Truly life is full of surprises- some are pleasant and some may not…but it all actually depends on the beholder. The experience that I am about to share is a case of discovery by accident, in short -SERENDIPITY.
On our 6th month stint in Penang, my husband and I had already done much site seeing. In fact we drove around the island in just one day and there you get to see almost everything there is to see. But there is one thing that we’ve yet to do together to appreciate Penang Island’s beauty and that is to climb those hills. I’ve heard from an acquaintance about Pinang hill where she showed me the picture she took from atop. At that time I didn’t bother to ask where and how to get to there…. Well, one Saturday morning, my husband suggested we go hiking…and I said, yeah. Let’s go to Pinang hill…but how to go there? That’s the big question…lazy to Google or ask anyone, we dismissed the idea and decided to hike the hill from botanical garden. So off we went to botanical garden and parked near the entrance. A parking attendant approached us and asked “ how many hours?”…we said “ one hour” …then we paid him the amount he asked. With only a bottle of water we commenced our hike.
I’ve hiked that hill before with my former colleagues which I had a hilarious experience with the old Chinese man at the halfway shed speaking to me in different Chinese dialects just to stop me from feeding the monkey.
During that time I wasn’t really paying attention on the path we took but I thought it won’t be problem…we won’t be lost. Just like going around Penang island, you’ll never get lost…you may be traveling in different routes but you’ll still arrive to your destination…it’s just a matter of time.
Now going back to our hike… It was very steep, muddy and slippery. Although my pair of Bata rubber shoes was doing fine nonetheless a pair of hiking boots would really help. It was funny coz during my first attempt, I managed the climb with little difficulty but this time… every few meters I was ready to give up and go down. But I say, “rest if you must but never give up”….that’s what I kept on saying after every few minutes. I stop and rest when my head feels like exploding. Unmindful of the path we took, we must have taken a different turn coz we saw a big rock which I had not seen during my previous climb where ‘P. HILL’ and an arrow was scribed on it. Hah! My husband and I looked at each other….we have the same thought. What does the ‘P’ stands for? Is it the Pinang hill? We’re thrilled to know and get there…but the first thing in our agenda is get to that halfway shed - our sojourn.
As we had made a different route than I did before, I was feeling hopeless to find the halfway shed until a whiff of burnt coffee touched my nose- we must be near, I thought. So we went on and with the guidance of our noses, we finally reached it. What a relief it was. As if the shed was a plush oasis. So now we …Rest. Rest. Rest. While there, I did not feed the monkeys anymore as I know the policy already. In front of the shed was a tar road that still leads upward.
Remembering the sign we saw on the rock, we asked the old man tending the shed what it meant. And he replied “Pinang Hill” and pointing up at the tar road direction as the summit. WOW! What a surprise. After wishing to climb Pinang Hill, we were actually on it already…Isn’t this serendipity? The old man continued saying, its only 15-20 minutes more to climb up the top. Isn’t that great? 15 minutes and we’ll be there at the summit….for sure we could make it in 15 minutes as it was an estimate from an old man… for sure we have more strength and vitality than he does- we’re so much younger. Our sapped energy has been recharged and revived after the rest and knowing that we have a wonderful discovery. Although we run out of water long way back, we thought we wouldn’t need anymore as it’s only 15 minutes more to go….that’s not very long. And we thought tar road is much easier to climb than the dirt pathway. I could almost hear my heart t singing… high ho! High ho! Off the hills we go- out of the excitement to see Penang City from the top ….but Oh My God! The second surprise came and that is, it is harder to hike on the tar road.….now my mantra needs to be more convincing… “ rest if you must but never quit” ….we didn’t notice the distance we’ve walked but we’ve been walking more than 15 minutes already…yeah we did rest but shouldn’t be more than an hour..Yes, it was already 15 minutes over an hour and yet no summit in sight. The road was long and winding. We kept on asking each other if we really heard the old man correctly…”did he really say 15 minutes?” …”yeah he did or maybe he said 50 minutes”…what the heck….we were fooled or should I say we were fools to believe that the old man is weaker than us…we underestimated the strength of these old men who just goes up and down the hill so many times a day. And to prove the point at the very moment that my husband and I were arguing about the 15 or 50 minutes, an old man carrying some gallons of water just went briskly past by us…and we were like…ha???…speechless. That was the 3rd surprise.
We got challenged! We don’t want to be defeated by those water- gallon- toting old skinny Chinese men, who by then was so ahead that we only see his blurry figure from a distance. We marched on and on but actually mostly crawling. I was really almost crawling…and then finally we heard voices…it must be the top. To my mind those people must have climbed so early coz there were not much people climbing with us or past us…in fact I only counted 5 people or so who walked past us. Anyway, one last turn, we saw what appears to be the top already….Hurray! we made it… dehydrated and exhausted to the max, we looked tattered and worn out. It’s okay, it’s what happens when you climb a steep and high hill. On that last stretch, there were some big cameras on tripod with big long zoom lenses set-up along the slope pointing to the forested area. There were I think two sets of it… I saw the men handling the camera were dressed in fatigues, though rugged, they didn’t look bedraggled or anything like who had walked a distance at all…well I thought they must be veterans in climbing this hill to be composed like that…my husband was now running to the top while I took my time….it was like a plateau….a Hindu temple came to view. The further we walk the more perplexed we got. There were a lot of people there already…like a bus -full of people. And what’s more stupefying is that they were all so well dressed up…like going to the mall and some in high heels and all. My husband and I looked at each other again- so scruffy and muddy. How could this be? Sure there was a tar road but it was limited to authorized vehicles and there were no buses going up…it would be very unsafe. We walked further and there unfolds the last surprise for the day…. A TRAM. There is actually a tram that ferries the people up and down the hill…only coming from a different foot of the hill. So we could not take the tram to go down coz it will take us to other part of the city and we’ll have to take a taxi to get to our car….speaking of car, when we descended and as soon as we reached our car, the attendant quickly approached and asked for additional fee. We complained and he said in his broken English , “hey! you came ,the sun was up and now the sun no more.”…well, we can’t argue anymore. It took us almost 9 hours with only about an hour stay at the summit to go up and down the Pinang hill….quite an experience that I will not do for a long, long time. there is a lesson to be learned here other than what I’ve mentioned already and that is it is sometimes better not to know where you’re going and what you are going to embark coz it makes one brave to go on. Just like our climb- had I known how difficult it was before the ascend I wouldn’t even start.
This year is special because Lunar New Year and Valentine's day occured on the same day. Although each occasion originated from opposite poles - one from the east and the other from the west, these are both celebrated almost everywhere in the world...if industries, products and businesses have become global and so are traditions and festivities. Lunar New Year is a celebration of the start of Spring and is believed and celebrated by the Chinese while Valentine's day is a Christian festivity that was adopted among so many others from the pagan celebration of fertility. 
They say that for Chinese New Year there's got to be a family re-union...so for our case, we have talked to our children over the phone as our skypes didn't work. And in our dinner we had their jet printed pictures plastered on the wall beside the dinner table. All the 5 of them.
I go around our building.. cross an open muddy road towards the highway. Pass by residential area, then to commercial, then I reach Tesco.
