Penang Hills and Trails
Sungai Ara Figure of 8

This is one of a series of pages on walking the hills of Penang, click here for the index. This is (reluctantly) a Grade 4 walk, for the short section coming down from the summit. 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.

The Sungai Ara valley is one of just a few places in Penang (above Balik Pulau is another) where it is possible to pick out potential routes by looking across from the other side. This view had been taken a couple of weeks earlier. The ridge here is part of that which runs from Malihom to Anjung Indah. The left half is overgrown old rubber, the small section with individual trees visible just after the middle is the top of the FCS Durian Orchard (entry from the Pondok Upeh side) and the rest is 'active' rubber. Quite clearly there were orchards running most of the way up the hillside and from the top it wouldn't be far to climb through the forest which was today's aim. However, it was an unknown quantity and Yuehong packed her gloves and own secateurs.

We started at the bikers' shelter on the valley road accessed from the Indian temple on Jalan Kenari  which has safe parking for Mavis. I think the bikers kick the trespass sign as they go past to or from The Carpet. Often we take the path right here, but today we took the road left (the road on the right goes into some kind of 'development'..

Just round the bend, an old Proton has found its final resting place. We turned (left) sharply back on ourselves at the next junction.

I'd had a quick look up here some three years ago, but at that stage we were still looking for well defined paths... At the first flat area, there was a path into the trees which I recall as going back to the main road up.

Looking back we could see the distinctive 'Red Mansion' on the other side of the valley. The road finished and we headed for the small hut, behind which a small path continued, heading uphill.

This looked to be an old orchard which had recently been tidied up. We had a location check with the Chinese temple and birds' nest factory below Malihom. Just below us was the end of a brand new concrete path, which clearly merited some investigation.

There was some sort of path to follow and then the piled up boulders suggested something interesting.

First, we looked up to the skyline which could well have been the FCS Durian Orchard. Before then, there was an old concrete path which desperately needed checking out.

It turned out to be a 'Gibby' of a path, barely a gradient and with a variety of vegetation. I gave Yuehong 15 minutes off and went to see where it would meet the main road up. I didn't quite go all the way but the ruined hut is quite distinctive. The farmer waved away his dogs but was concerned when I indicated I was going no further. He asked where I was going to and I told him Pondok Upeh which satisfied him and which, assuming he knew the path, was good news. Even If I had no intention of actually going there today!

Yuehong had waited patiently and now we would find out where the path would take us. Clearly some maintenance had been done and recently to keep it clear of trees, at least to start with.

We were going through rubber and when we got to another estate, the maintenance ceased. Worse, it was the red ant season - they always appear here at the start of the dry season and they were giving Yuehong a hard time again. They bite.

Some time back I had worked out that this path would lead to the house at the top of the road we had set out on, it could be seen through the trees. We had no wish to visit it as we had found it to be the home of a particularly obnoxious dog that answered only to the eight year old girls which had been left to look after it. In fact we had looked at it after passing the house in the opposite direction but had discarded it as a possibility as it was both overgrown and heading in the wrong direction. So I was expecting to be able to turn left and indeed it was the case.

Yuehong was saying nothing, I don't think she believed I knew where I was but when I said that there would be two abandoned motorbikes ahead, there was recognition. Now all we had to do was keep going ahead and we would be at the top of the FCS Durian Orchard.

So we were and since our visit a few weeks earlier someone had been spaying herbicide, not a good sign in my book. It was refreshment time and also time to treat the ant bites. 

Now if we were to have gone back over the hill behind us, not only would it have been rather uninteresting for us, there were probably a million more red ants waiting for Yuehong. Instead it was time for some 'fun'. We were somewhere above where we had been earlier and as if to confirm it we could again see the 'Red Mansion'.

This time there would be no path, we knew that much. It was a little steep and slippery but we were running way ahead of schedule. I cast my eye around and chose my spot. Snip, snip and we were in. The first 50 metres or so were a little hairy. 

Then the gradient eased and the forest opened up. The worst obstacle was the dreaded thorn tree but it was such easy going there was no chance one of us would misguidedly grasp it.

We could soon see light ahead and we were out.

Just across was the path we had used earlier and the day's work was effectively over.

All that was left was to find our way down the previously unknown new path.

It was a real 'mixed' fruit orchard, there were durian trees of course, some were just a few years old and not ready to fruit. It represented more very pleasant hiking.

At the bottom we met a young man outside a hut, as usually happens he was a little perturbed by our arrival but Yuehong talked sweetly to him and that sorted any problems. Just below was a road, obviously a branch off the main Sungai Ara valley road.

I checked and the road finished at a nearby house. There was an older man here who didn't seem awfully keen on my presence. I suspect it was something to do with the fact that he was popping out on his motorbike and probably hadn't bothered to lock the front door.

Opposite where we had come down was what looked to be an old grave, it must have an interesting story to tell. We came out as expected, I checked the pole as being OJK 73. That meant we were less than 5 minutes walk from where we had set out.

Certainly, we had never completed a walk in this area before 14.30 before! Yuehong indicated I would have to try harder to find something more challenging next time and I suggested the Bukit Gemuruh ridge... We shall see.

In the event we went to the YoYo Huat in Sungai Ara for another excellent 'economy rice', we stopped at the Magic Tiger Tree in Sungai Pinang and were home by 16.30.