Discover Kuala Kurau, one Malaysian riverside town not to miss

You may have been to Penang in Malaysia, but I am positive you have never heard of Kuala Kurau before. Don’t worry; this small seaside village in northern Perak, just across Penang’s southern state border, has many charms that just a handful of locals visit.

Imagine a slow-going tin-roofed and concrete village slung on the two sides of the Kurau River and its estuary. On the northern side of the long road that follows the river into the sea, there’s a morning market and a series of very interesting Chinese mansions and old-world coffee shops. A footbridge separates the old town from the more touristic area of Bagan Seberang on the opposite side of the river, a good place to grab a bite of the famous local seafood as you sit by the river.

If you have your wheels — you should, as the town is quite spread out along the river banks — you can get beyond Bagan Seberang and get lost in the maze of paddy fields, small country roads, and canals that extend in every direction from the water. These are some of the things not to miss in Kuala Kurau.

Visit the Joo Hong Chan salted egg factory

On the northern outskirts of town is this salted egg factory that has been operating since the 1950s. Next to it, the shop sells fresh duck eggs covered in burnt rice husk. You can see the whole process next door, where the eggs are first weighed and separated then smeared with a mix of salt and tanah merah —essentially, the eggs are covered in fresh mud upon to which the husk sticks to produce the black shells.

Learn about rice at Hai Hin rice mill

Opposite Joo Hong Chan salted egg factory is Kuala Kurau’s second industry, the Kilang Beras Hai Hin, which started operations at the end of 1943 when the Japanese were still occupying British Malaya. A small museum at the entrance has old tools from those early years, including the metallic stamps used to print Hai Hin logos on the rice sacks.

The speciality of Hai Hin rice mill is embryo rice. It goes through a different hulling process compared to brown rice, which removes the bran — the layer making brown rice harder to cook and digest.

Take a stroll at Bagan Seberang

The riverside south of the Kurau River is the most touristic part of Kuala Kurau, where locals and domestic tourists come for the modestly priced seafood of restaurants like Kean Seang Lee. A concrete sign in front of the water lures tourists to take selfies with the backdrop of the estuary. Still, the best part of Bagan Seberang is to get away from the food court and keep walking on the main road that flanks the river on one side and the paddies on the other to explore the quaint life on this lesser-trawled corner of the river.

Go to hell at Hua Seng Keng temple in Kuala Gula

Don’t miss this temple on the outskirts of another town, Kuala Gula, just a few kilometres south of Kuala Kurau.

South-East Asia has some quirky depictions of Naraka, the Buddhist Hell, and Hua Seng Keng temple may offer the most colourful and extraordinarily tacky example you’ll find around the country. There’s a bit of everything here: from a statue of Goddess of Mercy Kwan Yin accessed via a staircase that passes through the open mouth of a dragon to a replica of the Great Wall of China and a courtyard filled with life-sized reproductions of the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac.

But the best thing at Hua Seng Keng is the underground cellar that brings you to hell and back: the eerie reproduction of the spires of hell and the path a dead soul goes through after death is a real trip. Follow the queue of departed as they line up to be judged and assigned their punishment. Walk further, and you’ll see gruesome, life-sized statues of humans sliced by saws and knives, thrown into boiling pits and over beds of nails — even quartered under the wheels of a chariot.

Visit Kuala Gula Bird Sanctuary

Not far away from Hua Seng Keng is Kuala Gula’s bird sanctuary, where the mudflats attract 60-something species of migratory birds during the winter months. They rest here as they fly from as far as Siberia towards Australia and New Zealand. You can see egrets, herons, shore birds, storks, rails, terns, gulls, and other raptors and kingfishers. The rare milky stork can be spotted here as well.

You can go any time, but the best time to visit is from September to March during the northern migratory season when more birds are present. It’s best to contact the Jabatan Perhilitan of Kuala Gula to ask for the latest information on birds’ presence and book a boat and guide.

Where to stay in Kuala Kurau

For such an offbeat place, Kuala Kurau has good accommodation options. Note that prices go up a bit on holidays and weekends. Ikan Kurau is very central, housed inside a charming local wooden home on the river on Jalan Pantai. It has modestly priced flashpacker dorms from about $12.70 and cosy street or river view doubles, costing about $84 per night.

Kurau Bay Hotel in Bagan Seberang is a full-scale hotel with 24 rooms and all the bells and whistles you need to stay comfortably along the riverfront. They also organise boat and fishing cruises on the Kurau River.

Kurau Inn Farmstay is just outside town near the northern access to Kuala Kurau’s highway bridge if you fancy something a little bit more secluded and surrounded by paddy fields. The rooms are top-notch for the price, and it also has a small private swimming pool, perfect for families with children.