Moon Gate, Penang, Malaysia

A hike up Moongate 5 in Penang Island back in March.

I was with the same crowd, FH and Chai Ling, whom I went to Pantai Kerachut aka Monkey Beach hike with the addition of a new friend - Teng.

The entrance of the hill is located at the Penang Botanical Garden, very easy to find with the awesome entrance gate out front, and parking is actually by the roadside (let's hope no saman).

We started hiking pretty late actually, 11am. Please take note that most hiking trips I participated in started in the wee hour in the morning, some even started at 4am! I was afraid of the scorching sun but thankfully the hill has a lot of tall trees and shaded areas that I barely feel the sun. The heat - Yes, but the burning part - Nope.

The trail is quite long but relatively easy, most of the trails are the cement stairs which I dislike as I feel the impact on the knee, still prefer earth ground.
I don't know how to describe the mechanism but going up the stairs vs going up on the ground feels very different.

We had to take plenty of breaks in between because Chai Ling pancited frequently LOL, which made it even harder for her to go continuously because of the stairs!

Along the way, we bumped into plenty of hikers, old and young, who went up the stairs in a breeze! One auntie told us that if we came later in the evening, there's a group of frequent hikers who would come to make tea and coffee, so we can enjoy the relaxing time at the station above! So fun!

Finally, after half an hour or so, we reached Station 5. The place is very well-maintained, with clean toilets, several gym facilities in the area, a nice place to relax after the long hike.

Apparently, if we go on further, we may hike across the hill and go to the Bukit Bendera! Wow! Not this time though...

On the way down, we came to a point where, I think, it was a look-out point that oversees Gurney and Tanjung Tokong. It's either we went the other way on the way up or we simply too tired to notice it haha!

Halfway

Overall, I enjoyed it very much! And I miss hiking very badly!

It's quite a bummer that most of the wonderful hills are on the island instead of the mainland, otherwise, I think I would hike at least once a week!