Bagan Serai is a mukim in Kerian District, Perak, Malaysia. It is located southeast of George Town, the capital city of the neighbouring state of Penang. As such, the town is also part of Greater Penang, Malaysia's second largest conurbation, with the town's logistical needs being served by Penang's well-developed transportation infrastructure. Bagan Serai is an important collecting and processing location for the paddy plantation of the Kerian scheme. Bagan Serai is also the name of the parliamentary constituency in which the town is located. The word “Bagan” in Malay means a jetty or a place of landing for some business activities, and “Serai” means lemon grass, a herb often used in Malay food, which used to be mass-produced here. Through the hearsay from old generations, Bagan Serai used to be a very busy pier for trading activities, because of the rivers that flows through this small town straight to the sea, making it a strategic location for trading activities and suitable landing spot for goods. A slightly different version as to how Bagan Serai got its name can be found at the website "Glimpses".
Most of Malay residents here were migrated from Banjarmasin, Indonesia which in local dialects is called Banjar language. They have a distinct dialect with most of it non intelligible to native Malay language speakers. But as all Malaysians, they do speak standard Malay language. Shops are mostly owned by Chinese-Malaysian descendants. Significant amounts of Indian-Malaysians work as rubber tappers in rubber estates. Banjar-Malay-Malaysians and "Malay" descendants work in agricultural activity which in Bagan Serai predominantly is paddy fields and palm oil. Bagan Serai is one of 8 sub-districts of Kerian district which included Parit Buntar, Bagan Tiang, Tanjung Piandang, Kuala Kurau, Beriah, Bagan Serai, Gunong Semanggol and Selinsing. It is under the jurisdiction and administration of Majlis Daerah Kerian.
Transportation
Public transport is managed by a private company called The Red Omnibus. The town has a main bus stand which located at the New Town of Bagan Serai and close to Main Market of Bagan Serai. The bus stand also provides taxi services. Bus to the center of town from peripheral areas runs daily every 30 minutes. Express buses goes from Bagan Serai to various towns and cities including Kuala Lumpur, Georgetown, Kulim, Alor Setar, and Ipoh. There is also a train station in the town. Prior to the Ipoh-Padang Besar Electrified Double Tracking Project, the Bagan Serai railway station was upgraded.
Temperatures and climate
Yearly, Bagan Serai has relatively colder climate than other parts of Malaysia due to its location near the Straits of Malacca and away from the equator. Taiping is located relatively near and southern to Bagan Serai, which is the wettest place in Malaysia. No specific temperature data and precipitation are aired daily in television for Bagan Serai. Thus, usually town people use Ipoh data for Bagan Serai. However, they are not usually true as they may be occasionally correlated with Georgetown, Penang data.
