Cat Beach Penang
In the beginning of February we reached Penang island from Cameron Highlands while hitchhiking. Many people told us it's a must go place when you're in Malaysia so we decided to give it a try! Plus locals are really proud of Penang's food which is based on fried noodles mixed with seafood and coconut water soups. Sounds really delicious and believe me, it truly is.
The island looked like paradise - golden sand beaches, palm trees, amazing old town of George town and skyscrapers - a small island on the map turned out to be a huge city with the sea coast all around - well, it's an island after all!
We pitched our tent late in the evening on the beach and enjoyed the view of thunder and full moon before the high tide started - we had to pack everything at midnight and find another place to sleep. After all day of hitchhiking and walking close to 12km with heavy bags in 35 degree heat, exhaustion was unbearable so we ended up sleeping in the kids' playground.
Next morning we went to the beach where we bumped into a local stoner, studying science in university. He started talking to us, gave us food, weed and a tour of the island, eventually bringing us to a trekking path we wanted to take to Monkey Beach - a supposedly great spot for camping - unfortunately the trekking paths were closed and we were still exhausted. We took advantage of a public shower in the area and decided to go back. Nice and clean we set out to find some water in a Cat Cafe which as it later turned out, doesn’t exist.
Fortunately enough, while we were walking towards the cafe we met the owner of the Cat Beach shelter and she kindly offered us a place to stay and food in exchange for volunteering and helping the cats. Such a great opportunity! She lead us up to the shelter with around 300 cats swarming around our feet. We simply couldn't say no to a volunteering experience, a cat-free room in her apartment with the hot shower and lovely purring creatures.
During our stay we learned how to take care of the cats, and since most of them are sick, we had to learn syringe-feeding, grooming and cleaning them from the fleas. The owner's apartment, where we were staying, had 14 special needs cats, an amazing Chinese-Malay shelter's supervisor, Kari, Ukrainian family and 1 month old puppy AND the biggest star of them all, Pip ‘Pipin’ Pipperoni! Simply the cutest little creature we’ve ever laid our eyes on (unfortunately, the kitten has passed away, but he had loads of cuddles, food and love). We were glad to help with the shelter's work and do a great job for those poor cats! Every day we hitchhiked to the shelter and the way back - this way we meet loads of locals and travellers at the same time, which spices up our adventure.
We had an amazing opportunity to experience Chinese New Year (happy new year!) on the island, hitchhike to the other side of it, camp on the beach and have a meal in a fancy Thai restaurant for free, explore the waterfalls and mini natural pools.
It has been a wonderful adventure to volunteer for the very first time ever, help the cats, spend time with them cuddling and socialising. But the time to move on had finally arrived and we moved towards the capital, Kuala Lumpur, where we will catch a flight to our next destination.
