Pangkor Island Getaway
Barely like 2 weeks after Chinese New Year break, comes the mid term school break. Holidays with the kids is actually no holiday at all for the adults. But since wife's bro was organising us, and managed to get fantastic rates, and there would be his kids to entertain mine, I guess it wasn't a bad idea to head off to Pangkor, ....not it's more famous sibling, Pangkor Laut, but Pangkor Island itself, staying in Pangkor Island Beach Resort.
I dunno WHY Samy Vellu allows highway lane closures for road works during school holidays. A good stretch of the North South Highway was one lane, and we barely cleared a long jam caused by a bad accident before we joined another crawl because of road works. Its exasperating to pay good toll money only to be stuck in jams worse than the trunk roads.
Its been awhile since I've done any driving on the provincial roads. The road to Lumut, after Bidor, is trunk all the way. Actually, when I was working in Sitiawan in days of yore, I favoured the coastal route....mainly because there was no highway yet up to Bidor. (gasp, I'm that old). Driving on the trunk roads made me realise young people of today just arent trained to drive like that anymore. For a good length of time, I was stuck behind a convoy of cars behind a truck, coz none of the drivers dared/knew how to overtake. Nor are lorry drivers very cooperative, unlike days of yore when they would actually assist you in overtaking by signalling the appropriate signal. Anyway, provincial road driving definitely keeps you awake. That road always reminds me of that memorable trip years ago, with Lawyer from bangkok, and a whole group of friends. Ah, the friends, the laughter....
Due to the delays, we missed the 1.45 ferry and had to wait for the 3.45 ferry. Actually, I reached Lumut Jetty by 1.35 and COULD have made it but had to wait for the inlaws in the other car.
What can I say about Pangkor? It's rustic alright, very little development, hardly a town, with a very laid back population. Shops, what few there are, close by about 9.30pm, (though I was reminded that is Australia, shops close a lot earlier), and eating places are hopelessly slow. On the 2nd night, our dinner, at this place called Ye Lin(?) or Yin Le or summat, took one hour to reach our tables. It was quite worth the wait as the food was really good, and cheap.
Kids of course had a gala time, by the beach, flying kites, building sand mountains, swimming. I tried to maintain a constant buzz by infusing myself with carlsberg special brew....so heart warming to see city kids fly a kite. Of course, darling daughter got her kite stuck in a tree, only seconds after warning her to steer AWAY from the trees. I think kids hear something else whenever parents talk to them.
We also had to lug a cake all the way from mainland, as it was darling boy's 7th birthday. Fortunately, it was one of fatboybakes' hardier cakes....a real man cake, that doesnt require tender loving care, or refrigeration.....
You can see the kite flying in the background. Hornbills are a plenty in the resort.
I dunno WHY Samy Vellu allows highway lane closures for road works during school holidays. A good stretch of the North South Highway was one lane, and we barely cleared a long jam caused by a bad accident before we joined another crawl because of road works. Its exasperating to pay good toll money only to be stuck in jams worse than the trunk roads.
Its been awhile since I've done any driving on the provincial roads. The road to Lumut, after Bidor, is trunk all the way. Actually, when I was working in Sitiawan in days of yore, I favoured the coastal route....mainly because there was no highway yet up to Bidor. (gasp, I'm that old). Driving on the trunk roads made me realise young people of today just arent trained to drive like that anymore. For a good length of time, I was stuck behind a convoy of cars behind a truck, coz none of the drivers dared/knew how to overtake. Nor are lorry drivers very cooperative, unlike days of yore when they would actually assist you in overtaking by signalling the appropriate signal. Anyway, provincial road driving definitely keeps you awake. That road always reminds me of that memorable trip years ago, with Lawyer from bangkok, and a whole group of friends. Ah, the friends, the laughter....
Due to the delays, we missed the 1.45 ferry and had to wait for the 3.45 ferry. Actually, I reached Lumut Jetty by 1.35 and COULD have made it but had to wait for the inlaws in the other car.
What can I say about Pangkor? It's rustic alright, very little development, hardly a town, with a very laid back population. Shops, what few there are, close by about 9.30pm, (though I was reminded that is Australia, shops close a lot earlier), and eating places are hopelessly slow. On the 2nd night, our dinner, at this place called Ye Lin(?) or Yin Le or summat, took one hour to reach our tables. It was quite worth the wait as the food was really good, and cheap.
Kids of course had a gala time, by the beach, flying kites, building sand mountains, swimming. I tried to maintain a constant buzz by infusing myself with carlsberg special brew....so heart warming to see city kids fly a kite. Of course, darling daughter got her kite stuck in a tree, only seconds after warning her to steer AWAY from the trees. I think kids hear something else whenever parents talk to them.
We also had to lug a cake all the way from mainland, as it was darling boy's 7th birthday. Fortunately, it was one of fatboybakes' hardier cakes....a real man cake, that doesnt require tender loving care, or refrigeration.....
You can see the kite flying in the background. Hornbills are a plenty in the resort.
posted by fatboybakes | 1:25 PM
2 Comments:
Pangkor looks beaut. Haven't been there since I was a kid.
hi tunku, thanks for dropping by. saw you on one of the other food blogger's blog. very talented hor you.
yar, pangkor still has that rustic charm. wonder when the government will decide to ruin it.
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