blurpenguin

Woo hoo... my very first trip up Penang Hill! Over Thirty years staying in Malaysia... and almost every-other year in Penang during Chinese New Year and i have not ventured up this hill... sad huh...

Having already been up Hong Kong's Victoria Peak via tram, i didn't have any high hopes at Penang Hill's version... BUT i was pleasantly surprised when i reached the foot of the hill. Whoa! it's quite steep and tall hoh! wow... can see the tracks going up in a straight line... and what i see is only halfway... wow... this is going to be good.

Thankfully, we were going in the evening, on a weekday... and no crowd was around. According to Julie's dad... it can get very crowded during weekends and more so during school holidays...

The trip up in the tram... was nice... very nice, due to a totally uncramped seating... we were the only ones in our booths! With nice big windows to see out... plus some modified fans inside... the ride was a pleasant one abeit a steep one. We had to switch trams at the half-way point... donno how come... must have been a construction hurdle from long ago. Hannah had a fun time looking back at the tracks and out into the forest on both sides of the tram.



lots of stops dot the way up... most prolly for the people who are actually staying on the hill and if u do request before the tram moves... they will stop for u too... most of the stops are also part of the 2nd way u can get up to penang hill... via hiking!

Once we reached up... the view and climate change was certainly welcoming... since we went in the evening... u could feel some cool breeze blowing... the view was nice... but alas for the horibble smog around... u get a blured view of penang. As Julie's dad pointed out... most of the east facing side of penang was already developed... with no empty parcels of land. There is also a small garden for u to see the flora and fauna... some shops also serve ice kacang and snacks, a worthy rest stop for those brave enough to hike all the way up.


We did go eat at David Browns Restaurant up Strawberry Hill (that's for another post)... after dinner we quicky headed down as Phoebe was showing signs of getting sick...

But overall... Penang Hill is a must visit place when u do visit Penang! Oh.. Ya! they call it Bukit Bendera... not Penang Hill... donno why...