Hello my Steemit friends. I am back for another post about George Town and the Penang region in Malaysia. If you haven't been able to guess from my mulitple posts, I absolutely loved the Penang area. I spent a week in total there and saw so many amazing things so I want to keep sharing them with you.
After spending a couple of days in the city center we decided it was time to go and explore some nature. Penang National Park, known locally as Taman Negara Pulau Pinang, is an hour bus ride away from the center of George Town.
There are a two main areas that most people head to when they arrive at the park, Teluk Duyung aka Monkey Beach and Panti Kerachut aka Turtle Beach.
We were informed that the trail to Monkey Beach was closed and the only way to access the beach was to hire a boat. Our main purpose for going to the park was to do some hiking so we decided to walk the trail to Turtle Beach rather than hire a boat.
After signing into the registration book we headed into the jungle. The hike to the beach is a fairly simple one with a few sets of stairs a long the way.
It took us just under an hour to walk to the beach. Just before the beach there is a meromictic lake. Within the lake there are different layers of fresh and sea water that do mix.
After taking a few photos we headed to the beach and when we arrived it was almost empty!
We saw a sign saying that swimming at the beach was prohibited and we laughed as the water was very calm and we are strong swimmers.
But when we walked onto the pier to have another view of the area we stopped laughing. There were jellyfish everywhere!
But I absolutely love the shots we took on the pier.
After taking tons of photos we relaxed on the beach and had a quick snack. There are no facitities on the beach that sell food or drinks so be sure to bring your own! There is also a small turtle sanctuary that had one baby turtle and a few adult turtles. The staff were all on a lunch break so we just had a quick look at the turtles and decided to head back.
There is only one trail to access Turtle Beach so we needed to take the same trail back. You can also hire boats to take you back to the park entrance or to Monkey Beach, but there are far fewer boats here. If you don't want to hike back it is better to arrange a pick up at the park entrance before you begin the hike to the beach.
So back into the jungle we went.
Close to the park entrance we were able to spot some cute monkeys.
A daytrip from George Town to the National Park is highly recommended. You can take the Rapid Penang Bus 101 from the city to Teluk Bahang. Just tell the driver you want to go to the park and the entrance is the last stop on the route. It cost us RM 4 each way. The buses run frequently and operate until almost midnight so you have plenty of time to explore the park!
Thanks for reading and make sure to upvote and leave a comment. I love hearing from all of you.
Until next time,
Chantelle