Circling Pangkor Island in 1/4 Day

This 2200 hectare island is the biggest island in Malaysia state of Perak.

Pangkor is a nice tourism visit, but not for me. Since my village is just beside of the island, there's no point to me to rent an inn in this island. If there is a bridge connecting the Peninsular mainland with Pangkor, I just want to travel with my own car since this is just a small island. There are 3 ways to come here:

• Take a boat from Lumut Jetty at RM18 for round-trip. After 45 minutes, you will land on Sungai Pinang Kecil Jetty and then Pekan Pangkor Jetty 20 minutes later.
• Take a ferry cruise from Marina Jetty at RM10 for round-trip. After 10 minutes, you'll land on those 2 points on the island.
• Book a flight from the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport. Expensive; almost no people will choose this option, so the airport is clear from people.

When you travel to Lumut by car, you'll notice 'P' sign (parking) on a building just several yards from the Lumut Jetty. I think that when I park my car in nearby mosque, I can avoid the park fee. Just find out that there is no free parking area nearby the jetty, even the mosque I used to park my car charges me RM10 for full-day parking. As an alternative, you can come to Lumut by bus.

Quite cold when I'm in this boat. Never expected that nowadays boat have air conditioner. 

Although longer journey compared to the Marina trip, i.e. 40 minutes against 10 minutes, still worth for me as I can see my village from the sea. The reality is I am not well prepared for this trip. This is my 2nd time I go to Pangkor, so I use my previous experience travelling to there during I was a kid - about 20 years ago. Plus, I just started crawling the Internet about this island during the take-off, haha. Hence, when you read this article, I am very confident that you'll make the decision to take off to the island from Marina Jetty after this as this option is the faster and cheaper travelling.

Royal Malaysia Navy Base can be seen if travel from Lumut.

According to my skim on Pulau Pangkor in the Internet at that time, I wish to rent a motorcycle (RM30++/day) if I want to circle the island in a short time. You can also rely on the rented car (RM70++/day) or the van cab (random price but per destination) to go through the island. I make 2nd mistake by landed at the Sungai Pinang Kecil Jetty; where I see Chinese dominate this village. In order to rent a motorcycle, you must land at Pekan Pangkor Jetty as all the tourism service is in there. Sungai Pinang is only a fisherman village. Supposedly, I just waiting for another boat to bring me to Pekan Pangkor at no charge, however the jetty cashier kindly help me by contacting a rented motorcycle service so that they can send the motorcyle to this jetty. By received the motorcycle, the Sungai Pinang Kecil Jetty become my first node. The journey begins.

I ride Modenas Kriss motorcycle. The rented motorcycle usually is not in the best condition. Same goes with the rented car.

When you see the map, it is possible to circle the island by road. So, I head south first to Pekan Pangkor to fill up the tank and then head west. Before I head to west, I finish my trip to south first by heading towards Teluk Gadung where the Dutch Fort and Batu Bersurat (Inscription Rock) placed.

The Dutch Fort

Dutch Rock Inscription

Floating Mosque Pangkor Island

Most of Pangkor attractive places are in the west of the island. Pasir Bongak Beach is the first place I come after finish crossing the island westward. The beach become the point to crossing the strait towards Pangkor Laut Island, where many luxury inns are located. That beach also provide circling the island by boat at RM200. Instead of this beach, several beach at the west of the island also provide attractive services like snorkeling at RM20/head.

Pasir Bongak Beach. Opposite site is Pangkor Laut Island.

Teluk Nipah Beach.  Opposite site is Giam Island and Mentagor Island.

The stalls sell foods at cheap prices. While the island living supplies depend heavily from the mainland, the island locals only produce marine products such as fish, squids, prawns, etc.

Pangkor Island airport. It can't be said that it's not in use anymore. For anyone who getting here by flight, this is the platform for you to land.

Finishing travel along the west coast of the island from south to north, I ride eastward and then go southward along the east coast to back to Pekan Pangkor, the point where I supposedly to start. Nothing special at the north and the north-east side; you will be crossing the forest with lower gear as the road is always in high elevation there.

Before I leave the island, surveying Pekan Pangkor. People across the island will come here as this town has facilities like banks, petrol stations, mobile top-ups,  clinic and the police station to lodge the report. 

Pekan Pangkor Jetty

Only with the 40 minute boat trip to and from the Lumut Jetty you can enjoy this scenery; a Malaysian navy base located at Lumut town, the mainland side.

Less than 6 hours I take to travel (read: survey) whole island. Instead of this island, the state of Perak also has numerous tourism place such as the leaning tower Teluk Intan, Royal Belum Rainforest, Gua Tempurung, Zoo Taiping and Night Safari, and its capital, Ipoh. Happy holidays at Perak!