With a bit of grumbling from me, we set off today for Penang Island Taman Negara (National Park) and a trek along a coastal path through the rainforest. The rainforest is on the north western part of the island (a part hit during the 2004 Tsunami). The rainforest and its lake are inhabited by eagles, otters, wild boar, monkeys and monitor and other lizards. And as Jan would hate, lots of insects, plenty of ant trails. The internet investigation revealed that flip-flops wasn't a good idea, that we would need good walking shoes and food. The trek went along the coast to monkey beach and further to a lighthouse. A warning was given that the monkeys could be aggressive especially where food was involved. There was a cop-out option of getting a boat round the coast to monkey beach - the Saudi Arabians were well onto that one. The first path (10 minutes long) taking us to a bridge across a stream into the sea was easy. We saw a 4-5 foot long monitor lizard. (See Paul's photos), we followed it along then it ran into the sea. The next path took us further into the rainforest, where we had to negotiate fallen trees, tree roots and boulders in the path. Intrepid explorers that we are we carried on passing a couple in their fifties who were obviously struggling. The second stretch took 25 minutes, now it was starting to get a bit like Takeshi's Castle, a concrete brdge had collapsed into the sea so we had a choice of wading through the waves or crossing a fallen tree trunk back to the path - I opted for tree, Paul for the sea route. Other spots had us using ropes to clamber up or down parts of the path - with umbrella in one hand and water in the other and my lack of co-ordination and spacial awareness the scene was set for a few comedy moments. However, apart from a couple of trips we did well. We met a guy from California on the way through, he had spotted some monkeys and pointed them out. The pair of us reached monkey beach one hour and 20 minutes later, drenched but feeling like we had achieved something, The beach had a few monkeys, I saw two mother and baby couples. About 15 minutes later the older couple also appeared. Small world - they were from Liverpool and had settled in recent times in Perth. Sue had been set upon by a monkey - it had jumped on her back and tried to remove her backpack. Scary or what? She had no food in it but the canny monkeys know that that is wher we keep the picnics. Tired from their adventures the couple were determined to get the boat back and Paul jumped at the chance to join them. We enjoyed a scenic boat trip back following the path we had taken. We saw another lizard basking in the sun on the way back. The air con on the bus back was never so welcomed. We have now regained our strength with our evening meal, I had a Thai green curry and Paul had deep fried frog as an appetiser (don't look at the last picture Angela) followed by vegetable massala and garlic naan. Blogging may be a bit sporadic over the next couple of weeks as we are flying to Medan, Indonesia tomorrow.