Pangkor Island, Malaysia

Pulau Pangkor is an island off the coast of Perak in north-west peninsular Malaysia, reached by ferry from Lumut. It has a land area of only 8 square kilometers, and a population of approximately 25,000 islanders. It is heavily promoted as a low-key tourist destination by the Malaysian government, but fishing and fish products remain major industries. (Source: Wiki)

Though we were not so much interested to visit this place, we had to opt for it due to the unavailability of transportation to the other famous places of Malaysia.

Started from Singapore on Thursday night and reached Lumut in the early hours of Friday after a long journey. Though faced a little problem with the hotel we booked, it was not too late by the time we got settled.

Lumut Ferry terminal

Ferry

Pangkor Ferry Terminal

To be frank, there are barely any places in Pangkor to visit. It's utterly an island which had nothing but few water sports and nice white sand beaches. Even then, we tried our best to make our trip worthy and memorable. Here goes the highlights.

Rented 2 two-wheeler and started exploring the island. This is the first stop. Just a beach side resort.

Me with my bike :)

As told, the island is very small and the motor-able road is encircling the entire island which made our life easier. We came across the 2 famous beaches and the much hyped 'Mini-Great wall of China' and the 'Fu Ling Kong Temple'.

Fu Ling Kong Temple

The Pink Taxis :)

Nice lake and bridge in the temple premises

Main Idol in the temple

Entrance to the mini gate wall of China

Mini Great Wall of China

We have seen the 'Satay Fish', the dry fish factory which it called as. But there is nothing like factory nor hygiene. They are cleaning, drying and processing the Fish in a big hall, pictures captured as below.

The local Fish factory

Cutting

People arranging the Fish for drying purpose

About to pack

The only Hindu temple, which is famous for its Sunrise view.

The temple

Lady preparing Pongal in the premises

The half-Sunrise :(

The clouds

After a tiring day, where we have biked around 100 kms on ghat roads, we decided to rest for the day.


Jungle Trek: When I searched about the island, before going over there, the Jungle trek, which is of medium to high difficulty is often read. So, we decided to go for it. Since the time, we started roaming around, we kept on asking people, where is the trek path as we couldn't find anything such. We tried and gave up on the first day. The next day we don't have anything left to do except water sports or the trek. We decided to try again and finally found one small but closed path leading to the jungle. As we weren't prepared, we decided to go for little long and return back. 

We started going inside and couldn't find anything except an almost vertical hill which we decided to climb. From then on, it was our senses and few red ribbons which lead our way. 

We came across vertical hills, closed paths, path covered with long and thick shrubs, dangerous downward slopes, not the least, the leeches.. what not everything! 

We never done any jungle trek before and we were not planned. we lost our way. Never had hopes when we will be reaching back. No water! No food! Alas... 

Thanks to the other mates, after a search and hike of 4 hours, we finally reached the end point. Exhausted but unforgettable adventure, which made our trip a memorable one again! :)

After the trek, we came back, had freshen up and decided to go for the Snorkeling and island hoping. Here are the pictures.

Monkey Island

The next day, we returned back as we have to travel during the day-time.

Tips for visitors:

1) Go there only if you are interested in the beaches. Beaches are okay if not great.
2) Prepare well before you even think about the trek.