One of the hotel's listed activities was a jungle trek, so I signed up for it. Near to the resort is Penang National Park, claimed to be the world's smallest National Park.
Now this trip was a mistake, not in absolute terms, but just that I could have done it easily on my own for a couple of quid rather than the £20 odd that I actually paid. Ok I would have got the bus rather than a taxi, and wouldn't have had the personal guide. But, and in this I should have learnt from past experience, the guide was useless. No doubt he knew about the park, but there isn't much you can convey if you are doing it single word sentences.
He took me on a loop walk in the middle of the park, so we did go past a bit of the very striking coast, but not actually to any of the beaches. The paths are very well marked, although they are very uneven. I would say this is an easy walk to get around if you were say 10 years old or upwards, and it was fine for me as a fat 50 year old. But a smooth stroll it is not. There are quite a few big steps where there has been erosion. Very sensibly the guide had a wooden staff which was a great help. For him. Strangely he never felt the need at any point to lend a hand to his struggling client.
He gave e a scratch 'n' sniff tour of the jungle, stopping to curl up some leaf, getting me to smell it and tell me what it was. Far enough, but I think I might have saved my money and just wandered wherever I fancied
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| My guide taking a swig of water. It was very hot and humid |
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| A rather nice lizard which reminded me of a miniature dinosaur |
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| This is rattan cane. Fortunately they remove the spines before making it into furniture, or indeed once upon a time, school canes. Ouch. |
Light filtering into the jungle is particularly attractive.
On the way back the driver took me past the dam and reservoir which provides most of Penang's water supply.
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