The story so far… Part 1 & Part 2

We mapped our route to Penang Hill and when we reached a spot where we had to move forward, we realized we were at the Botanical Gardens and the map had brought us to a part, which technically was the route to Penang Hill, but was the walking path. After wondering what to do, I met a friendly park staff who showed me on the map where to actually go. We had to reach the Lower Station at Bukit Bendera and which was actually close to the Kok Lok Si Temple. One blooper we made was not to carry any water with us
which made life a bit difficult till we found a 7-11 and brought some.

Kek Lok Si Temple

The route from the Botanical gardens to the temple seemed fairly easy, but we missed the entrance to the temple! The day was not getting better for us. We missed not one, but two entrances and had to make a big round around the hill till we came down. This was because the temple name was in Thai and we thought it was some Thai temple. We first went to the top entrance and when we realized it was the wrong one, got into the car to drive down again. The temple is serene and calming and we took some photos and walked around. There were some good luck charms we could tie to the wishing tree there and we did tie some for the children and us – things like Success in Exams, Success in Everything….

Inside the main temple

After spending an hour there, the kids started getting restless, plus the temple was nearing its closing time of 6 pm, so we decided to head to the funicular tram station to get to the top of Penang Hill. The drive from the hotel to the temple was approximately 25 minutes and from the temple to the tram station was approximately 10 minutes. On the way, we stopped at 7-11 and brought water and some drinks.

The funicular tram which took us up Penang Hill – see the angle!

The tram station is at the end of the road and there is a building right next to it where you can park your vehicle. Once we parked the car, we headed into the complex to buy the tickets. In Malaysia, it is usual to have two sets of tickets – one for locals who have to show their Malaysian ID and the other for foreigners. The foreigner ticket is usually twice that what locals pay. The foreigner price for a return trip by the Funicular tram was RM 30 per adult. Since GG & BB turned 12 this year, we had to pay adult prices for them almost everywhere.

Views from the top

Penang Hill is the oldest British hill station in Southeast Asia dating to the late 1700s and the highest peak there stands at 833 meters (2,732 ft) above sea level. The funicular railway to the top of the hill started in October 1923, making it a cool 92 years of running it. The train we went up is the fourth generation one and started operations in 2011. The track stretches almost 2 km with a steepness gradient of about 28 degrees. There are some bungalows in the hill, most privately owned, but some owned by the state government.

Hazy Cityscapes

The haze obscured most things when we were at the top, so we could not see the stunning cityscapes which were promised at the viewing deck. There’s a café at the top along with a food court plus an owl museum. On the top, a bit of a distance away, there is a Muslim mosque as well as a Hindu temple. We spent about an hour there before taking the train down and thinking about dinner. Car park rates were around RM 8 for the almost two hours we spent there.

While driving back to Georgetown and Little India, we spied a Ananda Bahwan restaurant. This was seemingly nowhere! We literally saw it and decided to eat there rather than braving Little India on a Sunday evening. Parking in Georgetown is a real pain and especially in the narrow streets which have little or no parking spaces. Also lots of roads in Georgetown are one-way streets and you can go round and round trying to find a free parking lot.

Kek Lok Si Temple

Penang from the top of the temple

Inside the temple

The various Penang landmarks that you could see from the top of the hill

Dinner over, we went back to the hotel, tired. The kids decided to have some fun in the humongous tub and that ended our first day in Penang!

Part 1: The Planning and the Preparations                                                                         Part 2: The Hotel