My initially dreaded Pangkor trip.

Well, the trip to Pangkor's done with. It's over. What was thought to be a dreaded holiday turned out OK in the end. Eventually, we drove up in our own cars respectively, turned out to be really pleasant drive, though I had to keep a check on my right foot for fear of losing the car behind.

The place was gorgeous thought the company could have been better. No, I'm not spiting my wife's relatives, rather it was a case of being with the wrong company at the wrong place. I mean, there are some places we just wouldn't go with some people. Who goes to some beach party with their parents in tow, right? I'm pretty sure that none of us would have our religious teachers and elderly parents along in such environments.

That being said, we wouldn't have gone in the first place had my wife's aunt not asked us along, though in the end she was following us even if she asked us to go with her. What?

Exactly.

The person being invited to go along on the trip ended up being the leader of the trip. Not that I was complaining, being a Leo and all. So, the trip started at 5am where we met up at the Shell station across the Causeway. After filling up the petrol tanks to full we set off, though, she missed the first turn and we spent 30 mins wandering around JB trying to find each other - thank God for mobile phones! It was then that I found that the aunt, like some women I know, is unable to orientate herself with the unfamiliar roads and reading maps.

After finding each other, we set off for the North-South Highway, our main route to Perak, roughly 550km up north. I find it a challenge driving up north. Drove up to KL twice and Cherating , Pahang, once. Just something about hitting the open road that strikes a chord with me. The trip up north was uneventful for the most part. We made our first "pit stop" in Machap for our dawn prayers and some breakfast for an hour, then continued onwards to our next stop at Seremban for another short stop, just to stretch out those legs and for a quick toilet break. By then, it was 10am and we have covered some 280km.

From there, we hit the highway all the way till Nilai Utara where we left the E2 and continued on the E6 before hitting the E1 all the way to our exit at Bidor. Here was where the fun began. The scenery once we reached Perak was spectacular to say the least. We were basically driving through the meandering valleys. Mountains and cliffs lined the sides of the road. Much like taking a kayak down some river through the mountains. It was that spectacular. Too bad we couldn't stop the car by the side and take pictures.

We missed our 1.45pm ferry to the resort by virtue of getting lost in Perak looking for the right route to Lumut. Can't blame the wife here cos we didn't have proper maps and the road signs in Perak aren't actually that helpful either. We had no way of really knowing where we were and where we needed to be, in the end, with some guesswork and a little luck we did find the place, had some lunch at one of the many eateries lining up the town's roads before boarding the 3.45 ferry to the resort. The ferry took us 30mins but the journey was well worth it. The sights that welcomed us were simply breathtaking.

Once at the resort, I was in awe at the beauty that was staring back at me. No, I wasn't referring to the prtty staff at the front desk, but the place itself. We settled into our rooms and arranged for some transportation to take us to town for some shopping and some food. Not only were the local produce excellent, it was cheap too. To top it all off, the place where we decided to have dinner whipped up some excellent food at prices which almost knocked me off my seat. Yeah, was dirt cheap. Imagine a seafood spread with 8 dishes for 7 people setting us back by only RM70.

Went snorkelling on the second day but the snorkel site was not the best around, I have been to better snorkelling sites around Malaysia and this was not the best place for it. Pulau Payar Marine Park, near Langkawi was better and, of course, the Tioman Marine Park was better as well. But it was the first time the aunt and her son had gone snorkelling so, what the heck, I indulged them a bit here. Towards the end of the day, we hit the town again, but not without some "nice" happenings which I loathe to talk about - mainly because of the stupidity of the episode. Dinner was nice though.

Here are some picture I took of the place: