Wednesday the 16th september...touring around penang island

Wednesday the 16th september



This morning i got up quite early, following the flow, enjoying the vibes, knowing it would be a very good and sunny day.

The plan proposed by alexandre was to take advantage of the bike for the final day to go touring around Penang island and thats pretty much what we did from that moment.

We left home at 11am just to get enough time to prepare the road and went on for the first stop by the sea, believe it or not but it was the closer i even get from the shores in the past two weeks and it was nice to ride along some lost dirty and smelly canals with mosquitoes as our only companions.

Getting close to the excitation, i was very enthusiastic as we were finishing that little section of the road to end up at a very small fishermen spot, all pretty much relaxing as they are fasting…thus meaning for us no way to get our first meal !

It was already 1pm when we reached that place and soon our primary worry was to get some petrol in the small tanks of our rides to finish the tour.

On the way to bhatu ferrangini, we saw the new hard rock café (barely opened two days prior ), the elegants hostels that seems to show that its the malaysian riveira ! lots of european in the streets, not as many locals !

Not to add this place was totally out of our range to get lunch, we kept moving on as alex knew just the right place to end our quest for food.

Went to kill a nice little burger, mine was called the Big Mouth Bites !

Wednesday couldnt finished before visiting one more time the cheapest « bar » in the region…really outrageous pricing (5 RM for a pint when most places charged 15rm) !

I went back home on alexandre’s bike as i returned mine and thus had no way or time left to get the bus to his place , prepare my backpack and make the 9Pm bus to Terengganu.

Later on, day yann and alexandre took me by car and dropped me at the main bus station right on time after grabbing a quick bite (some local fried rice).

It was time to say goodbye to a new friend and keep going on to follow the path traced for this exploration of malaysia.

I arrived after a good 6 hours of bus that i pretty much slept through in some lost spot where «taxi drivers » impersonated by locals were waiting for us to overcharge the remaining kilometers to Besat.

I can tell you, they are very much organised and it seems that the early backpackers are all ending at the same local ticket dealer ( i reckon he is called M traveler).

Enjoyed anyway the rest of the night in the office on the couch after paying my 70 RM boat return ride to Kecil.

The boat ride itself was quite fun, bumpy all the way, having my first natural brushing in many months for free, understand here that we were all pretty much washed, rinsed and salted at the end ! quite a bunch of nuggets…

I arrived in my room early Thursday morning around 8am and get the chance to pick the one called Stingray. Farely simple piece of furniture, one bed, one shelve , one fan and no internet, no electricity in the bunkhouse.

Soon after i went to have a quick breakfast, a good shower really well desserved and my first bath in the ocean was just at reaching hands.

I thought first i would go for the lazy option of jumping in the d’lagoon but it looked pretty much infested by boats engines, polluted in some other word so crossed the whole island to reach turtle beach !

Really really nice beach, ok no sand but who cares ! i was the only one there and sandals are quite appreciated in this water full of big rocks though not that slippery or cutting.

And what an amazing feeling the first seconds i went under water to discover i was not the only fish in the sea ! tons of them were twirling, spinning around me or just fleeing away as i was trying to get closer…the very first time in 30 years that i had a see that warm and so nicely populated !

More adventures coming as i plan on taking the snorkelling adventures tomorrow morning and certainly get a small hike to join long beach (its about an hour walk using the trail from here) just to see what that beach as that i dont have here.

Maybe i will got there partying a little bit with the other backpackers later tonight just to get the chance to dive in one more time and get a social bath i tend to miss really quickly when not around couchsurfers.
Blue skies
Antoine