Cheah Wei

Last sunday 7am –1030am, cycled from Bandar Tasek Mutiara (Penang) to Junjung waterfall (Kedah). although across state border, it is only 7.2km between the two points. From Junjung waterfall (before the waterfall entry), there is a red earth road on the right. From there it lead to a covered trail (covered by cement). The trail is not too long and should be able to reach the rubber plantation (top of the hill) within 30-45 minutes. Along the way, the trail passes through a number of small streams and small waterfall and is scenic. It will also pass through some fruit trees plantations. I saw some chinese orchard workers who are friendly and see no dogs (unlike some other orchards i have gone to). At the end of the orchard, will reach a sort of bushes and can see the Bukit Mertajam hill and Penang island. After that will reach the rubber plantation. From there we turned back to Junjung. Accordingly to an orchard worker, the trail can lead across the hills and reach road 136 (Kulim towards Serdang). I captured my GPS coordinate about 400m from the start of the trail (the entrace to the dirt road and covered trail) and it is @

i think my 6x3 speed Lerun tourney bike is not suitable for uphill task and its v-brake system is not good enough. i’m thinking for upgrade. 99% of the uphill and 99% of the downhill i actually push my bike :) . my stamina is not fit enough either, have got to train up.

crossing a stream….                                      high on the orchard trail

bkt. Mertajam & Penang island afar                       at the top of the hill: rubber trees

This year, Georgetown is declared a UNESCO world’s heritage site. For a Penangite like me, i feel happy and somewhat proud with it. I’m not a “art” or “heritage” type of person, but i do treasure all the old shoplots and historical stuff, be it in town or my personal belongings. i keep my own treasure box of my childhood things: toys…etc.

Just across Georgetown lies Butterworth. It is where the cargo port is located, which is served by highways and railway. I think there are many “heritage” type of write up about Penang, but nobody has actually seriously mention Butterworth. I’m not a historian, i don’t have much data or info but i think i can write in my perspective about Butterworth, its glory days and its current sleepy town days.

I was born in Butterworth, its district hospital. The district hospital has since been demoted to a policlinic, due to the dwindling population. When i was young, i stayed at Kampung Jawa, very nearby to HSBC bank. Nearby there is a road call the New Ferry Road, and people call the surrounding area collectively as New Ferry Road ( or called New Road in Mandarin). There is a wet market along the road, beside which lies some very active community shop lots selling various stuff. Many has burnt down over the decades. Now only a handful of them is left intact. Many of those not burnt down has been torn down by the landlord. Some housing and commercial development project is on the way (as of today). i take the opportunity to take a photo of New Ferry Road wet market.

New Ferry Road market as view from a quite nice indian friend mee stall across the street.

Soon, the market will be torn down to give way to development. With that i think one of most vivid old building in New Ferry road that i still remember as a child will fade into history. I remembered my mum bringing me to the market, buying fish. and my mum say i love to look at chicken, and that she worry the chicken will poke at my eyes.

Butterworth, during its heyday, features some medium range hotels (KL hotel, Merlin hotel), and 3 cinemas, 3 supermarkets. ever since the early 1980s, people start moving out from the city area to the surrounding areas (especially Chai Leng Park, Seberang jaya, and up to Bukit Mertajam). i remembered Butterworth as a town as busy as Bukit Mertajam. Since 1980s, Butterworth slowly decline as it lost its population. All the supermarkets, all the cinemas, 1 of the hotel are closed down. in opposite direction, Bkt. Mertajam added some shopping centers and hotel. As of now, Bkt. Mertajam is more buzzy then the sleepy Butterworth, although Bkt. Mertajam is now becoming more and more sleepy as well.

Butterworth once has a nice beach front, we call it Pantai Bersih, with beach side park, huge children playground, library and a huge Malay hawker centers. Now, all of these (except one or two hawker stalls and a small portion of the original park) are gone. the beach are not reachable nowadays as the Butterworth outer ring road and a railway + port now has conquered the land. i not sure whether the sea life is still surviving out there. when i was young, we dig for “lala” (a kind of small oyster), catch “blanka”, and fear at the many crabs that live on the beach. (the beach is huge, and in my mum young time, it even span the length of a football field from the park to the sea). Many of the colonial style bungalow that front the beach has also gone.

Yesterday for the first time i joined my friend for a off road mountain biking trip. We started at 7am at Hai Tang Ma temple. it is situated along Jalan Kulim, which is just after passing through a junction to Sungai Lembu if you come from Bukit Mertajam and going towards Kulim.

The trail started not far after turning into the road towards Sungai Lembu, on the left hand side.It is a covered trail at the uphill portion. We actually passed by a durian plantation. we can see the surrounding hilly area covered in morning mist and it is cool and comforting. i did not manage to cycle all the way to the top, pushing my bike most of time. my bike only contains 6 speed and the seat couldn’t be adjusted to a greater height which is needed for uphill. i’ll upgrade my bike (lerun tourney with lots of shimano accessories) sometime in future.

downhill is a slippery, rocky, and thrilled. it is not a covered road but instead a red earth trail winding through rubber trees and some jungle bushes. eventually we somewhere nearby a very much deserted small industrial area along the sg. lembu road. from there we take another trail up the hill, which pass through oil palm plantation. as the road wind up, the scenery is very beautiful. i used my blackjack 2 to capture some photos below. i only capture photo at the stopping point and did choose the most scenic location to take them. as the trail here is red earth and very muddy, none of the biker manage to cycle up the entire trail. Again, i pushed my bike for most of the trail.

despite my first mountain bike trip is more a pushing bike trip rather than cycling. i have enjoyed it very much.

the hills surrouding machang bubok area

a gps trail that shows the trail (doesn't match exactly and the photos are not from this trip) -> http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=25576