Tuesday 3rd February, Pangkor Island

Sunday and Monday were bank holidays, one for Thaipusam ("a Tamil Hindu festival celebrated on the first full moon day of the Tamil month of Thai coinciding with Pusam star"), one a "Federal Territory Day". There are apparently many many public holidays in the Malaysian calender, relating to the many shoulder-to-shoulder religions here; I suppose this makes a lot of fun for a lot of people!
The effect on us was that we couldn't book a train to get out of the city on Monday at all, so we arranged a taxi - very comfortable, yes indeed - for the 3 hour trip to the port of Lumuk; and were in our little guesthouse on the west coast of Pangkor island in little over an hour.

This is more like it. Forested terrain throughout the heart of the island, impenetrable, and a few little villages sprawling along parts of the circumference road. Fishing is of course a mainstay of the island's living and of its diet, so the street food stands and 'restarans' offer us plenty of delicious seafood to feast on. With intriguing sauces, of course. Bizarrely, many shops here are jam-packed full of western chocolates and sweets - Cadbury's, Terry's, Snickers, Kitkat, Rittersport, Wrigley's, Tictacs, and many many others - somehow because of its status as a tax free island. They may be 'tax free' but they are the same prices as I might pay in the corner shop at home. Quite a puzzle.

Our room has its own 'swimming pool': a dipping pool carved into the rock, fresh water splashing constantly through. How about that for a surprise?! And a view onto the mountain, and a 200m stroll down a steep hill to the single street at the beach side with its many food and clothing/beachware stands, 'supermarkets' (think corner shop); there are multiple water sports stands and scooter rental places too. It's really nice to be largely ignored by everyone, although we stand out by skin colour, language and general ignorance about how to behave. There are probably many Malaysian tourists in the mix, but - whoever everyone is - it's overall a buzzing place, especially once the evening comes and everyone needs to eat. It feels homely and it's lovely to be amidst families living their normal lives and holidaying here. I rarely saw families at leisure in the UK any more, or children out playing; how dreary (and sad) is that?

The water is warm. The sun is blue. No, that's not right, I mean the sky of course, but cliche is boring so let me change things up a bit as I write; may I?
Monkeys, lizards, hornbills, cats'n'dogs; lots of funny whirry clicky squeaky singy noises in the forest, nonstop, but we can't hear them in the night because the aircon runs constantly and the windows are shut. A mixed sort of a thing really.

We hired a scooter for the first time ever (for MYR40 or £8 a day!) and pootled off to the next village for a snack and a massage (yeah!), a swim and a pineapple juice. Lazy, easy, sleepy, friendly, tasty, jolly, pretty, ... happy. It, I, we, they ... all the above.Read more