Penang Hills and Trails - The Longest Day
Batu Ferringghi to Botanical Gardens

This is one of a series of pages on walking the hills of Penang, click here for the index. This is a longer than average Grade 3 walk. I would like to thank 'Larry Malay' for providing part of the route information based on his own explorations. There is a sketch map at the bottom showing the route followed. Click here for a list of the known PBA rain gauges.

Please visit my Penang buses page for information on accessing the starting point.

IMPORTANT

By December 2023, the route from the Bayview Beach Hotel towards the Batu Ferringhi Reservoir past the 'Chin Farm' had been aggressively blocked by razor wire in the area where there is a gate by the water tank. There are also numerous signs stating "NO TRESPASSING - NOT A PUBLIC HIKING TRAIL"

This will mean that there is no longer any access to / from any of these well known paths:

1. That to the Rimba at Teluk Bahang
2. That to RG 17, 18 and 19  (and on to Bukit Batu Ferringhi / Western Hill area)
3. That to RG 20 (and on to Western Hill area)

I do not know about current access through the main gate to the aqueduct above the former Holiday Inn.

This account is linked from my Penang Peaks page which lists peaks over 400 metres as well as other places of interest and viewpoints. To find other hikes which visit this peak please check the maps of this are using this link.

I was almost out of time with our return to the UK looming. There were seven remaining known rain gauges left and I could do them all in one day, maybe. It was a massive undertaking which would see me start earlyish and finish latish and do more than 1000 metres climbing and covering more kilometres than I had ever attempted in one day before. In other words, it was total madness. There was a Plan B, if it was taking too long I could abort but this would mean going out again the next day with a significantly larger amount of climbing. Not surprisingly, I politely asked Yuehong to take the day off and looking into my glazed eyes, she happily agreed. This is the story of that day.

I'm not a great early riser, but I went early to bed and was up just after 06.30. We have a fixed morning routine which meant I was ready to leave at 08.00. The 101 bus driver was half asleep but an emergency application of the brakes saw me on board and deposited at the Chin Farm entrance near the Bayview Beach Hotel at 08.30. Ignore the foreground, that long ridge climbing from right to left was my first task, the peak is known as Bukit Cempedak. I must have been over-excited at this stage as I managed to leave my stick behind after taking this photograph which wasted the best part of 10 minutes.

If you're not familiar with the area, you need to turn right off the track when you see a small Chinese shrine and follow the path through the dumped building material, past the water tower until you reach the Batu Ferringhi Dam. The fact that it was still and beautiful was bad news, it was going to be another hot and humid day. I took the concrete road left and a short cut past RG 16 (for details see the last report). If you can't be bothered to do that, then follow the road until the junction and turn right past the 'cannon' until you reach the upper part of the aqueduct.

Now this is the critical moment of the hike, the entry into the Bukit Cempedak path. Look to the left of the tree and almost invisible there is a set of concrete steps which you need to climb. 

The camera lies, it's a good, clear forest trail, the second picture tells the story better. 

There's no point to show more pictures, it's an extremely pleasant bog standard climb and an hour after leaving the aqueduct the presence of ferns in quantity announced rain gauge 17 (RG 17). It was not in use like every one I saw today. Having got to the peak (480 metres asl)  the path turns right and follows the ridge towards Western Hill. The initial patch of fern was a pain, RG 18 is somewhere in the distance and clearly I would have to go down and up again.

It was an uncomfortable 5 minutes, this path is far less used than the alternative which starts at the end of the upper aqueduct, but soon I was on a clear path as before.

The path undulated, I was beginning to get a little worried but finally after 75 minutes I could see ferns ahead.

There in the middle of the path was rain gauge 18 (RG 18, 540 metres asl), it wasn't rocket science to work out that it was no longer in use. What a waste of money to put in all that new kit less than 10 years ago.

Being a ridge path, there were trees down from time to time, but this was a pretty shot. I knew I had another small climb ahead, but this time the path followed a narrow ridge instead of going down significantly.

This time there were no worries, the path was fine and there in a clearing in the forest after another 45 minutes was rain gauge 19 (RG 19). Despite appearances it was 'dead in the water'.

I knew I had another climb ahead to the junction with the path that comes up from the end of the upper aqueduct and obviously I hoped for a repeat of the last section. I wasn't disappointed, in just 15 minutes I was there. 

I had actually been walking the best part of 4 hours and was some 680 metres above sea level. There was just one small problem, the cunning plan now required me to drop down to rain gauge 20 (RG 20) which was reported to be 370 metres asl. Worse still. I would have to come back up again! Not surprisingly, I stashed a major part of my remaining water, I had started with some 4 litres and had barely half left.

If the next 45 minutes down were not much fun, the hour to come back up was hard going. Given the lack of options, the helpful signs were not strictly necessary.

There was steep and there was steeper, it's a moot point which was better to get it over and done with, certainly at one stage I sat down and slid along the leaves.

LYK, who does a good line in signs, God bless him. provided confirmation which was hardly needed.

Back up to the junction, with four rain gauges down and three more to go, allegedly there was not much climbing and no great distance to the next critical junction.

Correct, but because I was going in the unorthodox direction there was no information for me. However, several reports on the web indicate that heading for Western Hill, Penang Hill etc is no longer possible as the security around the Western Hill installations refuse passage. It wasn't an issue for me as my rain gauges all lay on the path to the left. In theory from now on it should be downhill all the way. Just as well as I had now been hiking for 6 hours and it was 14.30.

Well, maybe not quite as I was at 680 metres asl and the next rain gauge was barely below that. I'd arrived from the left and would leave right with the 'closed' path behind me, but they all look the same don't they? There was a slight initial descent and it was nice to see the 'M for Moniot' marker stones from time to time.

I won't bore you with more pictures of a good path through the jungle, if I wasn't more than a little tired from my diversion, I would have really enjoyed this section and after just under an hour rain gauge 9 (RG 9) appeared in the middle of a glade surrounded by ferns. Clearly it had never received the modern kit, these low numbered gauges were in the catchment area for the 'Waterfall Gardens' and the water involved is now very marginal for Penang's needs so they have been 'let go'. There's a junction here, right leads eventually to The Crag, my path went anonymously (again) left although someone had helpfully carved RG 4 on one of the trees just a short way down.

RG 9 is allegedly 660 metres asl so I had a fair descent in prospect, but it wasn't going to start seriously just yet as RG 4 is 480 metres asl. That meant further great hiking...

In fact, along the way is the junction for the path down to Teik Quarry at the back of Tanjung Bunga, I should actually say paths as near the bottom allegedly there is more than one route available. It even boasts a haunted house. Path wise, more of the same as far as I could see, but I couldn't be tempted this time as I still had two more rain gauges to tick off.

Nearly an hour after leaving RG 9, it was a case of ferns anybody? There must be a rain gauge round the corner, this is all that's left of RG 4.

Something now went horribly wrong because this area is scrubby secondary jungle and the path is in poor condition. It wasn't just that I was tired, it was a junior version of the Moongate trail all the way down.

Not long after, I came to rain gauge 3 (RG 3) which looks like Malaysia's contribution to the space race.

So that was my last new rain gauge and in a perfect world I would have been instantly transported to the middle of the Botanical Gardens. No such luck. I love the stones, but not when I can see this sort of path looking back. There's no way I'll be seen on this path again, it's rubbish at the lower level.

I won't begin to explain this well maintained Malaysian notice, but until it disintegrates completely, then it's a good landmark to indicate that it's time to turn right. The private enterprise signs aren't much more use but I guess the 9 is for RG 9.

Turning right, it seems the path is sponsored by Tiger Beer, their vouchers are everywhere. RG 2 has been spruced up since I last saw it, I guess it counts as a formally preserved rain gauge.

There are rock pools which would be tempting only this is a water catchment area. Now undoubtedly, trespassers could be prosecuted here, but I'm willing to bet that not one has been during the time the notice has been rusting away.

Now we come to the tragic bit as the old hash ditty went. Anyone feeling happy to have missed the top steps coming in from above will be disappointed to discover there are many more ahead. Peter van der Lans says there are 1250 or so, I'll believe him and my knees are still recovering.

By the time I got down I had been walking for almost 10 hours, I'd achieved my goal and apart from the last couple of hours I'd enjoyed it thoroughly. As such I would find it difficult to recommend this walk, even without the RG 20 diversion, maybe the Teik Quarry route for the last part might make it more acceptable.

I caught a 10 bus down to the end of Gottlieb Road and then 101 buses to dinner and home. Not surprisingly, I slept very well.