Ah you want to go to Pangkor...? That was the response from nearly every local I talked to in bars in Kuala Lumpur. They seem to have a knowledge of it but none seemed to have been there before. I left Kuala Lumpur and the madness of China town on the 16th to head towards Pangkor a little island on the west coast. I woke up early and scuttled about trying to pack things up as I had a few drinks the night before I didn't feel to cracky.

Having checked out I asked where the bus station was and got on my way, the station was only about 5 minute walk form the hostel and I was just glad to be out of there. I entered the station and was confronted by about 4 ticket salesmen, basically each company has their salesmen on the floors trying to tout business. I went to the cash machine and drew out a good amount of money as I thought that Pangkor might be a little remote for ATMs.

A young tout who strategically positioned himself by the information booth (Good move ) took me upstairs to find his company he sorted my ticket and even brought me to the gate where the coach would arrive, he was very helpful it would have taken me an age to find all this and more than likely I would have missed the bus.

Waiting at my coach stand I went over where I would stay on the island and what I would expect, maybe a little problem I have were I look into my destination too much I think it's a solo travel thing. I got some snacks for my trip and was served by a delightful one armed man who insisted on packing the back for me I could have been decent and just said no.

My ticket took me to Lumut a small bay area that allowed tourists to get a ferry straight to the Island itself, Having walked about and scoped I saw the ticket office and got a return ticket for about £2. One thing I have noticed is that public transport is cheap as chips and takes you a lot further than it should do. Once on the the ferry I sat on the upstairs deck and put on some music and chilled while the boat waited to depart. Once away the boat was pretty speedy it took around 15-20 minutes to come to the jetty. "Taxi taxi" The first words and usual words when the locals see me, but I had an understanding of where my destination was and walked it myself. I arrived at my hotel and expected a repeat of the Red Dragon but I was surprised at the hotel itself. The owners were a young Chinese couple who offered me a double room at about £35 which was steep but probably one of the cheapest on the island, a lot of the hotels on the island are catered for honeymoon couples. Having checked in i opened the door expecting a giant cockroach to stand his ground but I was greeted by a lovely clean room and my own bathroom!! My words were "I could eat my dinner of this floor" I could also have done this in the Red Dragon, if I wanted to catch malaria and die like Matt from my previous post.

I got settled in and had a little sleep to catch up from the travel earlier that day that took around 4 hours, five max. I awoke and decided I'd head out! I was shocked.. The bustling jetty area filled with shops and places to eat was closed at 9!! So i ventured further down from my hotel to find a little road side food stand. I sat down and asked for my usual BEER and I ordered Chicken noodles of some sort in a soup with loads of weird things in, this is the only way I could explain it to be honest. I continued to eat while the owners children watched a tv show that actually enthralled me, it was some kind of whacky game show but none the less I saw and watched while I devoured noodles into my mouth.

I finished and really wanted to see the beaches that I came here for that night, but the owner told me that the beaches were too far to walk, I took his advice and walked towards the beach ;) He was right in the end I turned around and walked back towards the jetty area and had a little walk about and retired defeated.

The next day I decided to hire a moto (Scooter ) to see the island in all it's glory I was very happy I did so! I had considered getting a taxi to the beach and back but for £11 I got a scooter and went off exploring. My scooter a little blue Yamaha which had a Sonic the hedgehog sticker on the front was my weapon of choice! It was a lot faster than I thought and I found myself bombing along the beautiful jungle roads heading towards all the places I wanted to see.

I started with the beaches and went between the three which were Turtle bay, Nipah Bay and my favourite Coral bay a really relaxed part of beach with constant boat trips setting off to the island off pangkor, you could swim it if you wanted to but people seemed to pay to go over. I spent about 3 hours here soaking up some sun and sitting at the beach shack that served drinks. I was now in paradise the streets of Kuala Lumpur were now getting forgotten, the one thing that surprised me was the sea walking into it was like walking into a hot bath I was looking for a cold tap! I had been in nice beaches in Greece etc but never felt this kind of heat from the sea!

I headed out on the bike again, the island itself could be covered in about 30 mins so this really gives you a feel of the size of Pangkor Island. I drove around little quiet jungles roads and it was impossible to get lost as there was only one main road connecting the whole island. On my way I spotted a group of monkeys chilling out eating a giant watermelon, my initial shout was "F**k me monkeys!!!" I turned the bike and came back to them to have a natter I honestly thought about chucking them my Kiwi I had bought earlier but decided not to as they had that watermelon to get through to be fair.

I travelled around the island stopping to take photos and generally taking in the sites and stopping as much as I could, the roads where a bit racey and you felt as if you were in the isle of man TT taking corners tight. I caught up with a young lad who was carrying some barrels and fancied himself but he wasn't a match for the blue Yamaha with the sonic sticker. I covered near enough every part of the island before I decide to do another tour up to the beach (coral bay ) On the way I stopped for some food at a nice little restaurant if you want to call it that. I asked for some fried rice and went mad and bought a crap too. Sitting down to the feed I was attacked by every insect you can think of all that for a crap, I must have peeled the bloody thing for an hour for about a mouthful of meat! Messy wasn't even the word but I soldiered on fighting of attack after attack by flies and ants. On finishing I talked to the local owner whos mother didn't speak English at all and needed translation. We talked about the fact I wasn't married at 25 like a good Malaysian should be and the ins and outs of island life. One question was asked that shocked the old mother and that was the price it cost me to get here, it was safe to say she nearly collapsed when I converted the amount in pounds to Ringgits. I got on my way and beeped and got waved off before I went up to coral bay for another dip in the beautiful sea. I headed back and decided to take in the Dutch fort an old outpost for the dutch way back before the Malays attacked. It was weird to see this almost normal looking building plonked in the middle of palm trees with endless taxi coming with tourists.. I would have been pretty annoyed if I had of paid for taxi to see a few bricks and a cannon but each to their own.

I took the scooter back dumped it and headed home to the hotel at about 6. Again another day of travelling about ( Which was made so much easier by the scooter) had tied me out and I returned to my room as I had a long day of travelling ahead tomorrow.

Next George town.