Dec 9, 2010 - Pangkor #2

Have spent the last two days beaching, hanging out at the hotel, checking out the town, eating, sleeping reading... been indulging in the laziness of this small, very beautiful island. I am staying at a great guest house Narzi Nipah Camp. It has a quaint little reggae bar and a great common area so everyone hangs out in the evenings and there are all different nationalities and all really great people. I am here with Meg and Greg from the UK. Meg finishes her trip in a week, home for christmas and Greg is on to New Zealand. Amanda and Zac...

Dec 7, 2010 - Pangkor

I have finally become a morning person!The time different between Malaysia and Australia has made it that I woke up this morning at 6am! (10am Australian time) none the less Im getting tied early and waking early!... Well i did for 1 day... When I left the hotel this morning Chinatown seemed unrecognisable. The night markets were packed up and there was actually a road where there had not been one the night before. I wandered down and found some little market with locals buying there fruit, veg, meat, seafood and breakfast. I pick up a nice...

Feb 1, 2010 - To the beach

If you're heading down from the mountains and back to the heat, you may as well head for the beach! As we arrive at the ferry port to take us to Pulau Pangkor (Pangkor island) there is a boat disgorging what seems to be hundreds of passengers with massive amounts of luggage. "Are you sure this is the quiet, locals island?" we both asked ourselves without saying anything. Once we disembarked our ferry, our pink mini cab driver drove us to Teluk Nipah, our home for the next few days. "Is there even anyone here?" we both asked ourselves...

Nov 7, 2009 - Ipoh

I hadn't originally intended to come to Ipoh, the original plan was to head off to the Perhentian Islands but that idea was aborted upon arriving at Kuala Besut and the witnessing first hand the torrential rain; it was no surprise when I was told that the ferry services had been suspended for two days and with no let up in rain being forecast it was best to move on. So after a quick consultation with the guidebook I'm off for a day or two to see the colonial architecture of Ipoh. I landed on my feet with my choice of guesthouse, the...

Mar 6, 2008 - Pangkor Island

We left Cameron Highlands on the 8am bus, stopping at Ipoh, where we got a connecting bus from there to Lumut to catch a ferry over to Pangkor Island. My (Juliet) friend Emma (Stiles) who lived in Lumut for a while a few years back had mentioned how lovely the island was, so we thought we might as well pop over! After buying a return boat ticket for 10 Ringits we got the 2.15pm boat from Lumut which took about 20 minutes to get to the island. We got a bright pink taxi from there to our hotel in Nipah Bay, which took about 15 minutes, and...

Feb 25, 2008 - Feb 18-25 - Pulau Tioman...Well almost

We decided to hit up the east coast and venture to Tioman Island which consisted of catching various buses to the small fishing town of Mersing. Upon arrival (at 3am) we had no clue where to go & no budget to get a place to crash. So we pulled an all nighter at a local restaurant thinking we could sleep on the ferry & then the beach! We ate, drank, and played cards for as long as we could then headed to the jetty. Around 7am we met a girl from KL who was waiting for the ferry as well...however she kindly informed us that she had been...

Jan 29, 2008 - Ipoh

We arrived in Ipoh a few hours late to catch the bus into the Cameron Highlands. No worries! Off to the YMCA for a pleasant night's stay. (OK, I'll admit that I was leery when Kyla suggested the Y, but in my defence, I didn't really know that they had actual private rooms and stuff. For some reason, I thought it was where drunk old scary men went to crash. My bad. And sorry for any kind of reputation impingment, Y.) We then caught the 11:00 am bus to the Cameron Highlands, except that we didn't. We missed it by ten minutes, because we...

Oct 18, 2007 - Suka Suka, Kuala Kangasar, Malaysia.

We arrived by boat to a Muslim island retreat near Kuala Kangasar and we stayed for 2 days in a cabin. During the boat ride it started to rain and it hurt because it was so heavy. We were soaked through when we got to our cabins. We all burst out laughing because it was just so unreal. It was so hot but it was pelting down rain at the same time. For the last 2 weeks here there has been celebrating a sort of New Year and they all have open houses where people call and the host is oblighed to put out tea, coffee and biscuits for their guests....

Sep 14, 2007 - PANGKOR ISLAND

Left KL today for Pangkor Island. We had to catch a 5hour coach ride to Lumut and then a ferry over to Pangkor. The island is really nice with monkeys and hornbills everywhere, only thing is that it is out of season so a lot of places are closed. Staying here for 4 days to sunbath and chill out.

Aug 26, 2007 - Ipoh

We stayed in Tanah Rata an extra night because it was so quiet and relaxing there. On our last day Charlotte went on another trek over 2 mountains but I took the morning to sleep in. We caught a bus out of town at 6pm to Ipoh, 3 hours away. It wasn't that bad until the kid in front of me got sick everywhere and then we couldn't wait to get off. But once we got to Ipoh we didn't know there were like a dozen different stops and we had no idea where to get off. We kept asking the driver and finally he started yelling at us and getting mad...

Apr 27, 2007 - Pankor Island

Another bus and ferry ride over land and water and we arrived at the small vacation island of Pankor...we were only there for two nights, where we stayed in the smallest bungalow yet, a little A-Frame Hut with a mattress on the floor...ahh the luxurious life we budget backpackers live! Spent one of our days on the beach with some fellow Canadians, where we swam across the water to a nearby island...the two guys we met had just arrived, straight from the prairies, so we had a good time telling them about the man eating sharks that Pankor...

Jan 1, 2007 - Pangkor Island

Happy New Year! Like most people, I can't believe 2006 has already come and gone - did it fly by or what? In terms of traveling, it was a banner year for me. My goal was to visit 10 new countries -- and I'm elated to report I visited 11 new ones! In 2006 alone I've been to 22 countries on five continents - how awesome is that? It's mind-boggling when I think about it. Some of them I haven't even written about yet - but I do have a "2006 year in review" video at the bottom of this page, along with a video of this week's destination. It takes...