Pangkor Island

The other Pangkor Island

We had been ogling at the Island across the water for months, as if it were the jewel in the crown of Perak – an unattainable holiday destination for those of us with ostensibly too much time on our hands, but in reality too many boat jobs to take care of. We had also watched, with mild envy, posh-looking holidaymakers being whisked away by private boat from their private day beds in their private waiting lounge to nearby Pangkor Laut.

However, the truly popular holiday destination is Pangkor Island – a hotspot for second homes and a haven for bargain hunters where people can stock up on duty-free goods. And it is just a short ferry ride away from Marina Island, our home since arriving in April 2025. So, in mid-September, we stumped up RM44 return (around £8)  and decided to take a look for ourselves.

The arrival terminal is bonkers. Pink taxis are everywhere and will gladly give a tour of the hotspots for around the equivalent of £20. We (well, I), acknowledging that we had spent the last few months being significantly less active than usual, decided to see some of the sights on foot.

On the way up to the Dutch Fort, we came across a troop of very territorial long-tailed macaques. You can tell he’s a bad ‘un by his eyes. I think if I had hung around for much longer than it took to take this photograph, he would have had my eyes out.

Dutch Fort

One of the top tourist attractions at Pangkor Island is the Dutch Fort, originally built in 1670, flattened by the locals in 1690 because they took umbrage at these Dutch folks pillaging their tin, and rebuilt again in 1743. It was later reconstructed in 1973 as, I believe, a monument to colonial resistance and trade history. What you see below is it. Frankly, we were expecting something a lot bigger. Maria, in the photo below, is checking her phone to see if we made a mistake.

Island Tour

Taking on board feedback from my wife, concerning sore feet and inappropriate footwear for a continued exploration on foot, we slowly and quietly walked back into town and negotiated a 3-hour tour with one of the taxi drivers, receiving a bit of a discount for excluding the Fort.

Frankly, it wasn’t the most riveting of tours. It went something like this:

“This is where the Chinese live”.

“This is where the Indian’s live”.

“This is where the Malaysian’s live”.

“This is a school”.

I think at this point we realised no in-depth cultural revelations were forthcoming.

We continued our tour with a visit to a fish processing plant. I have no photos of that because we want to forget about it. Then we stopped to take a photograph of this beach:

After that, he drove us to the impressive Fu Lin Kong Temple. Like Marina Island, it too has a concrete zoo.

Our next stop was what our driver said was the Chinese House. It is certainly that in style, but what he neglected to mention is that it is actually a mosque – the Masjid Al-Khairiah. I thought something was up when we were guided to a room to dress up in robes before entering the building.

The mosque, rebuilt to this design in 2017, is stunning both inside and outside.

And that was our penultimate tour destination. Our driver then took us to Daddy’s restaurant for lunch and a paddle in the sea before dropping us back off at the ferry terminal.

I’m glad we did it, but as the saying goes, “Anticipation is sometimes more exciting than actual events.” – Ana Monnar.