Penang Hills and Trails - Malihom Westbound
Sungai Ara to (near) Pekan Genting (Balik Pulau area)

This is part of a series of pages on walking the hills of Penang. Click here for the index. This is a Grade 2 walk. There is a sketch map at the bottom showing the route followed.

The Malihom Estate (http://malihom.com/) belongs to the descendants of Yeap Chor Ee, one of the famous names of early 20th century Penang, see http://houseyce.com/who-was-yeap-chor-ee/ for more information. His house in Lebuh Penang in George Town is open to the public http://houseyce.com/visit-us/ (Link broken by September 2025) and a road off Green Lane (Jalan Masjid Negeri) is named after him. Malihom is an amazing place, well beyond our budget, this article is probably better than their own website in giving the background to it - http://www.i-zen.com.my/pdf/citizen/CITIZEN_10.PDF (link broken by December 2021). (But what they say about the durians was totally contradicted by the glut in November and December 2012!)

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

The Sungai Ara area is new to us (as of February 2013). We had enjoyed an excellent hike from Jalan Kenari to Balik Pulau with the aid of a detailed web report of a mountain bike ride. The same source also waxed lyrical over a trail which passed Malihom, a 'boutique' tourist destination although significantly there was far less detail - http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=992221 (Link broken by 1st November 2018) and there was also a report of a ride which ended short at the summit on the central range of the hills - http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=1336334 (Link broken by 1st November 2018). However, we had failed to reproduce it and instead ended up between Teluk Kumbar and Bukit Genting, a pleasant enough hike even if was not was intended. We subsequently sorted the trail by hiking west to east (the report details how as usual we didn't get it 'right first time'), this account tells you how to do it in the reverse direction, written with the admirable benefit of hindsight and something we have yet to do ourselves. It comes highly recommended whichever way you choose, the west side is steeper than the east so choose the direction according to whether you prefer steep ups to steep downs or vice versa!

Take a 302 bus from Komtar and get off at the Jalan Kenari junction in Sungai Ara opposite the school, they run roughly every half hour. Walk up Jalan Kenari and just after the Indian temple turn right on to the concrete road.

Follow the valley up to the point where there is a rest area and a major junction. Take the left fork and continue past the wooden Buddhist house until you come to a junction where the power lines follow both forks and there is a red and yellow Chinese sign (presumably for a Chinese temple much further up which we have yet to visit).

Take the road to the right which climbs to a newish Thai style Buddhist temple, Samnaksong, a few hundred metres above.

Ignore the turning immediately after the temple and continue climbing away from the valley below through an old rubber estate. At the next junction be sure to turn left and continue up the shaded road along the ridge until it finishes underneath this high rise building which is for the industrial scale harvesting of swifts' nests.

Go around the side of the house next to it and follow the concrete motorbike trail. Almost immediately you will come to a three way junction, take the middle route which Yuehong is standing on. After a further short climb you will come to another house with many chickens.

Carry on up the hill and eventually you will see Malihom Private Estate above you, at the col is a small hut.

Follow the trail to the left of it as it more or less follows the contours through a durian estate below Malihom. At the next junction do NOT take the left fork down to a small house but maintain your height until you come out on the main access road to Malihom by an unmistakable work of art.

Turn left and follow it all the way down to the main road between Genting and Teluk Kumbar, enjoying the views down to Pulau Betong:

Whether you will be successful in an attempt to stop a downhill 401 bus here, I would doubt, but it should be perfectly possible to persuade an uphill 401 bus to pick you up. Bear this in mind when planning to finish here, it's a long and unpleasant walk down the road to Genting...