Bukit Bendera, Penang

A million thanks to my boss for bringing us here.
Well, honestly this is my first visit here at Bukit Bendera! Wohoo!
The atmosphere is breezy and cool compared to George Town.
The elevation of this hill is 734m above sea level.
I'm lucky because the experienced of riding the new coach and it was fast too.

Fares (based on a return ticket) are now:

• RM30 (Non-Malaysian adult)

• RM15 (Non-Malaysian child)

• RM8 (Malaysian adult)

• RM4 (Malaysian child)

• RM4 (Malaysian Senior Citizen “Warga Emas” & Students)

New - The sky terrace 

The railway tunnel and George Town view from the hill.

I even can see the Penang Bridge from here!

This old post box was here from 1881 (if not mistaken).
This post box has 2 units in Malaysia, one is here at the Penang Hill and the other one is in George Town.

The History

The development of Penang Hill as a holiday and tourist destination was introduced by Mr D. Logan, Mr J. Heim and Mr A. Wilson in 1897. The construction of the first Penang Hill railway started in 1987 and was completed in 1907 with financial support by the British Government. Due to the error of the train and tracks design, the launch of the first train using steam engines does not take off successfully.

After the First World War, the Government at that time took over the project. The engineer,  Mr Arnold R. Johnson were sent to Switzerland to study the design and construction of the hill railway train and upon his return, he undertake the construction works in 1920 to complete the train in 1923at a cost of 1.6 million Strait dollars. The project employed 750 laborers from Kuala Lumpur who have served in the Federal Malay States Railway.

The train commenced operation on 21^st October 1923 while its official launch by Sir Lawrence Nums Gulliemard, Governor of the Straits Settlement was on 1^st January 1924. The coach weight 7.5 tons and was presented to the Museum of Penang as its final resting place on 2^nd December 1977, by Penang Hill Railway after being replaced by four modern Swiss made coaches costing RM2.3 million.

The first train train - this picture was taken at the Penang Museum.

The new coach has been opened to the public on 25fh April 2011.