Rediscovering my Penang

Now that I am a couple of years into thirty, with a stressful job and a true-blue "KL" lifestyle (i.e. working beyond the timing in which it doesn't take an hour or more to get home, then hitting the mall for dinner and hanging out there until traffic reaches more acceptable hours, insane drivers, lining up for brunch), I tend to want my holidays to revolve around rest and rejuvenation. My typical trip would look something like this - book a luxurious hotel (I am especially partial to ones with Heavenly Beds), sleep in, do a little exploration (with shopping of course), return to the hotel, rest - you get the gist. Oh, and order room service and watch a movie - a most cherished tradition of ours.

So, it was with some trepidation that I agreed to join the hubs' friends for a trip back to Penang over the Labour Day weekend. The boys had a whole itinerary planned out - Day 1: ESCAPE (more details below), Day 2: Hike the Penang National Park. And - boys being boys - nights out for dinner and alcohol into the wee hours. I thought I would have preferred to stay at home, catch up with work, go for yoga classes, do a bit of baking and housekeeping. 

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But with all our plans for life,  it struck me that if I didn't do this now, with this fun bunch, I might not get the chance to do it anymore. So off I went.

I almost died, I tell you. There were times during the damned treetop challenges (especially towards the end when I completed the last and most challenging circuit of the series) when I just felt like leaving it all to hang and just allow myself to drift on my safety tagline towards the next platform. 

I don't know how I, I who always accepted that I had no upper body strength, I who still cannot manage a proper push-up - had it in me to finish. Maybe yoga helped, maybe it was that lingering thought of never having the opportunity to do this again, maybe it was a little of everything - but I finished it all. A curving-tree wall-climb that I saw many guys could not complete, four rounds of the gecko wall climb, one Level 2, one advanced Level 3 and the most difficult round, the ultimate Level 3 - I did it all! And I finished, damnit. I took my time, I breathed through my pain, I strategized my moves, and I never felt like I needed to prove anything or compete. I just wanted the experience to count. And it really does. I know it's probably nothing in the big picture of things, but I do want to indulge in a little self-satisfaction :)

Oh, and we went to China House for dinner that night, where we all had a little (or a lot of) wine, chatted and laughed and marveled about our ESCAPE experiences, laughed even more when one guy, in his attempt at trying to appear more sophisticated, attribute the dryness of the Australian red to the dry season in Europe, and enjoyed some great live music.

Unfortunately I have very few photos of my ESCAPE experience, it was raining heavily, and a camera/iPhone isn't exactly safe when you're dangling four stories up. I took photos of the sustainable practices I saw, and our friends who completed the course ahead of us managed to snap a few from below.

I expected to return from this holiday dragging myself to work, exhausted and worn out. Well, it turned out quite the opposite - I felt refreshed, super positive and strong, almost superwoman-like. I learnt something important here - I must learn to stretch myself every now and then - if only to feel stronger later.

Rainwater collection - a tap at the base for washing feet, and plants on the top.

Charming whitewashed old Teluk Bahang Dam staff quarters turned into washrooms, locker rooms and shops on ESCAPE grounds

Shooting off the Atan jumo

Here I am finishing the last leg of the most challenging of the treetop challenge series

Pantai Kerachut - I didn't see dolphins this time, but the beach was spanking clean.

Obligatory couple shot

Whitewashed walls and a little garden in the middle of all the hustle and bustle. Bangkok Lane.