Penang Day 2: Monkey Cup Garden, Penang Hill

An interesting attraction at Penang Hill would be the Monkey Cup Garden, 15 minutes walk from the tram station..  It is opened daily from 9 am to 6 pm.  Entrance fee is RM10.

Monkey Cup (猪笼草) got its name as it was observed that wild monkeys drink water from these plants.   The Chinese name (猪笼草) however has a "pig" name in it.  It is also called Nepenthes or Pitcher Plants.  The fascinating thing about Monkey Cup is that its pitchers or cups can lure and trap insects and small animals.

The garden has more than 100 varieties of pitcher plants, set in a welcoming garden. The carnivorous plants is exclusively found in South East Asia and some other areas such as Madagascar, Seychelles, North Australia and South China.

On the day of visit, many monkey cup plants had started to wither. Thankfully, some were still good condition:

Overall, this is an interesting place to visit.  My only complaint was that the garden was a 15 minutes walk from the tram station.  Hopefully, there would be transport arrangements between the cable car tower and the garden in the near future.


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