Penang Hills and Trails - Sungai Ara Explorer 5
The Blue House Circular

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 just a one less straightforward section. There is a sketch map at the bottom showing the route followed. 

In November 2016, the only suitable 501 departure from Teluk Bahang is at 10.30 (and the last bus back from Balik Pulau is at 17.30), check the Penang buses page for possible updates. The entry point at Jalan Kenari is reached by 302 bus from Komtar or by 501/401/308 bus from Teluk Bahang although that was not a choice we had to make today.

We visited the site of the Blue House in November 2023. Sadly, it is no more, there are a few bits piled up and a bare concrete base. (19th November 2023)

Yuehong is under orders from our doctor in Penang to scale back her hiking as her right knee is suffering from osteoarthritis. Primarily that mean no more long(er) walks and finding downhill paths which place less strain on her joints, not to mention climbs and flat sections which are generally smoother. Which is hiker speak for no more overgrown rubber estates in the south of the island and no more rain gauge and National Park paths in the north and in general no 'off-piste' sections. As a dutiful husband I will try to oblige, it won't be easy but we have only two weeks left in Penang for the 2017-8 season. This walk put together some 'discoveries' from our last two visits which would satisfy those criteria.

We parked Mavis in Cangkat Kenari 3 which is off Cangkat Kenari which in turn is off Jalan Kenari above the Indian temple in Sungai Ara. Our route continued where the sealed road finished.

As before, the decorated bovine was present and we continued up the broad shady track towards the large durian orchard at the top.

We skipped round the gate with its obligatory 'trespass' warning and headed upwards.

At this point I was trying to reverse the descent we had done some 3 weeks earlier but as often happens I found that all these paths looked alike even down to the classic Hakka walls. I should have taken the first left but it was so insignificant that I took the second instead.

There were no complaints from Yuehong as it was littered with Pomello 'seconds' fruit that was less than perfect and unfit for the market. It would be a shame to waste them completely. We continued upwards but when we came to an open replanting area, I realised we had gone too far up. Yuehong suggested to continue and did some exploring. I reminded her of her orders and pointed out that we had done just that on a hike a year earlier! So we had to backtrack and go down slightly towards the edge of the orchard until we came upon the view we remembered from our last visit when we were going in the opposite direction.

I nstead of following the netting, Yuehong pointed out that there was an easy way into the old rubber which we used and then we had half a dozen old rubber terraces to slide down until we came to the end of the wide path.

The path had turned from green to brown in the meantime, it must have had a dose of herbicide.

About 50 metres before the junction it reverted to green, somebody was perhaps a little shy about using chemical warfare. The path to the right would lead us up to the Blue House and since our last visit, someone had plastered it with triangular hash paper.

We swung sharp right and passed the rock and bamboo where we had noted a previous set of hash paper had shot upwards, thereafter almost all of it had been removed by the recent hares.

The path seemed a lot clearer than before and the really good news was that the significant blockage had been cleared so there was no scramble and no need to leave the path this time as before.

At the top next to a durian tree was an intriguing sign which appeared to read "Planted by Mr. Danny Gooi (?) Sew Cheng on 7 - 2 - 1995. The Blue House is showing signs of terminal decline, the roof and concrete brick walls are fine, but much of the woodwork is being consumed by termites. It's rather sad as like many similar places, it must have once been someone's pride and joy.

We continued on to the ridge path through the rubber and accompanied by the recent paper.

The rubber finished and we were now in an overgrown fruit orchard, Yuehong paused to admire the ripening durians.

I had rather hoped the paper would turn left as I am in the market for a path up from that side, but instead it turned sharp right. We could have gone that way too but we continued on as it would give us a gentler descent.

Continuing all the way down would have led to the Fig Tree Hill Resort area but we turned right at this hut.

This is an excellent path and well used by migrant workers.

After a while, there is a short climb and then we rejoined the paper as we had anticipated.

There are plenty of durian trees here too, but for the most part they are unloved. The path went gently downhill and then we could see a better maintained orchard to our right.

We certainly didn't want to continue to follow the paper, we had found the path more than a little overgrown and infested with biting red ants a few weeks before, also it would bring us out at the Indian temple on Jalan Kenari leaving us a significant walk along the road to Mavis. So we went right into the orchard, it's the same one that we had climbed through earlier on the hike.

This area was cleared a long time ago but it maintains some superb Hakka walls. Where another path comes in we could have had a refreshing wash, but I wouldn't recommend using the water for drinking.

Just before a hut, a path goes down to a gate, which, like the larger one round the corner, has a warning notice and is easy to slip past. From here we backtracked down the way we had come up.

Overall, it's a very pleasant and undemanding walk, perfect for Yuehong's current requirements. Of course, it was also perfectly placed for a visit to the Yo Yo nearby, after which we made our way home the 'long way' via Balik Pulau and Teluk Bahang, the rush hour traffic in town holding no attractions for us.