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"

his day I took opportunity of my short stay to checked the popularity of this "84" in 1999.

1 The car park area  

2 Rest sheds along the way too

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.

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.

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.

3 Contaminated by the stilt over flow during the rain

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 Bungah.

4 The shed at last

"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.

5 We helped ourselves

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

6 Adding in some colours

6 One shot of the "Moongate" at that time

6 Accidental find a morning market

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.