of second room and bike hanger...

Throughout some time, our 2nd room have grown into a messy storage space for all our junk. We did tried a few times to clean it up and re arrange the shelves, but as time goes on, it will get messy again. I have been toying with the idea of having an area where I can setup a workspace and have a small area where girl girl can play while I do my work. So last weekend we cleaned up the 2nd room for the n-th time. This time I pushed the wired shelves to one side to partition the room. The idea is to put all the clutter behind the partition to create a clean space. When I get to clear up the clutter, then maybe I can setup a table and chair and make it my work area. The room look pretty clean now, but I still need to figure out a way to store my bicycles (2 of them) without taking more space in the room. I think probably I will get someone to fabricate a bike hanger and hang the bikes from the ceiling.

of December and round green thing...

Wifey always gets very excited when December comes. That’s because she gets to put up the Christmas tree and the decorations. Personally, I don’t really get what the excitement is all about. I mean, I do share the fun of having them up but I don’t think I’ll go nuts if they were not up. We seldom have guests to our house, so the over practical person in me rationalize that why have them when no one (other than us la) can see them. But I do agree that in some ways it’s pretty fun to see the house lighted up with those blinky lights.
This year we placed the tree near the main door and hung a round green thingy (forgot what it’s called) on the door. I guess, for this year it will be a little different as wifey mentioned that this year, will be the last (at least for a few years to come) before she’ll put up the tree again. You know lah, with girl girl next year, we are not sure if it will be dangerous if she suddenly grab the tree and topple it. (Knowing wifey, I am almost certain that the tree will be up again next year)

So here are our little bit of Christmas deco.

The door decoration thingy. BTW, do check out the cross stitch. It's done by wifey. Isn't it cute. (it's got our address stitched above the chicken, but i have blurred them out to keep stalkers, whack jobs and fruitcakes away

Our tree...

and the folks living under it.

of anniversary and me too

Wifey, Happy Anniversary!

Today is the anniversary of the day we got hitched! and since wifey was wedded to me, I guess it's Happy Anniversary to me too.

of water quality and photos...

I did a small experiment recently. I thought that i will do a simple experiment to see the water quality that i get from the main water supply. The experiment is quite simple actually. I plan to monitor the color of the water filter on a daily basis and see the color change from day to day.
Our water usage is pretty low. We (Wifey and I) wash our clothes ~2 times a week, shower 3 times a day, plus a bit for drinking and washing and that's probably about it. Filter used is the 5 micron filter.
What i did is to take a picture of the filter after I have put in a new one and capture a photo everyday at approximately the same time. This is the result.



Day 1. Can see a bit of brownish but can still see some white patches (i.e., the clean area)







Day 2. Can see that the brownish is begining to spread evenly.








Day 3. No lah. My filter did not break and spew out all the dirt. I was rushing for the lift in the morning and forgot to take a picture when i was going to work. This shot was taken when i came back in the evening.





Day 4. The brown tint is not getting darker.








Day 5.

Day 6.

Day 7.

Day 8.

Day 9.








I think by day 9 it is the color is pretty consistent and i have stopped the experiment. So i guess it goes without saying that getting one of those external water filters is a must if you do not intend to be a walking filter.

of shhhh and wifey...

I was preparing to get to sleep last night when...
Wifey: Hey. Shhhhh.... shhhhh...
Me: Errr ok ...
Wifey: *Poot*
Wifey and I: hahahaha.......

of karipap and dimmer switches...

As with any trip down to KL, wifey and I will stop by that sweedish furniture store. I need to get my fill of karipap and cheap refillable expresso and wifey wanna stuff our car silly with furniture that will leave the car smelling of wood for the next few days.

Anyway, for this trip we managed to get a decorative looking light fixture-ly-thingy. Since it’s price is pretty decent, we thought that we’ll get it for girl girl’s room. Also something to bring up the Christmas mood

I got some free time Sunday afternoon while wifey was sleeping and managed to set it up. Since wifey always complain that I do all these projects when she sleeps and she missed out on all the nagging and bossing me around fun, I captured the step by step sequence of setting up the lights.

First of all, take out the goodies. For this project, no special or additional tools are required. All the items needed are there.

The first part of the process is to get the lights out of the box. For that you need to open the box lid. Do note to not to be overly enthusiastic and yank the lights out of the box.

The lights are actually tied to the box with those wire ties. So if you yank it out, then you will either have a torn box or worse, damaged lights. Untie the wire ties. You need to do that for all 4 sides of the box.

Once you have removed the wire ties, take the lights out from the box.

Do also note that there is a small package that comes together with the lights. It contains the hanger for you to hang the lights from the wall or ceiling.

Remove the contents from the plastic bag. As I mentioned earlier that there is no special tools needed, I have refrained to use a pair of scissors and used my hands instead to open the bag. Not really the best method, but it does give me the feeling of manliness (although not much).

The hanger should look something like a clear colored S&M whip that you might see in a European b flick featuring some guy named Gunther and girl named Ingrid look something like a ring with 3 elastic plastic string with hooks attached to it.

To hang the lights up (on the wall), take the hanger and use the hooks to hang it to the lights.

Then remove your wedding photo from the wall hook (photo not included) and take the ring (on the other end of the hanger) to hang the lights on the wall.

We are now quite close to completing the setup. Next step is to take the electrical plug and plug it into an available power point.

Switch the power on.

… and see if there is anything wrong.

As you can see, the lights by itself is a bit bland and mundane (like everything else in this blog…). So I have gone a few extra steps to improve it.

First change that I did was to plug the power through a dimmer instead of going directly into the power socket. This allows me to dim the lights a bit. Since it is a simple step, I won’t document it here.

Another addition that I did was the fun one.

I got this ornamental duckies thingy* from that same sweedish furniture place. It comes in 6/box and is not cheap. I wonder if they are tasty.

Choose one with the color that you like and hang if from the lights. Then switch the power on and dim the lights accordingly.

So now, wifey’s make up area looks like this.

Finally, wait for wifey to wake up and enjoy the look of her surprised face when she saw what you have done. (No photos for that one)






*Please be super duper, extremely careful when opening the box of ornaments. Once you removed the tape that is used to close the cover, the cover will come off very very very easily. Unfortunately, I was not careful enough and this is what happened….
One fatality, (head broken) and one with permanent superficial wound… sad indeed…

of icky moisty gold mine and booting up my laptop...

Something bad happened just now. Well actually not bad boo hoo kind of bad, just the bad, aiyoh you ah kind of bad. This is what happened. I had just got into the office in the morning and while waiting for my laptop to boot up, my gold mine got a bit itchy so I used my pinky finger to dig. Felt a bit moist, which I suspect could be the cause of the itchiness.
Just after I finished my business, an engineer from shanghai walked in into my cube to talk to me. I quietly congratulate myself for finishing the digging in the nick of time. Else the shanghai guy would have walked in on me in a compromising situation.
The engineer then intro himself to me and shoved his hand in my face in a gesture to shake my hand. I dun feel like shaking his hand because my pinkie is still a bit moist and pretend not to notice his gesture to shake hands. I mean what la. He already introduce himself when I met him yesterday. I even shook his hands what.
but he still held his hands there waiting for me to shake. So what to do, want to shake mah shake hand loh. With the icky moisty pinky finger and all. Not my fault right?

of hotel hallway renovation and George...

Some additional entry about the hotel we stayed in. I hate to be a complain wart but i have to add another negative point about the hotel that we stayed in. Apparently, they are still renovating the hall ways when we stayed there. Workmen were still fixing the lighting and doing wiring in the hallway when we got to our room. It did not mother us much as they kept the noise down but there is one incident that irritated wifey. We got Astro TV in the room and wifey salivating over was watching the young Sir Sean Connery in 'You only live twice' which was playing on Star movies. According to wifey, the TV screen suddenly went blank and there goes her movie. I was out at the Photomalaysia.com meeting and did not realize that until wifey told me later. Probably the renovation work have messed up the wiring.

Now that we are talking about mr bond, The young Sir Sean do seem a bit cocky in 'You only live twice'. Maybe it's the acting in those era, where the heros are supposed to say corny pickup lines and the women characters in the show are casted as shallow and easy.
Anyway, after all is said and done, i do believe that Sir Sean is still the best bond actor. Better than Pierce Bronsnan, and probably much better than George Lazenby (whom i have never even heard of until last weekend on Rick Dees).

of titles and long explanations...

I have decided to shorten the title of this blog from 'of rubber duckies to beanie froggies' to 'of duckies and froggies...' as the title seem to attract question that normally invite long explanations. It's not that I mind explaining, but sometimes, I prefer to just let a title be a title. No need to justify everything to everyone in the world right?

Will probably do the same for the URL for the same reason...

of yummy pile of chocolate stuff and residual food stuff...

Wifey and I went for a very short trip (drive down Friday morning, drive back Saturday morning) to KL (technically not KL as we just went down to Mutiara Damansara area) this weekend. We figured that once girl girl arrives, we will be pretty grounded in Penang. So we took this opportunity to have a short trip before wifey's tummy got too big to have one last trip for a long time.
Other that being a trip for a long time to come, we also have conciously decided that we will need to check out some of the stuff that we will need to buy for girl girl. The variety of strollers and infant carriers (among other things) in Penang are pretty limited and we thought that we will check out and get some ideas from the options in KL. I have to say that KL did not dissapoint.

Anyway, as with any other trip to KL i managed to do all the compulsory things whenever we drive down.
Let's see:
1. Without fail, we managed to get lost looking for the hotel. (Full points)
2. I managed to have my fill of karipaps from that swedish furniture store. (Full points too)
3. Wifey managed to spend copious anount of money at Borders bookstore. (actually for this trip she forgot to bring her book list, so we just get half points for that)
4. We managed to spend hours looking for flat packed furniture and curios to stuff our car to the brim. (Full points)

For bonus points, we also managed to complete some optional items in our to do list.
1. Had Jack D's glazed Ribs at TGIF. (full points) Wifey also had that desert that looked like a pile of chocolate stuff topped with a dollop of ice cream. Descriptions aside, that stuff taste really good.
2. Got our fill of Dunkin Donuts. Probably half points because normally we'd get donut holes but this time we got regular donuts, and we had it at the highway rest stop, not KL. So can't give full points.
3. I managed to attend the weekly meet up of the KL members from Photomalaysia.com. (Full Points)

Bonus to-do item #1 (and yes that is a loose chunk of meat. I had to have a bite before shooting)







Since we just plan to shop around 1 utama and Ikea, we stayed at the new hotel which essentially the same building as the curve shopping mall.
The rates are a bit high, but since wifey is in no condition to move arount too much and the fact that the place is new, we figured that we'd give it a try.
Our opinion of the place are mixed. The room is big and nice. Bed is firm and comfy. Room comes with complimentary buffet breakfast (decently small spread, but food are fresh as they are constantly replenished). But that's all. The down side is that either we got a smoking room (although i have explicitly stated that i wanted a non smoking room when i made the reservation) or the previous occupant smoked in a non smoking room. Worse still, we noticed a few things that the kettle have not been cleaned. The previous user have used it to make coffee! (double worse). Even worse is when i found a small spec of stuff (I think food residue) of the glass. After i had used that glass for my panadol soluble!!!

Free coffee courtesy of the previous occupant. (and yes! it's a toilet bowl in the background. Pretty appropriate given the situation)



Anyway, to the hotel's defence, they were having a full occupancy on the day before and probably their housekeeping missed them in their rush to get all the rooms ready.

In any case, this trip was pretty successful. We managed to complete our to do list, we also managed to get some stuff for girl girl. Wifey got 2 nice blouses (if you know wifey, this is a momentous accomplishment) and a small cardigan-ish, sweatter-ish top for girl girl. (Had to get that so that we can say that this trip is to get stuff for girl girl). I got girl girl a nice stroller, a work chair (for me) and some other stuff, but that will be another entry.

The yummy pile of chocolate stuff wifey ordered...

of classes and people who don't call back...

This blog entry is especially written on behalf of wifey.

Ever since we first heard of the Antenatal class to be organized byPantai mutiara hospital, wifey and I have decided that we will enroll and attend it. Since we missed the last session, we were planning to attend the next one scheduled sometime late November. Wifey for one, is pretty excited about the class** to the point that we went to pantai to check if we can register (yeah we are being a bit of kiasu here, but if it's for girl girl's benefit, OK lah). We were told to leave our contact number, which we did. That was sometime in August. Come October, no calls, no news. So i told wifey to see if we can call them directly, but that proved to be another futile exercise. According to Wifey, every time she called, she was asked to leave a contact and that they will call back. Still, no calls*. :(

Anyway, wifey mentioned that she saw a notice at Dr Tan's clinic tonight about schedules for antenatal classes in Pantai. Wifey mentioned that the dates looked odd. seem to show that dates from 11 Dec to 22 Dec. Since it's a weekly session, those dates seemed to work out to only one session?! She took the number down (different number from the one we had).

Back at home I mentioned to wifey that could she have seen the dates wrong and instead of a 11 Dec start date is 12 Nov. Wifey said that could probably be it and if it is so, then we have missed the class. Wifey sounded dissapointed and it really breaks my heart. Dam you la whoever you joker who ask us to leave a contact and did not call back. We hate people who don't keep promises.

* actually i really hate people who do not keep to their words. especially those who say that they will call back but didn't. I am not sure why but it really ticks me off. Once a telemarketer called me in the middle of a meeting. I said that i am in a meeting and he said that he'll call me back an hour later. He did not call back, and when he did call me a few days later, I taro'ed him. Very few things bother me, but i guess this is not one of them.

**updated. Actually wifey even talked her boss into letting her off from work early so that she can prepare and go for the classes. So you can imagine how determined wifey is on this.


update: we checked the Pantai Mutiara's website just now and in their site, it mentioned that the class starts on 1st Dec. At least some peace knowing that we did not miss any sessions, but won't be sure until we get a confirmation.

of kalumpo and baby's nose...

Wifey and I went for our appointment with Dr. Tan just now. one of the good thing that we really like about Dr. Tan is that he has night clinic on wednesday nights. Since we were planning to go down to kalumpo this weekend, we went to the night clinic tonite. As it turns out it is not as crowded as the saturday mornings that we used to go to.
Anyway, according to Dr. Tan, wifey is doing well. Wifey mentioned that baby is kicking and very active these days to which Dr Tan reassures that it is very normal and got us at ease with it (as he always do). In tonight's session, after the normal initial scan of baby's spine, heart, head measurement and baby's *ahem* girl (as Dr Tan puts it), he did a scan to show us baby's face. we got to see baby's mouth and nose and wifey caugyt a glimpse of baby's eyes. Baby keep turning away when Dr Tan tried to scan her face. I guess, baby is a bit shy....

of ww03'07 and checking with wifey...

I had a moderately embarassing moment just now. I was busy on something and suddenly the phone rang. It was my boss. He asked me if i can travel on ww03 '07. I was caught off guard and ter-blurted "Lemme check with my wife*". He was surprised too and did a double take, and asked "who". By now there's no turning back for me and I said" Let me check with my wife."

Anyway, my boss is a pretty cool guy and called me again later to ask if i can check with my wife now and get back to him later......

malu nyer.......


*I guess that shows him who's boss :P

of recipe and cross stitch...

One of wifey's hobby is doing cross stitch. She's pretty good at it too and have done quite a few. I think it's a pretty good hobby but it does really takes time to really do a good one. Most of the designs that she had done are teddy bears but recently (actually not too recent la) she have caught on to a series designed by micheal powell.

Doing cross stitch is a very tedious and time consuming. On top of that the time spent stitching also takes it's toll on the wrists and back. So i really admire wifey's dedication to this hobby of hers. Maybe i'll do a blog one of these days on the cross stitching process.

Here's one of her teddy bear design. I'll try to post some of her micheal powell's designs when i get some good photos of them.

The other thing about cross stitching in Penang is that not many folks do that and that means that it is a bit hard to get good designs. So, it think it'll be a good idea is those who are doing cross stitching to group up to share this mutual interest.

of decisions and smoking...

Wifey asked me something interesting yesterday. Initially, I don’t find it odd, but that got me thinking into other stuff:
Out of the blue, wifey asked me what will I do if our girl girl smokes when she grows up. My response to wifey was that I will charge girl gril 10 cents (no no, make it RM2) for every ciggie that she smokes. I mean if she choose to destroy her lungs and health, I got to start to save some money just in case she encounters any health problems when she gets older right. Wifey’s response is that she’ss whack her because her mommy didn’t smoke and her daddy also didn’t smoke.
Actually in my opinion, all these things are not really in our control, we can try to influence the outcome, but we can never have full control over it. All we can do is to steer our girl girl in the direction that we think is best for her and pray that she will make the decisions that will be the best for her.

Anyway, the smoking question really got me thinking. Till our girl girl is old and capable enough to make her own decisions, there will be so many decisions that we will have to make on her behalf. Things such as to raise her up as a God fearing person with an iron fist or to let her wonder and find God herself, enroll in a Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaan (SRK) or Sekolah Rendah Jenis Kebangsaan (SRJK), Barney or Sesame Street, Canon or Nikon (or Contax perhaps?), Spongebob Squarepants or Powerpuff Girls.

Decisions, decisions, decisions. I guess like our parents and their parents and other parents everywhere, we can just make the decisions that we think will be the best for our baby.

of loctor mayat and penang bridge...

I went out to shoot some photos of the penang bridge with the Loctor Mayat this morning. He is one of the members from Photomalaysia.com forum.

Since the penang bridge is a very common sight, and the subject have been shot to death, producing a bridge photo can be of a challenge. So i set out to capture the theme of another view/side of the bridge.

The shot that i came out with is shown below. In this shot, i want to move slightly away from the conventional prettied up and nice clean structural type of shot. With this in mind, i put some emphasis on a muddy patch under the bridge to bring out the the organic (with a bit of dirty element). Location and angle of the shot was made to place the pile of stuff in the foreground. This is done to put an anchor point to the photo. (else the photo will be blank and lifeless)

Another consideration is to also use a wide angle. Wide angle provide me with a few things.
1. The enable me to still capture the essance of the bridge as a big and long structure. it stretches the bridge and give the impression of something big, even tho i was only sooting a mere small part of it.
2. Having a wide anvle it gives the feeling of the looking up and opening the shot
3. it gives me a slight distortion on the otherwise straight structure of the bridge. I wanna avoid getting a straight line as it will cause the shot to be chopped into hale (top and bottom)

The original shot was in color but i converted it to b&w to simplify the shot. having it in color makes it too busy. (i still need to master the technique of b&w conversion)

Finally, i was pretty lucky with my timing as the truck was placed smack in the center of the shot when i pressed the shutter. Important as it gives life to the bridge structure. Also important to have it in the center to avoid distortion. (In this case: distorted bridge -> ok, distorted truck->not ok)

Do comment.

of beta and tests...

i just changed the blogger to the newer version or something. so this is a test entry.

of pumps and a list...

As D-day approaches, I think the need to go on a shopping frenzy prepare all the necessary stuff becomes more apparent. Wifey and I have been pretty fortunate as my brother and his wife (bless them) have already had their handful of kids and already closed shop. Since law of physics (or was it biology) does not permit the human body too shrink, they have they left over baby stuff that they probably will have no use and were planning to give us. That should save us a lot on cost and also shopping.
On top of that some more, they recently got us a breast pump. And not just any breast pump. They got us the works, the rolls Royce of pumps. If the lady on the Royce emblem were to use a breast pump, this will be it. Bottles, nice carrying case, cooling gel, pump, dam ber macam macam lagi. The works. For obvious reasons I will not be doing the product testing and you will have to wait for the time to come when wifey actually use it to know what we think about the product.

So the next question comes to what other stuff to buy. Wifey came up with a shopping list but at the back of our mind, there is still the uncertainty of weather we got everything. And Isaac’s mommy’s story about how she did not get enough stuff and had to call leader to get pampers for her does not help too.
Anyway. help is actually available. My SIL told me of a forum that talks about pregnancy, babies and parenting and that sort of stuff. Anyway, I posted a question on shopping list and what to get. And one of the ladies that goes by the name of jazzmint gave us this list.

That list kinda complements what wifey had originally written so I guess we are not that much of a doofus that we thought we were.


oh yea. Jazzmint, thanks for the list.

of a nine and a nine...

Woohooo! We are now down to double digits, 99 more days to go before we meet our girl girl!

of no.5 and ginger tea...

This is the continuation of my previous entry about hiking directions. On this entry, i will give the directions to no.5 from no.3. The directions are very very simple, but more on that later.
First thing first. the Hike from no.3 to no.5 is very much different from the hike from youth park to no.3. It is comparatively very much more streneous and you should pace yourself.
So here are the directions:
At no.3 look for the big signboard that says "private property". there should be a set of steps on the left. Go up that set of stairs.










Then continue with the next set of steps...









and the next.....









and next.....









and next lagi ....









i think by now you get the picture.


But despair not, troop on a few more set of steps until you come to what seems like a fork at the top of the last set of steps. Take the path to the left. The path to the right will lead you down the hill to the Moon Gate near the Botanical Gardens (another steep path)












After you take the left, you should see a straight and flat path. Go all the way to the end of the path and you'll reach no.5. This should be a very enjoyable walk after the strenous hike from n0.3. Also, because this flat part of the path is actually is a valley between two hills, ther will normally be a breeze blowing which is very refreshing. Now, did i not mention earlier that the directions are very simple?










At the end of the path you should be able to see no.5.














If all the hiking have loosen your bowels and you feel the need to poot poot, there are toilets for your relief.














There's even an open gym with a view facing the northen part of the island.





























At the opposite side of the area is a ledge with the view of the east part of the island. If you go in the weekend afternoons, they will serve water, coffee and ginger tea. Do try the tea. It's a bit strong but good.














So there it is. the directions to no.3 and no.5. If you decide to try them, I hope you will find them enjoyable as i did.


*Disclaimer:Mind you that the directions are just for referance and should not be followed blindly. New paths do open up, trails do get overgrown, conditions do change so do top up with a fair bit of common sense when going up the trails. I must also warn that people have got lost (and lost their lives before) so do stick to the existing trail. I cannot and will not hold responsibility for if anything untoward should happen.

of lunch and my legion of readers...

I went out for lunch with Leader, Ah Ju and Isaac's mom today. Went to a place called Ben's place in Sunway Tunas. They serve western type of food. It has a sign at the entrance that says 'Pork Served' which i find very interesting. Normally people will put "No Pork Served" or something to that effect but i guess it's their upfront way of telling their patrons that they are a non-halal eatery.
I had the chicken *something-something* (forgot the name), which was quite good, but not really memorable.
update: I would also wanna add too that they played Stacey Kent's music at Ben's when we had lunch. So extra marks for them.

Anyway, leader told me that she have been following this blog! Wow! A real reader! so this reminds me that i should put out a thank you note to all my readers. So here it is:

To my legion of readers of this blog,

Thank you for your support and patronage.

From the bottom of my heart,

"Thank You"

Yeah, to all 5 of you*!

* in no fixed order: me, myself, I, wifey and leader.

of finding a baby sitter and our neighbor...

Then there comes the question of finding a baby sitter for our girl girl.

Our initial goal since day one is to try to get our neighbor (opposite our unit) to be our baby sitter. She have been taking care of babies all the while. She also kinda fit some of our criteria for sitter. House is clean, she has experience, she have her own kids living with her, near to our house, not so ‘kira’. So the choice is pretty obvious. We can bring girl girl over in the morning and pick her up when we come back in the evenings. But things were not going to be as simple as this (wanna add drama mah).

It all started abt a month or so ago. She asked us casually if we are looking for a sitter for our baby. At that time, we did not worked on it yet and thought that she was offering her services, but as it turns out, she mentioned that she had already agreed to be the sitter for her sister’s baby. We were a bit disappointed, but she did mentioned that she will try to look for other sitters for us. She did gave a 2 contacts. We called one but were not really interested.

Then we asked my MIL if there is anyone that she knows from the market who would wanna take the job. We got one lady who is interested, but she keep raisint the rates, from rm 450 to 500 then the last that we heard was 550. Plus the fact that she stays in green lane, which is a bit of a distance away, we decided to keep looking while KIVing this candidate.

Anyway long story short, we got a bit of a surprise today, Our neighbor approached wifey yesterday and asked if we have found a babysitter for our girl girl. Wifey said no and neighbor asked if we wanna let her be the babysitter. I think probably she changed her mind about her sister’s baby but in any case it worked out the the better deal for us.
So, pending the detail discussion, that will be one big task that we can strike off from our list.

of hiking and directions...

One of the distractions that i like to indulge on when i have time is to go hiking. There are a few good and popular hiking trails in Penang and last weekend i went to the Youth Park trail. The trail starts from youth park and goes up to a few rest stops on the hill (no.3, no.5, 84) and if you continue will lead all the way up to Penang Hill.
I am not sure why the res stops are named in those numbers but from what i heard it has something to do with topological markers or something.
Anyway, last weekend i hiked up to no.5, stopping at no.3 along the way.

For those interested to hike this trail, i have documented a pictorial direction. for this first part, i'll give the directions* to no.3. The trail up to no.3 is considered easy hike and can be achieved in less than 30 mins (one way). At the end of No.3 you will be rewarded with the view of the north east of the island.

Trailhead:
There are other alternative trailheads, but i'll show the most common one here.
From Youth park, look for the children's playground. You won't miss it. is is very easy to find.


Across the playground, you should be able to see a small set of steps next to a signboard indicating the trailhead. Proceed up the steps, this is the begining of the trail. Take extra care when going up as the steps as it is a bit mossy and might be slippery.

Directions:
Recommended directions are indicated by the green arrow.

After going up the steps you will encounter the first junction of the trail (1). (the first part of the trails are full with forks and merges. So it will be a bit tricky.) On the right is a small bridge and on the left is a small path up. Follow the path up. The trail connecting to the bridge will lead to another trailhead at the bottom of the hill.

As soon as you go up the path, you will see another fork at the trail (2). The left will seem to open up to a small clearing. This is a short cut that will connect to the trail up ahead. It's a bit tough and not recommended for the inexperienced. Take the path on the right. Be careful as the branches are a bit low.

Then, you'll come to the next fork (3). this is a fairly straightforward one. Take the steps on the left.
(1) (2) (3)



After the first set of steps, is the next fork (4). Continue with the steps. When you have reached the top to the 2nd set of steps, there will be a straight path.

Follow that path and you will reach to a right turn (5). That turn merges (red arrow) with another trail from the left. I think that is the trail where a guy got lost in 2005 and was eventually found dead after a few days.
(4) (5)


After the fork in (5) the trail is pretty straight forward it will be a single track for about 5-8 minutes walk with a small clearing in between.


If you are still on the trail up, the next landmark you will encounter is this set of poles (6)(yellow + blue). The poles are actually barriers set up to prevent mountain bikers bacause, it will be one long fall into the nether world if you have the misfortune to fall into the gorge on the left.

After the barriers, there will be a sequence of 2 successive forks (7) & (8). The the left path on both forks.
(6) (7) (8)


By now, you can almost see the no.3 rest stop.

After the last fork at (8) you will come to a point where there is a set of very steep steps on the left of the path (9). The set of steps will lead directly to the no.3 rest area. Take the less strenous path on the right. Believe me, it will be worth it.

After a short walk you will reach a clearing (10). There, you will be rewarded with a stunning scenery of the north eastern part of penang island.

(9) (10)




A sample of the view from the point (10)



After the clearing, just follow the path and you will reach no.3 rest area.. Here are some shots. I did not get any of the scenery as the dinky phone camera cannot capture well inthe bright sunlight.


If you go in the weekend afternoons, there will be drinking water. It used to be a very popular place. People even banded up to cook noodles for the hikers. But unfortunately the cooking thing stopped.

Another thing to note too is that the no.3 rest area actually sits on a private land. The owners have been nice enough to continue to let the hikers use the trail, but have put up a notice to remind the hikers that it is a private land that they are on.




There is also a toilet at no.3. So if you have been holding your wee wee, it's a good opportunity to relieve yourself.



Well, that's the directions to no.3. should be a fairly easy hike with a nice scenery at the end of the trail.

Will post directions to no.5 in later entries.

*Disclaimer:
Mind you that the directions are just for referance and should not be followed blindly. New paths do open up, trails do get overgrown, conditions do change so do top up with a fair bit of common sense when going up the trails. I must also warn that people have got lost (and lost their lives before) so do stick to the existing trail. I cannot and will not hold responsibility for if anything untoward should happen.