A new edition of the Pulau Pangkor Newsletter. This time I can finally give some answers to readers who asked for updates about the rebuilding of Pangkor Town. Further more about the ferry services and for the lovers of travel stories, there's some new stories added here and there. Plus a review of a new travel site!

• Pangkor Town after the fire
• The ferry services to Pulau Pangkor
• Free E-Books for the readers of the Pulau Pangkor Newsletter
• Pickles and spices.com by a local Malay lady and her cooking adventures
• Adventure travel tales and tips.com
• Chinese travel stories
• Bus to and from Penang, new service
• Pangkor Forum and guest book
• 123Greetings.com

Happy reading!
Peter van der Lans
Sitiawan

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Pangkor Town after the fire

Two months ago a fire razed through Pangkor Towns main street. The fire razed in 2 hours 17 shops down to the ground. There was little left after. I went to visit some friends at the island a few days after the fire craze. The family Beh lost their little ikan bilis shop.

Last week I went back to see them, and some other friends. Mr. Beh informed me about the development of the rebuilding of the Pangkor Town main street. He explained they were just waiting for the permits to start the re-building.

The new range of shop lots will be much nicer then the old wooden ones. In principle the now destroyed shops will be replaced by a 2 storey set of shops. The last, Mr. Beh's shop will however a three storey building. Maybe some of the specific character of Pangkor Town is now lost forever, but the shops will be much safer and nicer. After the horrible news of the fire craze, this is at least some good news.

Some pictures direct after the fire you can see here:

http://pangkor.informe.com/news-fire-in-pangkor-town-17-shoplots-burned-down-to-ashes-dt22.html

http://www.pulau-pangkor.com/ikan-bilis.html

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The ferry services to Pulau Pangkor

There's some news about the ferry service to Pulau Pangkor. The Mesra and the Duta Pangkor service are now combined. The Konsortium Group (the company runs good bus services all over Malaysia too) has bought both services. For the travelers to Pangkor there are a few convenient changes.

As both companies are working together, there is also only ticket needed. Boats leave every half hour during the day (15 to and 15 past the hour. The price is still RM 10 for return ticket.

http://www.pulau-pangkor.com/mesra-ferry-to-pangkor.html

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Free E-Books for the readers of the Pulau Pangkor Newsletter

New readers of the Pulau Pangkor Newsletter know it already, but some of the older reader may not have had the opportunity. If you subscribe to the Pulau Pangkor newsletter, you can download 4 E-books, all for free! Find here the links to the promised FREE e-books.

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!

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Pickles and spices by a local Malay lady and her cooking adventures

Although I live in Malaysia, now for 3 years, the food here keeps me amazing. Sometimes I have the feeling that you can't meet people without going fast into a chat about food. The Malaysian people enjoy a good meal. Of all countries in Asia, it seems the Malaysians are most concerned about their meals.

The variety is enormous. With the Malay, Chinese and Indians bringing their own cuisine and the curiosity of the Malaysians in general they started mixing the 3 different cuisines. The result is a unique food spectrum that no traveler should skip.

Pickles and spices.com is a website devoted to Malaysian, more specific Malay food, how to prepare and how to use spices and pickles in food. Additional to Pulau-Pangkor.com this is an excellent website that will water your mouth. Highly recommended!

http://pickles-and-spices.com/

For some more special Malaysian food, see for example my own laksa page:

http://www.pulau-pangkor.com/malaysian-food-laksa.html

though your will find some excellent laksa ideas on the pickles and spices.com website too! After all, who can write better about Malay(sian) food then a local?

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Adventure travel tales and tips.com

Dutchman Patrick has traveled the four corners of the world. He wrote an excellent website about his experiences and has many tips and other ideas about traveling. Even if you don't want to start a world journey as he did, his website is enjoyable reading and gives a good view what to expect when you hit the road.

http://www.adventure-travel-tales-and-tips.com/

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Bus to and from Penang, new ervice

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

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Chinese Travel Stories, the crazy bike ride to Hong Kong

You will probably know I love traveling. In the years on the road I have had so here and there my own adventures. Little by little I am working them out. Some of the stories I have still in email form, others are in one of the many diaries I have here.

Earlier this week I found my scribbles of my bike ride to Hong Kong. I had ompletely forgotten this ride. Now, reading my notes back I realized how crazy this road was. With the immense amount of traffic and urban jungles this is not a road you want to cycle though telling the story afterwards is not too bad. Read the full story here:

http://www.yangshuo-travel-guide.com/hong-kong.html

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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:

http://pangkor.informe.com/

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123Greetings.com

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http://www.123greetings.com/newsletter/