Pangkor Island - Chapter 2

All our planning during the cold winter months was coming to fruition - or so we thought!  A chance conversation with a British couple in the lift in our hotel made us think again!  We had arranged to visit Pangkor Island for one night en route to a tiny island and exclusive resort, Pangkor Laut.  BUT, it had been suggested that to save ourselves a long and expensive taxi journey, and a waste of precious time, we should think about a 2 night stay on Pangkor Island.  Neither of us gave it much thought as we had already booked our hotel in Lumut at the princely cost of £17 per person for B and B in a Golf resort!  Not much thought that was until about 2am, when I awoke and reconsidered the option.  So, much of the early hours of the morning were spent deciding to change our plan, book another night, print the hotel voucher and arrange the cancellation of the Golf resort!  Easy, peasy - by 4am and with the help of the internet and a helpful concierge, our restructured schedule was in place!

Our journey to Pankgor Island involved a taxi journey to the bus depot in KL, a 4 and a half hour coach journey to Lumut and a 40 min ferry ride to the island.  Taxis in KL have a well known scam going - by law they are supposed to use the meter in the cab, some try to agree a fixed price and not use the meter.  The fixed price can be 3 or 4 times that of the metered ride!  So when I asked how much the journey to the bus depot would be, I was told 20 ringgits (£5).  When I asked the driver to use the meter, he said he wouldn't, so I suggested to the Concierge of the hotel that we would like another taxi!  The driver suddenly agreed to use the meter and the fare was 5 ringgits! 

The coach journey was uneventful and slow at times due to the roads which were lined with endless palm plantations.   A quick transfer to our awaiting ferry and we headed for The Pangkor Island Beach resort.  Greeted by the ever polite and smiling faces of Malay receptionists we were welcomed with a glass of a cool red drink - not sure what sort of fruit it was but it tasted OK!

The island is idyllic - white sand and palm trees are gently lapped by the warm sea.  The hotel is set in 100 acres of its own grounds with 2 pools, tennis courts, football pitch, 3 bars and 2 restaurants and a 3 holf golf course!  The manager, who is an Italian, told us in his perfect english that it used to be 9 holes, hewn out of the jungle,  but the wild boars kept digging up the fairways so they decided to let the jungle take over again!

The food is multi national and there's a wide variety of every conceivable dish on earth - except museli!  Drinks are very expensive with a small can of beer costing 22 ringgits (over £4) so we decided to venture out to the local town in search of supplies!  Guess what - in the shop in town the cans sell for less than £1.  So we stocked up!

We've spent most of today (Tuesday) chilling by the pool, swimming in the warm ocean and walking on the beach.  Tomorrow we head for the very exclusive private island of Pangkor Laut via 2 more ferry rides!  Can't wait!!