Penang Hills and Trails - Bukit Papan South
Searching for the Definitive Solution

This is one of a series of pages on walking the hills of Penang, click here for the index. This is a medium length Grade 4 walk with significant less straightforward 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.

Having found a first class route from Teluk Kumbar up towards Bukit Papan, the quest for an acceptable way through to the top had become more urgent as we had found the only known path in unaccepatble condition a year ago. Worse still Peter van der Lans had told us that it was now impassable, something we had spent an uncomfortable afternoon confirming. However the silver lining to that cloud was the realisation that the contours on Google Maps were concealing a small summit which we climbed and found could be key to an acceptable and reproducible alternative. This would mean we had routes available on both sides of the former path.

The main account describes a clockwise circuit, two days later we returned as explained, for Yuehong to get a complete record and for me to try to find a reproducible decent ascent. Yuehong was successful, I was less so.

The starting point was this turn off which is technically in Kampong Sungai Batu although it is almost in Teluk Kumbar. It is an anonymous road leading through a model Malay kampong. Each house is well kept, many have floral displays and there is no rubbish visible. This notice makes it clear that rubbish should only go out in the morning so there is minimal chance of it being ripped open by any dogs that might stray in - there being none here. 

The road is well humped to protect the numerous young children and we parked up at the far end in a shady grove of fruit trees. The path continues into the 'forest'.

When we could see the Chinese house ahead we knew to turn right. Basically all it needed was to keep to what is obviously the main path, of the main junctions, the two paths to the left lead only a short distance into orchards.

That's the Lexis Suites with every one of its 220 suites equipped with an individual private pool and steam room. I would find it very difficult to have a polite discussion with those who were responsible for erecting this monstrosity.

Further up, it's a traditional durian orchard with a hut with traditional Burmese rubbish all around.

After the climb, it was a pleasure to have a short ridge path to the next hut.

At the back I found a single rubber roller (press) - actually there was the other here too, I found it on a later visit. Coincidentally I had stumbled on another 'Eagle Brand' machine for the first time a few days ago between Balik Pulau and Paya Terubong.

We stayed more or less with the ridge to the next shelter passing the point where Peter van der Lans' route from Teluk Kumbar finishes. The top section is a little rough so we keep it in reserve.

It was a clearer than average day but the photograph of the airport and second bridge doesn't really do it justice.

It was time to go down, we followed the concrete path until it got wider whereupon we continued north on the sand.

It works perfectly for us as it joins the wider concrete track up from Bayan Lepas at its summit.

Round the corner is this isolated Chinese settlement, usually we find single houses in the hills but this has several, all still used to a greater or lesser extent even though they have no mains electricity here. We turned left in the dip.

This brought us to the small Chinese temple. On our previous (unreported) visit here just before Chinese New Year, we found a small group who had come up from Bayan Lepas to give it a tidy up. They made us welcome and we shared some fried rice which they had brought. They must have 'feasts' here too but we have yet to identify a date.

This was where things would start to get interesting, although Bukit Papan is immediately behind the houses, the best way up that we know involves going along the valley and doubling back.

So by this point we had completed a 180 degree turn. The path then turns left and we continued up it to this point with a pile of plastic. Going directly further would end up in a steep and overgrown area, the tappers' trail on the right would stay in the partly maintained rubber. 

There are attractive terraces to the right, but none continues far as there is a large area of fallen trees. Instead we continued up until the trail died and we entered an area which was still open enough not to need the secateurs. We didn't get this correct first time, as always there was some trial and error to the right which led to some heated discussions and eventually a 'total reset' back to an earlier point.

Eventually, we did what we always end up doing, slanting up and to the right until we could see a gap into a more open area which represented a ridge which would lead easily to the top.

As a footnote, when we did the walk in reverse, we kept going down the ridge to the left where it is much clearer. Necessarily this took us away from the Chinese settlement. We made rapid progress until we were about 50 metres above the open area shown below. This would have been very satisfactory were it not the fact that we had to way through knee / waist high undergrowth to get out. Given that all the way down we had seen no easy way to go right, it probably means the route described above is as good as it gets until the rubber is cleared for a durian plantation...

At the top, one of the Bukit Papan paths from Bayan Lepas was only a few metres away. Turning left would bring us to the durian orchard and coconut farm on the ridge, but these are totally familiar and were of no interest today. So we turned right and went down.

Just after we passed the overgrown turning to the dead path, we came to the top of the cleared area, it's still a mess after several years since cutting first occurred. Our next target was the small hill on the other side. A direct assault would not have been a good idea, so we continued on the path until we could see the fence ahead of the hut and here we turned right. 

This path leads quickly to what must have once been a beautiful house, now it's just waiting to be put out of its misery. I always check the surroundings of such places but this time all I found was this iron frame. It looked vaguely familiar and then I found the word 'Singer' on it.

Just before the hut is an open area with a small stream running through it. We crossed this and climbed up.

By now the cleared area was on our right on the other side of the ridge, but this way up was a more attractive prospect. 

We took in the 'view' looking back to where we had been - the path can be seen as a horizontal line under the trees near the top. The rest of our climb was easy enough through small gingers.

Yuehong doesn't really appreciate this kind of walk which is mainly about satisfying my curiosity about gaps in my maps. Her mood was not improved when she found she hadn't restarted her 'App' after pausing it at the hut. At the end of the top ridge, I was looking for it to continue downwards and slightly right. Indeed that was the case but having skirted the top section as being overgrown, we were faced with this barrier, which had a fallen tree lying on top of it.

It would get steeper and more overgrown going down straight on, so out came the secatuers and a few minutes later we could step into much more friendly country.  

We eased our way down, removing a few prickly vines and soon came to a wide rubber terrace which had obviously doubled as a path and turned right. One more minor clearance and the 'path' dropped into a section of rubber which had been tapped occasionally in the last few years. I was sure I recognised it but kept my mouth shut so as not to risk further irritating my companion.

Indeed, we were soon at a small col and from here a path would continue out to the right although it didn't look too well used now. Unfortunately a tree had come down right across it and that meant crossing a stream and then back again before we eventually found the path again.

I, at least, was quite happy as we entered this familiar open area - the dead path started on the opposite and up to the left is half a path back to the Chinese settlement. Yuehong was less so.

We carried on until the path came to the wide concrete track from Bayan Lepas. We turned right and immediately left and then kept left so we were heading up to the hut with the 'Eagle Brand'. I was feeling quite weighed down by my 'cold bag' but Yuehong ploughed on down the hill.

I let her go ahead and when I caught up I found her sitting on a rock and feeling rather better. "This would be a good place to drink your second Tiger", she said, "and when will we come back and do it in the opposite direction so I can get a proper trace?".

That wasn't going to happen immediately as we have a 80th birthday social to attend, but while I thought that today's hike had actually gone quite well, hopefully the return event will have even fewer errors.

The following section covers part of an anti-clockwise hike, starting from the top of the main ascent as far as meeting the broad path up Bukit Papan. I'd been off discovering more rubber rollers and Yuehong was demonstrating her boredom by removing seeds. This time we took the main path on and down, there's a trailing Y-junction near the bottom.

It's almost a crossroads here as we turned right and immediately left.

This is a good path and someone decided going straight on after the hut was a good idea. Well, we did get a good sighting of a wild boar which we disturbed but following the concrete to the right was a better idea.

The path continued to a valley with a stream running through it. We did once follow the path to the right but eventually it expires with steep slopes ahead and to the sides and because the 'nose' points at Bayan Lepas, we went no further. Instead, we went left next to the open area. 

To the left is the 'dead path' to Bukit Papan which is best avoided. Instead we went through the bananas and up to the 'forest' edge and on went the gloves.

This is an old concrete path which used to follow the left side of the valley. As there is a big tree down there, it has been rerouted to the right side.

As it approached the col, it crossed back and we climbed up to that feature. Essentially that is the end of the path, it's quite amazing that it's still visible as there's no reason for anyne to come here now rubber tapping has ceased. We took a left contour at the col and turned right onto an open terrace.

Almost immediately, we thought we had spotted where we had come down two days earlier from the ridge above and up we went. It would probably have been better to try to continue further because, as so often happens, the area just above the most recently tapped rubber was suffering from the 'tree down syndrome'.

We abandoned the climb and went round to the right, passing a distinctive tree and then almost immediately finding the clear ridge from which point we rapidly got to the top.

This bamboo stand makes it one of the least distinguished of Penang's minor peaks but at least it's oblong in shape which makes it easy to see the right side which we would go down at a slanting angle. It's got small ginger and at present a good covering of leaves.

It was just a bit too steep for comfort for Yuehong as the leaves make it a little slippery. However, it wa not long before we came to the top of required durian estate.

Unfortunately, the current conditions are perfect for ant activity and they just can't keep away from Yuehong. She has learned to deal with the big brown biting ones which tend to come singly. The smaller brown ones pose a multiple problem, 'invasive' would be the best description and I had to wait at the bottom while she removed, checked and replaced various items of clothing. She was not a happy bunny and this hill is now on her 'banned list'.

Never mind, we were almost back to proper paths and once we emerged at the bottom, a semblance of good humour returned. 

At least I was happy, I now had a better understanding of the terrain in this area and earlier had added another three 'rubber rollers' to my burgeoning collection.