Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Penang National Park

“Experience, travel - these are as education in themselves” - Euripide

Last Monday, was my trip to Penang National Park along side with Grace, Tze Xin, Stef and Yu Hyuen. (Yikes! I was the only guy amidst four spunky gals!) The entire trip itself was truly remarkable and educational at the same time. After what seemed like weeks of anticipation and rescheduling, the trip to Malaysia's smallest national park finally materialized! Wohooo! That itself seem to be an achievement already.



So our trip began as early as 7.30 in the morning whereby we took the bus from SP to Butterworth's jetty. From there we took the ferry to Penang Island. We reached the national park at approx. 10 in the morning. In which regrettably, we were ripped off by the bus driver who took us from the jetty to the national park located at Telok Bahang. He charged us double the amount that it should be and tried to scam his way through by some sketchy explanation on the the fees. Who was he trying to fool? None of us bought his explanation. But we let it slipped past us anyway. Didn't wanted to make a big fuss out of it then.



Once at the park, we were so awe stuck with the scenery and natural beauty that greeted us. Everything was left to nature's best. The park is well kept indeed. We took the trail from Sungai Tukun across the canopy walk all the way to Pantai Kerachut through a boat ride for our little picnic. Over there we managed to pay a visit to the turtle sanctuary whereby we get to see three baby turtles that were just hatched the day before we got got there. After a much needed rest and a game of SNAP, our next itinerary was some serious, ass kicking jungle tracking+hiking. Argh. Damn tiring lah. With each of us lugging our bags while b
raving through the obstacle course that Mother Nature decided to throw at us in various forms, ie, the steep hills, fallen trees/branches, muddy banks. It was an unmistakable sign that I need to work back my stamina. *shrugs* However, when we finally made it back to Sungai Tukun from Pantai Kerachut, we realized we didn't have the time to make it to Monkey Beach and subsequently we missed the chance to visit Mukah Head's Light House. Dang! (Another time I suppose?)



Besides the greenery of the park another thing bout the outing that struck a chord with me was how incredibly nice the tourists were. Our first encounter was with a group of friends working in the same company in Dubai. One of them turned out to be an alumni of Secondary Ibrahim and Primary Ibrahim who had kindly offered us a free boat rid
e with him and his friends! (hence our boat ride to Pantai Kerachut) We also met an extremely friendly couple from Holland whom we all salute. They have some serious spunk to cycle thousands of miles across Europe, go travelling to most places ala backpacking style and not to mention being that loving at such an age. So inspiring but such things especially the latter is almost unheard of over here! *sad* And to top it all, we came across a filming crew in the middle of the jungle! Although, none of really know them at first, but we later came to know the main actor is from the Blogger Boy series. Lol!

We left the park around 5 in the evening. We then went to Mac Calister road for its hawker food. Even the bus ride out of the park, I got the feeling that the bus driver ripped us off by his dubious claim on the fees. Wtf. Luckily, instead of taking the bus back all the way back to SP, we were fortunate enuff to hitch hike Stef's car back albeit the squeezing and lack of leg room. *winks*

All in all, the outing is what I'd call a success. No major hiccups, it was a little adventurous as well as refreshing plus it proved to be a major bonding session. The same question is already running in everyone's head; where to head to next?


PS- All pictures from the above are taken and edited by Tze Xin. I can't seem to hook up my hp to ny pc. Therefore, I can't upload any of my pics.

9 comments:

YNH said...

super nice post. super nice picture. and super nice blogger. ^^

Kar-Men said...

Lol, thanks! The oics are all credited to Tze Xin. We were in a very high cam whoring mood then.=P

And you mean the Blogger Boy? Haha, Tze Xin was so super happy when he agreed to take a pic with everyone. XD

pearl said...

Muka Head is open from 10am to 2 pm. Go within that time or you find after 30 mins of hiking, the gate is closed.

I wrote about Teluk Bahang lovely place here.
http://www.my-island-penang.com/Teluk-Bahang.html

and Penang National Park here.

http://www.my-island-penang.com/Penang-National-Park.html

I build several tabblo on Penang National Park
Sungai Tukun
http://www.tabblo.com/studio/stories/shared/24445/ns28ckhpq0oru7e

Muka Head
http://www.tabblo.com/studio/stories/view/1398689/

There are many more,if you have time in my warm site,do drop in often.

I am so happy many of us locals are enjoying our own nature.

Kar-Men said...

Oh, okay, thanks for the info! Would love to drop by that place in the future.

Anonymous said...

never know u cn write so well~
n thx karmen, for those lines of words. the memories stay within them ^^



tx

Kar-Men said...

*blushes* Not really well la. But I guess it's because we had experience it first hand, it became heartfelt? *smiles*

By the way, meant to ask you, what program did you use to edit the pics?

Anonymous said...

photoscape 3.4
try the free download version here: http://www.photoscape.org/ps/main/download.php

oh ya, u mayb will need some time to change it to english version..cuz i get the chinese version 1 once i download, then i lazy to change d
=)


tx

Anonymous said...

Hi there, may i know how to go to canopy walk?

Kar-Men said...

If I'm not mistaken, one has to take the left turn at the signboard. (can't really remember the name of the turn)

But when in doubt, you can just ask the receptionist at the counter before entering the park.

Hope you have a great time over there.