short break on pangkor island

bestnye- got to travel for free for 3 days last weekend to pangkor island. i think the last time i stepped foot on the island was in a secondary school's trip. and then no more.

80 kids went with us, 10 adults. so imagine our group. we went in 2 buses. departed at 11a.m. from bidor. the sole reason for the camp- to toughen them and build characters. yup, they were going to sleep in tents, but not me. phew!

arrived in lumut just as it was starting to rain. but the boat ride to the island had to wait for, it was time to fill the stomach first. almost everyone went to kfc. that was the thing that caught their attention as the buses reached the jetty.

and so we became luggage keepers while waiting for our take-away to come back. the queue was horrendous and some even waited for almost 30 minutes. poor thing.

arrived on pangkor at 3 plus. i had no recollection of what pangkor looked like previously, so it was a surprise to see the jetty so new. but don't look into the water around the area. rubbish is floating and bits and pieces of whatever you can make out is around the pier. we even saw a bloated bolster!

the white ones are ambulance ships to transfer chronic patients to the hospital in manjung. well, i did pay a visit to pangkor hospital. more to that later.

the antique school bus which transported us from the jetty to the campsite at pasir bogak. man, everyone was awed that such vehicle still exists.
time to set up camp. all d-i-y. but the tents nowadays are easier to put up. just make sure the rods go into the right whole and they click, then u are done. the weather was rather cloudy the 3 days we were there, so it was really a blessing.
however, it was the 13th day in the chinese lunar calendar, hence it was full moons three days in a row and that meant 3 hot days with minimal breeze.
those kids complained that they went to sleep soaking wet in their own sweat and woke up drenched in it. i told them, you did not pay for 5-star accomodation and the weather was not within our control. such whinies.


my accomodation for the weekend...err no....only for 1 night. it looks cosy huh? NOT! it was not well-maintained and we found 3 nests of ants at three different corners. eeeewwww....the campsite only had limited insect repellant. so it was the broom that swept all the ants out of the room. i brought my own pillow, bedsheet and sleeping bag. kiasu mah. they provided bedsheet but i still put another layer. haha.....luckily the room is air-conditioned. but the others who came without a pillow complained of cold. i would suffocate if the airconditioner was switched off. imagine putting 10 ladies in the room and switching off the air-conditioner. oh, another school joined us.

one of the activities you can do, but we did not climb the walls.

after the tents were set up and we settled in our room, we were brought to a hanging bridge outside the camp.
saw many hornbills along the way. this was feeding itself on rice lft by the locals on a pillar.

my favourite photo. the kids asked me- patung ah? when they saw the pic. the hornbill was just perching there, not moving and i had the dslr with me. brilliant i think.

some seafood restaurants at pasir bogak. i had supper here of fried mee sua. pangkor's mee sua is thicker than sitiawan's and it is yummy.

i think this is the poshest hotel here. perak's menteri besar had a function here the next day. i heard this hotel belongs to an ex-politician.

the destination for our hanging bridge walk.



well, it is just a short bridge.

aahh..the beautiful sunset. we strolled along the beach to get back to the campsite. the campsite is just located next to the beach, but we did not allow the kids to leave the camp unsupervised of course.

the next morning, all the monkeys seemed to have been informed of our arrival that they came to pay a visit. you have to see them to believe what they are capable of performing. if you have food in your tent, say goodbye to them. these monkeys know how to unzip tents and zip them back after finding what they want. they only leave a mess inside. gosh, toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo and conditioner were missing. food of course lah. so keeping food in the tent is definitely a No No.

my combat gear for the 90-min jungle trekking. pants in the socks, applied medicated oil on the legs, socks and shoes, and the arms and the neck. then i was ready. ;P no leech attack for sure.

off everyone went.

trying my hand at some micro-photography. well, just point and shoot only lah because i really dunno all the more advanced functions in the dslr camera.


a leech finally, not on my palm. this just dropped in and had not made any hole in the finger yet. so a little sprinkle of salt and off it disappeared. if there is no salt, try using your saliva or last resort- urine.

we exited to the beach from the jungle.
look carefully and you can see chalets on water. see them? that is pangkor laut resort. so near, yet so far.

attempt to capture wave breaking at the shore.

there was no crowd at this side of the beach in the morning. people only came out later in the noon, but the tide rose very fast when noon approached, so this part of the beach was really quiet.

the kids cooking.

and this is what they made- onde-onde. i only like them with a lot of gula melaka inside. unfortunately, the kids' onde-onde are very crunchy instead: with grains of sand!!! everyone ran to me asking me to try theirs. i stopped after 3 because i could not take in any more sand!

a dead jelly fish washed ashore. i saw quite a few in the water. that is why it is advised to enter water not in shorts.

aaahh......the kids were cooking, i was enjoying the cloudy day and breeze. this is life!

at noon, we had flying-fox. the tower was about 3-storey high and it was quiet scary when you first accelerate down the line. or maybe because i am a coward.

last activity before twilight, kayaking and water confidence. ok, this was taken a few seconds before the wave hit my kayak and i tumbled out. hehe....no photo. i left the photography duty to someone else who is scared of water.

in the evening, 3 other friends and i rented motorbikes to go sight-seeing.


can you guess the name of the petrol station? there is still such petrol station in malaysia huh. well, i think this is shell.

well, we did not get far on the island because we went back to the jetty and stopped at a shop selling local seafood products. apa lagi, shop lah!!! we were worried that we would have no time to shop the next day. hehe...typical kiasu syndrome. anchovies, fish maw, dried squid, satay fish, fish cracker, etc......so many varieties of each kind to choose from. pening!

we returned to the campsite at 8 plus and that was when we were told one of the girls had very high fever. a car was on its way to fetch her to the hospital and i went along. another girl with mild fever also followed. gosh. how a serene evening could just change in a few seconds.

well, told you i was going to sleep in the dorm for one night. this was my bed on the second night. the girl was admitted because her temperature reached 40 C!!! the other one with the milder fever only reached 38 C and she also wanted to stay in the hospital. apalah!!! the doctor only admitted one but 3 ended up staying in the small ward with only 4 beds.

the girl was put on 3 packs of drip- sodiom chloride and she was improving as soon as the first pack reached half. phew!

only returned to the camp the next morning and all our things were already packed by then. hehe....no packing to do!

finished the closing ceremony and brunch, it was back to the jetty. but before boarding the boat, we let the kids loose to do some shopping.





the shop where we shopped.

together for the camera! everyone satisfied with their purchase and making the till ring.

all in all, it was a good break, despite having to spend one night at the hospital. i missed the night walk but it was ok. felt so tired on sunday night but after a good night's sleep. i was rejuvenated.
i will definitely go again if there is another time.