Teluk Bahang, Penang National Park.

07/07/2010 was a public holiday in Penang. So I was in the opportunity to visit the Penang National Park with friends in Teluk Bahang for jungle hiking. Teluk Bahang is a small fishing village in the north western tip of the island Penang. The name Teluk Bahang means the "Bay of Heat Wave". It is actually only a few kilometers from the much more famous Batu Ferringhi.
Although many people in the village are still related to the fishing industry, tourism is increasing too. The village is located along a long stretch of beach but the main attraction of Teluk Bahang for sure is the national park! Yeah...!!!

The main entrance to the park. Visitors need to register before and after enter the park at the reception area . It is free of charge. There are two ways to explore the park further: by boat and hiking. So, we choose to hike! The journey begins here!

The starting trail was not tough at all, as they were paved nicely. More to a strolling than a trekking.

Just after 5 minutes of walk, we have reached a beach side. There were seats and tables being erected for those picnickers. However,the view were not that great as the water were brownish and murky.

Monkey anywhere here.

Can you see that baby monkey behind the monkey?

After 10 minutes lapsed from the main entrance, we reached the first check point, Pasir Pandak. There was a bridge labelled with Jambatan Pasir Pandak welcoming us to explore deeper in to the park.

Chik-chak.... Take pictures time!

At the end of the bridge, there was a T junction of trail with a direction signboard erected. Taking the left trail will lead us to the Pantai Kerachut, the west of Penang National park. That's our objective!

The magic roots.



National Park is a good place to enjoy a green environment.

Pulling Route...

wow... you see the ant, more larger than normal one!

Jungle Orchestra...

The starting trail to the Kerachut Beach was still straight forward with man-made steps aiding the way.

We smile and happy together.

Rest for a while to continue our long journey.

Man-made steps, no worries=)

Have to worry now! haha....=.='

A big rock.

Another 1320m to Kerachut Beach.

Still has a wooden bridge to aid the way.

In the air you will see eagles hunting.

While on land you may be lucky to see a few monitor lizards, especially with high water around the lake and further in the mangrove forests.

The trail gets tougher here as there were no more paved or concreted path. Shortly, we came across a path that was blocked by a fallen tree. No worries, just a normal thing for us. haha...

A lesson to learn, always have enough of rest the day before your outdoor activities especially hiking. However, I always tend not to have enough rest even though I keep reminding myself.

The variety in vegetation always amazes me. While I hike in the hills, it always knocks me out how many different shades of green the jungle has.

Yeah... gambatte gambatte... will reach our destination soon!

Finally we reached our destination, Kerachut Beach. We spend almost one and the half hours to reach here! Yeah...!!! Fell very happy and enjoy our trekking. Here is suspension bridge.

Just behind the beach is a unique lake to see. The Meromictic Lake is unique because here, with high tide (and I was there with low tide...hmmm) fresh water merges with salt water and apparently that is a spectacular sight.

Meromictic Lake see from a pavilion on the other side.

Kerachut Beach...

The jetty at Pantai Kerachut.

The beach and the water are very clean though there may be some jellyfish.

The view under jetty...

It was hard to part with the beach, what's more with the beautiful beach. Even after lingering for more than an hour, I still felt very reluctant to head back to the main entrance of the Penang National Park. There was two option to choose from. First option was to trek back all the way which would take at least one and a half our. Or, secondly, we can request for a boat transfer which would only take 10 minutes. Obviously, we chose the boat transfer option since we were so dread tired.

A small boat which can contain up to 10 people brought us away from the village. Soon we saw locals fishing from the shore. We passed rocks with imaginary names as Crocodile Rock and Turtle Rock. With some imagination you could see the shape of those animals.

Can you spot the stone turtle?

The fishing boats of Teluk Bahang.

Oh my god, it was a heavy rain when we back to jetty. All my bag, shoes and also cloth were damn wet. It was tiring, but nonetheless I enjoyed every bit of the exploration in the Penang National Park. There is one thing for sure, that the next time I heard people saying that Penang was only famous for their delicacies, I will be sure to enlighten them. Yeah....!

Oh my gosh... today first visit in park was really a bad luck! Heavy rain come first, then now what happen again? Car got problem can't back to hostel. What the hell?! Still have to wait, wait and wait for technician people come to fixed the problem! Almost 3 to 4 hours pass... very hungry now because we not yet having our lunch. The current time now is 4.35+ pm.

Finally we satisfied our lunch in one-stop. Can consider my dinner already la. I ordered the Mango Honey Chicken Rice. Enjoy~~~