In [tag]Bukit Mertajam[/tag], there aren’t many places you can go. Weekends are normally spent in the [tag]Penang[/tag] island, Megamall Pinang in Perai, or Carrefour Seberang Jaya. I am eagerly waiting for the new Jusco in Bandar Perda to be ready, along with its planned water theme park. Anyway last weekend (Saturday) Siang Leng and I went to Mengkuang Dam to kill the afternoon. Embarrassingly, I don’t know the way there.

Assuming it is located along Jalan Kulim, I drove all the way past St.Anne’s church, Machang Bubok and ended up in Kedah LOL. I was quite confident we were on the correct way until the sign board “Selamat Datang ke Negeri Kedah” came up. So I made a stop on the next petrol station and called up Ah Tu and Yen Liang. Whenever I have troubles finding my way, Ah Tu will be the first person whom I will seek help with. He very clever to run here and there la, what road also know, not like me. Too bad he didn’t pick up the phone that afternoon, busy pang sai maybe :P So thanks to Ah Liang I finally got the correct direction. He was surprised I didn’t know how to go to [tag]Mengkuang Dam[/tag], “you are BM lang boh?” he said. Ya, very sia sui I know, quite ashamed to call myself a grown-in-BM boy. But hey, it was nearly 10 years ago when I last went to the dam.

A u-turn off we took, past Machang Bubok and St.Anne’s church again.. Following Ah Liang’s directions, I was 101% sure I would find it, 120% sure when I saw the road sign “Mengkuang Dam >>>” BUT… I overshot the entrance and drove all the way up the hill. The hill’s road was damn winding and narrow, so many lorries coming from the opposite direction, scary. I had an oppportunity to make turn back to the dam but I didn’t take it, stupid me. This caused us to drive in and out of the small hill, to end up in… freaking KULIM again! OMGWTFLMAO.

Anyway we did made it to the dam at 5pm sharp. A 20 minutes trip turned into 2 hours of cross-state drive -_- Mengkuang Dam, as described by Tourism Penang, is

The biggest dam in Penang with a storage capacity of 23, 639 million litres of water is located in the Mengkuang Valley north of Bukit Mertajam on the mainland. It was officially opened by the former Governor, Dr. Tun Awang Hassan in 1985.

A haven for nature lovers, the dam features a well-landscaped garden with rubber, pinang and pine trees and some wildlife. Besides using the jogging tracks and walking trails, fitness buffs also hold regular sporting and recreational activities. The dam was recently host to the [tag]Penang International Dragon Boat Festival[/tag].

Let’s see some pictures we took that day
PICT0050
The dam is built just one year before my birth~ We are almost as old hehe.
PICT0057 The carpark is really huge. Let’s play a game, it’s called “Spot vkeong’s car and win a free trip to Mengkuang Dam” The people clad in white t-shirts in the background are police cadets I think. The 2 lorries parked there were their transport. They were doing a lot of running and.. emm, more running.
PICT0034 The flowers were blooming~
PICT0033
This photo looks like one taken on the beach.
PICT0030 What’s considered unusual? Suspicious people trying to pollute the dam? (This was Siang Leng’s thoughts) Creatures/aliens/water ghosts lurking in the water? (My thoughts) Anyway I do see something unusual, a frog using a phone HAHA. Ok, that’s not funny.
PICT0021 PICT0018 I like these 2 photos the most. There were a lot of fish in the water, colorful ones too. If you happen to be here, bring a long some bread crumbs to feed the fish. It could be quite an experience :) When we were there we spotted an eagle too!
PICT0059
This is one of the long path that leads to the small jungle within the dam.

Mengkuang Dam is nice place in overall. Our visit was pleasant but it was a pity to spot rubbish in the water. Would definitely return one day to venture into the small jungle :)

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