I didn't know what to expect since there was no reviews posted here before. Surfed the net and all I could gathered was that Malihom is situated up in the hills, has a resident artist program, very exclusive and managed by a prominent Penang family. I took a leap of faith, reserved a 'barn' and …...

It was absolute heaven on a hill. The moment we (wife and I) arrived, we were blown away by the panaromic greenery views, landscaped gardens and rustic ambience. You could literally smell “relaxation” and “peace” in the air. And to top it off, we were the only guests there! A group just left after staying over the previous weekend so we had the entire place to ourselves. It pays to be there on the weekdays :)

We were met at the airport by Min, one of the Myanmar staff. He was very friendly, polite and spoke pretty decent English. Airport transfers are included in the package since getting to and from the estate can be difficult if you are new to Penang like we were. We were surprised at how steep the road up to the estate is (a marvellous road engineering feat) but figured that it should no problem hiking downhill on a planned trip the next day (more on that later).

We were greeted on arrival by Wan, Nel Vi and Jessy, the other staff at Malihom. All very friendly and courteous. We were shown to the refurbished rice barn aptly called Aloun, which is “Sunrise” in Thai. Inside the barn is like a standard hotel room. Good clean king-sized bed with a thick soft blanket and nice comfy pillows. There is a small fridge, boiler, hair-dryer and the usual items. Best of all, 2 good quality robes were provided which came in very handy since the main bathroom is separated from the bedroom. Inside the bedroom is a small attached toilet which we thought was convenient since it can be cold trying to use the main bathroom in the middle of the night. What I was most happy about was that you have a choice of either using the air-con or the free-standing fan (or both) to cool your room. Since I dislike the dry air created by the air-con, the fan won my heart. No more dry nose and skin. In fact, we didn't use the air-con much since the mountain air gets quite chilly at night.

What about ventilation and insects, I hear you ask. Let me tell you, the Malihom management has thought of everything. All the windows can be opened and are covered with an insect screen which ensure that no mozzies or flies can get into your room. For added protection and the paranoid, there is a mosquito net which can be draped over the bed.

The main bathroom is located outside and interestingly, open-air. It comes with a bathtub, separate shower area with hot shower and toilet. It is shielded from prying eyes on one side (the expansive mountain and city view side) with bamboo blinds while a solid wall covers the other 3 sides. The brick walls are left exposed to complement the overall rustic design theme, I suppose.

And the food? Four square generous meals per day are included in the package – breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner. We were pleasantly surprised by the variety and presentation of the dishes, from Thai to western to local delights. Kudos to Jessy and Nel Vi who cooked up a storm fit for a King and Queen. The ambiance was very soothing too with soft music playing and birds chirping in the background. Did I mention candle light? Haha, it's candlelight breakfast, lunch and dinner! Service from the staff was excellent - very attentive but not intrusive. They will even tell you what goes into the dishes (most of the herbs and garnishing are grown & harvested at the estate). Some of the highly recommended dishes would be the Tarragon chicken and the toasted bread with garlic prawn entrée. Jessy will mix the food theme around but I think you can make special requests. Guess who I saw during one of the lunches? It's Dick Lee himself! Of all places. Anyway, I pretended not to recognise him so he can enjoy his holiday. After all, it's not easy being chased by screaming Singapore Idol wannabes all the time. There is a wine cellar too where you can select a bottle of red, white or anything in between.

On the second day, we eagerly took up the challenge of hiking to the nearest town, Balik Pulau. What a hike it turned out to be! If you yearn for thunder thighs, walking down the steep slopes to the main road (foot of the hill) will do that nicely for you. It's really tiring and my legs felt wobbly when I reached the main road. But that's just the start, my friends. Walking along the main road to the town is a nightmare. No proper footpath and it ain't no joke when you are sharing the road with big trucks and speeding bikes. Besides, the scenery is nothing special – just lots of trees. You get to see durian trees but that's plentiful at the estate too. Three quarter way to the town, we just gave up walking and took the public bus. It was only then that I kicked myself for not thinking of taking the bus earlier. We rang Min to pick us up from the town for our return journey. My advice is – ask Min or Wan to drive you to Balik Pulau town which will take probably only 15 minutes compared to our 2 hours march under the sun. You will be in a much better state to enjoy what the town has to offer. Better yet, ask them to take you to the fishing village nearby too when the boats are back from the sea in the afternoon (we didn't go there because we were just too dead tired after the hike). Fortunately, there is the infinity pool to sooth my aching legs. But having said the above, some of you would actually love such a hike so don't let me discourage you if you really want to give it a try. It was my 'poison' but it could turn out to be your 'meat'. Just keep Wan's mobile number handy ;-)

We hired Wan to drive us to Gurney Drive to meet some local friends on the third day. It will cost an extra RM$65 which isn't too expensive after mentally converting RM to Sing $. Wan can also fetch you back to the estate before 12 midnight. That solves the problem of us wanting to relax in the mountains but yet being able to explore the main city area on one of the days.

For internet junkies, there is free wifi-internet and cable TV available at the well-furnished common living room just next to the dining area. Hardly used it but if you are having cold-turkey withdrawal syndrome, that will fix you.

Any regrets? Well, I went there one month too early for the durian season. I could see all the durians hanging on the branches but none of them were ripe. For a durian lover like me, it broke my heart to see my favourite fruit so near yet so far...sigh. For your info, the durian season is from June to August. The other thing is that we didn't get to try out the other hiking trail (yes, we don't mind hiking again after the previous one), try bird-watching or visit the fishing village. So many things to do but just not enough time to enjoy it all. You'd probably need to stay at least 5 days to do all the above.

Hope the above review gives you a good picture of the estate. If you are a burnt-out urbanite seeking a unique tranquil mountain-top experience as compared to the usual over-hyped Batu Ferringhi beach resort fare, Malihom comes highly recommended. We fell in love with this estate at first sight and the wonderfully friendly staff made it the best holiday for us ever (until we discover the next 'Malihom'). And oh yes, don't forget to say hello to Sarbat, the friendly resident cat, when you are there. Meow!