Penang Hills and Trails - Higher and Higher
Sungai Air Puteh and Sungai Rusa Heights

This is one of a series of pages on walking the hills of Penang, click here for the index. This is an easier than average 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.

Once upon a time, we would have considered today's hike to be a longer than average one, these days it was just a 'filler' between two long ones. Once again we parked up above the Botanica development and headed straight up the valley following the route of the 2018 Penang Rainforest Hash Challenge. 

Near the top of the orchard, the substantial bridge lies abandoned and presumably the birds' nest factory is no longer in action.

The path into the 'forest' has been a major beneficiary of the PRHC and knowing that ropes had just been installed too, it was declared a one stick day.

The ropes are probably just as well because should this path get more popular, these slopes between the old rubber terraces would soon deteriorate. Of course in a perfect world, someone would clear the fallen trees and we could go back to using the original path which rises gently.

The paper and plastic are mercifully gone, but the artwork remains. We rejoined what was once almost a road and passed my favourite swing chair, but it was too early in the walk to make use of it.

We joined the resurfaced section, with the sun out it was a little warm and we were pleased when the hash trail went left as part of today's plan was to see exactly where it  went. We'd actually been at this point coming up from what I call 'Sungai Rusa Heights' but that is not a connection I have any plans to use regularly. It was time for a water stop which inevitably meant a check on the 'App'. Not surprisingly it revealed we had yet to go very far. 

These rubber trees parallel the concrete road so it was no surprise when we met our regular path at the top - it avoids the house with an excessive number of dogs on the top road. We followed the PRHC left and started down. Normally we would take the concrete path to the right where the PRHC went straight on. We know that to be 'knee unfriendly' so Yuehong went right and I went straight on.

Now this was a rare sight indeed. In our experience, the few 'active' rubber trees on the island are invariably serviced by migrant workers but this old Chinese gentleman lives just below and was out on the job. Further down were the containers he would use to carry it all down.

As the path goes right past the house, the PRHC trail cut right and zig zagged down the terraces. In the 6 weeks intervening, the undergrowth had grown up and care was needed.

One final terrace and I could see the concrete road below.

With the photographic session Yuehong was here and gone but I quickly caught up with her. For the first time since the main rains stopped we could see durian trees preparing to flower but we'll be long gone before there is any ripe fruit on them.

The orchard owner (I assume) has erected a viewing point with a roof and benches to sit on looking out over the Balik Pulau plains as far as Bukit Pulau Betong. It's the perfect place to enjoy some refreshment. Afterwards, there's a convenient flight of steps which connect to a branch of the hill road.

The road is out of sight beneath the parking spot and behind is the junction where we would bear right to get to this hut.

There was no sign of the old Chinese couple whom we often meet here, just one of their workers enjoying his lunch. We went down the path which normally we use to get to Sungai Rusa or the round-the-island road below Titi Kerawang.

However, this time we would continue round the hill broadly following the contours past this tiny shrine.

There's a small orchard at the end of the path and the gate is often locked, as it was last time we came by. Normally, we would just climb up a few metres to get round but then Yuehong's bad knee had been playing up and I was reduced to applying my secateurs to the fastening wire. Having reconnected things, I realised later that I had failed to pick them up and no doubt the owner was grateful for my donation. Probably since few other people come this way, he will have guessed it was us but we won't mention it next time we see him. The two dogs (but not the puppies) are kept tied up and in any case they are of a nervous disposition and usually try to throttle themselves by attempting to run away. Immediately afterwards, we climbed above the house and went right into the rubber.

It's an abrupt change, but whereas a couple of years ago many of the trees were being tapped, they have been abandoned and the upper section of this concrete path is getting overgrown.

The rubber rollers (presses) are in a sad state, but the one with the grooves was of interest as Yuehong informed me that it was produced by (or for) Leong Chuan in Singapore whose product we had seen with western characters in the Secret Garden a couple of weeks ago.

We now joined the wide 'road' which would lead us back to the Sungai Air Puteh valley. This hillside is a complete mess, I can only conclude it was cleared at some stage and then just abandoned. The presence of all these carnivorous pitcher plants is a clear indication of the lack of nutrients in what passes for soil.

We last came this way almost exactly a year ago and I have no recollection or photographic record of this wide track which runs up the hill to the left. We had free time available, Yuehong needed more 'distance' so we couldn't leave it unexplored. I thought it might provide an alternative route to the ridge on our right which would be less steep than the existing one but while it got within maybe 10 metres, it just carried on round the hillside.

Eventually after just over half a kilometre it started to get overgrown and eventually expired. in the middle of nowhere. I have used Yuehong's App record to show it on the map at the bottom. Although it looks to be quite close to the road we had climbed earlier, in fact there is a significant height difference and the quality of the vegetation is such that I would not fancy trying to get through at the moment. 

We returned to the main path and soon reached the summit. As we went down we could see Mavis below us on the other side of the valley.

What was for a long time a rapidly eroding scar all the way up the hillside has finally been concreted over which will hopefully stabilise it. At the same time it has made it even more conspicuous from all over the Balik Pulau plains and there is still only limited replanting on the slope. We came down it a couple of years ago and there's nothing at the top to tempt us to return now access is facilitated. In any case we were nearing the end of our journey, we completed our circular route barely 50 metres from where we had parked.

Yuehong was very happy with her walk, the length and duration were just perfect as a preparation for climbing Western Hill the next day.