national park

We woke up late (again) and after showering and getting advice and directions from the hostel manager, Balan, we ventured out for the day. First we got breakfast and then caught the bus to a national park. It took about an hour as it was the last stop and it started to torentially rain but fortunately it stopped by the time we arrived. After a short walk and showing our passports we began the bike to Monkey Beach. It was supposed to take 1 hour 15 minutes and was approximately 4km. It was fairly intense, not like the jungle trek, but with the heat and uphill parts it was quite difficult and it was a relief when we arrived at the beautiful beach. I imediately jumped into the water to cool off.

By now it was about 3pm and we stayed until 5.30 or so, sunbathing and swimming, before hiking back. There was an option to get a boat back to the entrance but given the severe lack of exercise we've done on the trip it was nice to do a bit. Afterwards we caught the bus back. We showered and then went out for dinner. A local food court has loads of different cuisines and we had Mexican which was really nice and then some dessert. Afterwards we headed back to the hostel and all skyped our parents before going out. We wanted to go to the sky bar for cocktails to celebrate Molly's birthday a night early and got sooo lost on the way. Everyone we asked gave us the same specific directions but after following them we were nowhere near the bar and ended up getting a taxi for the remainder of the journey.

It was very fancy and i felt out of place in my flip flops! We got the lift to the top where there were amazing views out over Penang. We had a drink and sat there for a while before trying to find a club to go to (with no luck). We began the short walk back to the hostel, being harassed by maybe 5 groups of men?? They were all just driving round in cars and would pull up beside us and be like ' hey girls where are you going?'. They weren't threatening, just annoying, and it was strangely enjoyable to shout at them to get them to leave us alone.

We arrived back at the hostel and the other day headed to the room but Balan pulled me aside. He'd bought Molly a personalised birthday cake from a bakery/ice cream shop down the road. We took it into the room very quietly as the other girl there was sleeping and it was so cute!! We all ate a slice and went to sleep soon after

Laura x