DO NOT DRINK THE WATER. Ice cubes included, you idiot. My gut warned me, but I didn’t listen. Two days atop my rented throne, “I told you so,” my gut screamed nonstop. I pinky swore I’d never do that again.
Penang Hill travel blog, funicular railway Penang, Curtis Crest Treetop Walk, fear of heights travel story, Lary Kennedy Living Like I’m Dying blog
Penang Hill funicular, fear of heights, Curtis Crest Treetop Walk, and the Living Like I’m Dying travel blog by Lary Kennedy.
Discover how confronting fear while exploring Malaysia’s Penang Hill leads to reflection, humor, and personal growth.
Travel stories from Asia, authentic experiences, emotional insights, and lessons in living boldly.
My personal measure of success has little to do with the dwindling numbers in my Wells Fargo app. Of course, money makes my world go around Southeast Asia, but my true currency is the number of experiences I’ve allowed myself to have.
My credo, if you will, is to experience as much of this human ride as I can — regardless of the pleasure factor.Eating crickets, zip-lining Victoria Falls, skinny-dipping in a stranger’s pool, shoveling elephant dung, totaling my first car a week later, getting choked out and robbed in my garage, or laughing my ass off with friends at an undiscovered happy hour in town — whether intentional or not, these experiences are direct-deposited into the bank of Lary Kennedy’s Life.
If I’m lucky, the unpleasant ones end up in the one-and-done vault. A few get filed under “things I’ll never do again.” Most just accumulate in my savings account.When you add them all up, turns out I’m one rich bitch. But there’s one account that never gets touched.
This account consists of two items, stored and locked up, kept in my virtual safety deposit box. Only me and the powers that be hold the key. Almost everything else in my life is negotiable. Everything BUT skydiving and heroin.
Highs and heights… different paths to the same regrets. Interesting. Never put those together till just now.
My last day in George Town left one MUST SEE: Penang Hill. The only way up was in a funicular — with the assurance thisis a train and not a cable car, and no death-defying views out the back window, I give myself the go-ahead. This is doable. Gotta stay true to my motto: I’ve never heard of a funicular, let alone ridden one. Anything with the word fun in it has to be fun.
The Penang Hill funicular climbs 2,732 feet (833 meters), stretching 1.99 km, the longest in Asia. While the compartments are made up of glass windows and roofs, the steepness of the hill and dense jungle canopy keep the lower views mercifully obscured. Praise the Lord. I don’t need any more deposits into my medical-emergency portfolio.
Having done zero research about Penang Hill, I had no idea my buddy Cap’n Light set up shop here; created a hangout for him and his buddies. Considerably cooler than below, it’s the perfect environment for growing strawberries, keeping horse stables, and chillaxing.
My passive-aggressive gut chooses this exact moment to tell me it’s time to eat shit. Making my way further up I see a sign for a café, but not before I take a little detour down the side of the mountain. My curiosity gets the better of me.Handing over the 10 ringgit entry fee, I follow the pathway winding through what looks suspiciously like the Seven Dwarfs’ village.
A sign leads me to one of the oldest buildings turned hotel in Penang. The Bellevue Hotel Café has incredible views of all of Penang and the waterways below.My late lunch at 4 p.m. left the entire patio to myself as I watched swifts racing and gliding about. Fascinating birds. I sat there for over an hour, mesmerized as they zipped here, there, up, down — all speed and grace.
Time to head back… until I see signs pointing upward to The Habitat. WTF. How could I not have known there was a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, a world-class rainforest discovery center atop Penang Hill? Actually I didn’t know all that right then, but any kind of animal habitat has my name written on it. It’s 5:15 — well, 17:15 now that I’ve changed my watch to Southeast Asia time.
I rush to the entry and realize my phone battery is at 18 percent. Damn. Damn. Damn. There’s a night tour starting in just over an hour that would be off-the-charts amazing. But there’s no way in hell I can function without my phone. I’ll barely have time to see anything with the charge I’ve got left. This is the kind of place I could spend hours in, but no can do. I make a pact with myself to come back here and do it right. Until then I zip through the trails, snap photos, read signs about the rainforest’s inhabitants — until I stumble upon the Curtis Crest Treetop Walk.
The Curtis Crest Treetop Walk is the highest public viewing platform on Penang Island, located within The Habitat at an elevation of about 820 meters.
This 100-meter-long, semicircular suspended walkway lifts visitors into the rainforest canopy, offering 360-degree views of Penang, George Town, the Andaman Sea, and even Sumatra on a clear day.Built in 2017, it gives a perspective of the 130-million-year-old virgin rainforest designed to withstand strong winds.
Thank you, Google — you took the words right out of my mouth
Here’s where I have to step out on a limb. Do I hold true to my beliefs, climb this ungodly high walkway, build more wealth, or play it safe?No one would know if I didn’t do it. Damn, I know just the words to push my own buttons.
Up I go — sweaty palms, heart racing, tears forming in my eye sockets. My palms are tingling so badly that the higher I climb, the closer I stick to the ground.People are staring. This is it. I’m going to die. What the hell was I thinking? I blurt out: “I’m petrified of heights.” The thirteen or so people around me burst into laughter, some reaching out a hand. One guy says, “So am I,” as I slowly regain composure.They all watch as I crawl my way around the walkway and clap when I finish.
I race down the stairs and tell the woman selling water below, “I made it. I did it.”She laughs and says, “Good for you. I’m glad you conquered your fear.” Wow. She actually meant it.Exhausted, with 3 percent battery left on my phone, I summon a Grab that arrives just as the funicular reaches the bottom.
That was a hard day’s work, I think to myself as I collapse into bed back at the hotel. Another day, another dollar. Another dividend for living like I’m dying.
