June 26, 2007
June was a slow month. Usually the summer in Malaysia is a bit slow. Nothing much going on. But I got request for writing about my experience to cycle to and from Penang. Nothing is nicer then to write about what you love to do. So I did a page for www.my-island-penang.com
And here is what else the Pulau Pangkor newsletter has for you:
- Free E-Books for the readers of the Pulau Pangkor Newsletter
- Bus to and from Penang, new service
- Videos for your website
- Cycling to and from Penang
- Does it really work? Summer sandals????
- Flying is expensive ... or ...
- Pangkor Forum and guest book
- Canoeing/Kayaking in Teluk Batik and in Yangshuo
- Cycling in Iran
- 123Greetings.com
Peter van der Lans
Sitiawan
PS Let me know what you like and what you don't like. All comments are welcome. Click here to write your comment:
http://www.pulau-pangkor.com/contact-us.html
You can read latest updates in my Blogs:
http://www.pulau-pangkor.com/Pulau-Pangkor-blog-1.html and http://pangkor.wordpress.com or subscribe to my feed:
Subscribe to my RSS feed, if you don't know what this is, please read here more:
Let others know about this site by bookmarking at your favorite social bookmarking system:
-----------------------------------------
Free E-Books for the readers of the Pulau Pangkor Newsletter
- Mark Moxon's travels in Malaysia
- Top secret recipes
- Appetizer collection
- Summer party cookbook
All E-books are PDF and free to download. Right click with your mouse and save them to your computer. Enjoy!
-----------------------------------------
Bus to and from Penang, new service
Last edition of the Pulau Pangkor newsletter I already mentioned it, a brand new service is now available that connects Lumut with Pulau Penang. Is it better? Is it worse?
Eagle Express bus service has finally started. Of course it was already possible to get a bus to Butterworth from where you could take a ferry to Georgetown. Recently you can get a direct bus to and from Sungai Nibong bus station 10km south of Georgetown.
In case you want to use this service, in Penang, all the yellow busses will bring you to the Sungai Nibong bus station.
The question of course is if this is a better service then the already existing service to Butterworth.Yes and no, the service is good but if you want to be in Georgetown you still have to take a taxi or bus to the city center. However, if you are on the way to the airport, it is convenient. Sungai Nibong is about half way between Georgetown and the Airport. Make your choice.
More information at the bus to Pangkor page: http://www.pulau-pangkor.com/bus-to-Pangkor.html -----------------------------------------Videos for your website
A way of informing your visitors is adding videos. Like with photos, a picture tells more then a thousand words. This is true and with the development on the internet it's just a matter of time that websites will use more videos. Why I don't use videos of Pangkor on the site? I am working on it! It is coming.
You may want to use high quality videos for your website. TotalVid has those videos, try them for FREE for 7 days. You have nothing to loose.
Try TotalVid FREE for 7 days! Download high-quality videos to your PC today.
-----------------------------------------
Cycling to and from Penang
It doesn't happen often but this time I was asked to write about my cycling experiences to and from Penang. As I live in Sitiawan and Penang is not too far away, I do cycle every once in a while, usually every three months, to Penang. Not many people in Malaysia take a bicycle, let alone for cycling into Penang! But I do and it is not as crazy as you may think. So I wrote this page for the my-island-penang.com websitehttp://www.my-island-penang.com/Cycling-to-Penang.html
-----------------------------------------Does it really work? Summer sandals????
"Does it really work?", last week someone asked me. :"Why bother spending so much money? I can build a website much cheaper". True. You don't have to spend the money in building a website. Or do you? What do you want? If you want a website about your summer holiday with a few photos, then there's no point in purchasing Sitesell. But what if you want to build a business? Any success stories? You bet! Plenty of them: http://proof.sitesell.com/webselling64290.html Until July 6, you can have your profit, but only if you are serious about building a business.
Flying is expensive ... or...
Flying is expensive. It's a dead phrase. Is it possible to cut costs on flights? I thought not but I found some useful information that proves the contrary. And as you know me, I love to share it with you: http://www.pulau-pangkor.com/myairfaresecrets-----------------------------------------
Pangkor Forum and guest book
Some people have been asking me for this, a forum and a guest book. You have enjoyed Pulau Pangkor? Give an entry in the guest book in the Pangkor forum. The forum is also used to give some updates about Pangkor island. Have a look and subscribe and join the discussion:
-----------------------------------------
Canoeing/Kayaking in Teluk Batik and in Yangshuo, south China
I wrote already about my experiences with Mr. Goh from Explore the Wilderness. He asked me to join him for some canoeing. That was good fun. Canoeing at sea is different then on a river. So while we were canoeing, I realized it was not my first time on the water. In Yangshuo I had been invited by my friend William to join him in a kayak (I know, a canoe is not a kayak but they are similar). While Mr. Goh and I did some canoeing around Teluk Batik, with William and a few others we went on the Li River, the LiJiang, from Yangshuo to Puyi. It took us several hours. I remember we stopped somewhere right in the middle of the river on a little island that with high water was under water.Now I do live in Sitiawan, close to Pangkor and I love it here. It's beautiful here, good food, good people, good weather, what else do I need? But I also lived on and off in Yangshuo, near Guilin in south China. And I loved it there too. But being in a kayak gave me a complete different view on the limestone mountains. I know the area around Yangshuo and Guilin quite well as I have been cycling there over the years. But from the river the karst mountains looked very different.
Thus when I came home from my canoeing with Mr. Goh, I started searching for my diaries about those days in Yangshuo and I found some notes. I rewrote the notes for a page on the Yangshuo website. http://www.yangshuo-travel-guide.com/kayaking-in-yangshuo.html And if you want to know what it looks like here in Teluk Batik, near Lumut, please visit this page:http://www.pulau-pangkor.com/school-camp-in-teluk-batik.html
-----------------------------------------
Cycling in Iran
Few believe me until they travel there. Iran is a magnificent country. People are extremely friendly. It seems the difference between politics and people couldn't be bigger. After writing about my canoeing and kayaking experiences, I started reading about my Iran experiences. In most of the areas where I traveled, there was not much water, especially east of Esfahan.
I was at my bicycle at the time, crossing from north west to south east, from Turkey to Iran. It was a journey of about 6 weeks and parts went through complete empty areas, deserts. Not everybody can handle cycle in a desert for a few days but I loved it. From Bam to Zahedan was 550km or so and it was wonderful. In other areas I found lots of hospitality. Believe me, there are no countries in the world where you find more hospitality then in Iran. Example?
Usually around 1 pm I was looking for lunch. And many times local Iranians invited me to join them and the family for lunch in their houses. It always went this way. First enter the house to the guest room, drink some strong black tea with sugar rocks and then move to the living room for lunch.
In the living there were seldom tables and chairs. A table cloths was on the floor, dishes came in and everybody tucked in and eat. Most of the time, men, women and children were around and women usually didn't wear the scarf which is outside mandatory. Believe me, Iranian women are beautiful.
After the lunch my host would offer me more tea but once I would make a suggestion to leave it was always answered the same way. "You can't go sir, dinner is almost ready" (remember it was still only 4pm), but there was no way I could leave. Chatting, walking around in the garden, meeting friend X and family member Z and time was flying.
By 8.30 pm dinner was finally ready. At 9.30 my host usually told me where I could sleep by rolling a mattress on the floor and telling me where to find the toilet and bathroom. "What time do you get up? 7am? Good, I will come with breakfast!", was the usual comment I got.
At 7am sharp he would knock on the door. Then we would go to the living room and having breakfast with fresh warm breads, cream cheese, apples, homemade yoghurt, and, as always the black tea with sugar rocks. Btw, you don't put the sugar rocks in the tea, instead you dip them and suck the sugar! After breakfast the host usually came up with fruits and more breads for on the way. "Maybe you will not find a place to eat"! Well, I was always able to find a place to eat and many times I hadto refuse the food they wanted me to bring as I couldn't carry it all on the bicycle.
That is also Iran, that is the story you seldom hear. But that is also the story that tells you that people are people, everywhere. And Iran was one of my favorite countries to travel, Living there is a different thing though.
http://www.bicycle-adventures.com/cycling-in-iran.html
-----------------------------------------
123Greetings.com
123greetings.com is your no.1 choice for sending online e-cards. Or, if you want a weekly dose of fun and joy, you simply subscribe to the online email newsletters at 123Greetings.com ! This free weekly newsletter service is your one-stop fill for interesting updates on coming events, free e-cards and exciting offers from our partners and sponsors. Just go get it and make your loved ones smile. http://www.123greetings.com/newsletter/-----------------------------------------