Forest and Water

Want to sleep in on vacation!? Apparently not with us, the alarm clock rings mercilessly early in the morning, but we want to start the day early to avoid the midday heat while hiking through Taman Negara Pulau Penang National Park. After about an hour's drive, we arrive at the park.

Like in the series "Lost", we also make our way through the forest to be able to stay almost undisturbed at the beach. It's beautiful, the sand is light, there are a few shady spots, the water is clean and calm. Only a few other hikers around.

So, should we take off our sweaty clothes and jump into the cool water?! Not at all. The flag is red, swimming is not allowed. For a few days now, we have learned that we need to inquire about swimming if it is allowed or if it is jellyfish season. Here, bathing is prohibited due to the sea creatures... but we have to dip our feet in a little (maybe we can minimize their population this way?!)

But it gets even better. Because we find out that a few meters further along the beach, there is a hatchery and release center for turtles.

Turtles are being hatched - about an hour before we arrived - and animals that are about 1 week old are being released today. However, this happens at sunset so that the animals are not eaten by predators. Sadly, it's too late for us, as we wouldn't get a boat to take us back (and we can't walk back through the forest at night). We are devastated, but we reluctantly decline the offer and listen very interestedly to the explanations.

By boat (the boat guide must have German ancestors, considering his insistence on punctuality), we return to the entrance of the national park via Monkey Beach and then take a Teksi back to Georgetown. Our stomachs growl and we return for one last time to where our street food tour began, the Hawkers are just amazing! On the way home, Dania decides to try a coconut shake - she read about it. I love coconut, but only in hot dishes. So I'm skeptical, "nah, it won't taste good!", but I take a sip and immediately love it. The coconut water and meat are mixed with ice cubes, and then a scoop of coconut ice cream is added on top.

We also take a picture for Instagram: mkcoconutshake (I wonder if our photo will be uploaded 😊).

Tomorrow we leave for Penang Airport at 7 a.m., then via Kuala Lumpur to the final destination: the island of Langkawi. As mentioned in the previous entry: Penang, Georgetown, will not easily let go of us. And if you can, you should definitely visit this beautiful place...❤️