Penang Hills and Trails - Bukit Cendana
Air Itam to the Kebun Bunga (Waterfall Gardens)

This page is one of a series on 'Hills and Trails in Penang. Click here for the index. Some of the material in it appears elsewhere on the website as the first part of the route can be used to get to the Penang Hill Railway Middle Station. This is a Grade 3 walk. 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.

Take the 204 bus and get off at the second stop in Hill Railway Road (Jalan Keretapi Bukit Bendera). Turn into 'Persiaran Taman Cantik' just before the small fire station. After crossing the twin river bridge over the Sungai Air Puteh (White Water as opposed to the Black Water of Air Itam proper), immediately turn left up a small unnamed road. It contains more than its fair share of Chinese temples. The first is a standard issue Landlord shrine, while the second further up is completely different, the family God was getting a blessing before installation.

Follow this upwards until the point where a concrete motorbike trail branches off in a U shape - the road itself carries on. There are close up views like this large spider and far views like the ghastly new 'Goddess of Mercy Statue' - the first Hill Railway viaduct is just visible on the right and behind beneath the masts is the 1200 steps temple we had visited a couple of days before.

Everywhere else we have seen durian trees, the branches have been bending with the weight of the fruit, but here there was almost nothing 

The path climbed with occasional flat sections, eventually reaching this distinctive shrine:

Both of us had been this way before which explains why Yuehong knew that the right side path at the next junction would lead us to our destination (the path to the left leads to the Middle Station of the Penang Hill Railway). We were being observed closely from the trees.

The need for the concrete is seasonal, there is one final durian orchard. Yuehong took advantage of this to take a rest. Round the corner is a mini waterfall which probably provides safe drinking as there is only jungle above.

The concrete path gives way to a rocky path which seems to be a seasonal stream and we could hear the Sunday hikers up ahead, it's a safe bet that very few see much in the way of animals and birds. Just where the Moon Gate Trail comes in immediately before the junction with the Jeep Track, there is a small Indian shrine which is kept well locked.

The '84 Tea Stall' is a perfect place to take a rest, fill up the water bottles and snack on a couple of biscuits while exchanging information with other hikers and bikers.

Afterwards, we took the steep path left immediately behind the toilets and walked up to Bukit Cendana. The monkeys were making even more noise than the hikers, it turned out the path of a troop of Dusky Leaf Monkeys had crossed that of a couple of large long tailed Macaques and a turf war was under way. Parts of the initial path follow a sensible zig-zag but over-energetic short cutters have wrecked other parts. Eventually we joined a better graded trail and turned right for the summit. Again eventually, there is a choice - left for the full frontal assault or straight on for the more gradual approach. I had hoped for a view from the top but the old mansion is no more, there are just a few pillars and a short flight of steps left and the jungle has grown back. I fancy some hikers walk past without realising what is here.

Point '5' is on the Moon Gate Trail (there may even be a viewpoint on it) but we chose to backtrack, but did not go down to '84' but continued on the ridge where we found these old iron gate posts:

Continuing we passed rain gauge 10 and came to a T junction, where the left turn was labeled as a 'short cut to 84' so presumably it would have provided a less steep ascent from there to Bukit Cendana. We went right and paused to make friends.

Just before the trail crosses the jeep track, there is an open space which in my time was a covered Indian Muslim shrine to a 'saint', a 'kramat'. Unfortunately, it incurred the wrath of those who felt that this was 'deviationist' and now the grave is left exposed to the elements. Malaysia may not be a secular country, but it needs more tolerance of everyone's beliefs to prosper.

We hadn't finished with the wild life, first we met a giant millipede coming out for an early evening stroll and after crossing the Jeep Track we met a further troop of Macaques who were obviously habituated to humans:

The level wide track was a real pleasure after hours of going up and down, but it was not to last. At a final clearing, there was a view over to Mount Erskine, from where the path descended on at least 1000 steps to the Kebun Bunga.

We're getting fitter now and our knees don't complain so much, but it was still a pleasure to reach the bottom. The fact that we had to wait half an hour for the 10 bus to get going was a chance to draw breath and let the sweat start to dry out. I have a special shirt for these hikes that gathered some pretty vile odour making bacteria in the Burmese rice mills and it was perhaps fortunate that we were alone. If you're a bus gricer you'll immediately spot this as a Chinese Higer.

There are many other trails in this area, particularly the Moon Gate Trail and small paths that join them to where we had been, no doubt we'll fill in the gaps at some stage. For more information on the path which leads off on the level after a few hundred steps, see the account of the Mount Olivia trail to Fettes Park which would provide a gentler but much longer descent.