Hills

Like many people, I try to make plans. In my case as I am retired, this often involves great ideas (in my opinion) that may or may not require preparation before the big event whatever it is takes place.

A few weeks ago after a tough day of playing in a tennis tournament, I was chatting with one of the players, the club pro, bemoaning the fact that I wasn't able to hit the tennis ball as hard as the young lads who'd thumped us all over the court all day. He put an arm round my shoulders in an amicable fashion, patted my stomach with the other and kept on saying what sounded like "20 pounds" over and over. Being rather a literal person I hadn't a clue what he meant but assumed that he meant that I should start pumping iron to build up some more muscle. He is as skinny as a rake so I thought this was a bit rich coming from him. In any event he kept droning on about '20 pounds, 20 pounds' and drumming my tummy so I said something along the lines of 'OK, you're right maybe I could do something about my puny arms...' but he said "No, no. Lose 20 pounds. Here".... with 'here' being you guessed it, my stomach. Bloody cheek. I've been trying to lose 20 pounds for the last 20+ years, mate!

In my defense, the food in Penang really doesn't help. So good but very heavy on the carbs: rice, noodles, beer. I know I could be a little more iron willed but that really hasn't worked out that well. Clearly.

The most recent fiesta and the scene of my most recent fall from grace

So plan B.

Penang Island is a really interesting place. Topographically speaking. This is what Wikipedia says:

As for the terrain, much of the centre of Penang Island consists of granitic hills covered by rainforest jungles. The central hills of Penang Island, including Penang Hill, serve as a giant green lung for the entire island and an important forested catchment area.[15]

Generally speaking, the island can be distinguished into five areas:

• The northeastern plains form a triangular promontory where George Town is centred. This densely populated city centre is the administrative, commercial and cultural centre of Penang.
• The southeast, where Bayan Lepas is located, was once an agricultural area consisting of rice fields and mangroves. Due to the massive industrialisation of the 1970s, this area has been developed into new townships and industrial areas.
• The north, including Batu Ferringhi, Tanjung Bungah and Tanjung Tokong, consists of narrow sandy beaches lined with resort hotels and residences that form the northwestern edge of George Town.
• The southwest (Balik Pulau) contains the only large pockets of scenic countryside with fishing villages, fruit orchards, and mangroves.

The giant green lung

We live in the north of the island which is well populated but in the middle and south, the hills go straight up making construction difficult. So much so that the authorities are reclaiming ever greater chunks out to the north and east which constitutes the Malacca Straits, which are actually quite shallow and very tidal.

The British in colonial days built stations in the hills where you can escape the relentless heat of the lowlands. They also built reservoirs and dams in the hills to provide a guaranteed water source for the island. Accessing each of these meant trails, roads and paths which today make great hiking trails. This was my plan B.

I found a group of hardy hikers who weren't so serious that a newbie like me would suffer and off we went. The first week's walk was to the Batu Ferringhi aqueduct. A light, gently upward stroll past the remnants of colonial engineering which still works just fine. My fellow walkers were a bunch of similarly shaped and aged people to me, so I felt right at home. 

It was all rather pleasant. People chatted, stopped every 20 minutes or so for a rest and drink, that sort of thing. And right at the end we met that charming monkey. The white eyed ones are quite affable unlike the grey macaques that predominate, which travel in large groups and which are aggressive. This is why most walkers go on hikes with sticks.

It was therefore with quiet confidence that I approached the next week's walk. One of the guys that also plays tennis told me that this wasn't a really heavy walk in terms of difficulty, maybe 7 out of ten, so I was felt pretty good about things as I drove down to the southern part of the island; a village called Balik Pulau. The plan was to start in the village, walk through some of the farms and then take to the hills. The hills are all interconnected so a really long, tough one would head all the way north towards Penang Hill. We wouldn't be doing that although we would be going up through the durian farms.

I was in bits at the end.

Scenery was lovely and what I clearly missed were the breaks for chats and drinks. None of the more social walkers had chosen to do this walk this time, I had missed that! The hardy bunch that did make it were all lithe and athletic looking and obviously used to this kind of thing.

Lovely scenery though!