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While in Malaysia, we spent two weeks in Georgetown, on the island of Penang. We took in the street murals (and then took in some more), checked out some fancy malls while cooling off, discovered a great many mosques, temples and churches, and of course, ate lots and lots of amazing food.
But one of the HIGH-lights of our visit was a day trip to Penang Hill. I say HIGH because at just over 800 metres above sea level, it's high enough that we noticed a pleasant difference from the 30+ degree temperatures below. In fact, we were almost a bit chilly when we got off the funicular, especially since rain was threatening. But that quickly passed and the weather for the rest of our day up on the hill was perfect.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Our day started with a Grab ride to Penang Hill "base station."
From there, anyone in their right mind will then take the funicular to the top. Those not in their right mind can hike up under their own power, but since we both still have our sanity intact, we stood in line to buy a ticket for the funicular. Or rather, Gerry did.
We'd arrived early enough in the morning, having read that it gets extremely busy later in the day, but it already looked plenty busy. In fact the person monitoring the ticket lineup told us only one person from each party was allowed into the lineup, so I wandered around while Gerry lined up to buy tickets.
To his credit, he opted for the fast lane tickets, which meant that we got priority boarding on the funicular. The poor folks who had tickets for the regular lane had to wait for those of us willing to shell out extra to board first, and then however many of them who would fit got on last. The rest had to wait for the next departure and again wait for the priority ticket holders to board. At our age we'd rather not spend any more time than necessary standing in lines, so we both agreed (with only a little grumbling) that it was money well spent.
The views from the top of the hill were fabulous, despite the cloudy day. Here we are at one of the viewpoints looking down on Georgetown. In the background you can just see one of the two bridges that connects Penang Island to the mainland. And over Gerry's right shoulder, you can see the funicular tunnel that's just before the final stop at the top.
Here's a better look at the tunnel and funicular line...
Apparently, way back in they day before the funicular was built, people and cargo were brought up the hill by ponies imported from Sumatra.
Once at the top, we did the Skywalk viewpoint of course, taking lots of photos that I won't bore you with here. Then as we strolled towards the central area where the main activity was, we were approached and greeted by two police officers. Uh-oh.
They said good morning and asked where we were from. As we replied, my first thought was that they were conducting ID checks so I started to reach for my passport. As it turned out however, they just wanted to chat with us, asking us how we liked Malaysia so far, have we felt safe during our stay, and did we have any concerns?
We had a very friendly conversation for a few minutes, which ended with them making sure we knew that the emergency number in Malaysia was 999. As we were about to say goodbye, they asked if they could take their picture with US! We readily agreed, and they were happy to take a photo with my phone as well.
As we walked a little further, chatting about how great it was that the job description of Malaysian police officers apparently included greeting and checking in with tourists, we came across the Penang Hill police station. It looked very smart with its white and blue colour scheme, and was even outfitted with a full set of fire buckets.
No doubt the two officers we'd just chatted with were based out of this station, and had the job of being a visible and friendly presence in the area to help ensure good order prevailed and that anyone thinking about disturbing the peace thought twice. Given that we never felt unsafe anywhere in Malaysia, this strategy seemed to be working.
After visiting the temple and mosque that I wrote about previously, and viewing some of the displays and buildings from colonial times, it was time to head out on the nature walk.
We'd previously been warned - when in parks and forested areas - not to carry any of the coloured plastic bags that are commonly used for packing take out food. The macaques are apparently very bold and can be quite aggressive in trying to wrestle these away from any human who might have one, because they know by now that yummy things are inside these bags.
Well, right at the beginning of the nature trail we spied a macaque in a tree with the remains of someone's fruit drink. He was happily dipping his hand into the drink and slurping it off his fingers, all the while keeping a watchful eye on the rest of his troupe to ensure no one came too close while he was enjoying his treat.
Meanwhile, this guy had given up trying to get his hands on the fruit drink and had plopped himself down on the ground in front of us, perhaps waiting for an unsuspecting tourist to walk by with a coloured bag.
As it turned out, we met a young woman coming the other way with a drink in her hands and the macaque took an immediate interest in her. When she realized why she was being stalked, she wisely decided to return to the coffee shop to finish her drink!
Making our way along the trail through the rain forest, we felt far removed from the bustle of the city below. The air was pleasantly cool, the forest was green and lush, and the world felt calm and peaceful. It was really a beautiful setting and we thoroughly enjoyed strolling along the path.
We passed by two murals that I wrote about earlier, one of an Indian girl and the other of a Malay boy, both in traditional costume. And we stopped to admire Jane's tree, which was named in honour of the late Jane Goodall.
Then things got interesting. It was time to walk through the rain forest canopy on an elevated walkway. It was long. And narrow. And high up. With sides you can see through. For someone who's afraid of heights and edges (like me!) it was a bit of a challenge, but one I was determined to rise to, if for no other reason than we'd paid for the privilege.
Actually, it was really a pretty neat experience, once I got acclimated to the height. Here we are at the half way point...
And safely at the other side. We did it!
But wait, apparently there was more. Our next challenge was to climb up and up and up and then stroll around this circular walkway installed at the highest point of Penang Hill, presumably to admire the view.
We gave it our best shot, making it up three of the four levels before agreeing that was enough height for us.
With only see-through metal grating underfoot and what amounted to little more than chain link fencing for walls, Curtis obviously had braver folks than us in mind when he designed his tree top walk.
Instead, we opted for the ground level view of some of the local fauna. Take this Black Giant Squirrel for example. Quite a specimen, don't you think?
Or how about this Millipede? Nasty looking creature, isn't it?
We finished up our day by enjoying the rain forest from this bench swing mounted on a viewing platform, which was much more our speed.
After hiking back to the central activity area, we took the obligatory route through the gift shop to the exit, then on to the funicular station that would take us back down to the city below.
Apparently our day trip to Penang Hill has removed any doubt that we have in fact visited Penang.
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