Expedition 2002

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Penang Trip 2001 - Write-up

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Planning began immediately after our exams in early November. Jin Sheng and Samuel were made the ICs for the activity. Several trainings and briefings were held in the same month to ensure that we were prepared for the trek. A week before 1 December 2001, we were all ready to go.

A brief introduction on Penang Island, Malaysia. It is an island at the north-most end of Peninsular Malaysia. It was found by the British quite a few years before the British came on the the grounds of Singapore. In fact, Penang was the first model of an administrative town the British used in the development of Singapore, which at that period of time was also a part of the British colony. Penang prospered and was called the "Pearl of the Orient". Eventually the island went back to the administrative rule of the Federation of Malaysia. Penang is now a popular tourist attraction spot in Malaysia.

Day 1

We met at Golden Mile Complex at 6.00 pm. It was a rather tiring day as many of us were too excited to sleep the night before. We boarded the bus at 7.00 pm and headed for Penang. During the journey, we got to see glimpses of the night scenery of West Malaysia (we were practically crossing the whole peninsular). We made several coffee stops along the journey, and got to see the night life of the muslims during the fasting period.

Day 2

We arrived in Penang at around 6.00 am. We took private taxis to VSL Malcolm Tan's House at Comtar. We took a long rest at his house as we could not sleep well on the bus. At 9.00 am, we headed out to the nearby So Young Cafe for breakfast and then went round the nearby market for a walk.

At 1.00 pm, Mr. Khoo, a Scouter and good old friend of Malcolm came to pick us up in his van for a tour round the island. We went to the east coast of Penang island, visiting an old spanish fort, the museum there and then went to visit the campsite of the scouts of Penang Free School. Later in the evening, we visited some of the shopping centres on the island and bought the necessities as well as things we wanted. We turned in at around 11.30 pm.

Day 3

We woke up at around 6.00 am and had our breakfast at So Young Cafe again. We then packed up our things and equipment for the hike. We left for the Botanical Gardens at around 10 am. We reached the botanical gardens at around 10.30 am and did some warm-up exercises. We began the climb of Penang Hill at 11.00 am. The trek was really difficult as it was a very different kind compared to Bukit Timah Hill. The gradient was much steeper. We stopped at station 11 at around 1.00 pm for our lunch and proceeded on at 1.30 pm.

The second half of the trek was much easier as it was a more a constant terrain. we reached station 41 at around 4.00 pm and took a rest. While resting, we chatted with the people there, mostly old people who had come up to exercise. We then changed from the dirt track to the roads as the people told us that a rainstorm a few days earlier had caused quite a few fallen trees in the path ahead. We reached the summit at around 6.30 pm and had our dinner at the hotel there. We then set up our tents and took our much needed rest at 10.30 pm.

Day 4

We woke up at around 7.00 am and got to see the beautiful sunrise. We then headed to the nearby hawker centre for our breakfast and explored the summit settlement. We got to see several luxury houses and the beautiful flora and fauna. We then packed up our things and took the funicular rail down Penang Hill at 11.15 am. We moved quickly towards Kek Lok Si Temple where Mr. Khoo had earlier arranged to meet us. Along the way, we had the infamous Penang Laksa that can hardly be found in Singapore. We took a stroll around the temple as it housed the biggest Buddha in Asia. We then set off towards Air Itam Dam at around 1.45 pm.

We took a rest at the dam and got to view the beautiful scenery. We proceeded towards Balik Pulau at around 3.20 pm. We reached Balik Pulau at 7.00 pm as we were all worn out. We booked ourselves into the hostel there which used to be a school. We took a quick rest and then headed into the village for the cheap satays at RM$0.20 per stick. The "Satay Fest" was fantastic. We restocked our water and headed back to the hostel. We turned in at 1.00 am.

Day 5

We woke up at 5.00 am and prepared breakfast. By 6.00 am, we were ready to leave for Telok Bahang. This was going to be the longest part of the trek and also the most treacherous one. We reached Telok Bahang at around 1.00 pm and had our lunch in the village. We then proceeded towards Muka Head at around 2.00 pm. This was the difficult part as we had to climb over steep coastal rocks and shaky ground to reach the Muka Head beach. Midway there, we got really disturbed by the long journey and the fatigue and had a little squabble but quickly come to terms with the conditions.

We reached Muka Head at around 4.30 pm. Many of us were really tired and didi not really appreciate the beautiful scenery we had around us. Some of us went into the water for a dip while the rest of us rested at a nearby table. We took a little snack. We lazed around for about an hour or so and decided that we could no longer carry on back to Telok Bahang on foot and so we rented a boat to bring us back to Telok Bahang. When we all gathered at the End of the World Seafood Restaurant at Telok Bahang, it was about 6.15 pm already. We then took a bus down to Batu Ferringhi where we had our lunch. We left for George Town by bus and reached Malcolm's house at 8.45 pm. We quickly organised our things and did the necessary wash-up. We all fell asleep at 11.00 pm.

Day 6

We woke up at 9.00 am. I prepared the breakfast with the leftover food from the trek. We lazed around in Malcolm's house while some of us helped Malcolm clean up his garden. Mr. Khoo came and picked us up for a shopping trip round the island. We visited several markets and shopping centres and bought whatever we could afford. We also ate some of the best delicacies on Penang Island. We ended the trip with supper at an Indian hawker centre and tried out the food offered there. We were stuffed when we returned to Malcolm's house at 12.15 am. Those of us who could not sleep, watched two movies, Rat Race and the Exorcist.

Day 7

We woke up at 9.00 am. I prepared breakfast with the leftover food from the trek again. We were all pretty lazy today and eventually got a telling from Malcolm. We headed out for Comtar at 11.00 am and went for another round of shopping. We also tried out whatever delicacies we missed out the day before. By this time we had fallen in love with the chendol and "tarik'd" drinks. At 4.30 pm, we headed back to Malcolm's house and prepared for our train ride to Kuala Lumpur. We reached the ferry station at 6.00 pm, just in time for the ferry and the coming train ride. We boarded the train in the sleepers coach at 7.00 pm and began our long ride towards Kuala Lumpur.

Day 8

We reached Kuala Lumpur at around 8.30 am. We deposited our bags at the station and proceeded for a day trip around the city centre, KLCC. The shopping complex, KLCC was gigantic. None of the shopping Centres in Singapore can compare with it. It took us hours to go through the whole complex. We then bought tickets for Spy Game, the 4.00 pm show. At 6.15 pm we regrouped with Malcolm, who had gone out with his friends, and headed for dinner with his family at a small cafeteria. We parted at 8.00 pm and headed for the train station. We withdrew our bags and did washed up at the station just before our train ride back home to Singapore. We boarded the Singapore-bound train at 9.00 pm. This time we got the seated coach. Most of us could not sleep well as it was uncomfortable and we were eager to return home.

Day 9

We reached Singapore at 7.45 am. We quickly rushed through the procedures at the customs and parted at 8.15 am.

Teo Xiang Zheng

Participant of the Penang Trip 2001

(Last updated on 14 July 2002)

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