Pulau Pangkor

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18 to 19 November

We had a lot of time left and not much more of Malaysia to see before we could enter Thailand (stupid visa rules). We never planned to go to Pangkor, but after reading in the Lonely Planet that the government was promoting it as one of the country's top destinations, we thought a few days on a beach wasn't a bad idea indeed.

To get there we had to take two buses and then a ferry (not a problem after the trip to the Cameron Highlands!). Once again we had not booked anywhere to stay. The taxi dropped us on the 'budget' beach and off we set walking up and down looking for a place to stay. We were not blessed with the knowledge that it was the equivalent of our schools' six week holidays, which meant everywhere decent was full and the other places were horrible. We were hot, had aching backs from carrying our bags and tethers were coming to an end - then luckily we found the Seagull Beach Resort (which happened to be down a dirt track and nowhere near the beach). The owner was a hilarious Chinese guy who was so proud that he personally was mentioned in the Lonely Planet and told us how he thought we looked like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with our bags on our backs!!!! He asked if we were Christians and if we liked seafood, to which we answered we have been christened and yes, we do like seafood - hmmm, where was this leading? Next thing he was inviting us out to dinner with him and his pastor friend (errr, did we mention we don't believe in God?!!!!). He told us we would just have to sit there and talk church, and eat some good seafood.

Not feeling particularly sociable, Marissa was given the job of telling him we were not going - so we spent the whole day trying to avoid him, then broke the news to him later that afternoon!!

Pangkor wasn't quite the paradise we had expected, and we were rather disappointed. It seemed to be trying, but not hard enough. We went out for tea that night to find lots of yummy fresh fish and seafood on offer, but it was all covered in flies - not just the odd one, loads of 'em. Eventually we found somewhere with not so many flies (but still flies were present), ate some food and went to bed.

The next day we went for a walk to the next beach called Coral Bay. The beach there was lovely and there was hardly anyone on it (see photos). On the walk up we heard a rustling in a cardboard box (there was lots of rubbish everywhere) and it turned out to be a monitor lizard munching away - oh well, someone was happy! We hadn't brought our beach stuff so after walking around for a while we headed back to get changed and get the frizbee (the most important thing when we go to any beach). We decided to have a few beers on the beach to blur the edges, then the heavens opened - so much for paradise!

On the way back we saw a group of hornbills sat on the telephone wires - the same birds we felt so lucky seeing just one of on the river cruise. Some locals we throwing bread in the air to them and them were swooping down and catching it - we threw some to them and it was quite amazing seeing them so close.

That night we decided to brave one of the restaurants (we were a bit tipsy - Dutch courage) and went for a barbecued fish, which was actually really nice (we picked the flies off - only kidding!). After that we headed home, as we were leaving early the next day for Penang.

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