Things to do in Pangkor

the beach at Teluk Nipah

 

1. At Teluk Nipah (where I stayed), you gotta try the banana pancake (lempeng pisang ye kawan2). Well, may not be as grand as Krabi Pancake, but at least we've got one also. And the taste is not bad. Eat it while it hot . It'll cost you RM1.50 per piece and open daily around 4 pm onwards. During weekend, you'll see a long queue and that's when you know you are at the right stall. 

Travel essentials

 

2. Compared to 5-10 years ago, night life in Pangkor and Teluk Nipah in particular could be dead boring. But all is not lost. Albeit the lines of street vendors and dim light, there is this Raggae Bar for shisha and coffee enthusiast (no liquor though). You will not miss it cos it's just by the road side facing the beach, right in front fo Lorong 2. Open daily until wee hours.... So, burung2 pungguk sekalian, korang boleh la lepak situ. Brader yang meniaga pun very friendly and quite a chatter box.  And, there's music too. If you are lucky, buskers will play there. Otherwise, layan je lagu from its jukebox.
3. HORNBILLS SPOTTING. Yup. Don't forget to look up when in Pangkor. You could spot hornbills flying and lepaking around almost an instant. In fact, there's this one chalet famous for its activities of feeding these wild Hornbills. If you wanna catch it, be sure to be in front of that chalet about 4-5 pm daily. Oh yeah, I forgot the name of that chalet. But it's located at Teluk Nipah. Be friendly and ask around. The people there knows. :) 

4. Pangkor also famous for its seafood by-product. Err... that's processed food, yes? I visited and shopped handsomely at Chop Ha LI at Pangkor town. It's located slightly inward from the jetty. Cheap and you can bargain if you buy more. Well, most shops sell at affordable price.  

the road to Chop Ha Li

The variance is around 10-50 cents I think. But it makes all the differences if you buy a lot kan. 5 posen diskaun boleh jadik 10 inggit kalo beli banyak... Well, not that I'm a cheapskate. You do the maths hehehe.

5. ACCOMMODATION. There are plenty of budget chalet hostel around. Pangkor is a good destination for backpacker, students or those who travel on a budget. Teluk Nipah have a number of alleys (lorong) that offer chalet and hostel at affordable rate. The rate starts at RM20 per nite. Most accommodation that I've seen are cosy and comfortable enough for your stay. After all, when you are on vaccay, you will not or should not stay in your room. Go explore. The room is for your good nite sleep only. Kan? Or am I wrong? Heh.

6. RENT A BIKE - MOTORCYCLE OR BICYCLE. Mark my word. Do not rent a car. It's a waste and Pangkor is not huge to begin with. It's merely half of Langkawi and its accessibility would only require two-wheelers. It is in fact, the best way to explore the island because again, Pangkor is relatively small. The good thing is, most resort / chalet / hostel offer bike rental. And yes, you gotta go and scout first. Boleh dapat harga murah. Normally, the rental cost is RM30 per day for motorcycle. 

7.INSIDER'S SECRET: At beach, apart from water sports (canoe, banana boat ride, speed boat, island hoppings, etc.) and swimming, you should have a stroll along the beach line. There, if you are lucky, you will spot local villagers donning an activity called "yatyat harvesting". Yatyat is a snail-like creatures and there are abundant of 'em hiding in between the wet sands. The locals like to deep fried the yatyat and serve with rice. Below are the yatyat:

8. GOOD FOR MONEY: Be on the ook out for budget beach resort because the motorcycle rent there gonna cos you RM30 per day. Others, between RM40 and RM50. Oh yea, this is the rate during peak seasons, weekends and holidays. 

9. When you have a bike, go to the Dutch Fort located about 1.5km from the jetty. Not many tourists know or even bother about this historical site especially backpackers. Well, not to blame them, the promotional part of it also lukewarm and it is not even highlighted anywhere. People will know bout it when you go on a guided tour.

  10. Wait, the excitement doesn't stop there. About 50m or so from the Dutch Fort, there's this Batu Bersurat (inscription on the stone). The Batu Bersurat marked the presence of Dutch merchants in Tanah Melayu back in the Kesultanan Melayu Melaka heydays. These inscriptions dated as early as 1743.

11. The inscription depicted:
a. Story of a Dutch baby  snatched by Malayan tiger at nite.
b. Letter VOC - a registered trademark of Dutch ship.

12. The best part is that there was no whatsoever descriptions or story behind these huge Batu Bersurat. The museum authority built a roof to cover it from ruin. That's just about it. 

Indrawati and her husband; an Indonesian. Prolly that's how she's got the name from.

My doodle on Indrawati. heh.

13. I was lucky to have met Indrawati Gunawan, a Dutch traveler who happened to be on the site. She was very friendly and warm and she was the one that shared the story behind this Batu Bersurat and the meanings of the carving on the stone. **a bit embarassed I must admit. Heh. 

14. At nite, Teluk nipah offers an array of seafood. There are plenty of 'em specializing in all-you-can-eat seafood from grill, tomyam, deep fried, tiga rasa and list go on and on. The trick however, is to find the good one and cheap. So far, I've been unlucky. The stalls I went to it's either delicious but expensive, cheap but tasteless or worse, expensive and tak sedap. Puih. Better luck next time!

15. To go from ferry to Teluk Nipah or elsewhere, use the public transport - the PINK VAN. Easily available and they roam all throughout the island. It'll cost you RM15 per trip to Teluk Nipah. That RM15 is per van, not per person. If you are alone or forever alone (haha) try to find someone and tumpang la. The van can accommodate about 6-7 people. 

Resit kena simpan!

16. The ferry ride from mainland to island cost RM10 for return trip. KEEP THE STUB cos you need it on the way back (they check!!)

17. I guess that's just bout it for Pangkor Island. 

Thanks for reading. MMuuahhhh.

apekTRAVELS

What to bring? What to Pack? What? What? What?

Urghh. 

"Nak travel lagi sebulan. Satu apa pun tak pack lagi...matila"  

- Anonymous #1

"Ek eleh. Chill la. Nak g lama lagi. Bukan lama pun. Kau tayah nak beriya sangat boleh tak?"  

- Anonymous #2 

Yup.

Ada yang gusar as early as this hehe.

Ramai camni. Ada juga yang sempoi, one day before travel baru terkial-kial nak pack. Well, it is a big OK if you are going to familiar place but for those venturing into new territory, you might want to think again. Prepping for traveling can sometimes create havoc and unnecessary stress.

Anyway, entri kali ni aim at helping you guys cemana nak pack dan apa yang perlu pack. And I credited the images to Encik Google. 

Well, visual communication is far more better than lengthy explanation kan. Cepat dan you guys will absorb the information a lot faster. Heh.

{p/s: click on image to enlarge and view it better}

Follow the color coding 

kepada korang yg suka nau pakai backpack.

[IMPORTANT: Kena ingat, you need to always evenly distribute the weight of your backpack with your body weight.]

 Kena seimbang ye! Ingat tu. 

For guys, above picture should be self explanatory kan kan kan

Dan yang ini the simplest and easiest thing to remember. Checklist is crucial when you are traveling for more than 5 days. For me, journal is equally important for write in anecdotes, snippets or ideas that pop out during your trip. 5-10 year along the road, bila buka and baca balik, it will make you smile of the little thing that you write, doodle or sketch init. 

Trust me :).

#langkawi

L A N G K A W I

Yup. 

An island situated on the far north of Malaysia. There are 2 ways to reach this mystical island (yup, forgot to tell ya, it's an ISLAND). First, you can drive from any point of origin and park your vehicle at either Kuala Kedah Jetty (North-South Highway, Exit Alor Setar Utara) - the ferry ride (cost about RM24 one way) would take approximate 1h 30m. OR you drive further up and park at Kuala Perlis Jetty. The ferry ride (cost RM18 one way) from there shall take around 45 minutes.

Or you can take the flight. quite a number of airlines fly to langkawi nowadays range from MAS, Airasia, Firefly, Malindo Air. Take your pick. The airfare would be very much depend on the season - low season would be slightly cheaper and peak season could cost you more. alah, rajin2 la hog the airlines website for promotion. you can get as cheap as RM20 you know. if you are lucky, that is. 

Anyway, back to my topic. I have recently went to Langkawi for a good 6 days and 7 nights stay. Cenang was the preferred location as there are abundant of activities you can join and everything is within walking distance. The night life too is bad either especially if it's holiday and weekend. I stayed at The Cabin, situated next to the Underwater World and i must say this: it was a perfect location with great lodging facilities. Though it is not beachfront, the location and exterior is just nice and inviting. Plus, the room is super clean and equipped with IKEA furniture; makes you feel as if you stay in IKEA showroom - cuma xde meatball je lah. hahah. 

MAKAN | WHERE TO EAT

Hmm. this is a very interesting topic but can be quite tricky in approaching it. Mainly because all of us have different appetite, tastebud, preferences etc. etc. So, this is my take on where to eat, what to eat, when to eat at Langkawi.

1. Wonderland - my go to place whenever i visited this island. I first tried it when I was assigned on 2 weeks working trip at Langkawi International Dialogue. There, I got to know this fella whose from the island and he introduced to this humble restaurant. It is a chinese restaurant but halal. And, it's a place for local. 

First rule of thumb when traveling: GO WHERE THE LOCAL EATS. So, there you go. 

For this trip, We ordered (there were five of us):

1. Sotong goreng tepung (Deep fried battered squid)

2. Udang lipan Kam Heong (Kam Heong Mantis Prawn)

3. Ketam cili (Chili crab)

4. Kerapu stim limau (Steam garoupa with lime sauce)

5. Ketam Lembut goreng (Deep fried soft shell crab)

6. Sayur cap cai (Mix vegetables in oyster sauce)

7. Air asam boi (lime juice)

AND for tapau;

8. Mee hailam

9. Nasi goreng cina

---------------> THAT, FOR THE COST OF RM180.00 *sila nanges. murah gila. 

but enjoy these pix yea. unedited and mostly random from my many many many many trips to langkawi (more than 10 times i think)

I am going to let the pictures do the talking. I'll add description below it and narrate interesting story behind it. 

For normal islands hopping, the cost vary from rm30-50. Hmm depending how luck u r. Hehek so, wise to do some research.

This was at Pulau Beras Basah. You won't miss it cos it's included in the package for Islands Hopping. Apart from Beras Basah, you'll get to go to Pulau Dayang Bunting and witness feeding frenzy with them eagle.

Isle hopping kicked off with pulau beras basah for skinny deep, Pulau Lang for feeding frenzy with the eagles n Pulau Dayang Bunting. 

Feeding the eagles with chicken skins. It was a spectacular show.

At pulau beras basah (pbb), you can swim and normally the guide would allocate 45 min for some skinny dipping. Beautiful and secluded beach. Depending on the package, some tour would provide buffet + bbq lunch at pbb but its gonna cost u more.

So, bring some dry clothes yall!

After pbb, we went to pulau lang to feed the eagles. Well, not exactly. The guide would b thrwing the chicken meat on the sea

Next, we went to pulau dayang bunting (pdb) or isle of pregnant maiden. Pdb, legend has it that a couple from different realm met and fell in love. They married and the wife was pregnant. 7 days after delivery, the child tragically died. They buried the child at the bottom of the lake to forever immortalize the baby. 

This is where i found the story:

Now, onto fact: the lake was formed from the ruined of huge cave collapsed thousand years ago and water started to fill in the crater.

Now, here's some breathtaking view of PDB:

Below: Cable car ride to Gunung Mat Chincang:

The above are the pictures taken from Gunung Mat Chincang. It's the island latest attraction. and you gotta go to Oriental Village for it. Then, hop on the cable car to reach the top. If you are lucky and there's no cloud, you'll get to see Thailand from there.

 

This is Mahsuri Tomb. The legendary story fame for her beauty and the central character of Langkawi itself. You cannot skip from visiting the mausoleum and the tourists site built in honor of Mahsuri. 

Above: the view behind the airport. A must visit spot for food hunter. every day at about 2pm onwards, you'll get to eat from the mobile truck which specializes in Rojak Campur, Laksa Ayer Hitam, Laksa Penarak and Cendol. My personal favorite is Laksa Power mobile truck. Look for it. A cosy place and you'll get to eat facing the sea. Bliss.

 

These 3 pix are taken at Mutiara Beach Resort. A private resort but we sneaked our way in just to see what's the fuss is all about. Well, beautiful beach, very calm and private. Nice, like any other beaches all over Langkawi. Heh.

PANTAI TENGKORAK (SKULL'S BEACH)

Pantai tengkorak is a beautiful beach. Secluded n unique in its own way. To get there, take road to the Datai. You wont miss it.

So, how did pantai tengkorak (PT) got its name? At PT you'll clearly see Koh Tarutao, an island own by Thailand. In the 1930s the island served as locked up for criminals. And the island was infested by sharks and salt crocodiles. Any criminals tried to escape and swim, will be eaten alive and killed by sharks and crocs surrounding the island. So all the remains and skeletons of these unfortunate souls were washed away and reached this beach. Hence, the name. I know, creepy. And, there's also scary tale surrounding the beach area especially those who camp there. Yup, campsites are available too.

 

TIPS: Near Pantai Tengkorak, there's Ibrahim Hussein museum up the hill. Anther gem and for artsy partsy people, you just gotta go and visit it. Awesome in it's way. We were not allowed to take photos from inside, so what you have here are the pics from the outside hehe. Like below: