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Penang Hills and Trails - The Pretty Way |
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This is one of a series of pages on walking the hills of Penang, click here for the index. This is a Grade 3 walk, based mainly on length although there is a short awkward section. 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. Although this description starts from the Air Itam Dam, most likely you will actually start from Air Itam (502, 201, 203 or 204 bus, the 502 being by far the best option as it is the most direct service). How to get up to the dam is covered in several other walks, click here for more information (The Road to Nowhere Walk) which also covers the initial climb from the dam which is, however, repeated here. Some of these pictures have been recycled from previous walks in this area to save on server storage space, hence Yuehong's apparent double change of garb during the walk! Cross the dam and walk along the road which runs on the west side of the water.:
When you come to the gate across the road, turn right and follow the concrete road upwards.
It's a stiff climb on an a generally good road, but there are signs of environmental damage. At the col, there is a 5 way junction, this pictures show only the two wider trails ahead. That on the on the right leads down to Titi Kerawang (see this report for more information). that on the left is the one you want. Out of sight to the left is a forest trail to the col on the Air Itam to Balik Pulau road and similarly on the right is a forest trail to the Tiger Hill valley.
This concrete road continues to climb, effectively following the course of the old ridge path which branches off left at one stage, but this road skirts the summit and going down hill emerges from the forest just after this shrine..
Ignore the chain across the road if there is one here and out in the open, there is a great view with the airport and Batu Maung on the left and Balik Pulau below on the right. In the left centre is the 'temple with the view' Bao Tian Gong.
Going down the view changes slightly, immediately in front there is a rather overgrown fruit orchard and far beyond the hills above Pulau Betong. The small hut is an enticing object but represents a dead end.
There are usually dogs here, but they represent more bark than bite. On this occasion we were entertaining Nathan and Tom, who were quite relaxed not knowing what lay ahead:
They were naturally a little sceptical when told that the path continued down some steps as opposed to continuing along the perfectly good concrete. The steps are easy to miss, but never mind, the road finishes shortly after and it's not far to walk back!
At the bottom is a small house and Yuehong is indicating which way to go next, a little bit counter-intuitive maybe and our guests just had to trust us! In I went and after less than 50 metres on the overgrown trail indicated I cut left and down where the bamboo has fallen and then climbed up a few metres past a large fruit tree to where I found a water pipe as expected. That's Tom boldly following in my footsteps.
After which, the rule is 'follow the water pipe' give or take a bit as there is a basic path next to it through the undergrowth. Nathan skips over a fallen tree and then our two friends found that their trust in us was justified as we emerged unscathed from the overgrown rubber.
After which, it was as they say 'a doddle'. Down below we came into the garden of a house, which certainly didn't have a gate in 2012, but it was easy to let ourselves out. We then walked down the estate road until we came to the electricity sub-station where I called lunchtime. Afterwards, Yuehong entertained the troops with tales of old China.
Afterwards we pointed out the direct route to Balik Pulau (on the right in the picture above) and instead set off (left) down the trail towards Jalan Chai, west of Balik Pulau, described in detail in our Jalan Chai Horseshoe report. Broadly this involves following the power lines down and then turning left downwards when they start to climb again. By now, the intrepid duo were happy to accept instructions as we went through overgrown rubber and had to quickly step aside whenever the heavy traffic demanded. We got to Balik Pulau without incident, Tom and Nathan grabbed a quick Laksa and then headed off back up to the dam. We had done enough for the day, we had an early dinner and then caught the 17.30 501 and onward 101 buses back to base.
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