I often heard many saying: " You need to do this activity with a bunch of people", "Ahh, you're a lady, might be dangerous going(somewhere) or doing (something) alone." Yeah, it might be true for certain things, but there are some other things that females can do alone. If not, how long shall a female wait to do the things she feels like exploring? The reason for not trying is not being able to find someone to do it with you? Herrrmm... That wouldn't be in my perception.
I have been planning to picnic. Getting and waiting for the right person, place, timing, and weather to make this picnic a success took me months. Yeah, I bet the close friends around me have known I wanted to go for a picnic since early 2022. This activity was not in place when I met my friends as our timing and places were not proper.
Managed to scroll through social media and found this beach (Pantai Keranchut) coincidently, and I thought this place must be a great place for a picnic. Despite the journey may be quite long, I will experience it, even once. So, I asked one of my friends who works in Penang if she wanted to join me. Initially, she said yes, but she turned me off the day before this activity. Well, the plan is made for me, and it shall continue even though my friend is not joining. We both thought there would be other trekkers trekking the jungle trail, so it would not be a huge problem for me to start my journey alone.
To get to this beach, I need to drive to Teluk Bahang, the most northern part of Penang and then trek through the jungle for an hour. Initially, I thought this might not be true, as others may take a longer time, and I believe my legs can take me there faster. However, my expectation was wrong. This jungle trekking activity took me around two hours, to and fro, from the entrance of Penang National Park. Along the process of jungle trekking, I saw a blue-black snake with a red tail crossing my path. My adrenaline rushed like crazy, thinking about how to walk past it. In the end, that snake went off after I was stunt on the spot for about one minute. Since then, I have taken extra precautions if there are some other wild animals appear throughout my journey.
Due to picnic as my main goal, I carried a backpack with me, weighing around 5kg. I brought a picnic mat, one litre of soy milk, one litre of water, one glass container of spaghetti I cooked, an iPad, a phone and a power bank. That 5kg backpack appeared so heavy on my back while walking up and going down the jungle roads. I was exhausted carrying the bag to a certain degree and I realised that jungle trekkers need to be mindful of what they carry with them. Or else, unuseful items can be a burden.
It was a relief when I reached the beach. I did not realise one hour had passed while I was trekking through, as all I needed to do was keep on walking. I saw Japanese families with kids, couples, locals, and foreigners along my way. Finally, able to open my long waited picnic mat and just sat on it to rest and chill. The scenery at the beach is breathtaking. Visitors can only play on the beach and cannot swim in the ocean. And, there is no line on that beach. All you need to do is relax, chill and enjoy nature to the fullest. I am so proud that I came all the way through and had my dreamt picnic on this beach. Another checklist is ticked. If you ask me if I will come here again, well, if my friends request to go, I will say it's a big, fat yes? But I will not come here alone for the second time. C:
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