First Time To Lighthouse YEAH!!

Destination: Go further than Monkey Beach, that is, the Muka Head and up to the Lighthouse!
Date: 9th August 2008
Day: A lovely, fine weather of a Saturday
Time: 9.30am
(supposedly to reach here by 8am but some bugger turn up L8 -__-)

STONED

Is this how you feel like when you're going to hike to one of Penang's greatest hike?

No.

Actually I was just testing my camera to get the right light exposure :P

This picture has became a MUST every time I hike here.

And HERE WE GO! Into the gate, pass the guard, and march right on.

We walk, and hike, and climb, until we reached USM research station beside the beach.


It became a spot for us to catch our breath.

*inhale~exhale~inhale~exhale*


Remember the bird's grave in my last hike? After four days, it had become like this.
Must be the wind that blows off those leaves :S

Some creatures' footprint. Must be the sea turtles that they let loose during the night.

Two Kawaai Girls

And now, here's the action pack! :

Once upon a time..
Action 1
Den call Nick to join him on the bridge to amaze the girls by performing some stuns.

Action 2
Here they are on the bridge, discussing their strategies

Action 3
The obstacle is to jump over the small river so that they might not get wet. Discussion still on..this is not gonna be easy...

Action 4
"Are you ready Nick?" said Den.
"I hope so!" replied Nick.

Action 5
How do I explain this act? It could be that Den is:

i) I'm so scared..I might lose my balance and fell into the little river..and poor little fishy have to bear my weight.
ii) I'm saying my prayer so that I will be able to jump over the little river with definite success.

Action 6
"Ready, set..."

Action 7
"Just do it!"

Narrator: And they did it successfully

THE END
@__@


and it continues..the camwhore queens and kings..


It is believed that this footsteps belongs to crabs..amazingly, this time I don't see much crab like I saw four days ago..

Comparison: black & white, plump & skinny, fair & dark

I'm walking on seaside..Wooooooo~




What are you looking at, peeps?

I love this pic!
It's at the right spot, right scenery, right lighting, and right angle!


Olympic training

Says it all..

It's time to get serious..

Candid and natural

Journey continued..

Over the tree

Nick's dried tail..

Showing off their strong, muscular legs..at least they think so themselves :P

After much of ups and downs, jumping down, robes, rocks, leaves, trees, bridge, and staircase, we finally reached Monkey Beach / Muka Head.

When we first reach at the beach after a series of hiking trails, all are rejoicing, greeting the salty water, boats, sunshiny day, and fine sand.

We first sat at the nearest table and chair but was asked to move somewhere by some local there because he wanted to reserve the seats to foreigners. Bummer.

So we walked and walked under the scorching sunlight, and we find that there are more people there rather than from the start. Then we finally found a perfect spot, free from the crowds, free from the sunlight.


I especially brought some marshmellow, Super rings, and Mister Potato..

As a results...

Marshmallow halfway into the mouth!
(how does this look like to you? I don't see any resemblance..hehe..does he looked like a robot from his mouth?)

Rachel's blue marshmallow flower in between her lips..muaks!

My artificial marshmallow teeth..grr...

***
Could Nick and Den enter the Man's Hunt?
Whose stare is the deadliest?
***

We left our comfort zone and pursued our ambition

Along the way,
Den spotted something among the sand..a horseshoe crab perhaps?
Took a video of it but too lazy to post it up :P

As we were walking, we could smell delicious aromas of grilled fish and it's kinds..
Makes me drawn to it..
I supposed that these locals who are doing this business earn alot from the foreigners for this.

Though we can't eat it, we can camwhore in front of these little huts..hehe..self-comforting..

This is a nice picture, isn't it?
An anchored boat

Then we passed a man-made cave-house with fresh, green baby trees

It's architect? A child.
The blue plastic bag is the swimming pool
The cave is at the bottom decorated with tiny shells

And then, I found an interesting idea..

..Manipulation of our shadows

***
Some of the hikers with their heads covered:

Contestant 1: Rachel Tan

Contestant 2: Den Lee
***

We passed two bangalows..the first one looked haunted, dark, and abandoned, and the second one is resided.

and we saw this post:

Pak Atan.
According to Den, Pak Atan was the one who gave him some tour guide when he came here five times before with his youth group

Past this post, is where all the hard work needed. We are at the climax of our destination.
To the lighthouse!
We have to climb up all the way by staircase for 30-45 minutes, based on our speed and how often we stop for rest.

The starting point of the staircase

Hiking before Monkey Beach is not that tiring, but this one drains every bit of our energy. Lactic asid rushed in our muscles so freely that we had to stop quite often to restore our body.
It was the most tiring hike from the whole journey.

So, we stopped by a hut

Rachel & Tung is very HOT

The trying to act cool Nick
But I tell you, it's good to go hiking with Nick cause he will be your inspiration, as when he hike, he's like as light as a feather, walking far ahead of you..really an inspiration to move on faster.

Den can't take it anymore! sweat sweat sweat!!

Wiping off my sweat

Then we continued. This is how the staircase look like:


We climbed for about an hour just to find out that the lighthouse is CLOSED!
Grrr...


But I popped in my camera through the fences and took a picture of the great lighthouse:

Can see but cannot go up :(

That time it was 1pm.


Dissapointed, exhausted, tired, and fatigue, we dragged ourselves downstairs.

BUT..
Always beware of strangers..

Be aware of the 'ham sap lou'

***


Then we came down and reach back to the beach. We decided to take boat back since it's already 2pm and we're all very very tired.

Fortunately, we managed to get Pak Atan's boat. He had been on business for 16 years already, and his customers who came back has evolved in life, which is, from single life to marriage, and have children and they are still the loyal customers of Pak Atan!

But seriously, he's a very friendly person and doesn't charge extra. He charge RM 40 per boat for per trip. What more, he just changed his old boat to a new one. This one is really fast.




As it journeys, we can feel strong wind hitting on our faces.
This is what happened to Rachel's hair!

The so called 'Makan angin'


A picture with Pak Atan
I would highly recommend to you to take his boat. It's only RM 8 per person compared to my last trip was RM 10. The previous one wasn't a very friendly person, quite stuck up.

We reached to our car in no time. Some of us was jumping and shouting "hot hot!" as tar road was very hot for our bare foots (took off our shoes to board the boat) to the toilet to wash our legs.

Next, is makan time!
First thing comes to everyone's mind is to have an icy cool ice kacang that melts in the mouth.

Then we remembered that Tung's mom sells ice kacang, so we went there.
This coffee shop is famous for ice kacang and home made durian ice cream.
The shop is very near Komtar.

Ice kacang with jelly and ice cream


Other food sold:

Jawa Mee

Koay Teow Th'ng

Char Koay Teow (this is good!)

Poh piah
This is made by Tung's granny

Pai Tee
Also by Tung's granny

Loh Bak

We ate all we could to our limit. Indeed, the food is more than enough but it was finished anyway.

The home made durian ice cream. Nice!


Den ordered Char Koay Teow, and as you know, it is filled with prawns, lap cheong, and ham, and these are Den's enemies! He just don't eat them!

"No seafood messes around with me!!"

Everyone went home with a satisfied heart.

What I enjoy most from this trip is the camwhoring session, and also the sight seeing.

Next up, Kerachut again this Sunday!!