Lunas is a small town in Kedah just east of the border with Penang state. The latitude of Lunas correspond to Gurney Drive in George Town.
Three men were credited for founding the township of Lunas. They are Soon Ah Lee @ Baba Lee, Loh Boon Ghee and Lim Lean Teng. Together, these three men built the roads and shophouses as well as the school and temple. The town started life as tapioca and sago plantations. There was a jetty at the stream that runs through town. From there, barges can bring the tapioca and sago downstream. I believe the aforementioned stream is Sungai Kulim. Lunas, which means "keel" is thought to have gotten its name from this water-borne transportation.
When rubber was introduced in Malaya, Loh Boon Ghee received a contract from the European plantation companies to clear the land in Lunas to plant rubber sapplings. Loh brought his relatives from Swatow in China (it was in Fujian province at that time, but the border has since been moved and it is now in Guangdong province).
When the importance of rubber began to decline, so too was the fortune of Lunas. It remained a sleepy hollow until quite recently, when the construction of the Butterworth-Kulim Expressway once again brought visitors. Today Lunas is most famously associated with its duck rice. A few places worth in Lunas include the Old Rubber Smokehouse, Soon Mansion and the Buddhist Hermitage. Other places to explore include the Hock Teik Soo Temple and Sri Maha Kuttakarai Muniswarar Alayam Temple.
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