Moon Gate...

I don't know whether to cry or to laugh. Anyway, I'll just keep my sanity and tell you that I was just told that my 10 am lecture was cancelled. By the way, the time now is 10 am...

Yesterday saw 11 friends (including yours truly) at Moon Gate saying a prayer in a circle. After the divine chat we started our hike up Penang Hill. It was 8.45 am. The trail was mildly crowded with weekend trekkers. The weather was sunny but the trail was slightly damp and soggy due to rain the day before.

The first hour of our hike was fairly strenuous with lots of steep, upward-moving paths. Fortunately, some kind souls have created steps on the steep terrain to facilitate climbing. We took a break at the 1/3 point of our hike. There were many huge boulders around this point which some of us took the trouble to climb out of curiosity.

The second hour was more relaxed, much to our relief. The jungle path ended at Point 84 where we took another break. Chinese tea and coffee were served free-of-charge. A monkey or two kept us entertained by swinging from tree to tree. No... neither did we serve them coconuts for breakfast nor bananas for tea, whee?! I'd rather be a piranha and bite their tails off!

Anyway, after Point 84 we continued our hike using the tar road instead of the jungle path. The tar road was really steep and we were warned earlier to turn back should we found the first two hours unbearable. Admirably no one chickened-out. Everyone wanted to be a rajawali. After another hour-and-a-half, punctuated by photograph sessions, we were rewarded by the sight of the peak of Penang Hill.

The air was cool and scenery was superb. The rain cleared the haze away. Thank God! The sky was rather cloudy which was good in a way because it provided some shade. We spotted many landmarks from ranging from USM's mosque to Tanjung Tokong. After about two hours we took a group photo in front of the Penang Hill signboard (typical of most Asians, I was told) and caught the 2.45 pm tram down to 'reality'. We were all back in campus at about 4 pm.

Actually, I could have made this account more elaborate but I think this will suffice. However, I'll just mention our encounters with the Dalmatian and also the Three Stoogers (or was it Two Stoogers and...) which were, well, dogs.

Until then, have a successful and productive week ahead. Take care and may you feel on top of the world (or Penang, at least!). God bless.

Hikingly yours,
Bart