Penang Hills and Trails - Malihom Bypass
Malihom Turn Off to Anjung Indah

This is one of a series of pages on walking the hills of Penang, click here for the index. This is a long Grade 2 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.

Firstly, a rare word of praise for progress in Penang. Rapid Penang has taken delivery of the first of a fleet of double decker buses which are working our 101 route. Simply brilliant...

It was time to test ourselves with a full length walk for the first time since we returned in mid-November 2016. The climb to Malihom from the turn-off on the road between Genting and Teluk Kumbar is one of our favourites but we have done it to death. We wanted to take advantage of starting some 150m above sea level so we chose instead to walk around the side of the hill instead of climbing. I knew from satellite pictures that we could get most of the way round on a concrete road, but the final section to join with our known roads and paths was uncertain. I popped round the back of the hut for a 'comfort stop' and almost tripped over a monitor lizard, at about 40cm not the largest we have seen by any means but a welcome sight.

It was overcast and hardly the most exciting road, but it did the job.

When it finished a concrete path continued beyond.

This was more like it, especially as the new area brought a brand new set of views, firstly the rapidly changing flat plains to the north-west:

Next came a view across Balik Pulau to Bukit Elvira and the main range:

And finally and particularly relevant to today's exploration was a view towards Anjung Indah and Bukit Penara.

"Do you know where we are?" asked Yuehong and I had to answer "Not exactly." The path finished and ahead was not good news, above didn't look much better. We had earlier seen other paths going off left but that wasn't going to help and so we had no choice but to go down through the cleared area along what may one day be a proper path.

When we got to the durians, we found a concrete path. We were spared the coin toss when we discovered that turning right would immediately bring us to its end. So left it was and soon the path turned back on itself and dropped the short distance to the valley floor.

We had seen houses opposite, but it made sense to keep to the path as it crossed the stream and wound up the other side.

Eventually, we could see electricity poles and I recognised the road up from the Pondok Upeh area. So it was a case of 'job done' and just as well we hadn't tried any of the much earlier left turns because none would have led to near here. As we climbed up we could look back across to the hillside we had come from...

Now if the transit had been straightforward, we would have climbed up to the back of Malihom and gone via the Sungai Ara valley to Anjung Indah, basically following the rest of our 'Substitute for a Ridge Walk'. One thing I would not be allowed to do was to repeat our 'Buddha's Revenge' which had followed the ridge. So instead, I quickly came up with what proved to be a very successful alternative. First we took the left turn at the crossroads along a section which I don't think we have had need to use before, certainly I didn't recognise this sign which I am told is the name of the orchard.

I knew exactly where we were but Yuehong didn't believe me. Now basically we had missed the 14.30 501 and needed something to occupy us till the 17.30 501. That meant turning right up the steep hill at the T junction and then going into the rubber to the left on the second bend. Still Yuehong refused to believe I was in control of the walk and the look on her face was a picture.

It was all of two minutes until we came out into the FCS Fruit Farm and in front of us as I expected was a concrete path. We took a break and Yuehong indicated that I could have done something better with my education than developing an obsessive encyclopedic knowledge of the paths in Penang. To which she might have added rice mills in Burma, sugar mills in Java and myriad narrow gauge railway lines in Asia for a start.

We had gone straight to the upper part of the estate. We'd only been here once before and it was apparent that we were on a different path, to the south of the one we descended. We could see another estate on the hill opposite. 

A feature of today's walk was long section of almost flat paths which allowed plenty of time to enjoy the scenery, however, we didn't have time to enjoy a dip in this private swimming pool.

We dropped down and joined the other path up, turning right and climbing to the boundary of the estate.

I had rather hoped we could follow the contours round to the next estate, but one look at what that would have involved was enough to send us up the final climb to the ridge.

We turned left and followed the ridge into first rubber and then almost immediately durians where the grass was immaculately manicured. Very soon we came to the point where a path comes up from the Relau / Sungai Ara side. We don't use this one as there is a fierce dog in the house below.

Last time we were here in February 2016 on the 'Buddha's Revenge' , the area above was covered in knee length grass and full of red ants. Today could not have been more different, we climbed a short way and took a terrace round the east side of the hill passing back into rubber. 

This is 'virgin rubber' and there is every sign that they had been planted at just the right time. Of course, the owner will have to find someone to do the tapping and these days it will have to be foreign labour. As we joined some older rubber, a concrete path came down from above and we followed it down.

As expected it came out at the houses behind 'The Carpet' and we were back on very familiar territory. 

We had done this walk several times in the last couple of years, once you get the right turning, there's just one rule and that's to go straight ahead at every junction.

Now this time parts of it were very overgrown, but the concrete was still there underneath. And, when the path finished, as usual we had to go down half a dozen or more terraces and find the end of the path which leads to Anjung Indah. On this occasion, the less than pleasant dog was not at home and the main gate wide open, probably as there were some contractors cutting the grass in the rubber smallholding behind.

Yuehong stopped to talk with one of the farmers whose rubber is suddenly worth tapping again and as a result, we just missed a 502. That could have meant waiting a full half hour and my missing my dinner but the gods were smiling on us and we were offered a lift down to Balik Pulau which we gratefully accepted. We even got home 15 minutes earlier than expected as for the first time ever in our experience the 17.30 501 pitched up spot on time - a warning to us for the future. We were both tired but satisfied after our first 'long haul' and unusually I slept for a full 8 hours; writing this next morning my bad knee is a little stiff but otherwise it was just what we needed.

This was indeed a cracking walk even if it only came about by reacting to the longer than expected first section. It's certainly one we'll do again, especially as the early descent will probably soon be a lot easier.

Finally, and sadly, a Balik Pulau institution is no more. Mr. Fong, the owner of the Lah Guan Goldsmith opposite the roundabout and who had been making silver items for over 60 years like his father before him, has passed away and the shop house is closed up. He will not be replaced, I am sure.