The Pangkor party

I'll admit it. I thought it was just another resort-island type place. Y'know, beaches, beaches, people trying to sell you boat rides, beaches, and very little else.

But that's not really the case. Hornbills live on Pulau Pangkor. Not sure why this isn't a more heralded fact about the island, but it isn't. It's so not heralded, even me, the conscientious planner, missed it. Maybe that says something unflattering about my planning skills.

Back to the hornbills. They are the Lesser Hornbill, the smaller cousin of Sarawak's Giant Hornbill (apparently you can find those on Pangkor too, but we didn't see any). Apparently, they nest at three locations on the island, and one is Nipah Bay, where our lodgings are conveniently located. What a stroke of luck that we can even see the big tree they nest in from our room windows!

These birds, all dressed up in their black jackets and white trousers, appear to be curious birds, unafraid of getting close to humans. That's perhaps because where humans are, food's aplenty. In the mornings, you'll find them shovelling up thrown-away rice behind the seafood stall with their big yellow beaks, while a cat watches from behind some foliage.

Something else we saw while hanging out the window - the white bellied sea eagle (according to our resident nature guide). We first spotted it gliding around the bay area, but later, in the evening, it was perched on a very tall and very bare tree - save for what looked like a large messy nest. Binoculars - that's what you forgot!

The King of our tribe says when he came to the island decades ago, they used to see turtles nesting. We didn't see any, prob'ly because we were at the wrong beach. Apparently, 4 of the 7 known species of marine turtles that breed in Malaysia breed on Pangkor island. There's even a turtle breeding station, which we didn't visit since we didn't know of its existence.

We did venture out to an uninhabited island, though. The 10 minute ride cost us RM10 per person in a little speedboat. At Coral Island, just opposite Nipah Bay, schools of colourful fishes frolic among soft corals. Boats regularly ferry beach-goers to swim there. Our drop-off point was a small white beach from where you could hike across the island to get to the rocky outcrop where the colourful fishes swim. Along the way, you'll meet new friends from mosquitoes swarms and giant red ants lines. Corals are all around the island, so the sea bed is not particularly pleasant to step on. The worse were the soft squishy stuff. Let's just assume they were sea cucumbers, for peace of mind.

Pangkor is surprisingly hilly and prob'ly quite painful to cycle. We did see one brave caucasian couple attempting it, though. It's also got a bustling fishing industry, away from the tourist spots. Countless fishing wharves sprout from the shore, and on them, thousands of captured sea creatures are left to dry in the sun - the smell is over-whelming but you soon get used to it. Then, there're also ship builders, where it's entirely possible to while the day away observing the proceedings.

For sustenance, you'd think we'd be having seafood feasts. But no, with more than half the food stalls closed on weekdays, it's hard to be impressed with the offerings. What little seafood we had was pretty run-of-the-mill. The food stand at the end of Nipah Bay doles out greatly delicious Ramly burgers, though!

After three days, we leave Pangkor for Ipoh, where the Queen of the tribe purchases a large array of fruits and vegetables, and even a tray of free-range chicken eggs. Can't tell you how those eggs taste since they did not make it past Singapore customs. But it didn't seem so bad compared to the car beside us - it was being relieved of all the pots of beautiful orchids that filled its boot.