Penang, Malaysia - Part 2 of 3

 

Penang Hill Funicular Railway

This is Day 3 of the trip. The plan is to hike the Penang Hill instead of riding the cable car to the top. The Penang Hill is the top of the Penang Island. There are several hiking trails. We plan to take on the one right next to the train base station. As you can see (above) it is a steep slope all the way up. An hour and 45 min is the average time to get to the top according to Google Maps.

As mentioned the trailhead is right next to the cable car base station (below). A bit tricky to find your way in. Once you passed the base station, you are on the right track.

Once you passed a temple, you would see the trail entrance below. From here, it is steps after steps. Bukit Bendera is Penang Hill (升旗山) in Malay. You would see Bukit a lot. It means slope. Bendera is flag in Malay.

One would notice the steps are not in equal height. Small kids may find it challenging.

steps after steps to the top

Before you reach the top, you would come to the middle station first (below). Don't let the word "middle" mislead you. We have passed the mid-point. From here. it is only one third of the trail left.

You can see the ocean clearly in the distance and a variety of plants.

The false-bird-of-paridise is not a variety of bird-of-paradise even though it look alike. It is from central & south America.

The bambu is different from what we see in Taiwan, the shape and color.

Finally we reached the top station. The map (below) shows what's in the area.

We strolled along the area and decide to visit the Habitat Penang Hill. "The Habitat Penang Hill is a rainforest discovery center in Penang, Malaysia. It features a nature trail, canopy bridge, and treetop walk." Adult ticket is 60RM, senior (aged 60+) gets discout at 40RM. Highly recommanded.

At the treetop walk, the altitude is 800 meter. You get to see the treetop and breathtaking view of Penang.

After light meal in the Habitat cafe, we take the train down. This saves the time and knees.

Grab back to the hotel, we fresh up and have some rest before we head out to visit the Blue Mansion. Too bad, there is a private event going on and not opened to the public. Apparently it is home of some wealthy man (Cheong Fatt Tze 張弼士). There forty some rooms in the mansion accroding to the Grab driver. More nice pictures and review on Google Maps.

the Blue Mansion

From a different angle, you know why it is called the Blue Mansion.

There is a big fish market next to it. Unfortunately not the right time. We walked back toward the hotel, and have dinner in New World Park Food City. This is a big food court with many vendors serve different food. You can order from any of them to the same table. Here we have coconut and drink from one, 沙嗲 from the other, and hot pot from Fish King.

Thinking of try the local fruits. Ended up with this - longan. Taiwan's version has the seed bigger and thinker shell.

Continue to Day 4 in the next blog.