Penang is a medium sized island off the North West coast of Malaysia. It was stunning and reminded me a lot of Bali, but on a much calmer pace. There were no large buildings, but many multi story complexes with businesses on bottom and housing on upper floors. Our hostel was quant and cozy in a very convenient location near many food stalls, little India, and little China Town.
On our way to dinner one night we decided to do dessert first. As everyone knows, ice cream is my kryptonite. I had two different types on my way to dinner. One of them was very unique. It was coconut flavored, served in a coconut bowl and it was topped with corn and gummies. Yes, I said corn. It was surprisingly delicious! We then trekked to little India for one of the most amazing Indian dinners we have ever had, served family style.
One of my favorite things to do while traveling is to visit different types of food markets. Penang had a wonderful morning market with several things that were completely new to me. While wondering down the vender filled street, we came across everything from live eels and star fruits to clams and black chickens. Following the market we took a bus to the botanical gardens. It wasn’t the most impressive botanical gardens I have ever seen, but it was nice to wander around and trek through the jungle a bit. There were many maquaques in the gardens, none of them were nearly as nice as the ones we came across in Bali. Walking up a hill we came across a group of 20-30 of them. I thought it would be funny to let my friends walk a little ahead of me and then throw a handful of bananas at them, so I did and videotaped it. The monkeys saw the bananas and swarmed. As they came in from every direction at my friends like some zombie monkey apocalypse, I was hysterically laughing behind the camera. But, Karma is a real thing. The video ended with me panning to the right to one of the little bastards charging at me full speed bearing it’s fangs. That was the last time I ever baited my friends with bananas that day.
Our last day we spend visiting the national park on the North West part of the island. We followed a trail through the jungle that led to a beach where many sea turtles come to nest. On the beach, the only building is a turtle sanctuary where we were able to pick up baby sea turtles that were only a few months old. We then hired a boat to take us to monkey beach, and then back to the entrance of the park. The park was a beautiful jungle land. Though we didn’t see many animals, we did see a huge water monitor right at the end. It seemed like the Lock Ness Monster swimming across the bay!
