Malaysia: Penang - the monkeys' hill and the Goddess of Mercy
- Where To Go Next By I&P
- Dec 30, 2022
- 3 min read
Penang is a large island and there is a lot to visit there. But two of the main attractions outside the city happened to be close to each other, so we decided to visit them on the same day: Penang Hill and the Kek Lok Si Temple.
We went to Penang Hill first. During the ride on bus 204 (the only bus to go to the entrance of Penang hill cable car) we could see the suburbs of George Town - a mix of suburbian towers, houses made of sheet metals, fancy districts but also crowded small towns, like Air Itam, with food and produce stalls on the streets.
Penang Hill is a park at more than 800m above sea level that offers the best views of the city of George Town, a little bit of the northern side of Penang, and the whole eastern side, especially the strait, the mainland and the bridges.
But to get there, you need to ride a cable car for which you usually have to wait 3h due to the high number of visitors. So we decided to buy the tickets but go visit the Kek Lok Si temple first, which was a 10 mins walk from Penang Hill.
We could already see from afar the Kek Lok Si temple complex and its majestic statue of Kuan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy in Buddhist religion, protected by its gigantic gazebo. Once there, we bought a ticket for the 3 rides to the top for 16MYR/pax. Those 3 rides were 2 cable cars and a 2-min golf cart ride. You can also walk up but we decided to take the easy way up and walk back down.
The view of this magnificent statue and of the city is awesome! At the top, you can make a donation in exchange for a good luck charm where you can write down a prayer and hang it up on a wooden tree. There are also small statues of the Chinese Zodiac animals but you won't find a cat here! According to the legends, the Cat was replaced by the Rabbit because it wanted to eat the Rat - bad kitty! 🙀
However, it was disappointing that cars were allowed in this sanctuary making the place a little bit chaotic, polluted and even dangerous as it feels like you are praying in the middle of a parking lot.
On the way back down to the 2nd level, we found very pretty prayer halls, views of the pagoda and a lot of lanterns that must make the temple gorgeous at night.
It is one of the most beautiful temple complexes I have ever seen (I know I always say that but it's true! 😊).
After leaving the temple we walked back to the Penang Hill cable car entrance, got there around 3pm and started lining up.
The line was long but they had some panels with information on Penang and the cable car's history to keep us entertained. But we were actually very lucky and "only" waited for 1h! The cable car ride was quite fast and fun with a nice view of the city and the strait.
Up there, we spent time finding the best viewpoints, observing the mean monkeys stealing drinks and the low clouds passing by.
With a very funky Hindu temple and a mosque, Penang Hill can be a place to worship Gods but also nature's beauty, as you could hike in the middle of the forest to find other viewpoints or animals.
There are definitely other activities up there such as a hurricane and earthquake simulation or a jeep ride in the jungle. But we went for a short hike followed by some rest in the food court area where we enjoyed a delicious dessert.
The following day, we departed for Ipoh by train. But going to the Butterworth train station from George Town was quite a ride already. First we took the free CAT bus to the Swettenham ferry pier. The ferry is free (I ♥️ Penang!) in this direction but we read somewhere that it costs one or two ringgit to come back to Penang.
After the 15mins ferry ride, we walked to the KTM train station through a long passageway. And after waiting in a small waiting area with dozens of people, we were finally able to board the train to Ipoh. Bye bye Penang and its inhabitants!
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