It had been ages since I went to Pulau Pangkor (Pangkor Island, Malaysia).
The last time there, being for my company's Managers Conferences in 1997 and we stayed at the Pan Pacific Pangkor.However, the Pan Pacific Pangkor can no longer be located in their website nor in Pangkor websites. Wonder why?
The immediate memory at Pan Pac was to open the window upon arriving and be greeted by a hornbill (bird) or the malay calls it Burung Enggang.I have never seen it wild or 10 feet from me, other than in the zoo.
Thats why I want to return and to try that hotel again but too bad... :(
During the conference, we did not manage to go around the island but only go shopping for local products to bring home.
Pangkor Island is also the place where one of my close friend grew up. Knowing him more than 10 years when I started working. He was a year younger than me but had since passed away, suffered a heart attack during breakfast one morning. His father was retired, as a policeman there. RIP Chong!
Pangkor Island was also the place where the British made contact with the MPAJA or local resistance during WWII against Japanese Occupational Force.It was also the begining of Force 136 (?) and the Malayan Communist Party. Notably, Chin Peng. British and KMT commandoes were brought ashore via submarine from India.They were smuggled via chinese fishing boat.
Its been a long time....
So, I took the opportunity to bring the kids to Pulau Pangkor during the Hari Raya Puasa breaks.
We start of the journey after breakfast, using the Guthrie hwy, exiting at Rawang. From there we went northward.Exit at Kampar and journeyed towards Lumut. Lumut is basically a Naval Shipyard and the ferry pier is just next to the Naval Shipyard.
We stayed overnite at the Orient Star Hotel, nice and reasonable. I rate it 3 STARS!.
There are only 2 Chinese restaurants that we found, we chosed the "Ah Po" restaurant and had a very nice late lunch of Curry Fish head and fried rice. The kids ordered fried rice for both lunch and dinner! Surprising the price was reasonable and the food delicious.
The kids took a dip at the beautiful beach....
and off course in the hotel....
We took strolls around the beach in the evening and the sunset was just beautiful!
There was a strange tower just right at the beach. I was wondering what it is.... look like some kind of radar or navigation tower.
In the morning, after breakfast at the hotel, we parked our car at the multi tier parking lots (RM15 for 3D/2N).We then walk to the ferry pier. The ticket RM10 for adult and RM5 for kids - two way. We depart from this pier...
The journey took about 30 minutes and the ferry stopped twice to let off passengers. At the second stop, we alighted from the ferry and exit the jetty.Outside, we rented a kelisa car and started to search for our hotel. Hahaha... its only 5 mins away!
I made a mistake of filling RM40 of petrol (75%) and when I returned the car the fuel guage not even 70%!
We took a full board package at the Coral Bay Resort for 3 Days 2 Nights at about RM500++ including 3 meals for 2 adults and 2 kids.The food was good (3 dish + 1 soup + 1 fruit + rice) and the seafood was fresh for lunch and dinner. Breakfast was buffet style. I rated the hotel 3 star. Worth every cents of my money!
Was surprise that at a small island, they even have their own "Mat Rempit" and all nite long they would zoom up and down the road in front of the resort.They were throwing fire crackers at each other playfully around midnite Hari Raya Eve until the heavy rain drove them away! hehehe.
The first tourist site we visited was the Fu Ling Kong temple. There is where the miniature Great Wall of China is situated.The temple situated among houses with signs showing the way.
This donation box catches my attention.... thought it was a no smoking garbage can. Wonder how many people donated into it ? :)
Also, this fierce dragon sculpture....
Tiger Lord, a chinese diety
A sister helping a younger brother signing the Guest Book at the temple... this is what I call siblings cooperation.
"Chee Ling" a creature with dragon head/tail and a horse body. It is an ancient mystical creature of ancient China as told in folklore.
Next we visited the Satay Factory,.... but the workers were on Hari Raya holidays :( so they said.
The next day, we visited the Dutch Fort, Kota Belanda, situated among the "kampung house"
A sign pointed, to the location.
The remainants of the fort....
The kids felt patriotic at the fort.
The HornBill, I was talking earlier was found plenty flying around at this location. Unfortunately, I did not bring my zoom lens with me, thus the cropped of my 70mm lens.
It use to be named Dindings but later on known as Pangkor.... Not sure if Pangkor name from "Che Pang Khor"
It was raining on the second day, so we went shopping for local products to bring back... :)
The third morning, we returned the car and took the 9.45am ferry back to Lumut.
Photos taken with 30D with 24-70mm and Olympus FE270
