The health conscious Penangites

Penang is a hilly but beautiful island with 2 strips of lowlands. A narrow eastern corridor is now overbuilt with houses and factories around Bukit Jambul. Thankfully the vast western plain of Balik Pulau is better insulated from these rapid development.

Food appears to be Penangnites preoccupations evident by the presence of countless street vendors. Unknown to many outsiders, recreations are not far behind after their pursuit of food as a pastime.

The hills on the eastern slopes from Bukit Jambul to Sungei Dua have a network of trails blazed and maintained by hard working and dedicated groups of health freaks. So are those paths around the Ayer Itam dams, and the Rifle Range Hills.

The best known to all urban folks is perhaps the "84" destination. This is the famous resting place beside the road to Penang Hills. There are few approaches to this famed "Tea Kiosk"

We had been to "the place" on several other occasions. Now another trip there will be seen as a routine rather than an outing. On this weekend of week 13, while we were there visiting the cactus garden in the Botanical Gardens, we saw the fabled "Waterfall" of the Waterfall Garden. The extended rainy seasons has made it very prominent. In drier times, the fall could hardly be seen from the viewpoint at the park.

We decided to seek out this fall that we feel is the largest on the island.

The normal access to the fall is by trekking upstream from the overflow outlet besides the reservoir. There were 2 problems though; the river is barricaded at one point to disallow unauthorized access to the upper reaches of the river. Good reason for doing that- the water is tapped for drinking purposes. Human activities around the catchment's area are therefore undesirable. Then secondly, river flows through a very narrow and steep gorge, which makes moving around very treacherous.

To reach the Waterfall without seeking approval for encroaching, we chose to begin our search by following a natural trail that leads to "84".

This turned out to be a fantastic trail. It gave me an urge of how I wish that I were a resident here and can utilize this trail every day. Those feelings fit the meaning of "addictive" to trekking.

A beautifully maintained broad trail, there are "U" bolts used to secure the transgressing roots in its original paths. Sandbags were scattered over deep pits to fill up the void dug out by the flowing rainwater. The scenes along this trail were inspiring. Natural steps consistently spaced yet irregular in shape, the trail moved up. The way meandered for a short distance with few loops near the starting point. Then it straightened up and followed by steep ascends all the way. Forgot to mention that it is at angle of over 45 degrees. The total height covered by this stretch was close to 300 meters.

There was the resting place at the end of this steep climb and was a welcome reprieve. Regular hikers had erected a makeshift shed for shelter and with hot drinks.

By co-incidence this is also the junction that we had been seeking for some time now. A starting point of the trail that leads hikers to trek across the northern hills of the island, from the Botanical Gardens on the eastern slopes to Batu Ferringgi at the holiday Inn on the west.

There were adequate signboards and pointers for the three and half-hours trek. It was unbelievable that most trekkers paid no heed to this trail.

Even on that day itself, fellow hikers we met earlier remarked that they had no idea where the trail leads to and not curious to find out! At long last we answered our own inquiry by chance.

The indifference to this little known route was the fear of deep jungle, low traffic and previous report of trekkers getting lost in the maze of trails.

We spent some time to acquaint us with the vicinity and went a short way to check the condition of the way ahead.

First, the newly found trail is not created in modern times. In fact, evident showed that the track had existed as long as the hill railway lines.

Here a bridge made from the steel track assists the river crossing.

Since we were on the track, we also check on the river source. On that day, the river water appeared fresh but chalky. This is the main source to supply the waterfall with the volume of water.

From the shed, a very steep descends from this junction leads to the first fall of about 2 meters high. From here the ravine’s wall is near vertical. Glad that we had prepared ourselves for the next outing. At that time, we figured that we would not be able to complete the journey before dark.

From the shed moving on to "84", 2 more flights of steep climb and then a level plain. We have reached the summit of a small hill. The view of the coastline on Kedah side is clear.

No! This is not a clearing but was part of an old road system to serve what was once before a bungalow at that spot. What a fascinating location for house?

The continuation of this level track ended at a junction with the paved road to the summit of Penang Hills.

That particular spot with sheds for shelter is marked "47". The remaining 37 chain proved to be plain stroll but by that time all our muscles particularly mine were aching.

We took our time to admire at the huge timber of this pristine forest that are spared the chain saw of the lumberjacks. There are plenty of Seraya; this "helicopters" tree bears seeds equipped with 3 blade petals for dispersion by winds.

The 20 minutes walk took us to "84", a location that is saddle to 2 hills. On the eastern side, the view is that of an enclosed valley filled by houses of Ayer Itam and the view on the west are the mudflats of Tanjong Bunga.

"84" has a full size shed with all the amenities for resting including the place providing free refreshment to all walk ins. The furnishing and maintenance of the place is through public donations while daily operations handled by volunteers.

A sizable crowd was already resting there when we arrived, they were enjoying the fellowship, sipping afternoon tea and a snack of biscuits.

We joined in the funs and did our part by contributing a token sum for the upkeep of the place.

On our way down we met a few mountain bikers pushing hard to reach their destinations.

We were no matches for those powerful legs as we were experiencing some strain in coping up with the steep descend.

The other access is through the "Moon gate". This is the official entry for the mountain trail long before the other trails or roads being created or built.

Most city folks with fear of unknown preferred the paved roads where they can leave their cars in the care of parking attendance at its entrance.