"Steep thyself in a bowl of summertime"

A few weekends ago, Asa, Kit, and I spent the entire day hiking all over the national park in Penang - we did all the main trails, about 5 hours total!

First we hiked to a lake which was really pretty. Apparently many turtles live there but we did not see any. We walked to the beach from there, which was practically empty and really nice, and we sat on these massive rocks and ate apples. Then it started raining so we walked to a shelter nearby where this man started talking to me. He is from New Jersey but lived in Texas and is traveling around the world on his motor bike. He said one of his goals ever since he was in 9th grade was to see the world, so he saved up for 13 years, and then quit his job and went. He drove all over the US and Canada, flew to London and went all over Western and Eastern Europe, and then flew to New Zealand and Australia and did those, and then flew to Singapore and now is here in Malaysia and is working his way through Southeast Asia. He has been on the road for 3 years now. He talked at me for a really long time...most of it was interesting. I think he was just lonely and needed someone to tell all his stories to. Once the rain stopped we parted ways, and Kit, Asa and I continued through the forest.

We hiked to this lighthouse which was up this horribly steep hill. It is located on the northwestern tip of the island. The guard who lives at the lighthouse let us in and took us to the top which has an amazing view. It was a bit cloudy but he said on a clear day you can see Sumatra! It's really peaceful and breezy and you can see lots of eagles flying around. We sat up there for a bit, enjoyed the view and the breeze, and watched the birds. We made friends with the guard (Mike) and he said that if we ever want to come back and spend the night at the lighthouse we are welcome to. He said the sunrise and sunset are gorgeous and you can see lots of stars.

Then we hiked back down and met our fisherman friend from last time, Awhie. When we told him how much we hiked, he said, "Oh you must be hungry" and waved to some people who then brought us this massive plate of meat - grilled chicken, hot dogs, satay, fish and other seafood. It was like magic. Then we rode jet skis to his fishfarm. I rode with Awhie and we stopped by another farm to buy a fish from them for dinner. The man caught a 2kg fish and threw it in a bag and put it on our jet ski. Awhie told me to step on it so it doesnt flap away as we rode back to his place, so I had to control this 2kg fish as it jumped all over the place. We stopped by his farm for a bit and then took the fish to a nearby restaurant where they cooked it for us. This thing was HUGE and delicious and oh so fresh!! The whole day was amazing, and we slept well that night.