Unwinding into 34: Row, Row, Row Your Boat

I think that it's possibly to row a boat around the island but I wouldn't advise it unless your biceps are really strong. There are quite a few boat tour operators around that you can pay for a boat tour around the island. No, this isn't one of the operators but he is quite a handsome fellow. Tried to climb over me, not good, bro. Even if you're handsome like that. We should at least go on a date first.

The Chinese man approached us on our first evening as we were sitting on the beach, soaking in the salty air and made us an offer that we couldn't be bothered to look further. For RM 180, he would take us around the island. Supposedly his Indian competitor charges RM 200 but he gave us a discount of RM 20 since business was going slow.

I haven't been on a boat for the longest time. The ride over doesn't count since I was mostly indoor. Nor did the ship ride from UK to France counted because crap, I was too sleepy to notice anything.

The tour took us around parts of the island but definitely not the entire perimeter. Mostly spots where he could describe with interesting anecdotes.

Despite having been around and known by most, Pangkor is rather undeveloped. There were few projects that were completed halfway but sadly abandoned.

Some projects were completed during the previous leadership but never got properly marketed. Such a waste because the beaches are beautiful.

Wish I could claim that this is truly my camera at its best but it had a touch of Photoshop to it.

This is what it would have looked like in its unadulterated form.

We were the only ones during the trip so it felt quite exclusive. He gave some interesting insight, even told us the best spot for photographs. Ordered us at some, just because I was toting a proper camera 😶

Once you go out slightly out into the sea, the water turns into jade green with some occasional debris floating about.

Not dirty but certainly not that clear.

He wasn't driving fast so we could still feel the wind against our faces but not too much that we couldn't keep our eyes open.

As it turned out, there were few other beaches around. This one had fine sand. There was one dominated by a pack of bitches. You could see them from afar tanning themselves on the beach without a care in the world. No, they were not wearing bikinis. Yes, they are the hairy kind and walk on all four.

Monkey beach because yes, there are monkeys around. No, not the one wearing the orange life jackets but we did see actual monkeys hanging around the tree. Wonder if they steal the tourists' belongings.

This is one of those modern, hipster capsule hotels which he doesn't recommend as it's more expensive and run by Malays. If you don't realize it by now, our tour guide does seem to be rather racist.

When we were negotiating the terms of the package, we told him upfront that we were uninterested with snorkeling or much of swimming. Merely want to look around the island and see the marine life. I think he was stumped for a moment there.

But, he did quite nicely by bringing us around the island and explain some of the beaches. We even did go and feed fishes. I was a little worried about my camera falling into the sea so no pictures there but it was fun. Sorry, no Nemo, just some brown fish.

A friend of mine like(d) going into the sea for fishing which I honestly didn't understand the appeal. Go out into the vast ocean, with nothing much to see or do except wait for the fish to bite. Then, this boat ride actually made me appreciate the tranquility. There's a peace that overcame me while looking at the open space of nothingness. Like a burden lifted off my shoulders.

There were few boats and yachts out there with people because you can see the laundry hanging on the railing. I would like to think that I could survive on a boat, provided I have good Internet connection and proper physical books 😂