Palau Pangkor

We were supposed to have a meeting Thursday morning in which we were to be told our class schedule, and whether we would even be able to take the classes we want. But, surprise, it was canceled at the last minute.
So we decided to go to the beach instead. I did some hurried research to figure out where to go, how we might get there and whether there would be a place to stay. The best information I could come up with was 'I think we'll be able to figure it out.'
We walked the mile and a half out to the main road hoping that we would be able to catch a bus from there. After about fifteen minutes a bus appeared so we got on, paid five ringgits (3RM=1USD) and settled in for a bumpy, diesel scented two hour drive. The trip was only fifty kilometers (mostly through palm nut plantations), but we stopped often to pick up and drop off people in every little town.

After a brief search, we figured out how to buy ferry tickets to get from Lumut to Palau Pangkor. The side of the island that the ferry took us to didn't have beaches, just rocks, so I convinced the rest of the group that it would be fun to walk the 3km across the island. It was fun, though quite hot, and the occupants of every vehicle that passed stared at us. We got to look at all the little shops and such, but I didn't find the fruit stand that I was looking forward to. We did find the beach.

A little hermit crab I found

The water is much warmer than most I have encountered on US beaches, and I could have stayed in it all day.
Since it is the off season, we were able to get a pretty good price for a room right on the beach, and splitting that five ways made it quite reasonable. A Chinese restaurant provided shrimp, squid, and fried rice for our supper. Though I noble opponent, we defeated it handily.

I got up early Friday morning and went running. Running in sand is much more tiring than I remembered, and by the time I reached the end of the beach I was content to walk back and look at the sun rising over the island. Unfortunately I did not take my camera with me running, and by the time I got it I had missed most of the sunrise.

We ate breakfast overlooking the bay, with some hornbills hanging out nearby. Mopeds provided an attractive transportation option, and they were much cheaper than we expected. In the end we decided that we'd continue on foot, and headed to the next bay.
On the way we stopped at a lookout tower which was inhabited by macaques.

They scattered as we approached the stairs, but once I was in the upper part they returned, along with several others. Apparently I was invading their territory, because they were very aggressive. I pulled off my backpack for use as a bludgeon if necessary and backed toward the railing. This guy with sharp looking fangs was getting really close, so I decided it was time to vacate the premises.

I dropped my backpack to Kevin and jumped over the railing to the ground, monkey-bite free.
Our next stop was a pier that stuck out into the bay. After checking water depth we jumped in a few times.
I tried delay front flips again, and it didn't work nearly as well without an approach. I never hit the water too painfully though, so I deemed it a success.
We also found some crabs chewing on a little cuttlefish.

Walking on the road was boring (and there was traffic trying to drive on us) so we followed the shore instead. Where the sand ended some rocks made it much more interesting. Landon, Ahmed and Berthold decided to go back to road rather than attempt a somewhat dangerous jump, and Kevin and I proceeded alone. We intended to meet again on a secluded, white-sand beach that appeared to be completely abandoned.

Kevin and I jumped and climbed from rock to rock, avoiding slippery ones, and tossing our backpacks over the most difficult jumps.
As we approached the beach some dogs started barking at us. I found a stick in case they were as aggressive as the monkeys. We proceeded with caution, not wanting to disturb someone's beach hideaway, or be torn to pieces by a dog pack. The closer we got the more dogs came out, until about forty or so were all barking at us. At this point we decided it would be best to seek another route, and retreated up the hill into the jungle. As we climbed a guy came out and told us that we should just go along the beach because the dogs were harmless. He had lived in a shelter there by the cove for the past twelve years. I am not sure what he did for money. As we walked we chatted about religion (he used to be Buddhist, now is atheist), America (apparently he studied there at one point) and his dogs (since there is no pound there, about once a month the police come and shoot any stray dogs they find). He told us we were welcome to come back and camp on his beach if we wanted, and showed us an easy way around the point. Which we of course did not take. We were able to scramble over most of the boulders, and took a bit of a detour and climbed up one of the larger ones. In order to avoid swimming, we traversed about twenty feet through a crack between two boulders.

It was pretty intense, especially with a backpack. The crack was just wide enough to brace a shoulder against one side and a hand against the other to avoid falling fifteen feet to the rocks at the bottom. At the end of the crack we chimney-ed down to a handhold that allowed us to drop to the rocks below.
At this point I discovered that there was a lovely cave that would have provided a much easier way than the crack, though also less exciting.

 We took a break in the shade of the cave and drank a little water. At this point Kevin reminded me that the rest of the group was probably wondering where we were. I tried to call Landon, but didn't have any service so we trekked on through the boulder fields that lined the shore.
This cove was asking to be swum in, and we were happy to oblige.

I realized here how awesome this was. Here I was, swimming in my private cove on an island in the Indian ocean, as a result of a spur of the moment trip to the beach! Moments like this have occurred often since I decided to study abroad. Every time I remembered that I was going to Malaysia, I would be like 'Wow! I'm going to Malaysia!' Now that has become 'Wow, I'm in Malaysia!' but it is still just as exciting.
The shoreline became a cliff on the other side of our cove, so we took to the jungle, hoping not to encounter anything poisonous.

A clear spot.

The most common plant had very sharp leaves, serrated leaves that liked to reach out and grab you. Ants were also out it force, making trails up trees and stings on my legs. I preferred climbing sharp granite boulders. I found a bushwacking stick to whack the bushes with, and that made the going much easier.
We beat our way through the jungle until we found a way to scramble down the cliff back to the shoreline. Upon emerging we discovered that the landmark we had been working toward was actually on another island, and we were actually much farther from any sort of civilization than we thought. This didn't bother me in the least, but I thought I should probably let Landon know that we were still alive. He said they were content to wait for us, they had found some fried bananas to eat after a run in with some backpack thieving macaques.
Jumping between, swimming around, and crawling under more rocks brought us to another place where the rock were impassible and swimming would have been necessary to proceed. Fortunately we met a fisherman who directed us to a path through through the jungle.

We made our way toward the rest of our group, stopping often to swim to cool our rapidly reddening bodies.

The shoreline

Once our group was reunited we searched for a place to stay for the night. While wandering around looking at possibilities, we encountered a very odd building of sorts. Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck welcomed passers-by into a some sort of temple.

 Some haggling secured enough beds to go around for a reasonable price, and we set off in search of sustenance. We ordered chicken and squid to go with the ubiquitous rice at another random restaurant, and as usual it was delectable. I also got some laici (lychee) drink because I didn't know what it was, and it turned out to be some really delicious fruit.
I sat on a wall overlooking the bay to watch the sunset, which was, of course, more stunning than I was able to capture.

Saturday I got up early and wandered the beach. I found some nice rocks to sit on and looked at (and photographed) the clouds and ocean and whatnot.

When everyone else woke up we ate breakfast and walked across a sandbar to an island. Kevin and I both found some sort of stinger in our feet, but the pain only lasted about half an hour. There wasn't much to see on the island, so after climbing on some rocks we headed back to the mainland, being careful not to step on anemone.
The bus ride back to UTP was loud and hot, but I had an open window next to me and music to listen to, so it passed fairly quickly. When we got back to campus lots of people were returning from break. Now there are people everywhere instead of just an empty campus.
And now I get to meet people.