Penang Hills and Trails - Cheng Kon Sze to Nanshan Challenge
Air Itam - Cheng Kon Sze - Paya Terubong

This is one of a series of pages on walking the hills of Penang, click here for the index. This is a Grade 4 walk, owing to the overgrown middle 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.

We still had visitors and had to take another 'short' walk, there was no question of visiting the south of the island. It was 3 years since we had last been near Cheng Kon Sze, (Cheng Ji Chan, the 'Temple of the 1200 Steps') high above Paya Terubong and since we had only been down from there along the road to Kek Lok Si, we elected to start in Air Itam. Basically, I wanted to confirm that it was practical to transit from the end of the temple road to Nanshan, Google Maps suggesting it was less than 500 metres to a cultivated area. I have recycled some pictures from a previous walk 

We took the dam road from Air Itam village and at the top of the zig-zag turned left onto the concrete road which passes between Kek Lok Si and the ghastly Guan Yin statue. You just have to put up with the over-commercialisation and hang in until the road narrows at the top of the temple complex. Beyond there is very little traffic.

It's a steep, pleasant enough but unremarkable climb along a ridge and when it eventually leaves the ridge very pleasant, there being plenty of shade throughout.

There's then a well maintained orchard but the associated house looks sadly neglected. We didn't revisit the temple which is to the right at this junction, we continued some way past the car park.

Beyond there's a fine view of modern Penang with '84' and Bukit Cendana to the left side.

On the way we again passed another grand house which is still no longer in use, this one even boasts a garden funicular below it. It was impossible to determine how far down it went, it was naturally more overgrown than before. There is clearly an interesting story behind the situation in this area, a huge amount of money has been spent, most of it apparently totally wasted...

The road finishes at yet another clearly inhospitable Buddhist complex, there seemed no point in asking for access to the forest beyond and provoking another un-Buddhist hostile response. Somewhat worryingly, whereas the access road to the house above had previously been wide open, it now had a gate and a lock. Never mind, the fence on the left went just a couple of metres and we could scramble up through the bananas.

Compared to before the house had gained a roof, there was no sign of a dog and although the lights were on we felt that maybe no-one was home, possibly there was a caretaker. We didn't investigate but went in on the left just before it where someone had helpfully cleared the first 30 metres of ferns on what seems once to have been a path.

There was still at least as far to go and I tried my best to flatten the ferns for Yuehong to follow. We were not the first 'adventurers' to come this way although this was the one and only such sign we saw, nor did we encounter more ferns fortunately.

Some kind of drainage system had been installed for the complex below but, from the state it was in, no-one had inspected it for many years. We were into 'trees' now and I caught a smile for the last time for a while.

Unfortunately, clearing the land below seemed to have had serious knock on effects above. There were now several trees down ahead of us stretching into the distance. It was time to put the camera away as I crawled up and around and down again. It took a while and, fortunately, the obstruction turned out to be less formidable than I first feared. I broke off a few rotten branched and Yuehong was able to pass through.

After which things improved and the camera re-emerged. Yes, that's an old rubber tree ahead and there were terraces of a sort as we easily cleared a rocky dry stream. We came to a stretch of near 'jungle heaven'. the only rubber terrace still clear and which seemed to have been tapped in living memory.

Yuehong of course emerged and appreciated the situation. I had promised her 'no more than 500 metres' and we had probably covered nearly half that by now. There was a minor difference of opinion as to go up or down when the trail beyond was slightly obstructed. 'Up' won as there was an easy way below a large boulder and next to it was this delightful ground ginger flower.  

It was a good decision, our crashing around had alerted a dog not far above us and while I normally avoid such creatures, in this case it almost certainly heralded a house. In no time, I was in a banana terrace which led directly to a house. I waited for Yuehong who was dispatched to charm the old lady who, quite frankly, looked as if she had just met a couple of ghosts.

We could easily have climbed around behind but she readily unhitched the gate and led us through. I asked Yueong to confirm that we were now in Nanshan and this was so. On the other side of the house, as expected, was a concrete path. The basic transit was about twenty minutes but we had spent as long again negotiating our way through the fallen trees, it was well under the 500 metre maximum. We were assured that the path right was not worthy of investigation and in any case we didn't have the time as we had to be back in time for a clean up before a 'last supper' with our guests.

This is the house looking back should anyone try to do things in the reverse direction - I wouldn't recommend it as the 'target area' at the other end is tiny - going the way we did, we were almost certain to hit a cultivated area even if we had actually scored the proverbial 'bulls eye'.  Down and along the path we went joining a downhill path at electricity pole 'JOE 6 41 21', it was time to take my medicine, having abstained till now to keep my head totally clear. I recognised the path as one I had come down from upper Nanshan with John Baker a couple of years earlier. Yuehong had been up here with me even earlier, sadly the hill opposite was more intact then.

We joined another path down at electricity pole 'JOE 6 41 18', now normally I have a great deal of sympathy with the hill farmers but Nanshan is a major exception. The rubbish speaks for itself, I can't attribute this lot to the Burmese. The part of the path shown is attractive enough, but the truth is that the fruit orchards here are scarcely maintained, it seems no young people live in this area any more.

And further down is ample evidence that 'slash and burn' is unsustainable, there are large areas which have effectively been abandoned, the flower and vegetable 'gardens' have moved on up the hill which will no doubt look like this in a few years time. We find Nanshan and Paya Terubong intensely depressing, basically they are a showcase for development gone badly wrong. Progress it is not.

Only the sight of this 'split screen' Morris Minor cheered me up, the registration is actually 'AA 3152', from Perak, a reminder of the days before Japanese cars swept all before them here. 

Unfortunately, there does not seem to be a bus stop near where the road emerges and we ended up walking several hundred metres towards Air Itam. Our 202 bus to Komtar was quite empty and by dint of noticing that there was a 102 bus due there, we dodged the mob trying to enter a 101 bus in front of us. It really helps sometimes to have a good working knowledge of the Rapid Penang system.

Frankly, I would not recommend this walk, it was only done to prove it could be and I can't see any reason to repeat it! I know Yuehong thinks it didn't even need to be done once.