Pulau Pangkor : Bicycle Trip

I nearly overslept, thanks to Si Hau who woke me up around 5p.m. “Perfect time for bicycle outing!” he said. Xiao Chen’s family didn’t own any bicycle. To solve my problem she crossed the half paved road to her neighbor’s house (apparently, one of her student’s) , walked back with a Mountain Bicycle!

“Pangkor is a really small island, don’t worry!” she told me that, yet again. So off I go, don’t even bodered about map, timing, or even drinking water. “There’s only one main road circulating the island, you won’t get lost for sure!” I thought she told me that sometime, somewhere…


It’s not too difficult to locate Xiao Chen’s house, Kim Chooi Estate off Jalan Pasir Bogak. We actually walked back to her house, about 5 minutes away from the jetty. One obvious landmark must be this school, Sekolah Kebangsaan Seri Pangkor, the first building I saw once cycle out of her housing area.


While most of the Chinese population concentrated at the town area, like those fishers and prawns, the other races seems to have their place on the small island. Minutes into my journey I came across a group of Indian kids playing what i would regard as “broomstick-game”.

Yes, all you need is 2 broomsticks, a long (1 feet) and a short (5 inches) one, an open ground and few crazy kids. Kids like me, 10, 15 years back! It’s amazing that I saw them playing it here, now. I’ve spent some time observing them playing the game, all looks too similar to our-style, maybe it’s uniquely a Perakian game? Or my Indian friends married a Pangkor girls, taught his kids to play this game?

I really wish to play with them, or learn from them. Honestly I’ve forgotten some part of the game, haha! But i don’t want to miss the sunset ahead of me, so I need to move on…


Cycle past some resorts, most of them concentrated on the south-west side of the island. See that pinkish little van? That’s tourist taxi, there must be some 80 of them, according to Uncle Goh. Perhaps when someone is too old to fish, they will turn taxi driver. But do we need hundreds more? What if there is no more tourist?


Sometime we like to fly. Take on four wheel drive or speeding in motorcycle. And, miss this! I couldn’t help but stopping by to take this shot, near Nipah Bay. Sometime it’s not the skills that matters, you just need to be there, at the right place, right time.

Many writers and photographers said every sunset will give you different feeling, different view. Today I’ll be happy to take home this one :)


Not all sights are pleasing, though. I guess I’ve seen at least “ruins” like this along the main road, west side of the island. Not to mention some landside, pretty scary considering the rainy season has just started. I wouldn’t want to complain about the poor workmanship on the road pavement, bad concrete grade on the retaining wall, or they just bricked up the thing…

Forces of nature.


And I imagining Lrong Lim…

It’s blessing when you don’t have to pack yourself in an air-conditioned car, stuck in the heavy traffic jam while driving to work. Alright, it will rain, but we can still find other solutions. But back in Kuala Lumpur, you’ll still stuck in the jam, during daily peak hour. Rain, along with some flashfloods, will turned Kuala Lumpur into a huge carpark.


Mat can simply means “brother” or “mate”, a Malaysian slang. Just in case if you are wondering, Mat Salleh means foreigner, particularly for white American, European, Australian, etc. I'm not sure why myself, but for as long as i could remember, Mat Salleh is Mat Salleh :)


Here is about where when Xiao Chen called me. “Maybe you should turn back, it’s getting late. You’re only half way to the town and the road will be getting tougher.” Sure enough, the terrain along Teluk Dalam stretch is one of the toughest, will up and down hill slope to 45 degree. I finish the last 2 km “borrowing” lights from the motorcycle and car travel along the road. Street lights, if I am lucky.

“Ok, I got it.” That’s how I answered her, actually.


Back home, I found myself watching EPL match with Uncle Goh, after a cooling shower.

This whole trip…couldn’t be better!