Friday, October 10, 2008

Pangkor Island Day 1

Note of the day:
A) Upon a few requests, I finally spent the freaking 1.5 hours to write out this piece of shit and another freaking 2.5 hours to upload some lousy pictures. Please bear with the inartistic me.
B) Please click to enlarge the pictures for better visual.

This was a trip I was reluctant to go for several reasons. Thus I did not have much expectation on this trip.

Rushed to the LRT station near-by after getting a call from the trip leader, Alvin. And then a group of five of us made our way to Pudu Raya Bus Station to gather with another seven members. The bus was not comfortable as it was too narrow for a plump person like me.

After a four-hour-ride, we finally reached Lumut, a gateway to Pangkor Island. Once we reached there, the strong salty smell hit our nostrils, and we knew we were somewhere near the fishing village.


It is a small and quaint town beautifully decorated. There is practically one street only in the town with some souvenir shops, restaurants, small hotels, banks, and a bus station along the side.

The town is famous with its shell and coral handicrafts.

It is famous with its seafood too.

We then boarded the ferry heading off to Pangkor Island.

There was air-con inside the ferry

There is a national navy-base on the left hand side when we made our way to the island (I only found out this when our so called tour guide told us). The ride was about 30 minutes. There were some ancient-look war ships at the middle of the sea, as they were stationary, I thought they were there as a decoration. I only found out they were actually still functioning the next day.

We then reached the terminal. It was also beautifully constructed, unlike Penang one. There was no picture taken, as I thought I would take the pictures when we were on our way home. However, we boarded the ferry at a small dock when we were making our way home on the third day.

There were quite many rented vans waiting to pick up visitors at the entrance of the terminal. We then headed to our resort which was a 5-10 minute drive from the terminal. The ambience of the resort was soothing and soft though it was not grand and luxurious.

The backyard of the resort

The semi-alfresco dining area with a lounge bar beside

The swimming pool at the backyard

Some sun loungers beside the pool.

We then checked in the resort and had a quick and late lunch at 2.30pm. The food was unbearable for most of the group members, but it was okay for me, as it was edible. *smile*

We then changed into the swimwear to have a snorkeling session and island hopping later. The beach was just behind the resort. The golden beach is soft. However, it was seriously polluted, most probably because it was right after the Raya Festival.


Half an hour later, the speedboat with a robust and cordial Malay young guy on board came and picked us up . The Malay guy then passed the life jackets to us.

At the beginning of the ride, a gentle wind was blowing; it ruffled our hair and caressed our cheeks. The sun rose majestically in the sky with the radiant rays bringing us much vigour to this trip. Later the Malay guy started speeding the boat, we were exactly like sitting in a Kancil, driving at break-neck-speed in the residential area with bumps along the road, and once in a while small pebbles flying into our eyes. The bumps were actually the waves and the pebbles were actually the water drops saturated with salt. Along the way, the Malay guy introduced us some famous islands and bays. There were even some parts of beach owned by some wealthy tycoons.

Later we anchored off near a bay with emerald clear water. We were able to see many tiny fishes near the surface of the water, as well as sea cucumbers and some damaged corals underneath the seabed. We then wore the mask with snorkel and got ourselves ready to "jump off the boat" into the pellucid warm water. When I dived into the water, I swallow the water accidentally, it made me very uncomfortable and breathless. This was because I was once nearly drown in the swimming pool many years, so I kinda have hydrophobia until now. Luckily one of my friends gave me a hand, and my group members asked me to relax and assured me I would be safe with the life jacket. Slowly, I relaxed myself and started enjoying being floating in the sea. Then Chua taught me how to snorkel. It was fun to see fishes swimming past under your eyes and body. Later we came up and passed our masks to the another five members. But some members were still enjoying the floating in the sea. Ka Fai and I were staying on the boat and throwing the bread into the sea to attract the fishes. It was even clearer and more comfortable to see the fishes on the boat. *smile* Perhaps it was because our masks were not very good, there was water infiltrating into the mask forming fog.



With courtesy from Ka Fai

After an hour of snorkeling, it was an end of the island hopping. I was sitting next to the Malay guy sailing the boat. Not long after, he instructed the nine members in front to sit at the proper place to balance the boat, and here the bumpy and adventurous ride came! After a few minutes, he signaled me to sit nearer him, and then he let go the steering wheel, and asked me to hold it!!! He then continued signaling me to turn left or right, and at times, he just let me turn the steering wheel as I wished!!! My group members must be chickening out. Before reaching our resort beach, the Malay guy once made a few drifts to push the situation to the peak and we were screaming with excitement!

(No pictures were taken as I did not bring my camera out, my camera is not water proof)

Later we all jumped into the swimming pool to clean ourselves.


I went to my room to shower myself after soaking in the pool for the short while. Then I proceeded to the seashore to start my photography session. The beach was placid as it was off season. I then enjoyed substantially with the rustling of the slight breeze through the trees which caressed my face when blowing gently towards me.

Off season, the sea was relatively quiet too.
Not many people were jet-skiing.


At night after dinner, we had a gambling and personal attack session. :) I left earlier as I just managed to take an hour sleep the night before while my whacky friends continued their game. It was a bad start of the day but an ecstatic end.

I shall end this post with pictures doing the talking.

I was praised for being artistic (writing those
words on the sand) for
the first time.

The breeze that day was not strong, so I could not write
"the coconut palms were
dancing to the rhythm of the wind"
(my favorite
imaginary sentence during secondary school).

Some swings and jets

Some chalets of Puteri Bayu

A melodious rhythm was formed
by the wave pounding on the beach ceaselessly.

A tranquil scene in the evening

The only solo picture I had in the
entire trip, you guys
better appreciate it :)

3 comments:

Shane said...

Yay!! I am the first to comment..
Finally you blogged after so 'many' days of waiting.. (perhaps i am too eager to read).. haha
I enjoy looking at the pictures. They are very nice.. Hmm.. You are artistic unlike what u always told me..no joking or flattering.. personally i like the first and the coconut picture.. the camera is not bad.. the contrast of the pictures are quite nice..

OMG..I wish i am on the boat that you were riding and I wish i can ride the boat!! Sure make all of you 'topeng' and swim in the sea.. haha.. Jess, you have ur life jacket, so don't worry that you cant float or swim. haha..

In that last picture of yourself, why didn't the dog turn and face the camera?? hahaha

Eh did you get souvenier for me?? (thick face a bit). hahaha..

Oh yea, I prefer to look at large picture compared to medium one..

nostalgia.jesskang said...

I just brought the memories back. No souvenirs.

If I set the pictures to large, it will be a hell for those readers with low connection speed. So your suggestion is banned. Haha

I'm not artistic!!! Technology is helping me...

ByteSurfer said...

I like the Dog .. ~~!