Date: 14/6/2018
Since we have spent a full day at The Top, Penang the day before, we could only visit Penang Hill on this day.
After our simple roti canai breakfast in a small mamak stall at Ayer Itam, we headed straight to the Penang Hill Train Station. We parked the car at the multilevel parking lot (parking rate) just right beside the train station and walked over to get our train ticket.
Ticket Price (buy online)
| MyKad/MyKid/MM2H/i-Kad | Standard | |
| Children (4 – 12 years old) | RM 5 (Fast lane – RM20) | RM 15 (Fast lane – RM40) |
| Adult | RM 10 (Fast lane – RM40) | RM 30 (Fast lane – RM80) |
| Senior Citizen (60 years old & above) | RM 5 | RM 30 (Fast lane – RM60) |
| MyKad/MyKid/MM2H/i-Kad | Standard | |
| Children (4 – 12 years old) | RM 3 (Fast lane – RM10) | RM 8 (Fast lane – RM20) |
| Adult | RM 5 (Fast lane – RM25) | RM 15 (Fast lane – RM45) |
Fast lane ticket is an express ticket where you get to queue up at a priority line to skip the (usually) long line. Since it was a weekday and the crowd wasn’t as huge as I thought it would be, I got the normal ticket.
We queued in the line for about 15 minutes and managed to get into the next incoming train.
Funicular Train
The funicular train carries passengers from the bottom station of Penang Hill all the way up to the top station and the journey takes around 10 minutes.
The train was packed with visitors. We didn’t have seats but the boys were ok with it. Since the train ascended on a steady pace so the boys were ok to stand and hold on to the bars.
Obviously Yuyu was the one who got all excited about the ride.
First thing upon exiting the top station – icy cool coconut ice cream at RM6 a cup.
To be honest I was clueless about we should go and to see at Penang Hill. The last I was here was almost 10 years ago and in my memory there wasn’t much to do here. The only reason I wanted to bring the boys here was because Penang Hill is one of the landmarks and tourist spots in Penang. Furthermore, we didn’t get to come to Penang Hill in our previous trip back in November 2017 due to the flood. I told myself this time I would definitely bring them here to “check in”.
After the ice cream, we followed the path and reached the Dataran, which is like a gathering point or starting point at Penang Hill. I saw a sign board of the Habitat / Curtis Crest and thought that it would be a good place for us to visit.
I took out the complimentary visitor guide, looked at the map, saw the Habitat entrance to be not too far away from the Dataran. It was decided then that the Habitat was the place to be.
I made a mistake here which I underestimated the distance. Instead of taking the direct path from the Dataran to the entrance of the Habitat, I thought it would be good to let the boys to “explore” the nature a little and took the nature walk trail.
It wasn’t entirely a mistake though, aside of the tiredness from walking and walking and walking, the boys did get to see different types of plants and flowers along the way. They also found some wild bugs and insects crawling on the ground.
There are couple of rest stops and benches along the way so the boys could at least rest their feet.
After about 40 minutes of walking, we finally saw the entrance of the Habitat. phew….
The Habitat Penang Hill (website) – Daily 9am – 7pm
From the entrance, we still had to walk for another 10 minutes to get to the main building where we bought the entrance ticket. The main building also has a cafe and a visitor shop that sells souvenir.
|
Normal Hour (9am – 5.30pm) |
Sunset Walk (After 5.30pm) |
|
| Adult | RM47.15 | RM66.00 |
| Child / Senior Citizen / Student
*Child < 3 years old free; Senior citizen > 60 years old |
RM28.30 | RM37.15 |
| Family Package
(2 adult + 2 children / senior citizen / student) *ONE free terrarium package per family |
RM122.65 | RM169.80 |
I thought we could get to the Curtis Crest right after getting the ticket but I was so wrong. Before reaching to Curtis Crest, there is a 1.2km Nature Walk. More walking…
However, the walk wasn’t as bad as we thought. It was almost noon time but since majority of the trail was shaded with trees, it was actually pretty cooling to be there.
Besides the normal walking trail, there was also the canopy walk which is 700m above sea level. The canopy spans a total of 230 meters and is said to be the highest Stressed Ribbon Bridge in the world.
Along the way there are several “giant swing” stops where the kids were able to stop, rest for a little and have some entertainment before we carried on the walk.
Finally after about 40 minutes of walking (and stopping along the way), we made it to the main attraction – the Curtis Crest.
Since I didn’t have my drone with me (even if I did, I wasn’t allow to fly it here), I’ll grab a photo off the internet to show you the overview of the Curtis Crest:
These are some shots that I have made from the ground.
During the walk on the Nature Walk, we met another family – parents and their son. Ping and Yuyu quickly became good friend with the son. They played, they talked, they joke around like they were best friends.
Which do you prefer? The silly Ping or the serious Yuyu?
There wasn’t any shade so it was very hot on top. We spent about 10 minutes on the deck and descended.
Some photos together before we left the place.
Just when I thought we had to walk all the way back to the entrance, I was relief to know that there was a bypath that cuts through all the walking and brought us back to somewhere near the main building.
We proceded to the Terrarium workshop which I had promised Ping that I would let him do his own terrarium.
Terrarium @ The Habitat Penang Hill
Definition of terrarium from wikipedia:
A terrarium (plural: terraria or terrariums) is usually a sealable glass container containing soil and plants, and can be opened for maintenance to access the plants inside. However, terraria can also be open to the atmosphere rather than being sealed. Terraria are often kept as decorative or ornamental items. Closed terraria create a unique environment for plant growth, as the transparent walls allow for both heat and light to enter the terrarium. The sealed container combined with the heat entering the terrarium allows for the creation of a small scale water cycle. This happens because moisture from both the soil and plants evaporates in the elevated temperatures inside the terrarium. This water vapour then condenses on the walls of the container, and eventually falls back to the plants and soil below. This contributes to creating an ideal environment for growing plants due to the constant supply of water, thereby preventing the plants from becoming over dry. In addition to this, the light that passes through the transparent material of the terrarium allows for the plants within to photosynthesize, a very important aspect of plant growth.
The terrarium workshop is located at almost halfway from the ground station to the sky deck. Upon reaching here, there were already a group of people making their terrarium. Ping said he wanted to make one as well. Since we did not buy the family package, each terrarium is priced at RM10.
The staff on duty advised us to proceed to the sky deck first and only return here once we’re done visiting the sky deck, which we did.
This was the place where Ping and Yuyu parted with their new friend. The 2 of them stayed back to make the terrarium and their new friend left with his parents.
The friendly staff explained to Ping and Yuyu every step and what each ingredients function in the terrarium. I doubt they understood any of it. Nevertheless, they had fun in the process. The entire process took about 15 minutes.
Upon completing the terrarium, I requested the staff to take a photo with the boys which she gladly agreed to.
(updated 22/5/2020) We visited this place again in late January and unfortunately the terrarium workshop has stopped because the response from public wasn’t great. Upon searching online, we have found a site that has a step-by-step guide on how to make a DIY Terrarium. If you’re interested, you can visit https://happydiyhome.com/diy-terrarium/
Once done, we took another 5 minutes of walk to reach the main building where the boys wanted ice cream (again). The cafe only sells “real fruit popsicle” which was pretty pricey at RM15 each. Since the boy had walked for such a long way, I bought the ice cream for them as a reward. The boy chose the mango flavor and shared.
After the ice cream, it’s time to head back to the train station. Instead of walking all the way back, we choose to take the complimentary shuttle service. Of course Yuyu was very excited as this was his first time riding on a pickup truck.
The ride took only 5 minutes to reach the Dataran and we had walked for nearly 40 minutes for the same journey earlier.
Some last photos from Penang Hill before we went back to the train station and took the train back down to the foot of Penang Hill.
