Penang Hills and Trails
Malihom from the West Again 

This is one of a series of pages on walking the hills of Penang, click here for the index. This is a Grade 3 walk (just). There is a sketch map at the bottom showing the route followed. 

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

Back in 2020, I described a loop from the Bukit Genting Pass which included a descent from Malihom which we had not previously used. The total loop is probably beyond Yuehong's knee these days, but we did need to check that we could find the descent in reverse. I have to confess that I didn't do my homework the first time we tried and I failed to spot the key hill road even though it was staring me in the face, an extreme 'senior moment'. This time I did get it right and there was enough time for me to check out a newly cleared area as well. So far, we have managed to dodge the seasonal rains by keeping our walks shorter than before and finishing before 16.00. Today the main hills were menacingly grey when we started just before 12.00 but fortunately again the rain held off until we were well on our way home..

There is covered parking available just off the road at the summit. The path is just to the left of the picture. This first section, at least, was totally familiar.

So we confidently turned left and started up the gentle zigzags. It's not the best maintained orchard in Penang...

... but higher up there is a nice view down to the various Pulau Betongs - island, village and hill.

Immediately after, we cut back to leave the orchard and round the bend we entered some old rubber...

... only to leave it and enter young rubber. Continuing, we passed a triangular junction, going straight on. Later we would return here and take the right fork.

The old lady (a sprightly 85) was home but declined to be photographed and we followed the contour route to the next junction from where the road drops down. However, we turned right (left as viewed). There was some miscommunication here as the gentleman certainly didn't speak either Mandarin Chinese or English. I think Burmese might have worked.

Just to the left and behind the house is the road which had been brand new on our first visit here and which inexplicably I had missed a few days ago. Never mind, the surface was a little treacherous with a wet slime, we were to come back this way and when we did, Yuehong was caught out, not by the slime, but by a small round stick. There is a short turning on the right with some water barrels but beyond it is getting overgrown.

Just where the road turns sharp right before expiring there is a gap in the greenery. Take my word for it, there's a path behind me. I originally suggested that Yuehong give this section a miss, but in this case that just spurred her on. In fact it's quite clear apart from this one tree across it.

Many years ago it must have been an excellent concrete path but most people now seem to prefer the main Malihom access road. We climbed into some young rubber until we came to what looks like a T junction although ahead soon dies. The concrete restarts where Yuehong is standing and we went up to the right.

Some parts are steep enough to be slippery but soon we joined the 'Malihom avoiding path', a sure sign that we had nearly completed the climb.

Yuehong took a break while I checked out the route towards 'Heaven Hill'. Right now, the side path behind me leads to an area below it which is easily traversed, in fact this whole orchard (not part of Malihom) is a revelation compared to when we first knew it when it was covered with burned stumps of rubber trees. It wasn't a day for admiring the view, but that's the Sungai Ara conurbation below.   

At which point, we had satisfied the first aim of today's walk, we turned around and retraced our steps to the old lady's house. Soon after we turned left and started a gentle climb on a concrete path. Above us was another former rubber area which is getting the fruit orchard treatment. The lower part has the usual bananas and no doubt interplanted are durians and other fruit trees. I planned to take advantage of this and make my way up to the ridge.

Looking back, we could see Malihom. Very soon we came to a new hut and as Yuehong had stretched her ligaments on the slippery concrete road, I continued up alone.

I came up from the right and would continue left. This is where the new concrete finished. The path must have been an old one as it curved to the right and entered the top of the durian orchard which runs up from the main road through Bukit Genting. The formal path finished just before the ridge but there was an easy way up which would have been used during the durian season but which was now partly grassed over. 

At the top I came to the most recently cleared area and what was presumably the new access path ran away down in front of me. Before I took it, I went right and followed a level towards the ridge.

Just a little of the old rubber remains and I then came to an area of pineapple with ginger planted in the final gap. We have climbed up through an area not far below on the other side in March 2019 and then continued on the ridge towards Malihom. However, it seems I was not yet far enough up to join it. I certainly wasn't in the mood to do that now and just spent a few minutes unsuccessfully checking the undergrowth.  

So down I went as anticipated and found that one section had required concreting. I rejoined Yuehong and we set off behind the hut, the view is shown in the right hand picture below.

There is no immediate path to follow and we knew from coming up the other way a couple of days earlier that we just had to get the short distance down to this flat area between the bananas. From there, it was quite easy to work our way around what must have once been a rubber terrace but is now occupied by durians.

Very soon and exactly as expected we came to the end point of this orchard path. Once it started to drop, it turned to concrete and since all the junctions are 'trailing' ones we didn't have to think all the way down. Of course, coming up is another matter but having done it before I had got it right first time when we were here a couple of days earlier. I'll leave it to you, my reader, to sort it should you want to try, it's not very difficult.

As planned, I let Yuehong come down at her current snail's pace and went ahead to enjoy some traditional refreshment which was waiting for me with 'Mavis'. Overall this represented an extremely pleasant afternoon excursion, although the Malihom section would be better done in the dry season. The first section would be very useful for anyone contemplating a hike from Bukit Genting to Anjong Indah (or vice versa) or indeed a cross island traverse.