Penang Hills and Trails - Never Ending Story
Another Forgotten Rain Forest Path

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.

We had an agreement to go out with friend Rexy but couldn't tell him our suggested location as we still had to check it out. In the event we ad struck gold and Rexy was well pleased with our discovery. What he would think of the latter stages of our walk I have yet to find out as we were so slow that he had to leave us at rain gauge 20 (RG 20) which is where this story really begins. For details of the (new) climb coming down please check our recent report and if you think you already know it all in this area then perhaps you should jump to my account of 'Another Forgotten Rain Forest Path', it's maybe not the one you think it is, this is brand new and the paint had hardly dried.

Mavis was parked opposite the Bayview Beach Hotel and by 08.00 we were ready to go. It proved to be a bright day with almost no breeze, perhaps rather warmer than our previous recent expeditions in this area. We were denied a view of the Bukit Ferringhi Reversoir as a German matron was apparently doing a bit of skinny dipping. When we got to our kicking off point, Yuehong pointed it out to Rexy.

That's not an obvious path unless you look closely, but that's a rope which is assisting the initial climb.

As far as we can see, paths can survive in this area with minimum usage as the canopy shields them from much daylight. Soon we got to the sign which would have been reassuring if wasn't for the fact that we had come down this way from the RG 18 area 5 days earlier.

The sun was now up sufficiently to bring 'colour' to parts of the jungle as we entered the flat area. We knew we ought to bear right at the end to maintain contact with 'the paint', something which we failed to do, no doubt because there were notches on the more obvious route to the left.

This brought us to the original path but it soon got overgrown and we quickly adjusted to the right where we found the paint. Rexy was a little confused and for the moment he seemed all set to go back down again, but the arrow on the rock behind him would have made it clear what was needed. In fact, Yuehong and I knew that there was not a single metre which would require that.

Unlike some parts of 'Penang Hill' this is not thickly forested. It doesn't face the sea, so I think it doesn't catch the rain clouds as happens elsewhere so I guess water is not stored so well to see the plants through the dry season such as we are experiencing now. 

There was never any thought that we might need the secateurs, in fact in this area the sticks are far more effective in removing the dead prickly palm fronds. 

I was settled into a nice rhythm when suddenly I came to the T junction. It had taken 1½ hours which was an apparent saving of ½ hour compared to our route via RG 17 but in fact we had gone at a much more gentle pace today as Rexy is good company and there's plenty to learn from him. Very soon we were at RG 18.

If you came here from our Reverse Bukit Batu Ferringhi Challenge report, then click here to return to it.

I've only done the next section twice, Yuehong once and Rexy confessed he had not been here since 2014. Near the rain gauge was evidence of misbehaviour, there is a total fire ban in the forest for what ought to be obvious reasons. Very soon the ridge narrows and the landslide means that it would not take much to drop it quite a few metres.

This is probably the result of the 'Great Storm' of November 2017. Yuehong had gone ahead as we chattered and called us through to the right, looking back the obstruction looked a lot worse...

I had forgotten that we still had a bit of climbing to do but the path was in rather better condition than I recalled.

In no time we got to RG 19 and after a quick rehydration we continued onward.

Our progress was not aided by Yuehong giving Rexy a lecture on the inadequacies of Asian culture which placed the needs of family and state ahead of the individual.

One more balancing act and we were at the junction with the RG 20 -Western Hill path which meant that hill climbing was over for the day. We had actually managed to spin out 4 hours since we left the aqueduct.

For us, that was not really the good news it might seem because going down it's steep or very steep for the most part. We sent Rexy on ahead with instructions not to wait at RG 20 if we were seriously delayed.

It's not an unattractive path, but it needs to be taken slowly.

There are a few near level parts and the obstructions are minimal.

There was a drop on the other side of the first tree and this pair could not be hopped over.

The approach to RG 20 can make for uncomfortable hiking if you have dodgy knees but 'going slow' solves that. I was sent on to enjoy my second Tiger and found Rexy smiling as ever and Yuehong appeared a few minutes later.

By now we were running so 'late' that Rexy would have been in danger of being late if he had stayed with us, so he shot off down. Almost as soon as we restarted, we both spotted something interesting on the right.

It was our revivalist friends at work again and this time the paintwork appeared almost brand new, we would guess it had appeared over the Chinese New Year holiday. There was no question of a discussion, we just turned off. It was 14.00, there was plenty of daylight left and these people could be trusted to deliver us safely to the aqueduct in due course.

As with our ascent earlier, this was a route that wasn't particularly steep and which benefited from having a covering of leaves, in other words totally 'knee friendly'.

The following pictures give an idea of the conditions experienced and I haven't added a commentary, it would be superfluous. While the trail is reasonably clear, we were never out of sight of a marker. In addition to the 'new paint', there was some older red paint and the inevitable triple notches present too.

As the gradient eased we could make out the sound of running water below us. This was a sheltered route and there were very few trees down.

This was just about the only one which caused even the mildest of inconvenience and shortly after we could see a familiar landmark ahead.

Now that's a bit of a drop, but there were some large steps albeit largely covered in ferns. Like the path we had used first thing, this was another one whose start is anything but obvious and again, the paint was kept well away from anywhere which could be seen from the aqueduct.

We knew there was a good chance that Rexy would have missed the initial markings as his current obsession is rain forest orchids and that means spending much of the hike looking down instead of up. We had come out not far above the mini dam which collects water from the valley in the arc RG 18 - RG 19 - RG 20. Of course, we were soon at the mornings mini dam which similalrly collects water from the valley in the arc RG 17 - RG 18

We were back at the car just after 16.00 by which time Yuehong's knee and my boots were feeling their age. The latter are not self healing and it looks like we'll need to do some shopping shortly.

It's been an amazing week or two hiking in this area, first with Nathan and then making these two 'discoveries'. If you are involved with the path revivalists, we'd love to hear from you, there's an email address at the bottom of the page.