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Penang Hills and Trails - Bukit Kecil
Revisited |
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This is part of a series of pages on walking the hills of Penang. Click here for the index. This is a Grade 2 walk with a short challenging Grade 3/4 section. There is a sketch map at the bottom showing the route followed. Please visit my Penang buses page for information on accessing the starting point. The 501 bus service needed to get to Sungai Pinang from the north of the island had been withdrawn by September 2022. This makes this hike impractical for anyone without the use of a car. We'd attempted this walk some 3 weeks earlier (Sungai Pinang Fiasco) with a conspicuous lack of success but we had discovered the alternative route past the Saanen Goat Farm. This time we weren't going to mess around as I wanted to check out the descent to Pantai Acheh which we last used in February 2013. We walked down Jalan Pantai Acheh and took the turn for the Goat Farm. At the training camp we kept straight on, it's a pleasantly shaded walk. At electricity pole LTC 27, the road starts to climb and shortly after it becomes a concrete path. It's quite steep with a zig-zag but that means it becomes cooler and it's a typical orchard walk. We came to the bend where we had joined from below left last time and carried on climbing. The bags protect the growing jackfruit. After a couple of zig-zags the path finished. However, just below there is a path on the level and not far away we could see the bird's nest factory. In fact, just around the corner was this beautiful house we had visited before. On our last visit to the area, we had failed to find a path out to the north so we went down the concrete road till we came to the main valley road at electricity pole JPA 32 35. In fact, we'd only ever walked this part of the road once before and downhill. So while it wasn't very interesting it was novel. To our right we could see a path through a developing orchard - it would have served our purpose well last time, but obviously it didn't go through to the lower orchards. There was a road in on the right which clearly connected with it at pole JPA 32 50 and we'll have to sort it out going downhill another time. Now I am sure that gate wasn't there last time and it suggests that the people who own the house at the top have extended their empire. When we got to the T junction at the top, I was pleased to see that the obnoxious wire fence had vanished - hardly necessary if it no longer marks a boundary. Beyond, it wasn't a small path any more, rather a wide track, but not (yet) connected to this side although motorbikes had been coming through. I don't know what these people's attitude to hikers is, the metal fence at the top of the round-the-island road is hardly an invitation to roam but on this side there's not a single warning notice. (It's on the list of things to do!) Going on up we paused for water under a large tree, as before we could see the upper road that leads to the ridge above the valley that runs up from Sungai Pinang. When the ferns have dried out a bit we'll try going over the small summit in the middle as we had been most of the way to it on paths on our Sungai Pinang Fiasco hike. There was no one home at the surprisingly modest house on the summit. This whole area was now pleasantly green and the various fruit trees were growing well, it looked a lot better than it had done nearly 4 years earlier. Below the house was a brand new path, it would be nice to think that one day it will connect with the orchard below, but I doubt it. I was standing near the start and for the moment it ends just below the house in the background. We would have to go down the same way as before and we stepped over the boundary netting. This area below had not received any attention since our visit. The point to aim for was the highest part of the tall trees as the rest is covered with a mixture of cut and small trees, long grass and ferns. In these situations, I leave Yuehong, bash my way in and then look for the easiest way back out again. In this case it was a hole in the ferns and below, the old rubber is relatively clear. Unfortunately, enough light penetrates for vines (prickly and otherwise) to grow so it's not Yuehong's favourite environment. She was smiling because she thought I had found the path out... Last time we came towards the end of the dry season when the ferns were less than knee high. Today they were waist high and it was impossible to see where the concrete path was. It was surprisingly dusty in the rubber and the mosquitoes were eating Yuehong alive. Still we got out safely, it was a scramble down the durians rather than a walk and I kept my distance. The look on her face when we finally got to a path told me I was going to get an earful about unnecessarily entering a known rough area, what should have been 15 minutes had turned out to be 30 minutes. I knew she wasn't really angry as it came at me in English instead of Chinese. When she had calmed down she asked how long it would take to walk down to Pantai Acheh and I said between 20 and 40 minutes depending on whether we rushed or not. With the next 404 due in 25 minutes, it was an easy decision to finish the fruit and the Tiger and relax. It's a lovely walk best enjoyed at leisure and marital harmony was soon restored. Most of this area is well maintained mature durian although the original occupants of the houses are long gone and it is the migrant estate workers who live here now. The walk indeed took some 40 minutes and we extracted maximum pleasure from it. That's Pantai Acheh village, despite the name there's no beach and that's a mangrove forest next to the sea. If there is a non-Chinese living here, I've yet to see them. The bridge heralded the junction with the Secret Garden path which comes down from the right. With some 45 minutes till the next 404 bus (15.15 from Balik Pulau, ca 15.45 from here), it was time for dinner, an excellent Char Koay Teow, the cheapest I think I have ever enjoyed in recent years, washed down traditionally. The bus came within two minutes of my estimation, it arrived empty and we were the only passengers for the whole journey. As the next 501 was 90 minutes away, we took a 502 and 101 and were back home by 18.00, it was a public holiday (Christmas Day being a Sunday) so the traffic was not heavy. Like all the best walks, it raised a few questions which will give us an excuse to come back to this area. I do like the laid back atmosphere and the fact that we are greeted as long lost friends at our finishing point.
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Rob and Yuehong Dickinson
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