Langkawi 2011 - Laman Padi

Laman Padi must be one of the oddest attractions in Langkawi. It is supposed to be a museum to showcase the history and heritage of rice planting in Malaysia. This should have been a great idea,  however when we visited the place it was totally deserted, and there was not even a notice board to provide information on the opening hours, programme and exhibits. I thought we might have visited at the wrong time, but a search on the web brought up similar experiences from other visitors. 

 

Though there was nobody around, the place wasn't fenced up and you are free to wonder the compound. For the kids it was quite an interesting experience to see actual rice fields and different stages in the rice planting process.

There is a restaurant at the museum called Jimmy's Cafe but it was closed at the time we visited. Reviews of the restaurant are quite good so it may be worth a try. The buildings at Laman Padi are quite nicely done, and the rice fields looked like they had been well kept. It was just strange that nobody seem to be tending to visitors and most people would have come out of the place a bit perplexed. Another case of building the hardware bit forgeting about the equally important software - sadly a common problem in Malaysia.