PADANG MATSIRAT, Pulau Langkawi’s land is dominated by miles and miles of paddy fields set against a sensational backdrop of mountains. Rice is to the Asian what potatoes are to the Irish, and behind this logic lies the reason why Padang Matsirat (the Field of Burnt Rice) has come to exist.

According to local history, a few months after the death of mahsuri, the Siamese attacked Langkawi with such ferocity that Dato’ Seri Karma Jaya feared that Langkawi would fall into the hands of the enermy. In anticipation of that eventuality, Dato’ Seri Karma Jaya ordered that all of Langkawi’s rice stock be collected and buried in a secret store in the ground, at what is today Kampung Raja, Mukim Padang Matsirat, thus, denying the Siamese the rice and causing them to starve. When the store was eventually uncovered, the buried rice was found charred. Today people believe that some of the rice grains will emerge whenever there is a heavy downpour.