The beauty of Kerachut...

It was more than a year ago since I last visited Kerachut beach in the Penang National Park. I used to hike there rather frequently when I was doing my internship in Penang, when I had more time and more fun people surrounding me. Fast forward to present, where I have to work full-time, and study part-time. Studying has really taken a big chunk of my personal life, it's not funny. Week night outings have almost reduced to a zero, and I lose half of the weekend for attending classes! Gosh, what a price to pay!

Anyway, a few weeks ago, a good friend managed to get me out on a beautiful Sunday morning to go for a hike. Well, I should say he laid a guilt trip on me by saying lots of things that were rather true. So yes, I have not been exercising for the longest time, and yes, I can't remember the last time I went swimming, or the last time I went to the gym. Big deal. :P But come to think of it, it does make me feel guilty for not taking care of my health. So I yielded without much ado, and I did not regret it.

We reached the entrance point of the National Park at past 9am and I realised what a major change it was compared to the last time I was there. For starters, there was this nice building for hikers' registration which was newly built. Last time, it used to be at some rundown booth that no one noticed.


Registration office

Nearby, there was another building which was in the midst of completion. If I'm not mistaken it's a building for some forestry research of some kind. It does look nice from the outside.




After registering our names at the office, we were on our way to Kerachut!

Entrance of Penang National Park

Before continuing further, we had to do the most important thing before a hike. Well, most important for me. *LOL* That is putting on sufficient sunblock lotion! Never go hiking on a hot afternoon without sunblock because you'll just regret it. Took this picture on the way in...

Nice view of the pier


First stretch of the hike

The weather was just nice for a hike on that Sunday. It was not too warm underneath the trees and the air was not too stuffy either.



A pretty blue dragonfly that I spotted

The first spot that we stopped was at this deserted gazebo nearby the beach. The view would have been much nicer if the lake was not dried up. :)


And a further 5 minutes walk led us to the beach!



Beautiful unpolluted beach

Well for those who are not so interested in the one hour hike to Kerachut beach, they can always opt for the boat ride.

The signature pier of Kerachut

More of beautiful beach pictures of Kerachut...





Nice sandy beach (if you don't mind the sun :P)

After resting and admiring the beach for about half an hour, we were on our way to hike out again. Somehow, I felt more energized after the visit and had more energy hiking out than in. So ironic... However, something unfortunate happened on my way out. Turned out that my Nike shoes were not so reliable after all. The outsole of my right shoe decided to give up on me barely halfway through the journey out! :( It got really irritating when it was just flip-flapping away and my nice hiking partner offered first-aid to rescue my shoe. :) And I literally meant First-aid as he was using the tape from the first-aid kit! *LOL*



My shoe is good to go! :)


While waiting for first-aid...

Finally after another hour, we reached our starting point again, now all sweaty and tired. I couldn't resist taking some pictures of the mini fishing pier at the entrance of the National Park in Teluk Bahang.



Fishing boats..



I felt a sense of achievement for being able to hike in and out without much complaints :P Of course, I paid the price for having muscle aches for the next 2 days, but it was all worth it!