Going up and around Penang Hill

In my previous post, I mentioned about The Owl Museum up on Penang Hill.

To get there, I took the Penang Hill Railway. A return fare is RM30 for an adult foreigner. For my local friend, it was only RM8. Guess the cheap fare is one of the perks of being a Malaysian citizen.

Penang Hill Railway	Peering at Georgetown through a telescope on Flagstaff Hill
Cannon	Sri Aruloli Thirumurugan Temple

The ascent to the top was quite fast. As I understand from my Malaysian friend, it was much slower on the old Penang Hill Railway. It was even faster coming down, but that was to come when we descended from Flagstaff Hill.

When we reached Flagstaff Hill, we could feel the cool climate despite a blazing sun overhead. The cool environment was definitely a welcome relief. We walked around a while, seeing some bungalows, a disused cannon and the Sri Aruloli Thirumurugan Temple along the way.

After we descended from Flagstaff Hill, we visited the Tien Kong Than (天公坛), which is in the vicinity of the Penang Hill Railway. Tien Kong Than is dedicated to the Jade Emperor (玉帝) or Tiangong (天公), the supreme deity in the Taoist pantheon. Out of reverence to the Jade Emperor, I did not take pictures of the deities in the temple grounds.

If you are interested to visit Tien Kong Than, the address is as follows:

11500 Hill Railway Road,
Penang, Malaysia, 10200

Going crazy about owls at Penang Hill

During my trip up Penang Hill, I came upon this quaint little museum with a peculiar name 'The Owl Museum'.

While my friend and I were enjoying the 'ABC' (shaved ice coloured with different flavoured syrups, nuts and jellies), we were accosted by promoters eager to pass us pamphlets.

Upon entering the museum, I was greeted by a sprightly-looking owl with outstretched wings (which is the picture you see above).

We were branded by a sticker when we entered the museum.


You can find all kinds of owl-themed arts and crafts here. I could certainly feel the ardour of the owner of this museum who has spent some effort assembling the collection.





When we visited last Thursday, admission was free as it was the 6th day of opening. As we understand it, the admission fees are RM10 for adult, RM5 for senior citizen, and admission is free for children below 12 years of age.

The museum is open daily from 0900 to 1800 hours. Do check it out when you are up Penang Hill.

They even have a Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/owlmuseum