Penang Hill Visit During 2013 Raya Weekend (槟城升旗山)

Finally we made it to Penang Hill during this Raya weekend! We prayed for good weather, and luckily even though it's cloudy, it didn't rain during the day. Still pretty blue sky, nice blue sea, but with some grey clouds overhang at certain areas.

One of my favourite photo for this trip with Penang Bridge in the background

We got a local family package which is available for those with Mykads. Our tickets for 2 adults and 2 kids below 12 years old are only RM18. Wow, if you forgot your Mykad, you have to pay the foreigner's fare. There were Rela members on duty at various spots at the bottom station and at the streets to move human traffic :)

At the train station and on the train

I felt the "blue coach" travelled really, really fast. Maybe because there are many visitors this weekend and they stepped on the gas (or programmed it to move much faster). 爸爸 felt it was not so fast the first time he took it during Ally and Keryn's visit.

People mountain people sea (人山人海). This is the best we could take of the new Penang Hill furnicular train or blue coach as the guard kept on asking everyone to move along to prevent "human congestion".

Took a few photos around the viewing platform near the top train station. It's all about views from Penang Hill for visitors, even us. The air is mildly cool, even 姐姐 was in t-shirt and shorts.


With Penang Hill signboard

More view

We stopped at David Brown's Sky Terrace @ Strawberry Hill for tea. There is great view from the Sky Terrace with cool air. But the children chose a high table (meant for drinks) so we didn't get to sit outside.

Around David Brown's Sky Terrace

They took a photo on the way back from toilet. This became 爸爸's favourite photo :)

The snacks we ordered - cappuccino, Devonshire cream tea and chocolate mousse

I only came for the scones, the Devonshire cream tea (RM24) comes with a pot of tea and is meant for one. I shared with the children and they loved everything that comes with it. Is this considered a bit pricey? At Cameron Highlands, we had scones set for RM12 but tea is to be ordered separately. We ordered the chocolate mousse (RM15) for the children to share and 爸爸 had cappuccino (RM12 but it was so-so only as they don't specialize in coffee). Only snacks/finger food available at the Sky Terrace, for the mains you have to go to the David Brown's Restaurant.

Around the garden at David Brown's Restaurant

Around the garden and grounds at David Brown's Restaurant

After that, it's going around for a little walk. Since I haven't been here for a long time, the old food court had been renovated to a new complex called The Astara Bukit Bendera. There's a viewing platform, and from here we can see work is still being carried out on another walkway with view towards Batu Maung (at least it looks like that to me).

The viewing platform from The Astaka Bukit Bendera

The Owl Museum but we didn't go

The old first-generation Penang Hill funicular train.
The Astaka complex viewing platform in the background with many visitors.

We didn't see the red-and-white train on display though. Could we please have the red-and-white coach for memory sake like this first-generation train? Our first visit was with the red-and-white funicular train.

Anyway, throughout this visit, the children keep wanting to revisit the playground in their memory.

Somehow from this angle the sky is always beautiful

Loved the colours :)

They're having fun!

The view from the side of the Hindu temple is nice too. A cruise ship is passing by.

Reluctantly they have to follow us around to experience some nature trail. So we rested first near what used to be the fountain. And we had to resort to giving out sweets to soothe their hearts. Actually 姐姐 didn't want to go because she's prone to attracting mosquitoes.

This place used to have a fountain, now it's a garden.

More walking around

Loved the way 爸爸 captured the trees :)

Self-declared nature trail as we don't have energy for the real one.

We dare not allow him to walk any further from this trail.

More greeneries around Penang Hill

I like this photo taken by 爸爸

Last photo with Bukit Bendera

Not able to wait for sunset, we took the train down. The wait was less than 15 minutes, and the ride was about 5-10 minutes (gut feel as I didn't really keep time, I'm not here to review their efficiency). At certain steep parts, it felt like a slower version "roller-coaster" to me. Forget about leisurely chugging along as in the old days. Thanks to the "roller coaster" of Penang Hill, we didn't have to wait long now.



We're in the first section going down. Standing room only though, luckily the children are already big enough to take care of themselves and enjoy the ride.

We have a video but I have to edit it, so let's see if I will upload.

The Penang Hill bottom station

It had been a fun day!