With the day fading, I abandoned the idea of hiking the 10 kilometers up and down Penang Hill in favour of visiting the botanical gardens at the base surrounded by natural jungle. I was surprised to find out that entrance to the garden was free, and instantly made a b-line for the bamboo section. Always a sucker for bamboo, I started taking entirely too many (just barely enough) photos of multi-coloured canes, massive shrub-like clumpers, Buddha belly bamboo and hybrid black runners. Near the back of the garden, a few ladies were practicing yoga on a secluded platform. I took a few more pictures of a black bamboo I had never seen the likes of before, and turned around to find myself facing a man half-hidden by a bamboo grove with his dick in his hand. Shocked at the motions of the man's hand, I turned abruptly and walked the other way. He called out something to me, and uneasily I asked: "What?" and half turned back to him. "It's a beautiful place isn't it?" he asked as he stroked himself some more. It had been pleasant until I ran into that guy! I promptly put as much distance between him and I as I could. I couldn't shake the image for the next few minutes (days?), and I decided I had to take drastic measures to cleanse my short-term memory. I found a small path marked out of bounds, and headed off into the jungle. It's incredible how quickly you can loose this national park, and end up walking up a densely foliated hillside stream, teaming with chirps and croaks and wails of the tropical inhabitants. This helped with the clearing of thoughts, and I retraced my steps back to the botanical garden. On my way through the loop, I ran into a large group of monkeys. Always a fan of these shit-disturbers, I stopped and talked to them for a bit. A baby monkey suckled his mother, which was adorably cute, but then another monkey mounted her while she fed her young! I hear that Singapore has an incredible botanical garden, but somehow I don't think it will be able to top the show this one in Penang gave me.