Pulau Pangkor 24 dec 2013

In December I took leave from work and managed to get a long holiday during the Christmas holiday.  We decided to go back to Kedah as Tokwan was already fussing and calling almost every day asking when we're going home.

On our way back we decided to bring you guys to Teluk Intan to see the famous water tower - Malaysia's very own leaning tower (no less!).  We took the normal shortcut through Genting Highlands and this was the weather and scenery that day - 24th December 2013.

Misty and foggy all the way - and dangerous for driving.  It was also quite cold.  So we didn't stop at the usual mamak restaurant for a break.

Instead, we stopped in Tanjung Malim - the famous town for a teaching institution - now known as University Pendidikan Sultan Idris.  We stopped at a mamak restaurant there for lunch and ice-cream.  And they don't build halls like the one in the picture anymore.

Then we continued our journey.  It was a very hot day - unlike on the highlands. This here was at the RnR to relief ourselves.  I like the place, it's clean.

It was a good 6 hours before we finally arrived and saw the tower! And yup, it was tiring.  There's an exposition going on around the tower and of course, a lot of people.

And a picture or two at the main entrance of course is a must! The notice board told a brief history on the tower and the person and engineer responsible to build it.  Teluk Intan (formerly Teluk Anson - there's a bay and the name of the British Resident there was Anson) was a colonial town for shipping tin (err... I think).

It was a wooden water tower and it was still sturdy. The area inside was quite small but still managed to accommodate many tourists.

This was in front of a well inside the tower.  People threw money into it.  There was only one stairways to go up and down. So, everybody had to wait their turn.

This was on the second floor of the tower. People could go out to the balcony to enjoy the view.

That's the water tank - once used for supplying water to the surrounding area.  This was the late 19th/early 20th century engineering.  No one was allowed to the third floor though.  They locked the stairways.

I'm not sure whether it's really leaning to one side because this picture wasn't straight.

And we enjoyed ourselves at the exposition too.  There were so many things on sale. I bought 10 tudung bawal. Hihihi...  And we stopped at a few other stalls. Papa was chatting to one of the stall owners and decided that we should go to Pangkor Island.  It was about 4pm, quite late.  But he wanted to go there still.

The jetty in Lumut town.  Very different from 1996 when Papa and I first came here with Tareeq in my tummy.  The ticket price was rm5 each for two-way trip.  The last ferry departs Pangkor Island at 8.30pm every day. So we still had time.  There was also an exposition there. What is it with Malaysians and expositions? Cheap stuff I tell ya! Loads of cheap stuff.

Papa needed to reload his caffeine intake. Hahaha... Nina and Asha were good at acting.

Finally we're on board. Lots of tourists too.  Luckily we got ourselves some seats.  The boat ride passed the Royal Malaysian Navy and the fleet stationed there.

Getting comfy.

Most people opted to go out on the deck and enjoyed the scenery.  And so we joined them.

The fishing village on the island.  After these pictures, the camera's batteries ran out of life.  And my phone was low on battery too! 

Zoey was excited.  We finally arrived after about 30 minutes of ferry ride.  There were many taxi and rental car operators luring tourists for a ride.  We took the taxi because Papa was too tired to drive and we didn't know our way around the island.  Good decision because we wouldn't know where to take you guys fast because it's also getting dark.

The Dutch Fort was the first.  It wasn't this beautiful then. I bought batteries here.  Phew! 

 But it was still the same old fort despite the different surrounding.

These dried pufferfish were on sale. Zoey found an old (newly painted) cannon nearby.

The pufferfish were quite expensive.  Taking their pictures was cheap though.

Then the taxi driver took us to a chinese temple.  I don't remember how it looked like 18 years ago.   Luckily there are things that children can enjoy there.  Everybody had a good ride!

The slide was also an attraction, including to Nina. Anyway, she was stuck halfway though. Hahaha... Berat la tuuu...

 

 

There was also a pond there, with slimy green thing inside.  There were also fish in the pond.

 

 

A shelter next to the pond resembles a setting in Chinese/Hong Kong Kung Fu/Shaolin movies. 

After this the driver took us to the dried seafood factory which I declined at first.  Then I remembered that he needed to earn his living too and from my previous experience working with Papa's late mom at her tour agency, they'll get some monetary tokens from the owners of the tourist attractions for bringing tourists there.  So, we relented and we did buy some dried cuttlefish. Sedap jugak!

 

Then, we moved on to Pantai Teluk Nipah. I remembered it was a tranquil and isolated beach. But what we found was a very busy beach resembling Pantai Chenang in Langkawi with soooooo many foreign tourists and a night market busy serving them. And thus, we found us some seats and started ordering Char Koay Teow while Zoey was busy exploring the beach.  The food was nice. And we were also very hungry.

So, we ended our trip there with full tummy.  It was different, yes.  But we may not go back there soon. But then, who knows.

So, we continued our journey back to Kedah and arrived at Maktok's house around 12.00 midnight. I drove mostly, because Papa was very tired.