

If rubber masks of trolls, draculas and Darth Maul seem mediocre and stir not a single scary bone in you, there's always the Teletubbies line to turn to. Now, wanting to own a Teletubbies mask is very scary!

These fiendish faces were selling at RM5 a pop.

Cute Bubble Containers

These were actually the first things that I wanted to buy but I decided to shop around for them to see if I could get a deal. Almost every single stall in Padang Besar was selling these things like extremely hot commodities. I could not resist!

It was definitely the cute shapes of which the containers took that were ensuring the successful sales of these colorful bubbles liquid. There were cell phone shaped bottles, muscular superheroes, the Powerpuff Girls, ice cream cones, guitars and more.

I asked around and apparently everyone was selling them for RM2 each, RM5 if you agree to buy 3. I wanted four, one for each of my two nieces and two nephews, but the young girl who was selling me them couldn't figure out a price for four bubble bottles. Exasperated by her own inability to quickly calculate numbers, the girl just shrugged her shoulders and told me I could have 4 bubble bottles for RM5. Haggling victory was mine once again.

Aren't they just adorable?

My nieces naturally wanted the Power puff Girls ones, of course.

If you ever want to buy these neat bubble bottles, I strongly suggest you stay away from the guitar one because the volume of bubble liquid appears to be lesser than the other shapes that were available. My nephew was complaining that it was hard to reach the liquid below the guitar neck with the bubble stick that was provided. I have to admit, the guitar shape was rather awkward and I am baffled as to why I chose it over the Superman bottle.

Before one leaves Padang Besar, one is subjected to pass through police inspections. The police will usually check for rice smuggled in ridiculous amounts from Thailand by folks who are trying to sell them in Malaysia and skip on paying taxes for bringing in the goods. So if you're one of those people who engage in such smuggling activities, watch out, the police are going to so bite your sorry ass.

But if you look like harmless shoppers with nothing but bags of clothings and shoes, the police will usually leave you alone and let your car pass by without much hassle.

Speaking of Thai rice, my sisters were finding it difficult to find them on sale at Padang Besar the day we went. It's cheaper to buy Thai rice which used to be ok for personal use but not for reselling, obviously. We were then told that the Malaysian law enforcers have banned the supply of the imported rice in Padang Besar to control the prices of our local rice. Go figures.

On our way back from Padang Besar to Dad's house in Arau, we saw this beautiful rainbow overhead. It was a lovely sight.

My trip to Padang Besar this time around was one huge shopping success (minus our strikeout with the Thai rice) and an eye-opening cultural exposure. The little ones were having loads of fun with their bubbles and everyone was contented with their purchases, including yours truly. Life was just grand.