Penang Hills and Trails - Bukit Gambir Explorer 3

This is part of a series of pages on walking the hills of Penang. Click here for the index. This is a Grade 3 walk, the off piste section is not difficult for experienced walkers. 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.

A couple of months before we had done a circular walk in this area which had gone very well, today we planned to repeat it but in roughly the opposite direction and with a different starting point which would make it shorter and with less of an ascent / descent as we had a long walk in prospect the next day.

We took Mavis up the Sungai Ara Valley almost to the end of the road and turned left just at the end of the building site (see the earlier walk for pictures). This climbs quite steeply and at the point where the new concrete road commences we went straight ahead into an open area. It was some 3km from the Indian temple on Jalan Kenari and it must be the furthest we have managed so far on a non-public road. Don't anyone tell the car hire people!

Almost as soon as we had taken the first left hand bend, I was on the look out for the path which would take us up to the ridge.

"Is that a path?" said Yuehong. "Of course", I replied, "and you were the one who spotted it coming down last time." I was sent on ahead to confirm my assertion and Yuehong reached for the insect repellant as this was definitely going to be old rubber which probably meant mosquitoes galore. In the event, they must have gone on holiday.

The path was actually a clearer than average rubber terrace and before I had a chance to think about looking for a clear way up, it swung left and started to climb.

It soon became less distinct but there was very little undergrowth to slow us down. I really wanted to go to the right if possible as that was how we had come down but we were being pushed slightly left instead.

In fact, eventually I could see we were some way above the lowest part of the ridge so we adjusted course and followed a contour to the right and found ourselves on what was presumably another tappers' trail.

Since it was going the way I wanted, we followed it and quite soon we emerged into a cleared area.

It took me less than 5 seconds to work out where we were, the shelter and the rubber behind it were instantly recognisable. In fact we were even higher than I had expected and by coming this way, we had avoided both a small gully and also crossing maybe 300 metres of tall grass.

We were now at the highest point of our walk and it had taken less than an hour, it was too early to celebrate and while Yuehong was getting herself ready to continue I had a quick look straight ahead, normally we would go off to the right and follow the path down through the rubber. In fact, there was just a few metres of scrub and then we were in among the coconuts above the shelter where we are always made welcome by the migrant workers and their dogs. It was a rather pleasant short cut and the walk was getting shorter and shorter. As it was Chinese New Year's Eve we were presented with some delicious jackfruit as a present and Yuehong took the opportunity to press a small Ang Pow on our host.

The nest section, in comparison, was totally familiar, we skipped the gate and passed some superb examples of Hakka terracing.

We never have any trouble getting the turn at the oil palms right, but the U bend has thrown us in the past as well as one of our visitors. 

We went up through the rubber and into the durians, that's a new shelter presumably for those paid to guard the crop. While the orchard is not in great shape, I did like this low level epiphyte.

By the time we approached 541, it had got rather gloomy and amazingly we were treated to five minutes rain during our refreshment break. I declined to jump in and be photographed in the water tank, it would not have gone down well if Mr. Leong saw it!

So for a change, we turned left instead of right just below and I was pleased to see that the Da Ba Gong shrine had been spruced up.

When I caught up, Yuehong had cornered the Hakka owner, the place was much tidier than usual, it was the first time we had seen anyone here. With him was his son, he was clearly not a country boy and indeed spoke no Hakka at all. Obviously, this property extending to 11 acres had become quite valuable and the youngster was being directed towards a new career. The inside was fascinating, the two pictures were of the grandfather and great grandfather, the latter was a temple official, that's 4 generations represented here - naturally there's not a female to be seen!

Outside were some interesting exhibits, two pairs of very different rubber rollers (presses) and a pair of shrews kept as caged pets, my Malaysian mammals book records them as widespread, common and easily trapped with a variety of food. I recall our cats used to catch them and bring them into our bungalow in the 1970s whereupon they made a ghastly shrieking noise.

We continued on through the rubber and found the tappers cum estate workers just below. 

Yuehong could sniff the end of the walk, we turned left as we came out in the open and then right down the new concrete road.

A few minutes later we were at the bottom of it, we turned left and were back with Mavis in a shade under 3 hours. Not surprisingly, Yuehong's toy showed that we had covered less than 5km.

I used to think that this was a large and difficult area, but that seems not to be totally the case although we have yet to explore the central hill which strictly is Bukit Gambir, Bukit Papan being just to the south. To avoid confusion, I use that name as there is a better known Bukit Gambir in the Gelugor / Paya Terubong area.

Of course, all the Chinese coffee shops were already closed today for the New Year so we went home, showered and afterwards had the first of several curries.