Penang Hill - Naik Separuh Jalan

Being a Penangite, I have many fond memories of trips up the hill, whether by foot or the funicular train. When one of the local papers featured the woes of the hill station recently, it kinda got me tickled to read that only the lower section of the train is working. What good is it to go only halfway??
(http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2008/10/31/north/2386055&sec=north) and http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/10/7/nation/2206358&sec=nation

Thank goodness for the 4WDs and the jeep track. Then again, it does sound like what goes on in a lot of places over here; doing things that get you halfway and needing others to pitch in to get it to work. With its lifeline cut off, the peak must be a pretty quiet place these days.

Which got me thinking - what can you do up in Penang Hill. There are no theme parks, no casinos, no good restaurants (nope, English restaurant doesn't qualify as fine dining, lol), heck nothing. Yet many people find the hill interesting. I suspect the ride up the hill in that cramped (no so cramped nowadays) train has got something to do with it. In it you hear kids say "Mommy, why so slow one?", "Cannot go faster ah?", "Mommy I need to pee pee woh", and I must envisage that it could be a lovers/perverts heaven, with bodies being pressed against each other (well, butts touching, elbows bumping etc, you get my drift).

Nay, the best way to go up the hill is.....to walk. Yes, to take a leisurely stroll up the hill, so to speak. And then take the train down, to safe your knees from damage walking down hill. No doubt your muscles might protest a little, but it would be a learning experience.

Now, once up there, you are confounded by the issue of what to do. Which is the actual reason for this post - top 10 things to do up the hill.....

So let me start with

No. 10 - See leng lui/leng chai (pretty girls and handsome boys)

You must have too much free time at hand if this is what you intend to do up there. Spend time sitting around the peak, looking at people walking by; big ones, small ones, tall dark or short and chubby. A good way to waste your free time plus the breeze is much cooler, with nothing much to spend on (as opposed to doing so at shopping malls). So very seh one (very thrifty) this activity. Except that food might be an issue, since the brain uses a large amount of glucose when you are ogling things....

Yalah, very toooot...