1st March 2010 Penang National Park

Today we set off to see Penang National Park. It was about an hour away from Georgetown. I rocked up in a maxi dress and sandals with a tiny bit of water and no food...if only i Knew what was in store!
The national park is basically a jungle! Off we set anyway. The first part had paved pathways so I thought because it was a national park, they had developed it so it was a casual jungle experience. No no Lisa you silly thing!

dressed perfectly for the occasion of course!

They have a canopy walk there so we made our way towards that. To our disappointment it was closed. Probably for maintenance we thought. We noticed what looked like a path running beneath it so we said we'd start trekking that way. The path soon disappeared and we were battling through bushes, climbing over fallen trees, dismantling spider webs daring to block our path..it was a proper jungle experience.

Luke started talking about jumping spiders and we saw a few few really massive webs. Needless to say I was crapping myself! I couldn't stop moving in case one of them jumped or crawled on my feet so any time we stopped for a break I was walking on the spot in the hope of avoiding such an unwelcoming encounter!
As we walked a big monkey crossed in front of us. He stopped and stared as us with not so friendly eyes. I was waiting for him to start a scrap but after he finished eyeballing us her set off once more. At this stage we had been walking for two hours and not passed a soul..strange considering we were in a national park trawling with tourists!

Dragen flies chase each other in circles around us

We walked for another half hour and finally came to an opening in the bush leading up a small hill. As we got closer we could see red tape tied to two trees blocking the path. To my horror there was a sign on it saying the canopy walk has been closed since May 2011 due to an outbreak of disease in that particular area. It was advised that no one should proceed on that particular part of the jungle trek! How lovely!
If Luke and myself are struck down with any strange illness over the next few weeks you know what's happened!

Anyway we got back on the main path and saw a sign for a beach . Off we set again through more jungle, although this path was completely clear and much more walker friendly! The heat was immense. As my sweaty feet slipped about in my sandals I literally thought I was going to pass out. For breakfast that morning I had half a slice of watermelon and half a banana...not sufficient energy for hours trekking around in jungle heat. I was cursing how unprepared we were.

After an hour we got down to the beach. As we crossed the rope bridge there were a group of Malaysians with a camera crew coming straight for us, I didn't like the look of it one bit! hey explained that they were working for Tourism Malaysia and asked if we would be in their video as it would be great to show two authentic pasties in their video! We walked over the bridge a few times, pretending to point at things and take photos..all I wanted to do was get into the sea!

They eventually left and we headed towards the water, only to realise our boat back to the entrance of the park was about to leave. Rather than trekking the whole way back we opted to leave the swim and cruise back in comfort.

I will never leave for such an excursion so unprepared again!!