Penang Hill View. December 2005
On my first visit to Penang back in 1986 with Masaaki, one of the highlights was Penang Hill. I have returned multiple times throughout my life and have always enjoyed time spent there.
On the first visit, it was a chore just to make it to the base of the old Penang Hill Railway because there was only irregular bus service. I remember we took a bus seemingly to "nowhere". At the last stop, "Air Itam" (Black Water), the driver told us to keep walking down a forested road. Masaaki and I were somewhat dubious, but we followed his instructions and we came upon the base station of the "Penang Hill Funicular Railway". We bought tickets and rode it to the top where we were greeted with a fabulous view over to the mainland and the Straits. It was magical and I still feel that way every time I visit.
Masaaki and I found the Bellevue Hotel (recommended by Bill Purver, my all-things-British-colonial-loving guide whom I worked with in Sendai, Japan) and sat down on the veranda for a a few beers and snacks while overlooking the sea. That view, the cool breeze, the cool beer - I was truly happy.
Penang Hill was developed by the British to escape the heat of the lowlands. The first governor of Penang, Francis Light, built a bungalow for himself which became the governor's residence. One of the nearby hills was known as "Strawberry Hill" because Light found he could grow strawberries there. With the opening of the funicular railway in the 1920s, the whole area started to boom as wealthy Brits and locals started to build bungalows and hotels atop the hill.
Even my beloved hotelier brothers, the Sarkies [see: Eastern and Oriental Hotel] had built a small property, the Crag Hotel, there. That building apparently still exists, rather dilapidated and apparently haunted!!
I remember going to Penang with LK and Anto about 10 years later. We took the train to the top and it was LK's single biggest memory of Malaysia. He talked about that train ride for years afterward as one of the most amazing experiences of his life. Perhaps because he grew up on a mountain, the idea that a train could be built straight up rather than zigzagging to the top impressed him? My travel companions and I enjoyed both the train ride as well as our walk around the parklike setting at the top.
Years later I had lunch with TFR and Brian in that same Bellevue Hotel overlooking the Straits. It reminded me of my first trip with Masaaki - not much had changed. (the service certainly had not improved - ha!) What WAS different however was that outside on the porch with that great view there was a cluster of vines overhead and among them some gorgeous green snakes with striking red eyes. A sign stated: "yes, the snakes are poisonous - if you don't bother them, they won't bother you". It may have been the only meal of my life UNDER poisonous snakes (I am not terrified of snakes, so I found it all amusing as opposed to my late mother who certainly would have had an "episode" if she had even read the sign and didn't see the snakes!)
I envied Francis Light for having built an actual house on Penang Hill. The whole area is now a protected biosphere as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I can't even imagine waking up to that view every day and commuting down to Georgetown via the incline railway. These days the place is much more developed, but the Malaysian government is not "over loving" it. Not as forlorn and unkempt as my first few visits, it is a proper tourist attraction now. Penang Hill has escaped becoming condo-strewn like the rest of the island due to its protected area status. I feel grateful for that.
The view over the Straits of Malacca and Georgetown to the Malaysian mainland is one of my favorites in the world. There may be better views, but there are not better memories.
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