Penang Hills and Trails - Yet Another Sungai Pinang Loop

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 a short element of Grade 3.. 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The 501 bus service needed to get to Sungai Pinang from the north of the island had been withdrawn by September 2022.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.

The asscent below was totally overgrown by December 2023.

For one reason or another, we had spent rather a lot of time down at the south end of the island which still has areas which are less familiar to us. I felt like a short hop over the hill so we could enjoy our usual quiet Sungai Pinang dinner and decided we'd have another look at the Millionaires' Valley going round in the opposite direction to our earlier walks this visit.

So we parked up some way short of Rumah Batu and Karuna Hill and headed up the road, this time we didn't take the bend left but continued straight up the concrete path. It was a hot day and the dogs at the house on the left didn't even bother to stand up to bark. We slipped past the mini Da Ba Gong and then came upon a group of durians lying on the path. Look carefully! They are all about 4 inches (10 cm) long and the result of the farmer thinning out his fruit.

The old abandoned house each year loses a bit more to the storms, it dates from the time when the traditional path came this way, the steps are still just visible.

The easy part of the climb was coming to an end, we could see another (occupied) house above us and the road in the 'pukka' orchard below. We passed under the bridge feature and climbed up past the house whose dogs as usual made a lot of noise but knew better than come near us.

Soon we found a brand new concrete path which, of course, we had to follow but it went barely 200 metres and finished. So that left us a stiff climb up to the regular path.

This was undoubtedly the hardest part of the walk, it's very steep and it was HOT for the first time this trip. Yuehong sensibly took it very gently.

However, it's not a long climb, as ever the ferns were easy to pass through, there was an empty vegetable patch and we were out on the ridge.

I reassured Yuehong that we were going no further up this time - we had followed that route twice recently - and instead we went down the wide concrete road to the left and took the second turn on the left.

It's principal benefit is this view of Pulau Betong which is exactly as it would have been when I lived here 40 years ago, by some fluke, all the modern developments are masked by the fruit trees.

We knew we had to leave the path near the bottom and then hit another concrete road to our first break point.

The shelter is bright and airy and even provides chairs to relax on, it was almost too comfortable but we had to press on down another traditional path.

This is a large orchard which is undergoing a prolonged redevelopment, two years ago it was a complete mess of burned broken trees, now it is green and clear and awaits planting. No doubt in 5 -10 years time. it will look a treat.

Where it finished, we could see the next house, just beyond it we met the next concrete path and turned left, giving us a second view of the house, this estate too has been greatly tidied this year. Not far up we came to a diagonal four way junction and continued straight across as we had used the trail crossing ours a few weeks ago.

The path was perhaps better than it looks although the fruit trees here are rather tired. Where we turned back on ourselves, there was this house with its solitary old man in residence (it's never an old woman). He tried to tell us that we were wasting our time going further up but he eventually realised that we were either too mad or too knowledgeable to listen to him.

The next house is a classic, sadly not lived in now although they have left a fierce guardian in place behind the bars.

Another climb, another Hakka Wall and another mini Da Ba Gong, situation normal. The other path we had crossed earlier also climbs to the ridge, it's not too far behind Yuehong over the boundary in the next orchard.

Just above was our 'exit strategy', our means to cross into the orchard a short way down on the other side of the ridge. It looks to be a bit of a problem but the fact is that we had come through this way recently and knew just what was needed.

Out came the secateurs and there in front of us was a nice open rubber terrace. Yuehong pointed out that we could climb up to the right to the top of the hill, but I was having none of that, it would have been a complete waste of energy.

Along we went and then down a little...

...then we came out into the desired orchard. It wasn't quite as easy the first time we came this way, but we have now optimised the transit.

In such places, open ground leads to a dirt path which leads to a concrete path and that point there was a suitable shady rock to take another refreshment break. Yuehong was happy, it was downhill all the way and her dinner was not too far away.

It's been a strange season, this durian tree like many we have seen had both maturing fruit and flowers waiting to open.

It was a gentle enough descent for old knees and when we came to the concrete road, I suggested going straight across it for a change, it looked to be a short cut in my book.

Indeed it was, in no time we were back on the valley road we had started on and round a couple of corners was Mavis waiting in what was now a well shaded spot.

Writing this a couple of days later, I can't really recall the meal we enjoyed in Sungai Pinang, but we have never had a bad one and the Tiger is always well chilled. I was probably on autopilot going over the hill to Teluk Bahang but at this time of year, the traffic is much lighter. Come Chinese New Year next week, it will be another matter altogether.