Pangkor Island Escape

Pangkor Island Escape

Beautiful safe beach surrounded by jungle.

Our Mid-year holiday finally arrived at the end of May and it just so happened that Ruth and I would be celebrating our 31^st wedding anniversary so we decided we would treat ourselves to a special break. We had two weeks of holiday, which was broken by a need for someone to front up and complete a promotion at a local bookstore in KL on the middle Saturday.

So the question:

How to celebrate our anniversary  and get the best out of our broken two weeks of holiday?

The ideal solution week 1 escape to Pangkor Island for 4 nights and for week 2 make the most of cheap Air Asia Fares to Danang, in Vietnam.  We began our great escape on May 28!

A range of water based activities are available.

We had booked a complete package at Pangkor Island Beach Resort through Agoda. It was self drive so all we had to do was make our own way to Pankor Island and once we arrived at the jetty the resort shuttle would greet us and deliver us to our room in the Seaview wing of Pangkor Island Beach Resort.  We left home midmorning, driving Shrek out through the city and on to Lumut. This 3 hour drive was interesting taking us out along the Expressway to Bidor, where we left the toll roads following the local highway all the way to Lumut. This was a pleasant drive, one thing I will say about Malaysia using the expressways and toll roads makes driving a pleasant experience. The scenery out of KL  is so different and the true Malaysia is a feast of visual experiences. Lumut and Pangkor Island held a fascination for me because recently I had read about how the British Submarines used to frequent this area during the Japanese occupation. Apparently this area  was where they dropped off spies who maintained a network within the Malaysian Jungle. 

Once in Lumut we made our way to the Ferry terminal and found a parking area where Shrek would be safe while we were caught the ferry and continued our escape.  Four nights Parking RM 40.00, seemed reasonable to me. Return ferry to Pangkor RM 19 each.  In no time at all we were standing in the hotel lobby enjoying our welcome drink in paradise.  By the time we had settled into our room it was getting on in the afternoon, of course it was still very hot, so it was time to cool off with a swim in the pool. The pool just happened to have its own Kingfisher Pool Bar. The rest of the afternoon was spent swimming in the swimming pool, sipping a drink from the pool, taking a dip in the sea and having a drink beside the pool then swimming in the pool.

Hornbills are never far away at Pangkor. These knew when it was time to be fed.

They are such interesting birds, that extra bit on top seems to make them top heavy.

Around 6:30 each evening the hotel staff places food out for the Hornbills. This was fun to watch as a large number of birds flew in to enjoy some tasty morsels. Before we knew it, it was time to make our way to dinner. The dinner each night was a buffet, with many local dishes and a range of western dishes included. We enjoyed our dinners on the deck outside while enjoying lovely evening views of the South China Sea.  Facing west means there were some great sunsets.

Amazing sunsets made every evening an visual symphony.

One of the activities that takes place here is Net Hauling, for a fee the resort can arrange for a group of local fisherman to come to the bay and drop a net. If you have paid money you get to take part in hauling in the net. Although on the day we watched this taking place there was no shortage of willing helpers. The net had quite a small mesh so even very small fish are trapped and it covered quite an area. The net seemed to bring in a reasonable haul of fish, however back home we would most likely have returned most to the sea due to their small size. The fish were placed in a bag and the gentleman who had paid got to keep them for his dinner. I believe the hotel prepares them for the meal that evening for the guests who have paid for them. It was an interesting experience and we enjoyed being able to take part. It reminded me of the days I used to spend on Tauranga harbour chasing mullet with a net, back in the 1980s.

Net hauling seems to be very popular, it was interesting to watch these guys at work.

For most of the rest of our time we spent taking walks along the beach, reading books, swimming and relaxing on the delightful beach or in the pool. We were well looked after by Rama from the Kingfisher bar who ensured that we did not dehydrate. By the 31 of May we felt we had experienced a great escape and were ready for our Vietnam adventure the following week.

Any way you look at it Pangkor Island is paradise.