Lunas, Kedah

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Sights in Lunas

Buddhist Hermitage

Smokehouse

Soon Mansion

Lunas, Kedah's rubber town

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.

How to go to Lunas

If you are coming from the North-South Expressway (E1), take Exit 163 (East-West Interchange) to the Butterworth-Kulim Expressway (BKE, E15) in the direction of Kulim. Exit the BKE at the Lunas exit. can easily be reached using the Butterworth-Kulim Expressway. Simply exit at the Lunas-Kulim Exit.