Not much new around here

I feel guilty for even saying out loud that not much new is going on. Here I am living in Penang with all of Southeast Asia at my doorstep, and for the last few weeks it's been same'ole, same'ole. Hiking on Mondays, lots of cooking during the week, touristy exploring on the weekends, finding random restaurants to sample on weekends too. It's actually been kinda nice though to feel settled here for a while.

Last weekend we took an awesome hike in the national park at the far northwest tip of the island. We set out along the trail hugging the north edge of the park that faces the sea. Up-down, up-down we went for an hour and a half before making it to Monkey Beach. Luckily only a few monkeys around and these were bothering the less experienced tourists. One girl had left her bag on the picnic table and 2 monkeys were merrily going through it looking for food. The crafty little creatures had unzipped the bag and scored a pack of gum. Monkeys trying to eat gum is funny. Their mouths open very wide and their eyes roll around trying to figure out why the material is sticking to their teeth and not simply disintegrating like usual food. Disgusted with the effort, one eventually pulled his out and tried to throw it away but it prompted got stuck in his fur...It reminded us of the time Pelle's brother was little and got gum stuck in his hair...

Unfortunately we didn't get a good photo of the nosey monkeys. But on the way back to the trailhead we did manage to snap one of a medium-small monitor lizard after he had scrambled off a rock where he had been sunning himself in the quiet morning light. He was about half the size of the big monitor lizard we had seen on the way out to Monkey Beach. The big guy was more afraid of us than we were of him and had immediately cruised off under the bushes. Only my girly, wild shriek of terror filled the air. And Pelle's laughter.

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