Rainforest walking and Monkey beach

December 4

On the morning of December 4th, I check out from the Night Hotel , but I told  them I´ll return within a few days and  cycle northwest on the island. At the northern tip of the island, in the town of Teluk Bahang, lies the gateway to Penang National Park.

It’s a rainforest area with many lovely, serene coves, and the beach I plan to visit and camp at is called Monkey Beach. As the name suggests, it’s also a hangout spot for monkeys, specifically macaques.

I pack my bike with the essentials, leave a few kilos of gear behind at my hotel, and then pedal down towards the harbor. From there, it’s just a matter of following the coastline northward.

After cycling a few kilometers, I find myself back in the more exclusive parts of George Town, with high-rises, skyscrapers, and luxurious apartments overlooking the Strait of Malacca. Naturally, there are exclusive shops, expensive hotels, and restaurants here. Many of the tourists arriving on the large cruise ships that anchor in George Town come to this area. Not really my scene, given my budget.

The road winds pleasantly, perfect for cycling, and the sea is just a stone’s throw to my right. I could probably stop at any cove along the way and simply enjoy the view. There are a few bathers around, but not many.

Jelutong, Pina, Pulau Pinang, and Batu Ferringhi are just some of the resort areas along the way. The hotels are countless, as are the homestays and guesthouses. This area is also popular among foreigners who invest in summer homes and apartments.

The local population here lives off tourists and beachgoers; there isn’t much in the way of manufacturing.

Eventually, I arrive at Teluk Bahang, the town that hosts the national park and its rainforest area. It’s also a established  fishing village.

 

Before you can enter the national park, you must register and you do this in a Visitor Center. They want to know their name, nationality, passport number, mobile phone number, which you can enter in a ledger.

The official says that the hiking trail to Monekey Beach is closed due to landslides so that I have to take a boat from a nearby beach after about halfway the way.

Of course, I am not allowed to bring the bike and it has actually not been practically possible even though the trail is quite landscaped. I have to lock the bike inside some gates and inside an area that belongs to the national park’s administrative part.

I bring a backpack with food and liquid, camera, a bag with tent and equipment and then I start hiking into the rainforest. The first half a km of the trail was paved, then some parts with stone slabs, wooden and steel footbridges, but mostly trodden path.

After hour and a half I reached the beach the officer told me to wait by. Above the beach several buildnings and they belongs to a costal and marine center, CEMACS

 

While waiting for the boat I sat down outside on a bench at a long boat jetty or pier, took out some soda and a sandwich and continued waiting.

The beach around is also a pleasure, which a lonely couple also thinks because they lie down and just relax.

I give up on the boat and continue to walk first along the beach and then into the rainforest again. It gets denser and denser and I almost have to crawl down on my knees to get under all the fallen trees and branches.

Now I also see that there are red-and-white seat bands that tell me that the path is closed. Mostly the bands are on the ground so there are probably many more than me who have passed on foot, the warning of more landslides is believed.

 

After  my short rest I continue my hiking and eventually I come to a sign that told me I’m on the right track and now only have one km left to my goal, Monkey Bech.

 

Just before half past two I come out through reindeer forest and see the bay. A long beach with chalky white sand, turquoise sea and green forest around. Already 50-75 people has taken possession of the beach, some of them sunbathe, others bathe in the sea and few sit at one of the small bars under the shadows of the trees. They have some funny names, Lazy Pirates and Lazy Boys but none of them was exclusive.

I put my stuff on a free table and sit down, I order a beer at the Lazy Boys bar and lie down on a recliner and enjoy, just check out the surroundnings. After a little while I feelt like I’m ”fading away”
Why the bay is called Monkey Beach I soon became aware, several monkeys were jumping around me and above me in the trees.  Signs warn me to keep my things within sight or they will be stolen by the monkeys, so it wasen´t hard to guess why the beach eas named Monkey Beach!

After I drunk my beer I head down to the beach and into a warm and salty ocean, so loveeeeeeeeely. 

Later I found a place to pitch up my tent., 25 meters from the shore and on a small rise of sand. I know from experience that the rain almost always starts in the afternoons, so it was a good idea for that now.

Just behind my tent site was another small bar, they call me to join them. A couple from Hungary have already joined, and they are not sober, neither is the bar owner, but friendly

In the trees around his makeshift bar and home hang a bunch of colored plastic tags with names and info on them and the bar owner also wants me to write one, which I did.
Notice tree

.Just before 6 pm the sky turned into a dark grey colour shape and all beachguests preparing for heavy downpour. I´ve already done that.

Behind my tent a huge, abandoned bungalow, maybe some recident for former landowner?y

When the darks falls I already has crawled into my tent and prepareed for the night’s sleep. So far, no rain has come. I’m listening to some SR radio  podds that I downloaded because there isn’t a single WiFi connection here.

I wake up a few times during late evening and at midnight I need to go out to pee. I open the tent canvas and think it looks a little weird but I don’t have any glasses on so I don’t know what it is. Once they are on my nose, I see to my horror that the waterline is only two, three dm from the tent canvas and the waves seems to get bigger and bigger. It’s the tide, and it’s rising fast

It is a matter of quickly taking everything out loose and carrying it away to the small cabins that are available and putting them on one of the tables. Then back and pick up all the tent pegs and now I’m happy that I have a self–standing dome tent.

Carry the tent away towards the tables but first have to pass a small stream, when I arrived in the afternoon it was barely a dm deep, now it gets water up to the hip. I hold the tent hard and high because I have no desire to get water into the tent and I also succeed. 30 minutes later I’m lying dry in the tent and falls asleep quickly.

Tomorrow I turn back to Teluk Bahang and a short cyclingtour back to George Town

See Yeah Later
// P-G, The Global Cyclist 1719