weekend in pangkor

in my dreams....


but in real life, we were here....

...at pangkor island beach resort.

it was more like an impromptu decision. a toss-up between penang & singapore, & pangkor was the compromise. there was to be no plan nor agenda - just a 3-day getaway to frolic in the sand, sea & sun.

the drive was slowed down by the sheer volume of traffic as well as roadworks on the highway. after a brief lunch-break at teluk anson, we finally reached lumut.

parked at the town council multistory carpark (RM10 per day) near the jetty, before waiting for the boat-ride....

after a fairly comfortable 30-min ride (ie. no one puked), we reached pangkor island where the hotel bus was waiting for guests.

was the welcome a fantasy island rip-off, or what?

however, i didn't recall seeing a short man yelling out, "the boat! the boat!"

after settling in, we were off to the pool. i haven't swam for ages, & i still can't. i mean, i can't swim gracefully, so there was more splashing than forward movement. the boy remained in the kiddies pool. too bad there was no slide, or he would have loved the pool even more.

the buffet dinner spread was unbelieveably sumptuous. the last time i've seen anything this lavish was at club med cherating. this certainly gave credence to the suspicion that some people "live to eat". my personal favourite was the lamb chops with mint sauce....umm...umm! *pats on tummy*

ditto the morning buffet breakfast. we decided to do do a little trek of our own, just the girl & i, as they didn't conduct the treks on a daily basis, but we didn't get far as this was unfamiliar territory. besides, does this look like someone who's all fired up for some serious trekking??

i did tease her that she was attired like she's going for a photo shoot, & i didn't think she took that well. ha ha.

in the meantime, the boy was making merdeka cakes with the other kids.

would you like a slice for tea?

(er.... i'll pass!)

the resort is a sanctuary of sorts for a family of hornbills....

....who are fed in the evening.

where there's beach, there's sand, & where there's sand & kids, there will be "sand sculptures".

were these the remains of jericho's walls??

the boy laboured on his own into the sunset.

it rained for the 1st time the next morning. we amused ourselves over the foosball table - a game i had not played for decades & the kids had never been near one. by lunch time, we were on the boat back to lumut.

i think nobody ever left without at least buying some seafood products from the many stalls that front the jetty.

on the way home, we were caught in the queue of other like-minded returning travellers. the roadworks didn't help & an overturned lorry near bukit beruntung left a trail of irate drivers crawling over 20km!!

that's merdeka weekend for you!