Penang Hills and Trails
Another Malihom Loop

This is one of a series of pages on walking the hills of Penang, click here for the index. This is a Grade 3 walk with short 'off piste' sections. 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.

This is a rather more challenging version of the walk we did in March 2018. Today's starting point was pole JTS 133 41 on the Pondok Upeh Cycleway, which is a great kicking off spot for at least half a dozen routes to the ridge to the south. As it's about 150m asl, the temperatures are always a treat. This time we were going in an anti-clockwise direction so we kept right for a more or less level route at the first junction.

This was our immediate target, a new set of nutmeg trees which we had visited just once before two years ago. That was not a great success as the steep hillside then was rather overgrown and to make matters worse we were going downhill. Now it looked clearer and there seemed to be a path running though it rising from right to left. 

First though we had to reach the access point, the only time we tried to do that, we had taken a wrong turn which had eventually led to our finding a quite civilised alternative route, something which had understandably considerably delayed a further visit. This time I had checked the photographic record and after we turned right down the hill I knew we had quite a descent to the third house on the left and would then continue for another 4 minutes to find this turning on the left.

This modest path was what was wanted, but there's nothing wrong with it.

We wound round the hill, dropping to a small stream and continued past what elsewhere might have been a refugee shelter.

By now we were below our target and we found the path as before, climbing before looping back to the left. 

As before, it finished and above us was a rocky hillside with a few durian trees. Yuehong immediately set off up it.

We had hoped to head right to intercept the path at its lowest point, but the boulders were too big. We checked separately left and right, sometimes I was lucky, sometimes Yuehong.  

One last scramble and we were on our 'path', it was more like an inclined ledge. As I had come on to it, I had discovered I was sharing with four quite young wild boar but they had shot off before I could even switch the camera on.

It had probably been a real path once but the continuation would have been under the overgrown banana patch. At this point we could have followed a contour round to the right and find a known path, but Explorer Yuehong continued upwards and when I eventually caught up with her she was on the ridge with a smug look on her face and her toy in her hand to record the moment. We'd been here a couple of weeks before on a recce and she had just taken a very handy short cut.

She asked for a picture and then magnanimous as ever she suggested I might enjoy a bit of refreshment here. We'd actually been going for just an hour but as we were heading into well known territory, who was I to refuse?

After the break, we took the path on and soon turned left. 

This brought us quickly to the top of the orchard and we had to cross to the next one. Further on it's a short bur rather steep scramble, but here it's gentler and just 10 metres or so, a perfect opportunity for Yuehong to demonstrate her gardening skills.

Out came the secateurs and a few snips later we were out the other side.

There's a wide trail along this well maintained 'garden' and we climbed gently and then down slightly.

We've met the owner several times and he's very friendly. Being the weekend, he was here today but we could hear him at work higher up as we passed his 'glass house'. His presence meant that the first gate would be open.

The second gate appeared locked but we knew the chain was not secured. Yuehong replaced it and we joined the Malihom access road.

Once upon a time, Yuehong struggled up these zig-zags, now despite the lovely palms, she finds them rather boring but the corkscrew at the turn off signals some relief.

Striding through the durians to the col, turning left and climbing again, that's more like it...

Ahead is 'mosquito rubber', it's unavoidable but we have diverging views on how to tackle it. Yuehong prefers to gain maximum height and swoop down through it, I prefer to try to follow the contours... 

It's not that unpleasant and as we met where the two routes converge, there's no time benefit for either one. We came to the descent that would lead directly to Mavis.

However, I had other ideas. "Turn right.", I said at the T-junction and got a look that could kill. Now following the ridge here requires invading the territory of a bunch of extremely hostile Buddhists who have blocked the traditional path with, inter alia, a meditation centre and two wire fences. They lurk beyond the end of the road. I had cleverly asked Yuehong "How many km showing on your app now?", knowing it would not be very many. Indeed it was only 4 km and right it had to be. 

We'd come the other way a week ago and in our eagerness to get out of their sanctuary we had lifted the fence and scrambled underneath. Now there was time to look for a more elegant way and, sure enough, just to the right, a tree had conveniently come down bringing the fence with it. We stepped across and carefully rounded the water tanks.

Ahead is a road and we took care to follow the right branch away from the signposted meditation centre. Near the top, a path branches right and by now the chances of bumping into the natives were very small.

The fence is just beyond where it turns left at the bottom and, again from our previous visit, we knew that 'someone' (not us, this time) had bent the fence so it was easy to climb over. Yuehong could afford a smile, even though she calls the next bit 'jungle'.

It's not, of course, it's simply a short stretch of old forgotten rubber, which needs only the occasional switch from one terrace to another where branches have come down.

In just 10 minutes, we came out where we had gone in before, the orchard ahead is being extended slightly and this makes things very easy - they've even erected a sign to show the gateway.

We were now at the top of our favourite FCS orchard. They still maintain a few clove trees, but you have to look hard to find them. There are (at least) two here on the ridge and this one had just budded, maybe a few weeks later than normal. One of their workers will soon have the job of stripping the trees of the unopened buds which will then be allowed to dry. It's a phenolic compound, eugenol, which gives the cloves their traditional smell and accounts for their antiseptic and anaesthetic properties.

No visit to this most attractive spot is complete without a lunch break, but soon we were heading down. We avoid the main entrance here, not because we are unwelcome but because it is some way below where we park. So we usually turn left which means a small climb which contains one excellent view which we have enjoyed many times.

Here's another very healthy clove tree and when we could see a small hut ahead on the right, we left the path and headed to a small patch of rubber.

The road is just below it, we turned right, went through a junction and there was Mavis. Someone was smiling, almost 7 km had been covered without any complaint from the knees. 

Having the 'Buddhist' transit available offers us extra options, there are three known routes up / down at the northern end and three more at the southern end. Without it, using one from each would make for a much longer walk with two ascents and two descents (via the Sungai Ara valley), perfectly achievable but more than what we would want to do on a daily basis.