Malaysia, Pulau Pangkor

Malaysia, Pulau Pangkor, Pangkor Bay View Beach Resort J

From Thursday 2^nd to Thursday 9^th August: a week by the sea…

We arrived around 1pm and to get to the island of Pangkor, we found out at the airport we had two options: the bus or the taxi. Initially the plan was to take the bus but… the next one for Lumut, the ferry port on the mainland, was at 3pm; it would take 5 hours and the last ferry was at 7pm. We would have to stay the night in Lumut and lose our first night at the hotel. We were left with one option only if we wanted to be on the island that evening and that was a taxi. So be it! The journey took 3 and a half hours but we made it to the ferry on time. Quite a long day of transfer: tuktuk to the airport in Vientiane (a dead city at 6.45am and barely any taxis or tuktuks in sight!), plane, taxi, ferry and a pink taxi on the island (they’re all pink vans with a yellow roof, you can’t miss them!).

I knew it was the rainy season in the summer in this part of the world, I didn’t realise however that it was low season. After checking in we went in search of a restaurant and it was like searching for the Holy Grail, almost. The shops, cafés, restaurants along the beach front are closed and there are only a few restaurants open. Not an issue. There’s a market in town that looked great.

Our first day was glorious: a beautiful sun, a beautiful and deserted beach- it was like we were on our own private beach, on our own private bay with a couple of smaller islands on either side of it providing such an idyllic view. It really is stunning here. To top it all, no hawkers or sellers of any kind to bother us every five minutes. We did nothing. Exactly what we wanted to end our summer holiday. In the evening we went into town for dinner and were looking forward to the market we had spotted leaving the ferry port. South-East Asia never ceases to surprise: the market was in fact a take-away market, no seats anywhere to eat. That was not going to stop us from sampling what looked like very nice food. And it was! We bought kebabs, samosas, rotis and drinks in a bag with a straw and found a bench at the taxi park to have a picnic for dinner. Hilarious!

But it is proving less ideal and less fun for others: I was writing an email in the corridor (there’s no connection in the room). Imagine a hotel made of several buildings and they’re all connected by way of stairs and open-air corridors, a slight breeze brushing past as you are sitting quite comfortably in an armchair. Quite delightful! A young Austrian couple says hello and asks if they can ask me a few questions. Of course! How long have we been here? How long are we staying? What is there to do? What have we done? Etc…  Suddenly, a shock of surprise on their faces when I told them we were here for a week. A week! You must be mad! And though they didn’t say that or ask me why, they thought it strongly. There’s actually more to do than one thinks: renting a motorbike for the day, going for a boat ride or other water activity, trekking in the mountain and so on. I relayed this information to them and despite the fact that they were glad to hear it, they were very disappointed and had decided to leave earlier than planned. They kept referring to the lack of restaurants, in total disbelief. The choice is not great but you can eat! We have found a different place everyday as it happens.

The following morning at breakfast it was like history repeats itself. A young French couple, this time, asks us the very same questions and got the very same answers. Now, I wondered what it was with this place or these people. We booked, like they did, a hotel on an island by the beach because we wanted to rest, relax and enjoy the beach. Why did they come here? 

Link to pictures:
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