Pangkor Indah Beach Resort

... variety, so I don't know if it counts as two whole books really). It was nice, but it quickly became clear that my plan to "lie on the beach and do nothing in order to spend no money" was not going to work, because after about 2 days the "peacefulness" of an empty beach will turn into the "lonesomeness" of an empty beach...so I was again *forced* to continue traveling on to Penang, which is bustling with backpackers, so all is well. :)

Two buses and a ferry ride later, we arrived at beautiful Pangkor island and friendly Mizam's resort (the word resort is used in a very flexible sense in Asia). We were the only guests and I think there were probably only 10 other foreign tourists on the island when we arrived, lots of KL families came for the weekend though. The hut we stayed in overlooked the edge of the forest area that extends from the centre of the island with ...

... is nice and warm, though if you swim out a bit you get stung by something invisible, perhaps jellyfish tentacles, which is annoying but not more than that. It's clear enough for snorkelling though I didn't try. They say the coral here is not as good as the east coast islands so why bother when you're flopped on your towel. Tour boats go out to the small island in the bay where we see tourists splashing around - must be some coral there. White ...

... hotel (with a pool and a beautiful view of the sea.) Back to the hostel/hotel situation we checked out a couple at RM78 and RM98 and they were ****. Literally, round the bowl in the bathroom - I mean not too bad but not flash. They were tidy enough but not great comparitive. The continental is 10 times better and we got a superior room for RM98, we're staying two nights :) The lesser rooms started at RM60 ...

... In terms of the people we have probably seen the most mixture of people here than anywhere else so far on our trip with the population being made up of Chinese, Indian and Malay's who were Muslims. Everyone was very friendly and helpful and they seemed glad to have the tourists (evry TV channel we see plugs Malaysia as the Asian destination to visit).

... Pangkor Laut and the first impressions are every bit as good as we thought they would be. The stilt villas synonymous with this resort and world famous sit in pride of place on both sides of the jetty. They are connected by a labyrinth of wooden plank ways lined with exotic plants and rows of low level lighting to romanticize this wonderful setting during the night causing rippled reflections in the water. We are shown into the airy open sided ...

... in a voice that sounded very like Paul McCartney. By this time, the generator had gone off so the compound was completely dark. Also, the fire was very hot and the party a bit of a dud -- but Pat didn't want to go back to the cabin without a bodyguard. Eventually, the LA business decided to go back, and we went with him. The next day, it was raining so a boat trip we had planned to a near-by island was cancelled. Or postponed until the next day. We spent the morning playing ...

It was raining in the morning, so we didn't go to Emerald Bay as originally planned. Instead, we played cards all morning, and Pat told our fortunes. Ate at the camp canteen for lunch. Did very little between lunch and dinner. Pat and I jogged/walked down the beach to the government camp, then came back. We went for a swim, but it was very painful -- we kept being stung by something. Besides, there were two ...

... camp -- we had a good chortle about that one. There was another Slug, Kevin, who had lived in KL from the time he was nine years old (so for about eight years). His father was principal of the International School. When he (Kevin) graduated, he went to UCSC to major in psychology and Asian Studies. He plans to teach English to Indonesians for the Rest of His Life. Finally, there was Sandy -- a Vermonter -- and the most sane of the troupe. He wasn't especially thrilled to be ...

... travels. He's been over a lot of Europe, to Israel, and also lived in Brazil for six months. Once we reached Ipoh, we caught another bus to the otwn of Lumut. This ride was really bumpy and several times I nearly flew out of my seat. But we arrived in Lumut safely and just in time for the ferry out to the island. We stayed at a place called "mini-camp" -- only M$4.20 per night per person. The huts were A-frame -- just wide enough for two people and their ...