Posts Tagged: Pulau Pangkor

Saturday 12 January 2013 – Pulau Pangkor, Malaysia

Waking up refreshed from our day on the beach, we decided it was about time we discovered the rest of the island. Whilst most people rent motorbikes to get around the mountainous island roads, we decided that it was best to cycle, as our mums would be very upset if they found out we’d been silly enough to drive a motorbike whilst travelling! So, we rented these cool Malaysian bicycles, on which you can’t even see the pedals… Boy, was it hard work up those steep roads in such a hot climate. (Honest, mum!!)

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We set off clockwise round the island and it took us about an hour to get all the way round, without stopping for much. Once we’d gone around once and we got the hang of it, we got a bit more adventurous, stopping more often to investigate down dirt tracks and up other roads.

One of the highlights for me was a tiny fishing village called Teluk Nibong (Lot 1051), as a painted tyre at its entrance told us. It was right on a small secluded beach and the houses were either concrete block or just corrugated metal. There didn’t seem to be anyone there so we wondered down and took some photos.

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There is also a Dutch fort, as the Dutch occupied the island for a period in the 17th century before it was recaptured by the Malays. 40 years ago, the Malays reconstructed the fort as a heritage site. The fort is now a tourist attraction with the obligatory gift shop.

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Also, we queued up for 4 hours and paid an obscene amount of money for a picture with the Historical Rock, but it was worth it for such an iconic cultural feature.

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Tomorrow, I head back to KL to see Miriam, then to Borneo, where it hopefully will have stopped raining, for snorkelling, orang-utans and mountains. Either way, I’ve now seen the Historical Rock so it doesn’t really matter anymore.

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Thursday 10 and Friday 11 January 2013 – Teluk Nipah, Pulau Pangkor, Malaysia

Next destination – Pulau Pangkor

I have loved the Cameron Highlands and would have liked to stay there longer, but I’m meeting my good friend Miriam in KL on Sunday and would like to get an island in before I meet her. The east coast is a no go at the moment as it is rainy season and, according to most people I have spoken to, it is really, really wet and will be for a while. There are a number of islands on the west coast but the closest of those is Pangkor.

I was up early to get the bus at 11am from Tanah Rata bus station, when Tomas the Argentinian (who you should definitely know by now) decided he would be coming with me. Very pleased to have some companionship along the way, we set off towards the station; me with my 65L backpack (quite small in comparison to some) and Tomas with his back pack containing a spare t-shirt, some underwear and his passport.

After a quick stop in the post office, we bought the RM20 ticket for the 2 hour journey north-west to Ipoh and boarded the comfortable, air-conditioned bus. Once in Ipoh, after a quick stop for food, we bought the RM7 ticket for the 2 hour journey south-west to Lumut and boarded the dirty, sweaty tin can.

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Once in Lumut, we had a 45 minute ferry to Pangkor Town and a 10 minute ride in a pink minibus (the only taxi service on the island) to Teluk Nipah, where all the backpacker accommodation is. We had a bit of a search for somewhere to stay but finally found a couple of beds in the Nazri Nipah Camp in a 5 bed dorm, a great little hostel close to the beach with a nice communal area with lots of benches and hammocks (one of which I am writing this from now!)

Pulau Pangkor (which I am sure will be renamed ‘Pulau Manchester United’ at some point in the future) is exactly what I was expecting. Fishing boats everywhere, beaches which are practically on the edge of the jungle and nothing but sand, sea and trees all around. Very picturesque. We have two beaches nearby; the small Teluk Nipah beach a 2-3 minute walk from the hostel and the much bigger and more beautiful Coral Beach (the coral being conspicuous by its absence) which includes a psychedelic Hindu temple at the end with human sized Donald Duck and Danger Mouse at the entrance. The Manchester United influence is everywhere. You can get a Man Utd burger from a man with a Man Utd t-shirt, all the 13 year olds driving scooters have Man Utd hats on, the pink minibuses are adorned with Man Utd stickers and the hostel has Man Utd flags hanging on the walls.

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After checking into our camp the sun was fading and was already obscured by the nearby private resort island, so we hurried down to the beach to shake off the last of our hangovers before it got dark. The sea is beautiful; nice and warm, like a bath at some points, and not too salty. After a quick dip we went on search of a beer.

It was about 6:30pm and Teluk Nipah was dead. Most shops and restaurants seemed closed or empty. We asked in a few places if they did beer and we were given confused stares.

“Oh God! We’ve come to an island that doesn’t serve alcohol! When’s the next ferry back to the mainland!?”

It turns out that none of the restaurants sell alcohol, but there is a Pasar Mini supermarket that sells a few different beers at slightly inflated prices and the restaurants allow you to take beer in. We started out with a large bottle of Tiger each and went to a nearby seafood restaurant for prawns, squid, mixed vegetables and rice. The seafood here is beautiful and all freshly caught, reminiscent of recent trip to Spain with Amy and family.

We sat down on the end of a table already occupied by some Canadians sporting some lovely oozy wounds on their arms and legs. Turns out they had rented a scooter that day and taken a fall on the first corner they attempted due to going far too fast (their original explanation of being attacked by a monkey causing them to fall off the bike was quickly dismissed). Maybe we won’t be getting scooters tomorrow then!

Once we finished our food we grabbed another couple of beers from the supermarket, this time the 12.5% Marten’s Premium Belgian lager (you have to use your cash efficiently whilst travelling – more units for your money!) and sat on the beach with the Canadians. We were soon joined by Ed and Katie, a British couple from London we had met on the ferry (Ed is a London-based surveyor – the second Brit I meet and he does the same job in the same city as me; what are the chances!?) and we all got some more 12.5% beers. Soon we were all pretty drunk and swimming in the sea.

Tomas and I made our way back to the hostel (taking some lovely photos of the two of us on Tomas’ iPod on the way back) leaving our flip flops on the beach, as we discovered in the morning. Once back at the hostel, it seemed that a number of others had been drinking the 12.5% lager too and we all decided to get up at 8am to go on a jungle trek!

PICTURE TO FOLLOW

We woke up at 11:30am and went to lie on the beach for the day. What was that about a jungle trek? We lounged about, reading and snoozing in hammocks. I had run out of money so had to hitchhike to Pangkor Town to get some cash out from the islands only ATM and buy some replacement flip flops, we also swam out to a jetty off Coral Beach and sat there burning for half an hour, but that concluded the day’s efforts.

We are going to do some more discovering tomorrow, probably by bicycle, to see the islands temples and Dutch fortress and to find some other beaches and maybe blag our way into a private luxury resort beach. After that, Tomas will head north to Penang and I will head south back to KL to meet Miriam before we fly to Borneo.

Exciting times ahead, but maybe a little more relaxing on a beach in a hammock first.

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