X'mas trip to Malaysia 2010

my 2010 x'mas was spent in Pangkor with family and bro's frens. We were in Malaysia for a 4D3N trip covering Pangkor, Ipoh & KL. Its a short and hurried trip - the main intention was to go Ipoh for bro & audrey's wedding lunch. They held their dinner in Singapore back in Nov-10 but audrey's dad wanted to have one in Ipoh so that his relatives need not come down all the way to Singapore. So, since we are all going up, we might as well do some 'touring'. We chartered a coach and hence begun our customised trip.

We took an overnight coach and headed straight for Pangkor. We reached the jetty at about 7am, about 10 hrs after we left singapore - that included time for supper and toilet breaks in between. Had expected it to be a very tiring one but its better than expected. Whew.

Since Pangkor is a stand alone island about half hour ride away from the mainland. We took a ferry over and started our tour straight away early in the morning.

First stop was breakfast at the town centre. Pangkor town is made up of a short row of shops - very basic. I had the prawn noodles which was yummy. Piping hot cooked food is always good, especially after two weeks of ang moh food in europe.

After the breakfast, we started our sightseeing trip. First stop was to the famed ruins on the island. The old dutch fort. I tot it was really amusing cus it seemed to me like a really small unfinished building, which was conveniently turned into a sad toursit attraction. There was some history behind this but i didnt pay attention to what the tour guide was saying. We took our only group picture for the trip here. There were quite a few kids which made the group livelier.

Then we went off to one of the 2 temples around. Cant remember what temple this is though.

After that temple, we went off to another temple, this time, its by the seaside. Its the Guanyin templet. Got my bro & audrey to take a picture with the word "Pangkor Island".

After the boring sighseeing, we checked into our hotel where we had free & easy for the next few hours before we go boating. So, me, tyre & bro decided to laze by the boring beach - just so that we indulge in the 'beach' culture. i really wasnt into the beach after a long coach ride, but just had to go through the motion of hanging by the beach.

We gathered for the boat ride where Mr Boatman brought us round the island, pointing out sights to us such as what the rocks resembles etc. The highlight of the boat ride was when he dived into the waters to pick up sea-life for us to see. There was the sea urchin, the sea cucumber and corals.

I must admit, Pangkor was quite a let down. I have read about some good reviews about Pangkor island, where one of the world's best resort resides in. But its really a dissappointment. Its even worse than Tioman. I was glad to get off the island the following day.

After Pangkor, we headed straight for the restuarant for the wedding lunch. Wedding lunch was pretty good, Fuzhou cuisine, first time i am eating it. Very filing very tasty. 2 of audrey's frens had a harrowing experience here. Before lunch started, they were loitering outside the restuarant. When they were walking back, a motorist tried to drive inbetween them and tried to snatch one of the girl's handbag. Luckily, she was quick enough to hold on tightly to the bag. So tightly that she fell and the motorist rode away empty-handed. Well, i have heard of stories of fren's fren who got pickpocketed, who got stuffs stolen but never so close.

After lunch, we headed off to KL for our shopping trip & one-night stay. Nothing intersting in KL other than to loiter around aimlessly. The following day, we shopped a bit more and headed home for Singapore. But before that, we have to celebrate Audrey's birthday which falls on boxing day :D

So this concludes the x'mas trip. I think it will be quite a long time before i go back to KL, and likely never to Pangkor.