Penang Hills and Trails - Balik Pulau Direct
(Upper) Paya Terubong 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 3 walk but needs care in some places as indicated. 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.

This account is linked from my Penang Peaks page which lists peaks over 400 metres as well as other places of interest and viewpoints. To find other hikes which visit this peak please check the maps of this are using this link.

We were just back from hiking in northern Thailand, we needed an easy day out and Yuehong suggested a walk from the Paya Terubong area which would allow us to buy a weekly bus card at Komtar. A moment's reflection discarded any thought of starting from the road beyond Air Itam at near sea level and instead we started at the summit of the Relau Pass (perfect for a 502 bus to stop), using the best of our known routes up to Nanshan from the east side. It was our first visit to the area for a year, but I knew it to be a pleasant and frequently shaded climb.

I'm not sure if I should point this out but the previous time we were here in February 2015, I recycled pictures from January 2014 before I traded in the original Yuehong for a new less rounded model. Should any middle aged lady read this and say "I don't know how to get my figure back", the answer lies before you, get off your backside and burn it all away on a set of hills somewhere near where you live.

It's an easy climb, take the first fork left, turn right at the next junction where the street lights (!) go left, go past a glorious tree which is a throwback to the good old days and then turn left. The scowl is because Yuehong is a little deaf and wasn't listening to instructions, a year being more than enough to scrub her memory.

The previous day had been a complete wash out owing to our spending an hour in Sungai Pinang watching the rain come down in stair rods and today, for a while, looked similar. In the event it stayed dry throughout.

Traditionally we turn right into the ginger just after the concrete bridge, but after the rain that wasn't going to be much fun, so on we went into the next flower garden and turned right to look for an alternative short climb.

We turned right to the huts and got the usual "it can't be done" message from the old man, these days I smile politely and keep climbing. We passed his wife coming down and turned right just beyond the next hut with a Sulawesi family who also gave the same wrong advice. Behind it was a distinct jungle path, clearly they would rather not accept responsibility for sending us to what they imagined would be our doom.

My God, it was hard going and exactly four minutes later we were out in the upper flower gardens.

It's an easy climb up to the crest but the place wreaked of insecticide.

Now I can't resist the temptation to write yet another diatribe about Malaysians and their lack of environmental awareness. Not so long back, an exceptionally heavy rainstorm led to a deadly flood of almost tsunami like proportions ripping down the valley below. Maybe, perhaps, maybe someone in a position of authority might connect the deforestation of Nanshan with the event but I doubt it. Unfortunately, those who inhabit the state forestry department come from that section of the Malaysian population who get giddy when they are more than 50 metres above sea level, particularly where there is no air conditioning.

Now given the average life of a productive durian (50 years) or rubber tree (25 years) there is always going to be a percentage of the hill side which is being cleared or is regenerating, maybe 5% or so, but not as exhibited here. That's a small shanty town of guest workers who should be invited to take their slash and burn techniques back where they came from.

Every year, the roads get wider up here and more trees bite the dust. We turned left at the big junction and then right to what PvdL calls the 'last farm'. Let's be quite straight about this, Nanshan represents Chinese greed of mainland proportions, it doesn't have to be this way as the Hakka Chinese farmers on the other side of the hill demonstrate with their sustainable cultivation.

Today's walk continued along the Bukit Relau ridge, a path we had traversed in the opposite direction earlier in the month. Ahead lay the other two paths out from this area, but left somewhere was the ridge path we wanted. To be honest, you would miss it if you didn't know it was there.

This small forest reserve has existed since 1911, but if you like what you see, go there soon because for sure it won't be there much longer owing to the total dereliction of duty of those who are paid to protect it.

Of course, some trees will always fall down for entirely natural reasons, but if the balance is changed by such wanton vandalism as seen here, then very soon nothing will be left.

This has rapidly established itself as one of my favourite reserve areas owing to the number of standing mature trees. As a result of this, the trail is easy to follow as it descends the ridge. Eventually, it's wise to turn left at the first boundary marker and then carry straight on past the second until you emerge at recently planted rubber trees.

Young rubber is very resilient, once planted, you can walk away for some 5 to 10 years for nature to take its course, which is just as well given the current rubber price. Of course, for the time being you have to trust your instinct, knowing there was a path last time you came this way.

Sure enough, here was the concrete path and at the next major junction, we turned left as we wanted a direct route to Balik Pulau and not a descent to the valley road.

.Having been here before, we knew to continue through the hut along the terrace until we came to the zig-zag concrete path down.

The next turning, though, is tricky, it comes near the second point on the zig-zags where the path meets the mature rubber on the left. Let's just say it's not entirely obvious... If you miss it, never mind just carry on down to the valley road. The rubber terrace very soon becomes a concrete path.

2

It was a very warm day, we were going through our water quicker than normal and Yuehong was a bit 'warm', but the smile never faded. We went along the terrace and turned right towards the Nibbinda Buddhist Monastery scam, today we would avoid it by taking the concrete path down to the right.

. Shortly before the green birds nest factory, we had to turn left to the fruit terrace, again from this end it's not an obvious thing to do as the connection is currently weed covered.

It's only a short section, the route quickly becomes a fruit terrace and then a concrete path to the main Nibbinda road. We went straight across into the durians.

The trick here is to find an easy way down into the adjacent lower rubber estate, something we conspicuously failed to do.

Never mind, we could almost smell Balik Pulau by now (or rather the chicken farms) as we went straight down the concrete path  However, on the route is a 'dog house' so when we came to the sharp right bend we indulged in another short 'off piste' section. Like all such parts of this route, it helped hugely that we knew what to do because they are all much easier and more obvious going in the uphill direction.

Transit time between paths was the usual average five minutes. Ahead and down was one of the few paths in the area we hadn't actually used, but it behaved itself and delivered us to a known junction.

After which it was a short downhill to the famous 'Spice House' and from there a short walk into town.

It had been a very warm day, and for once we had used up all our water. As a result, we'll be carrying a bit more for the rest of the trip. This is a great walk, perhaps not quite as easy as I anticipated, but given the way the 'connections' work, I think it would better be done in the opposite direction. That wouldn't have worked for us this time as we were coming from George Town and getting on (as opposed to off) a 502 bus at the summit is not an option as there is no room to stop on that side of the road.