Penang Hills and Trails - Bayan Lepas Explorer Part 2
Bukit Papan

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, unsuitable for those without experience of walking in overgrown areas without formal paths! 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.

There are two areas above Bayan Lepas which are cultivated, one readily accessible from the 'Green Mosque' and the other from Lengkuk Kelicap. Connections between the two are almost non-existent as the map shows, the one path being in dubious condition. All this area seemed to have been rubber at one stage, unlike other similar areas only a small part has been converted to fruit, the rest simply abandoned. I am sure there are many wild boar living there.

The previous day, we had tried (and succeeded) to find our way from the area next to the coconut farm on the ridge with the southern fruit orchards, somewhere we had not been for 4 years. Peter van der Lans had looked here relatively recently, he had found ways through but he would be the last to describe them as elegant.

It had rained most of the night and was still drizzling when we left home, but it was bright by the time we got to the south of the island. The kicking off point was again beside the 30+ storey new Orchard Ville condominium in Lengkuk Kelicap off Persiaran Kelicap between Sungai Ara and Bayan Lepas. This time we headed off back down the hill and, to show how resilient nature can be, a metre long monitor lizard scuttled across the road in front of Yuehong.

At the bottom we turned right and if you were more than a little deaf you wouldn't know what was going on just behind. This time we turned left and did go up the streambed.

We climbed up past the water tank and on up again through the orchard.

We turned right and we were back where we belong. The migrant workers have little or nothing to their name but a smile is free and they always oblige.

This track is being widened and the hillside opposite is awaiting a rich man's pleasure.

We were soon past it, into the trees and out into what, for me, represents just about the most under-reported quality hiking in Penang.

The stream passes under the road and there's one of several small waterfalls here. Hopefully the new road going up left will soon blend in.

We went up between the sheds and straight through the junction, if you come this way then you can't go wrong as we were following the original concrete.

Up through the durians and then one last bend before the settlement. That was today's target high above.

We kept left and headed for the temple.

We always pay our respects to Tua Pek Kong and his walking sticks and paused to take some water. In theory we were heading for the main ridge, but having read about it and seen a bit of what it might involve yesterday, I had my doubts. 

At the junction, we could have followed the path along the valley or chance our arm on this path which seemed to climb...

Well it did but not very far and we came to what looked like a cage for holding wild boar, but in any case it was empty.

The path went on but only a short distance to this ginger. We went back to the cage and nearby Yuehong spotted a couple of frogs making more frogs. Given that mosquitoes breed in stagnant water like this, the tadpoles won't be short of food.

We didn't have to go back as there was a path slanting back and up, of course, this did meaning going away from the main ridge. This too died where a tree was down just before yet more ginger.

However, above was what looked like a small side ridge and the way up didn't look too difficult at all. Three minutes later we were in the kind of open forest we had come down the day before. following what might once have been a path but now needed just a little bit of snipping.

We seemed to have avoided the terraces which had been the least pleasant part of our nearby descent, there was plenty of evidence of the area's previous status though.

It all started to look rather familiar and then I spotted a neatly snipped prickly vine in mid air and we knew for sure that we were now retracing our steps. There was still a bit more climbing to do but we could see daylight through the trees in just about every direction.

Soon we were on the summit with some litter from a hunter. I had to persuade Yuehong that it would be better to take a small diversion rather than plough through the ferns to the main path ahead and then we were out. This time it had taken us just 50 minutes from the temple. My feeling is that this rubber and the ridge it covered was wedge shaped, being narrower at the top, also that the area to the left coming up was perhaps not quite so easy to pass through. I suspect that a middle route up from settlement following the tapped rubber might prove optimal. Going down on an ever widening ridge where there is no proper path though, is always going to be difficult.  As they say, that's one (or two) for another day, we had our refreshment and when I asked Yuehong if she needed more exercise she indicated that what we had done would be perfectly adequate for today.

So we turned right and went back down, from the cleared area we got two separate views. Firstly part of Pulau Jerekjak, Orchard Ville and two birds' nest factories.

Then secondly, the airport with the newer bridge behind.

Last time we came down this way, we got a little bit wet. We were much earlier today and there were just a few spots of rain as we reached Mavis. We'd been out just 3½ hours for a walk which was an excellent mixture.

In fact as it wasn't yet 13.30, we decided to go home and then go out for dinner later, especially as it was a Wednesday and Sungai Pinang's special attraction would be closed. At the moment, the weather in Penang is a pattern of clearer mornings with clouds building for afternoon rain. In today's case, in the area of our flat it was really quite heavy so it's as well that we're doing daily short walks and not alternate day long ones!