Penang Hills and Trails
Malihom from the East 2022 

This is one 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. 

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

It seems that the Sungai Ara Valley and the road up towards Malihom is developing into a hikers' freeway particularly at weekends and many continue down the Malihom approach road. We have the luxury of being able to visit the area during the off peak period but we do know that durian farmer's hospitality is tested when mass hiking becomes the rule. Accordingly we have made a point of checking out alternative routes like that from the west.

During the last week or two we've had a couple of visits to the Pondok Upeh Cycleway and checked out potential routes up. The owners of the orchard with the wide concrete road have declared 'enough', at the top there is a pretty bog standard 'Keep Out' notice but beyond what was once a very pleasant ridge path through the old rubber is somewhat overgrown. We could have readily restored it with our secateurs but it made sense to check out some of the other possibilities instead. Most of these will be mentioned (and dismissed) along the way in this report.

With Mavis parked up under a suitable fruit tree, we headed along the cycleway, declining the possibility of gaining early height. It's a perfect way to get the muscles warmed up and in no time we were crossing this illuminated open space. We've always assumed it was a car park for the large house just above but today we hurried across it. On the hill opposite, the area which has been cleared has not yet had much tidying done let alone paths installed - one for the future. To its left is a mature orchard, it's not the best maintained in Penang, there is a path (mentioned below) but it fades out about 75% of the way up and I see no prospect of it becoming a viable way to the ridge in the near future. 

With an abundance of apparent possibilities, it required full concentration to avoid embarrassment. Initially we had to branch on to a concrete path and then keep climbing.

In fact, it's not that difficult as the required turning is what passes for a concrete road. It would have been just as quick to get here by taking the left fork at the beginning but overall I just happen to prefer the way we came. 

It's a real classic through mature fruit trees winding round the hillside until it reaches this gateway. There are no threatening signs here just a chain with a padlock as a reminder of the need for good manners and we stepped over it. In the off season, there was just skeleton staff present to stop the grass taking over. The road became a concrete path and we exchanged a cheery wave with the custodian who was attending to the geese who do a much better job than the normal dogs.

As we climbed into the zigzags, we started to get views out. On the right is 'Botanica', above it can be seen the cleared area below the road which runs from near Titi Kerawang to the Air Itam Dam. The hill in the background to the left is Bukit Batu Itam in the National Park (above the Teluk Bahang Dam). At one of the bends, it is possible in places to make out the path that runs up the adjacent orchard, unfortunately it's doesn't show up well in midday pictures. At points in the lower parts of this climb, it's possible, with care, to cross to it but there's no real point to do so at the moment. 

This is the house associated with this orchard, this main path skirts it and access is from lower down. To the left of our path up is an area which was covered in rubber during our earlier visits. Now the bananas are in and durians and other fruit are following as later pictures will show. As indeed are the inevitable concrete paths, they are invisible from below.

The first junction has a dead end path to the right - by now the mature orchard is unreachable. The path left at the the second junction is viable and, indeed, we would use much of it on our way down to the point where it has a U bend a short way along.

By now the views were just getting better and better, on the left is a reprise of the first one but with less clutter in the foreground. On the right the view runs through to the central range. The human eye can just pick out the 'Temple with the View' above Balik Pulau but you would need to know what you were looking for at full resolution on the original image.

We caught one last glimpse of the developing orchard before we approached the end of the climb. After a short flat section, the concrete path continues along the edge of the by now overgrown mature orchard.  

As we climbed up we could see the Malihom fence ahead. Not surprisingly, Yuehong failed to spot the possibility of the very short scramble to the right which would take us round the end of it into a cleared shaded area.

The gate was open and there seemed to be no one in the guard house. The property seems to have acquired a full set of iron columns, at a guess they will have come from somewhere on the main hill which has most of the 'grand' properties which might have boasted them before falling into decay. That's a sad thought but it's good to know some parts at least will have been recycled. There is a path round the open area and, from it, I could get confirmation that it would not have been a good idea to approach directly from the right - at least not for the time being. 

We have seen this flower before, it may be an Asian Foxtail, in this environment it doesn't have to be a wild flower. After the path curved left we could see the Malihom access road ahead, this meant we could avoid the gate area and the risk of 'detection' by some sensor - however, from experience the staff here are not at all hostile to individual hikers.

As we walked down there were classic views of two of Penang's satellite islands, Pulau Kendi on the left and Pulau Betong (smaller and greater) on the right. There can't be many places where you can see them simultaneously.

It's a short way down to the famous 'Corkscrew' statue. Behind it the path runs round the side of the hill below the main Malihom site. Part way round, the path from the Genting Pass climbs up to join. It would be easy to miss going this way, but less so going the other way.

If you want to know what the area in front of Yuehong looked like nearly 5 years ago then check out this link. Suffice to say that even that was an improvement on previous visits where the hill was covered with the blackened stumps of burned rubber trees. Maybe it now has new owners... We turned right and followed the contour path towards Heaven Hill.

It soon comes to a U bend, that's the path below. Just below is an underground stream bed and at this point it's easy to cross. Heaven Hill is at the top of the cut area behind Yuehong and she didn't tell me she would go straight up. So after I had crossed, I followed the contour round to the path as usual and was a bit surprised that I didn't catch up with her. However, it did give me the chance to record the retreating rubber opposite. The path which is rapidly becoming impassable runs along the ridge at the top of it.

I got to the covered tank at the top to find Yuehong relaxing. She graciously offered me the only available seat to recover.

Somewhere in the archive must be a picture of the view from here 5 or more years ago but there is no longer a view unless you dodge around to find a gap. The durians are even growing across the path - I don't think any are even 10 years old such is their growth rate. Yuehong was leading and I let her get some way ahead before asking why she hadn't turned left at this point. Going straight ahead would soon have brought her to a 'nose' from which the only way out would have been quite a long way down, not a good idea!

So we went back around the side of the hill, on round to the 'Corkscrew' and back up to the main gate of Malihom.

This time, Yuehong knew which way to start, but afterwards, she did forget to turn right along the Malihom fence as planned.

Unfortunately where it finished, the owners of the orchard have installed their own fence and this continues down their boundary where it meets the newly cleared area. This is not a complete disaster because there is a path which does a large zigzag downwards which again meets the boundary below where the fence ends.

Following our recces, we knew we could now pass across, from here we could see where a concrete path will eventually snake up the hill. The current end of the near completed part was just below us and easy to reach and from there the route would be totally straightforward.

We soon came to a point where some kind of vine had been planted. This exotic flower would eventually result in a giant passion flower fruit (thanks Google image search).

Further on, we found 'dragon fruit' growing up concrete posts, these are something we have seen quite frequently before, especially in this area. The path eventually widened until it became a road as we entered the area with mature durians, by now we were not many metres higher up than when we had been on the next road down much earlier.

We came to one of our favourite traditional Hakka houses. The old couple were not at home although a Burmese lady caretaker / maid was tidying it up. There were more unusual exotic fruits here. Mulberries were not unique but this was another new one for us, again we had to ask Google who declared it was 'Noni'. Having read the description, I'm not sure why anyone would want to eat it!

Almost immediately we came out on the larger road just above where we had turned off before. It's a little bit steep going down to the 'car park' and as Yuehong would be taking her time on it, I was granted permission to go on ahead. I was about half way through my can of cold Tiger when she arrived. It had been 'just what she needed', exactly 7km in all.