Narrowboatboy’s Big, Bad Blog...Narrowboat & Travel blog based on Lancaster Canal

Our pad in KLCC Arriving back into Malaysias capital we had a private apartment for the last couple of days in on the opposite side of the city from our previous stay in KLCC. Wonderful views of the Merdeka 118 from the 43rd floor apartment window. Plus an incredible view of the city skyline from the amazing infinity pool on the 51st by day and by night.   Everything thing here is high. Incredible and high… “And so I wake in the morning  And I step outside  And I take a deep breath and I get real high And I scream at the top of my lungs What’s going on…”……..from the 4 Non Blondes!

We have enjoyed our short time seeing the sights of Ipoh, a real foodie town with a great night market.  Footsie 100 Index Ipoh had been a cool little town, quite bohemian with the river splitting old from new. Bed Rock Whisky Room Staying at the ‘Bedrock’ was a great choice, a boutique 10 room hotel with an air-con wine cellar, whisky room all with a Geological and a funky Andy Warhol-esque decor and vibe.  Ipoh Railway Station Morning came and  at 10:30  on the dot the electric bullet, train bound for KL, pulled out of the station. We had Business Class booked for this and as it reached 140km per hour it was time to sit back in the recliner, stuff our faces with more free food and catch up on a good blog.   ‘Downtown train’ by Tom Waits from the ‘Rain Dogs’ album before Rod Stewart got his greedy little mitts on it a few years later. Enjoy a great live version here.

We are finally tearing ourselves away from Pangkor Island having thoroughly enjoyed our time here. Every day the sun has shined on us, but we must say goodbye to our little chalet home and the amazing hornbills in the beautifully manicured garden by the sea. We have traversed the island daily, finding secluded beaches, monkeys and monitor lizards and searched out places to eat choosing where to watch the sunset.  Life has been easy here so thanks Pangkor, C’est si bon!… We said goodbye to Kevin before the 10:15 ferry took us back to the mainland where we arranged a ‘grab’ to take us to Ipoh for the day. Enjoy the harmonious ‘Say She She’ with a video featuring a Silver Shadow!  

Bit of an action packed water sport fest next to report. To mark surviving 58 years on this planet I thought I’d turn the heat up a bit as Iv been told that life can get a bit fusty if you let it, as you get older, so a bit of crazy stuff every now and then should be just the tonic. So I booked myself for half an hour on Great Big Mable….Hey!, Steady!…don’t make up ur own jokes, it’s MY blog! She was ready and waiting for me on the beach, looking radiant in her bright red livery. Strap yourself in for da ride.. I climbed up and fastened myself in, it was going to be one helluva birthday ride…she set off like the clappers and all I could do was hang on for dear life, bouncing up and down I yelled for her to stop but she had got a grip of me now and all I could do was to close my eyes and wait for her to finish….#ifuwannagofasterjustscream! Next stop, a throbbing Yamaha 700 jet ski was wheeled out by my water sport ‘fixer’, Mr Kunabalan. His only instruction was…” just clear the boats be...

  Normal service will resume when I can be arsed… Just sit back with a bit of Massive Attack

Sometimes you get the ‘need for speed’ so now we need to talk about Kevin… Meet Kevin ‘Spacy’, our rented ride. It’s the perfect way to bob about the island visiting beaches and calling into foodie spots and visiting the gin emporium. This is our second set of wheels for visiting Pangkor Island. There’s only one road and takes about 20 minutes to circumnavigate if you lean into the bends and avoid the monkeys 🙈 🙉 🐵  The ‘Spacy’ features a subtle design that puts functionality at the forefront. Powering the Honda is a 108cc engine that makes 8.64 hp of raw power at 8000rpm. Iv not been allowed to get it up to full speed due to the back seat driver clinging on like a crab 🦀 and tensing up at the sight of a sweet tight right-hander… To rent a bike you just need to confirm that you can balance adequately with a quick test ride around the block then pay with cash the negotiated fee (30 dobbers/5 quid) for the days you need it for and off you go, max 4 minutes. Thankfully no messing ...

I thought I’d try my hand at snorkelling today so booked on a boat trip to visit some pristine uninhabited islands with a promise of one of Jaques Cousteau’s famous quotes… “ The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever” We got a cheap deal with a kindly local seafarer, Mr Kunabalan, who got us to choose a life vest from the rack and gave us a choice of craft…       I’d watched all the episodes of the Blue Planet so had a good idea what to expect and it all looked very promising. We chose the bigger 06 Happy Island Service boat and climbed aboard just after breakfast. As we powered into the snorkel zone, I could see the inviting turquoise waters and stood up in anticipation and donned my mask and snorkel in readiness. As the keen pilot swung the boat round with the powerful ‘Mercury’ outboard, he dramatically applied the brakes and as the  boat lurched, I fell backwards sharply and got physically jammed between the rib seats and large Amer...

The blog is temporarily down due to technical errors - normal service will resume at some point. In the meantime here is a song by the Crash Test Dummies.

There is a reason why folk moved out of the jungle!  It’s full of creepy bugs and wild creatures that will bite yer balls off at a moment’s notice. This is why we were upgraded… The new place is Tiger Rock, a luxurious, exclusive private, low impact and sustainable retreat where you get looked after by dedicated staff serving excellent cuisine, prepared and cooked by a chef using only seasonal local ingredients from Pangkor Island to produce a culinary experience of the flavours from Malaysia.  Set within a protected area of rainforest with Giant hornbills above and troupes of cheeky monkeys peering at you from every angle.       All set in a beautiful established garden. With a private lounge and infinity pool.   Or two…   Oh, and of course…a tiger!  “They’re Grrreat…” https://www.tigerrock.info/ It really is the dogs…. Who are you?

It’s time to apply the deet…we are heading for the Malaysian jungle! It’s only natural that you get down to basics now and again and spend some time appreciating how our forefathers lived, like Tarzan. It wasn’t long before we were under the canopy, and sweating like pigs, into the dense, primary rainforest. In the distance we could hear the courtship calls of the cicada’s, like small car alarms going off.      We carried on regardless, going ‘deeper and deeper into the under growfth’. I could hear the lispy botanist David Bellamy in my head and picture his round, hairy, bearded face, creepily poking out from behind a thicket of palm frongs… We soldiered on, as the path disappeared we hacked our way through the whispering grass and the spikey rattan, now humid and hot we resembled Don Estelle & Windsor Davies of ‘It ain’t half hot mum’, circa 1974 fame… Suddenly we came across a large python in the bushes, hissing at us…was this a warning? “Sssstay on the path” We con...