Living right next to the sea is amazing. Seeing it all blue and green and rolling every time I look out of the window. Hearing the waves crash rhythmically, perpetually, never stopping. I fucking love it.
Treiste some more
After drafting my last post from Zoe Market cafe, I was struck with the urge to see what the Trieste coastline had to offer further south. I walked to the port area, and discovered it's not really a place for wandering.. big highways and industrial buildings. Nonetheless, even the warehouses and apartment blocks were fairly aesthetically pleasing, and at one point a long park runs parallel to the coast, almost like an apology. GPS trace of the walk here.
I did make it to Pedocin beach eventually though. It took a while to find.. I walked around the pier, which felt quite dead, and found the lighthouse. But industrial buildings in every direction seemed to be preventing me from accessing the coast.. though as I walked past one large wall, I could hear children, so I persisted. Eventually I found the entrance, through an unassuming concrete cabin. I think the entry fee is 1 Euro, but there was no-one there to take it. The cabin has two exits, on the left for women and the right for men. A wall divides the beach in two. The beach is pebbles, with immediate access to the sea; small and peaceful, with one vendor selling drinks and snacks. I napped until I was woken by the tide lapping at my feet.
Super pretty white and purple barrel jellyfish fill the bay around here, and Pedocin was no exception. It was only 20 minutes to follow the coast around back into town. More photos here.
In the evening I ate cake from Giardina Tergesteo and pizza (oops) from DNapoli. I had to add the remaining half of a Marinara to the pizza I had already accumulated from Le Agavi the day before.
The next day we picked up gelato and took that and the pizza backlog to Molo Audace, a long concrete pier off Piazza Unita, for a picnic. Later in the evening I walked by myself to ErbOsteria, a charming vegetarian restaurant which uses aromatic herbs for all dishes. I was the only one there for most of the evening, and was treated to a three-course vegan meal with homemade iced tea. It was a wonderful change from the white-flour-and-tomato based meals I've been eating most of the week; high quality ingrediants, freshly crafted, and I was ready to pay gourmet prices. There was no written menu as it changes daily, so I had no idea what to expect to pay.. and three courses plus tea plus an extra dessert to take back for Kit came to 13.50EUR! Unbelievable. My phone was dead so I only managed to take crappy pictures of the food with my laptop webcam. I'll spare you. The starter was fresh courgette, thinly sliced and raw, dressed with lemon and mint. The main was gnocchi (boiled potato dumplings) with asparagus sauce (I heard the blender go, so I think the asparagus was freshly sauce-d for me) sprinkled with almonds. Followed by cake with balsamic herbs. I took a slice of stunning strawberry tart back for Kit, as I don't like strawberries but it looked far too good to go to not be appreciated by someone. He'd eaten it before I remembered to take a photo.
As of this morning, I relocated from Trieste center to a hostel up the coast, near to Miramare. It is directly on the seafront.. this is the view from the balcony, where I'm typing right now. Soon I will be bored of typing, and will go down to enjoy the last few hours of sun from that concrete beach I told you about in my last post, and hopefully find some granita.
Langkawi 7: the chilling diaries
I filled two bags and a bucket picking up rubbish, and made it half the length of the beach before I stopped for a nap in a tree. Then there were loads of ants on the branches, so I switched to napping on the sand. There were ants there too.
I swam the length of the beach, and rested on a floating jetty for.. I dunno, half an hour or more. There was a little water-walking insect I'd never seen the like of before; I watched it flit around. I swam back.
I showered in the outdoor shower, and washed my hair with soap, which I hadn't done for a while.
Didn't you want a blow-by-blow account of my day? There's not a lot to do here but chill out and then write about it :)
Thesis
Now I'm eating noodles by the ocean.
Post created with https://rhiaro.co.uk/sloph
Dripping (Penang National Park)
Yesterday I went to Penang National Park, and got three kinds of wet.
Part One: Sweat
I took the 101 bus from KOMTAR. For 3.40 RM it took about 50 minutes to get to the National Park entrance, which is the last stop. I had to wait in line to register for at least 30 minutes. There are separate lines for Malaysian and foreigners; don't stand in the wrong one. I was unfortunate enough to be stuck behind a large group of Chinese tourists. Entry to the park is free, but you have to register your name and passport number, and in exchange for this they give you a permit to enter the park (a piece of paper with a hard-to-read map and stamp on it). This permit was checked once by a member of park staff later in the afternoon. I'm not sure if this was protocol or if he was just trying to make conversation. So probably best not to try to skip this process, even though you could technically bypass the registration desk to get to the park entrance fairly easily.
I hiked from the park entrance to Pantai Kerachut (Turtle Beach). This took about 2 hours including looping around the meromictic lake twice and climbing an unnecessary hill by accident, and stopping for a snack break. The jungle is thick outside of the marked trail, and set against a backdrop of a non-stop high pitched whistling sound. I don't know if it is birds or insects. I also saw big ant trails, which is always cool.
The meromictic lake is one of only a few in the world, and is interesting because it contains both freshwater and seawater, which don't mix; the latter floats on top of the former. Except most of the year it's basically dry, so there wasn't much to see.
There were a handful of people at Turtle Beach, and a very small handful of turtles in the sanctuary. It was pretty peaceful, and good places to hang hammocks, and a nice view. There are no facilities (food for sale or anything), and also no swimming due to big waves and venemous jellyfish.
From Turtle Beach I hiked to Teluk Kampi, which earlier some Asian businessmen (that's what they looked like) shouted out was the "best beach in Penang!". It was over a massive hill that never seemed to end, and took about 45 minutes from Turtle Beach. There was nobody there though, except the beach guard who checked my park permit. It's the longest beach in the park, and very picturesque. There is a 'hall' - an open-sided wooden structure - on the seafront. I couldn't help but notice that its beams looked perfect for hammock hanging, and one of them had a power outlet... So this can be my new office? A 3 hour hike through the jungle is a reasonable commute, right?
I napped in the sun for a short while to recharge for hiking back. I was thoroughly soaked in sweat, but no swimming due to jellyfish here, too. The beach guard said he could call a boat to return to the park entrance, but that it would be about 120 RM. I did not have 120 RM.
However, a short while later came cries of "help!" from a guy in a boat approaching the beach. A surefire way to get someone's attention... He wasn't actually in trouble. He offered to take me to Monkey Beach for 25 RM. Seemed like a bargain. I wasn't expecting to have time to make it to Monkey Beach, either.
Part Two: Sea
So I grabbed my stuff, ploughed into the sea in my trainers (oops) and boarded the boat. Turns out he'd been chartered by some Chinese people who were having a break at Turtle Beach, so he'd whisked this one Portguese guy around the coast to see Teluk Kampi; any additional passengers he could pick up for nominal fees was a bonus.
We picked up the Chinese people at Turtle Beach, then continued to Teluk Duyung (Monkey Beach). This was a lot more crowded, with vendors selling drinks, coconuts and snacks. There was also a lot more trash and it was generally not as nice. I bought and consumed a fresh coconut for 5 RM, and took this photo which has been great for taunting people on the other side of the world who are currently shovelling snow.
Then I bumped into E and K; previous tentants of my current AirBnB whom I'd had dinner with, along with my host, the evening before. We all swam in the sea and chatted for a while. The sea was pretty grim, murky, and made my skin itch. I think the itching was actually due to temperature change but... who knows. Not my favourite.
Part Three: Storm
I was planning to hike back around the coast to the park entrance from Monkey Beach, one of the popular trails that should take about an hour. But E and K wanted to take a boat, and as we were discussing it looming storm clouds turned into smattering rain. We canvassed the beach for other people to share a boat with (they're typically a standard 40 RM between Monkey Beach and the park entrance, no matter how many people you take). As the rain got heavier the tourists dissipated. We found a guy willing to take four of us for 30 RM after a little bargaining. The rain was pelting down by the time we boarded the boat, and there was thunder and lightning.
So I was soaked afresh by seawater from the waves splashing into the boat, and rainwater from the sky. We reached the jetty and raced for cover.
After hanging out for a bit, and ringing out our clothes/shoes/hair, it didn't look like it was going to let up, so we raced to the bus stop in time to jump on. For some reason, the return 101 does not leave from the same place it drops off, but there's another bus from a different route which takes people from the park entrance to the 101 bus stop for free. It's unclear if this is out of sympathy for people in torrential downpours, or all the time. E and K said they'd taken it last time they visited the park too.
We transferred to the 101, which was naturally air-conditioned to arctic levels. For just under an hour, as we were soaking wet, this was highly unpleasant. Fortunately on the return route it stops right outside my apartment (due to one way streets, the outward bus stop is a little further away). It had stopped raining by then, but I darted home and into a hot shower. It took me a while to warm up.
Shockingly, I only have one new mosquito bite to show for all of this.
Here's my RunKeeper trace of the hiking and boat rides.
Post created with https://rhiaro.co.uk/sloph
Today's SocialWG telecon location:
And the SIP connection is better here than in my office, which seems like a perfectly reasonable justification for staying here always.
Sea and storms
It was crazy hot this morning, though my legs made me promise not to do anything too strenuous. I deliberately set out ill-equipped for any adventures involving mountains, rocks or undergrowth. So you can imagine how that went ;)
I picked up a hemp burger and interesting couscous cake thing from Makrovega, dropped off clothes at a laundrette, and made for the beaches on the north side of Marjan. I was spoilt for choice regarding beautiful and deserted spots of clear water. I noticed this starting to roll in...
Becoming rapidly closer, and emitting thunder, but still far enough away..
I had enough time to dry off in the sun, eat my burger and get dressed and duck into the woods before the first rain started to fall. Seeing and hearing it approach across the water was cool, and I sheletered under a pine tree until it passed. I carried on around the edge of Marjan, each little rocky cove more blue and clear than the last. The next wave of rain was heavier and lasted longer. I sheltered under the trees for the worst, and managed to make it to a restaurant before it got really bad. The restaurant had wifi, coffee and a sea/rain view, so I bedded in. The rain didn't look like it was going away any time soon. I did, however, have a pressing need to pick up a chocolate amaranth pudding from Makrovega before the socialwg call at 7 (not to mention my laundry), so I couldn't stay there all day. I heard an Irish couple asking the staff to help call a taxi, so I got in on that, and they wouldn't even take any money. They happened to be staying in a perfect proximity to the laundrette, Makrovega, and my hostel, so I successfully completed all tasks shortly after being dropped off and made it back in time. And the rain had stopped.
Later I wandered out to pick up food from Vege on the seafront, but despite Google's assurance they were open til 2300, they were not. I found some pretty great box noodles on the way home, with seitan, many veggies and peanuts. Split's answer to Edinburgh's Red Box, but cheaper and all round better.
Up super early for the bus to Zadar tomorrow...
Where fishes go
Arrived in Split just after 7am; it was a beautiful day and I couldn't check in to the hostel until 9, so I wandered into town. The world was just waking up, the sun was warm even though it was early, the sea was sloshing, there were mountains in the distance. Even though there were a lot of people about, and market stalls being set up, everything felt so calm.
Naturally, I got sidetracked by a hill and ended up climbing pretty far up Marjan, the forest-park-hill. The views were beautiful, and passing runners made me excited to run there. Even with two rucksacks the climb was pleasant. I looped back in time to get to the hostel just after 9.
The hostel (Tchaikovsky) is tiny and tucked away down a side street; the owner was really friendly and welcoming, and when I arrived he was running around helping out other guests, picking up laundry, fixing travel plans, and booking other hostels for people he couldn't find rooms for here. Tea and coffee are on tap, and the place is relaxed and super well maintained.
Whilst waiting for my key I made friends with R from near Manchester and L from Singapore. We all headed out together for today's adventure. First stop was a vegetarian cafe 5 minutes down the road from the hostel, where I picked up a seitan sandwich. Then we started by climbing Marjan again, and continuing all the way to the very end of the park, where we spotted this beach:
I, erm, needed to go there. So we did.
And L and I swam in the sea and it was lovely.
We headed back to town, the guys got some food. I discovered through extensive market research that here everyone makes sorbet with cream. How frustrating.
R left and L and I followed a trail of monuments and ruins in the town that he had a map for. There are 14 points with big signs that tell you all about them, which was cool. We never did find number 5 though (Jupiter's Temple). Below is not what the trail looks like on the map...
Then we wandered further east and discovered some more beaches. I paddled and pegged some more good swimming spots for tomorrow.
The threat of torrential rain was looming all day, according to the ominous clouds and the weather forecast. We obviously got seriously lucky. But even it it rains for the next few days I've now seen most of Split (L is leaving tomorrow, hence urgently covering the main attractions). Though I do plan to take a trip to Krka national park, this week is supposed to be a relaxed working environment rather than an actual holiday, so being trapped in the hostel by storms would probably be pretty good.
On that note, the hostel is great. Rooms are really nice, and the beds have privacy curtains, power sockets, big free lockers, and it's like a tenner a night.
i couldn't take it any more so i went back to the sea
'cos that's where fishes go when fishes get the sense to flee
Days twenty and twenty one: More beach (Gold Coast)
Hanging out.
Dropped my things.
Sydney in the evening.
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