Penang trip, December 2010 |
There are several waterfalls on Penang Island. One of them, in the Botanical Gardens, is just called Waterfall. It was one of the key attractions of the island, but is now out of bounds, as it is owned by the Penang Water Authority.
A friend of mine, Dan Low, told me that there are upper tiers, upstream of the main fall, which can be reached from the trails leading to Penang Hill. He was willing to guide me to these falls, so I decided to go to Penang and make it a typical Kwai Loh trip, which means full of variety..:-)
We arrived on a Friday and spent the afternoon sightseeing. During my last visit I had concentrated on the colonial heritage sites, this time we decided to visit the famous clan jetties. On our way we passed several places of worship, Penang is a real melting pot of cultures and religions.
The jetties (there are five of them) were still nice and interesting but much more developed than during an earlier visit, many years ago. Progress has also its negative side.
On our way back to the hotel, we passed a shop with a nice facade. Admiring it, the owner asked if we would like to have a look inside. People can be so friendly :-)
For our dinner we went to the hawker stalls at New Lane. Very scenic and nice food, fried oysters, lobak.
The next morning we met Dan, who took us to the Botanical Gardens, where we met his friend Lucy with her daughter Eunice. It was drizzling. We followed a cemented trail, leading to Penang Hill until we reached a rusty sign "Forbidden to Enter". A vague, steep trail led us down from there to the upper tiers of the Waterfall. Several beautiful falls in pristine surroundings. After Dan, being a good host, had prepared coffee for us, we took a different route back. Heavy rain for a while, we were lucky that we reached one of the shelters in time.
After a late lunch with very good Asam Laksa and a visit of a shop with traditional Penang items, we went back to our hotel for a well-deserved rest. Dinner in restaurant Kapitan, Indian food for a change.
The next day we met Dan at Auto City on the mainland and from there went to the Junjong waterfall. Popular place, developed, upper falls nice, but quite a lot of rubbish. After having a look at Bukit Mertajam, Dan's playground, and the famous St Anne's church, we had a delicious seafood lunch in Tambun, and then drove back to Taiping.
The next day we did some sightseeing in Taiping and next visited Batu Gajah and the tin dredge. It was my fourth visit to this behemoth, and the first time there were other visitors! Sadly, the condition of this dredge is deteriorating. It is a shame that Malaysia has so little respect for its industrial and cultural heritage. The characteristic old Rest House in Taiping will soon be a complete ruin.
As I wrote in the introduction, a trip full of variety!
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the Waterfall (ca 1900) |
Islam |
Hindu 3 comments |
Krishna |
The jetty region |
One of the jetties |
Jetty views |
Nice Volkswagens |
Beautiful shop facade |
Details, outside and inside |
Colonial architecture |
Different building, similar style, at night |
New Lane hawker stalls |
Delicious fried oysters |
Hiking in the rain |
Forbidden to enter..:-) |
Steep descent 3 comments |
The upper tiers of the Waterfall |
The top of the main Waterfall |
Nice waterfalls |
Eunice posing as water nymph |
Paul, enjoying his bath |
Dan, posing as daredevil |
Dan and Eunice |
The top tiers of the Waterfall |
Rain shelter on the way back |
Also for the monkeys |
The best Laksa in town! |
Delicious! |
Shop with traditional Penang items 2 comments |
Kapitan restaurant |
The menu |
Tandoori Chicken with Cheese Garlic naan 1 comment |
Air Terjun Junjong |
Well developed |
Lower fall |
Lot of rubbish |
Upstream |
Paul taking another bath |
Upper falls |
Bukit Mertajam pools, no water |
Because of leptospirosis! 1 comment |
An old dam, Bukit Mertajam |
Nice construction |
No longer in use |
Fish in the reservoir |
Frog farm! |
The frogs 2 comments |
So cute! |
St Anne's church, Bukit Mertajam |
Interior |
One of the Stations of the Cross |
Seafood at Tambun |
Popular restaurant |
Oysters, Stingray, Lala etc |
Fishing boat |
Pacific Swallows 1 comment |
Taiping Lake garden |
Beautiful as usual 1 comment |
Taman Tasik restaurant |
A well-deserved beer |
The laundry field |
Perak Museum |
Natural History 1 comment |
Cultural section |
All Saints Church, Taiping |
The old Resthouse, what a shame! |
King Edwards School |
Batu Gajah |
Colonial style buildings |
Court House, Batu Gajah |
Detail facade |
Interior |
St Joseph church |
God's Little Acre |
Graves of the three planters (1948) |
Tin Dredge, Batu Gajah |
Popular with birds |
Purple Swamphens |
Entering the dredge |
In bad condition..:-( |
Inside the dredge |
The buckets |
Huge dimensions |
The bucket part of the dredge |
Huge size |
Rare visitors |
One for the album |
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wrote on Dec 22, 2010: nice!!was there last weekend,didn't had a chance to to check out the falls thou.damn! |
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geetee wrote on Dec 22, 2010: Jan, you sure this is a Hindu temple? Looks like a Sikh temple to me, but I am not sure |
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Kwai Loh wrote on Dec 22, 2010: Oeps. As a non-believer, I should keep mum about religion...:-) Actually it is not a temple at all. It is a Mamak Muslim shrine, the Nagore Shrine (built in the 1880's)
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wrote on Dec 22, 2010: george, don't be fooled by the golden topped spires. a sikh temple will have 'gurdwara' in its name. the signage does not have that. besides, it would not have green 'drapery', yellow mostly. /stephen |
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geetee wrote on Dec 22, 2010: Your beautiful photos of the Lake Gardens make me homesick. All the other pics are superb too. |
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wrote on Dec 22, 2010: Wow Mr. Dan, trekking in slippers only! |
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wrote on Dec 23, 2010: what are these frogs for? sell? |
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Kwai Loh wrote on Dec 23, 2010: Come on...:-) Are you Chinese? For the cooking pot, of course...:-) |
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Dan wrote on Dec 23, 2010: This is picture turns out very nice... |
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Dan wrote on Dec 23, 2010: Thanks for sharing .... will wanna visit this place next time... |
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Dan wrote on Dec 23, 2010: they are actually hiking boots that looks like slippers ..... :) |
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wrote on Dec 23, 2010: It really looks like slippers... That's cool! :-) |
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Dan wrote on Dec 23, 2010: hmmm ... looks good, I think I should try it too.. |
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wrote on Dec 25, 2010: Leptospirosis or Weil's disease as it is also known is very dangerous and nasty, if not treated quickly. The problem being is that the symptoms in the early stages are flu like. Some years ago the Crawley Caving & Climbing Club here in the UK had a long weekend caving trip Mendip in Somerset, where we visited a cave system called Stoke Lane Slocker a cave system I would think Caving Liz will be familiar with, as she has caved in that area. Anyway the stream which feed the cave passes through a farmyard which as you can guess makes the stream rather rich in cow muck. Four days after the trip, two of the guys developed flu like symptoms, jokingly we blamed the high levels of Butcombe best bitter and Badgers screech which had been consumed over the weekend. By the next weekend both where in hospital, both in intensive care, with renal failure, and one sadly died, the other never did get back to full health. What amazes me, is how people in Malaysia are happy to play in the various pools provided in the parks, with no regard or even maybe any knowledge of the fact that if rats are around then Leptospirosis or Weil’s disease is most likely around as well. And when you see the amount of rubbish left in the parks, then the rats will be there for sure. When I was a young soldier many years ago during the emergency period, we where well aware of the danger, that if rats urine infected the streams we often waded through, if we had any sores or open wounds, we knew could get infected, and we monitored any symptoms we might develop . One things for sure I never bath in the pools, or upper stream ways in the parks if I see rubbish around. And my advice to anyone who starts to get flu like syptoms and or renal problems best to get it checked out tuut sweet. Nice to have cheered you all up.
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Liz wrote on Dec 25, 2010: Penang items or Thai items? |
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Kwai Loh wrote on Dec 25, 2010: We found the name confusing too, at first. But really, this Lim Wah Thai shop is a landmark in Penang with numerous local delicacies. Their Dragon Balls are superb. |
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