Penang Hills and Trails - Air Puteh Explorer
Sungai Rusa to Balik Pulau

This is one of a series of pages on walking the hills of Penang, click here for the index. This is a Grade 2 walk with Grade 3 elements. 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 other day, somebody suggested to us that an alternative to our flat would be a traditional kampung homestay in the Balik Pulau area. Now as it happens there's a stylish new one which has just sprung up in Sungai Rusa opposite the mosque. I bet they are doing a roaring trade. Today's walk was basically one of our selected walks with a little bit of exploration added for spice, you can't miss the kicking off spot these days!

It's been overcast for most of our stay so far, it doesn't make for great photography but it's been very comfortable for hiking, especially as we're still not 100% fit. The route is obvious, just head for the hill. We come here only once or twice a year but there are few walkers in this area and the Chinese family at the bottom recognise us. The path soon becomes quite steep and there are bridges where the stream has to be crossed.

It's got something of a micro-climate, the soil doesn't seem too wonderful so there are some interesting plants.

Compared to a couple of year's back (left hand picture), there's been quite a bit of cutting back.

The cactus was still there, but this picture from 2014 shows it in all its glory. Also here is a fruit tree we cannot identify, they look like giant avocado.

Soon we reached the track which ended at a house to the left last time we were here. So we turned right and then right again when we met the original wide track. The other direction leads to orchards and rubber which go a long way up the hill, but, according to the farmers, at the top is only thick jungle. 

At the junction at the top, we turned left and climbed to a cleared area, of course, the safe option would have been to continue down the hill as we have done several times before. With no nearby stream, plastic tanks are used to store water. 

We'd been up here before, but not continued beyond the hut. The key to the next section was the black water pipe seen on the left in the first picture.

Basically, it was our guarantee that people had been along the ridge in the not too distant past. Unfortunately, this years rains had resulted in a bumper crop of ferns! I have read that British Army patrols in the Emergency used to take it in turns to lay flat on them, but in our case there was some kind of path and the best thing to do was to keep walking more or less on the pipe. It wasn't as bad as it looked and it wasn't all ferns by any means.

In less than 20 minutes we were out at the other end at the top of a bare patch which had been here more or less from the time of our first visit two and a half years earlier. It's not a pretty sight, replanting is going very slowly.

We stopped for lunch and took in the view, there were green hills from us to Elvira, Anjung Indah and round to Pulau Betong, we wondered if the developers would succeed in their aim of totally wrecking it during our lifetime. I didn't take a picture, it was far too gloomy. Ahead lay the rest of the ridge ascending to the gated road from near Titi Kerawang which goes over the hill to the Air Itam Dam. That's full jungle and a far greater challenge than the fern bash we had just done. On the hill opposite we could see the Ratanagiri Bhavanarama (Forest Meditation Resort) and below it the durian orchard has recently been cleared for replanting. 

No work had been done to stabilise the wide track we had to follow down and most of it was so steep that there was a constant threat of slipping on the loose sand. We were very glad to get to the bottom.

They are still putting in bananas and since we saw just two people on the job, it's going to a while longer before that is completed. I don't think I'll be around to enjoy durians from here. You can actually follow the road all the way down and back up but it's rather quicker to take the short cut up the slope.

On the left is the T junction as it looks today and on the right in March 2014. However, this estate is being replanted seriously.

The paths have been concreted and slipways installed to direct rain water away. Already young durian trees are in place with matting to protect their root area.

This is a view of the shambles looking back. The lower area has some mature trees but there are many gaps and the upper area still bare. 

We joined the Resort road briefly and then turned off right for the comfort of a mature estate.

Yuehong was smiling as she had found a mangosteen, there were quite a few on the ground but only the first one had a few edible segments, so we soon moved on.

There was a concrete path ahead and we turned left and followed it up. We hoped one of the two contour paths we saw  would take us round but they proved to be just a loop. Ahead we could see a rocky gorge between us and the next estate and we didn't fancy yet more climbing.

So we retreated back to the familiar road where we came out at electricity pole BI 62. We were very happy to wander down what is one of our favourite routes, I don't know what this attractive flower is, elsewhere Yuehong was pleased to see that someone had just planted a dozen or so rose bushes.

I had no intention of walking all the way to Balik Pulau which is about 1km from the end of Jalan Chai, I planned to catch one of the three buses which go along the main road between about 15.30 and 16.15 (successively 403, 404 and 501). This involved going straight ahead at the electricity substation instead of left as usual. Unfortunately, it was further than I expected and Yuehong had a blister on a toe caused by walking awkwardly after she had slightly pulled a muscle coming down the steep sandy hill earlier.

So, inevitably, I got an earful, which as always I tried to ignore save for a bit of nodding of the head. We came out opposite the ugly all white development on the south-west side of the road. Before I had even had time to check for a bus stopping point, a young lady drew up and offered us a lift into Balik Pulau. She had consciously moved out down to the south side of island as Balik Pulau reminded her of the Penang she grew up in 30 years ago. She was obviously well educated in our book.

So refreshed much more quickly than expected, Yuehong quickly forgot her complaints, we dined and returned home normally.