Trekking in Penang National park

I bused then ferried into Penang Island, a turtle-shaped island in the Straits of Malacca 8km west of Peninsular Malaysia, in the early morning at Georgetown, Penang's capital city and Malaysia's second largest city. After dropping my bag and resting a few hours after the overnight bus from Malacca, I paired with a hostelmate for jungle trekking over the headlands and hills in the Penang National Park. The 101 AC bus took about one hour, then we hiked in an equatorial climate of 80-85f under the shade towards the turtle sanctuary. The beach was beautiful but not swimmable due to jelly fish and strong under current. As to the monkey beach that only reachable via boat, it is not as prestigious and contaminated by waste so we did not go. We were pretty much exhausted by the heat and up and down hills anyway. I ran into a local hiking guide who led a group of Cruise boat tourist each paid 70 euro for a shorter gridiron if the hike, while each of us paid less than $2 for our buses. The park does not collect admission so no fund to fix the monkey beach trail. Any the Canopy trail  was abandoned for over 5 years due to the high cost of maintenance. I think there should be a volunteering NGO to take over the trails. By the way, the monkeys there are agreesive andvtried to frappes me.

The bus 101 also passed Batu Ferringhi — on the north coast with white sandy beaches, luxurious hotels and restaurants, a favorite spot for both locals and visitors with loads of water sport activities. However, according to hiking guide, the beaches on Penang Island are contaminated by waste, so most tours go to Langkawi or a beach in between for swimming (I don’t have time to visit this time).

After laundry and shower, I found cheap eats nearby, a bowl wonton noodles cost less a beer, plus some cherry tomatoes as my dinner of $3.5.