We were here last weekend. Some say "pangkor" means beautiful island. That may or may not be true, but beautiful it certainly is. The whole weekend was a beautiful, beautiful experience (apart from the lengthy bus breakdown on the way home, but we'll draw a discreet veil over that...)



Highlights:

-- Riding the incredibly good value ferry from Lumut (10 ringgit return per person) along the picturesque coast.



-- Sitting-and-walking on many, many beaches: hearing the waves; watching the crabs; and relishing that inimitable, back-to-childhood feeling of being by the seaside.







-- Touring the tumbly, densely forested island on a clapped out green scooter (named Scott).



-- Feeling (and I hope this doesn't sound condescending) as though we'd stepped back in time, as we puttered through gorgeous little traditional villages, with bougainvillea everywhere, and puffer fish drying on the clothes lines (these are apparently a noted souvenir).







-- Enjoying the birdlife: spotting hornbills almost everywhere we stopped; rejoicing in the birdsong that welcomed every morning (and carried on welcoming lots of other parts of the day); and feeling awed by the sound of the forest right next to us up at the Chinese temple.









-- Eating seafood: returning twice to the Restoran Pasir Bogak, because they do such damn fine squid and vegetable dishes; eating fish and chips at Daddy's Cafe right on Coral Beach; and enjoying spicy little fish for breakfast.

-- Eating other things: slurping ABC at a roadside warung, or "sea coconut" juice from two little girls at the old Dutch fort (sea coconut is apparently the fruit of the toddy palm, which explains why it tasted like gula melaka); and if we include Lumut in this narrative, enjoying an incredibly tasty and good-value lunch at a little place right opposite the ferry terminal (two delicious mee rebus, one awesome cendol pulut, one generously endowed ABC, and two teas for less than 13 ringgit).

I hope there'll be an opportunity sometime to go back to Pangkor for longer. I feel I could I could divide some time quite nicely there...