Football in a Hammock!!!
Trip Start
Sep 28, 2009
1
9
92
Trip End
Apr 22, 2011
Where I stayed
Pangkor, Perak, Malaysia
Monday, November 23, 2009
Lynne......
We finally dragged ourselves off the sofa in the Cameron Highlands, I think we left 2 Homer Simpson type dents in it! Up early and on the bus heading for Ipoh bus terminal for a transfer to the port town of Lumut. We had packed some sandwiches and a bottle of water for the journey, and watched as the clouds that started off below us slowly raise higher as we drove down through them, it made for some great shots.
We arrived at Ipoh on time and had a 2 hour wait for our next bus, we tucked into our sandwiches and played a few hands of cards to kill time. The bus depot was a large room with about 40 small kiosk type windows all round the edge, in each kiosk was someone trying to sell you a ticket to different destinations. The noise was incredible, it was like being at a cattle auction, I am not sure they even know what they where saying just making a racket to get your attention.
We had a quick journey to Lumut where we boarded the ferry over to the Island, only a 45min journey to the main town. Our destination was Telak Nipah, the Backpacker side of the island. The rest of the Island is big resorts or fishing villages. We needed to get a local taxi over, these where small mini buses all painted pink......very sweet!
Our accommodation for the next week is a wooden tent or A frame as they are called. It is fantastic, we are thinking of putting one in the garden when we get home. The hostel has a great communal area, with different games and loads of hammocks. We had met up with Sam and Talal (from C Highlands) and they put money in for us on our first night for a BBQ. There were a bunch of French guys who had been to the local market and bought a ton of fish, chicken and garlic. They then stuffed each fish and the chicken with about 5 cloves of garlic....we stank the next morning - FRENCH!!!!
We had a walk on the beach the next day and a bit of a swim, the water is emerald green as the rocks have limestone in them. The beaches are sandy and very empty (except on weekends) but sadly there is a lot of rubbish around. The weather hasn't been great we have had rain most afternoons although the mornings are usually bright.....Temp is about 30* but cools off nice in the evenings - humidity is at 90% (ok norm).
We haven't found it a problem watching any Premiership football while we have been out here most towns show it and the only downside is the time we have to stay up until. This place was no exception we had a great TV room and manager was a Liverpool supported so we settled down to watch the 12.45/3pm/5.30pm games. Most people had left to go to bed by the end of the 2nd game and that left us and two hammocks free to watch the Man U game at 1.30am .....we left the TV room at 4am with smiles on our faces and 3 points in the bag........lucky hammocks!!
We had a clear sunny day today so took advantage of the many water sports you can do here by hiring a two person Kayak for the afternoon. We had fun bobbing about in the water before heading off for some adventure. There are two small islands off our shores with secluded beaches on and these sounded like a piece of us. The water was really calm and after a while we both found our rhythm and paddled in time together. The first islands' secluded beach had more people on it than our beach so we carried on round. We are in open sea now and the water got a bit choppier but not a problem for us we where dab hands at this now after 40 mins :0) The next island had a better bit of beach and we dug in and made it to its sandy shores. 20 mins of chilling on the beach before we wobbly got into the Kayak and headed on back. We hugged the coast line on the way back and came across a tree ladened with monkeys. The longer we looked the more monkeys appeared in this tree. Jumping around and eating the fruits, it was great to watch and know that we were far enough out that they couldn't chase me.
24th November 2009
Lynne.......
Weather has improved over the last couple of days and we have had a really hot day today. The called for a morning of serious sun tanning and cooling off in the water afterwards.
With all this seaside feel about the places we stay in you actually forget you are on an island that is still part jungle and has all the same dangerous creatures and animals that the jungle has to offer. This morning there was a commotion down at the reception as a poisonous snake was asleep in the tree by the gate. The owner arrived with a 7ft long stick but I think they decided to leave it be in hope it would go away by itself.
There are also some odd looking, even prehistoric looking birds on this island that we haven't seen before. They are everywhere and make a huge amount of noise at feeding time.
We are off tomorrow to go to another Island called Langkawi, this is a bigger island at the North West coast of Malaysia. This has a lot of tourism as it is a Duty free island.......there is also a rumour that JD is only 8 pound a bottle and beer is cheaper than water :0)........the next blog might have a few HicUps in!!!!
Comments
Hi folks
great new blog and yet again the pics are brilliant.
Wish we were with you the weather at home is dreadful.
Have fun
Luv M&D XXXXX
Hi from Tenarife.We are also swimming and sunning in 30 degrees
love M and D (C)
Hi Guys,
You look like you are still having so much fun, the pictures are great and I can't belive you are still managing to catch the football Lol. Matt's off to Old Trafford tomorrow (Tuesday 1st) for the Spurs Game, first time he's been all season!
Well take care and keep the pics coming,
Love Matt, Claire & Lydia
x x x x