It's already the last day of February and time seems to go faster then I ever expected. The Pulau Pangkor website has been growing like cabbage , as we say in Dutch. The last weeks we have been working hard to get a new set of diving  pages ready. I was also guest in Kampar and earlier this week I spend a day in Ipoh.

But, what are the subjects in this newsletter? :

• Perhentian, holiday and diving
• Kuala Kangsar, a song by local proud people from the Royal City
• Kampar and Gua Tempurung
• Swiss Garden or Lone Pine, Pangkor/Lumut or Penang
• Advertisement: Timeshare
• Why the Pangkor website is successful
• Cycling in north Malaysia, backroads through Kulim and Selama
• Advertisement: scuba diving
• Jessie's new tours in Yangshuo China
• Tour de Langkawi 2008, 2 days in Sitiawan
• Advertise on Pulau Pangkor com
• Malaysia Vacation Guide
• 123Greetings.com

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Perhentian, holiday and diving
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The last few weeks Nazlina, who is the Pulau Pangkor agent and I have been working hard on making Perhentian and the diving facilities at this beautiful little set of islands on the Malaysian east coast available. I admit, if I had known there would have been so much work, I may have skipped the project. I say project, it became close to a project, with plenty of pages (total, including forms, over 20), a great resort, diving company and even a nice map.

Some people call Perhentian an open air aquarium. With the assortment of fish and other creatures this is a wonderful place for beginners and experienced divers.

We wrote an introduction page about Perhentian

http://www.pulau-pangkor.com/perhentian.html

and a set of diving pages. A good start for learning more about diving in Perhentian is:

http://www.pulau-pangkor.com/diving-in-perhentian.html

To get an idea how many possible dive site there are at Perhentian, check the map:

http://www.pulau-pangkor.com/perhentian-dive-map.html

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Kuala Kangsar, a song by local proud people from the Royal City
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Just before the deadline of the Pulau Pangkor Newsletter I received an email with a link to You Tube with a song about Kuala Kangsar. Quickly I added the song in our Kuala Kangsar page. See how local people in Kuala Kangsar made a tribute to the city. Great work

http://www.pulau-pangkor.com/Kuala-Kangsar.html

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Kampar and Gua Tempurung
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Miss Rosma, one of the sales ladies of the Grand Kampar Hotel invited me to come to Kampar. "It's a really nice little town, we have great food, the Gua Temperung caves and a brand new hotel", she said. So I took my bicycle and went on a cool Sunday morning to Kampar. As you could expect from a cyclist, I didn't take the main roads. Instead I used some of the little back roads.

Kampar lies at the foothills of the Cameron Highlands in the Kinta Valley. This part of Malaysia was for about 100 years a tin mining area. Thus, west of the town you can find artificial lakes as a result of the tin mining. Nowadays these little lakes are highly appreciated for fishing and picnics.

Food is also spectacular... how about a white bread filled with curry chicken? Trust me, it's an extraordinary dish.

I wrote a page about Kampar, what to do and how to get there....

http://www.pulau-pangkor.com/kampar.html

and of course a page about the very new and very comfortable Grand Kampar Hotel:

http://www.pulau-pangkor.com/grand-kampar-hotel.html

Activities around Kampar are amongst others fishing and picnic in and around the artificial rustic lakes which are the leftovers of the tin mine industry. Or you go out for some white water rafting, or visit Gua Tempurung:

http://www.pulau-pangkor.com/gua-tempurung.html

or visit Kellie's Castle, in between Gopeng and Batu Gajah

http://www.pulau-pangkor.com/Kellies-Castle.html

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Swiss Garden or Lone Pine, Pangkor/Lumut or Penang?
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Some people ask me, what is a better place to travel, Pangkor or Penang? Obviously such a question is impossible to answer. It depend what you want, what you expect.

Say, you want to experience a lot of cultural activities, Penang is for sure more attractive. But if you go for peace, beaches and tranquility, I would suggest Pangkor. As for travelers coming from overseas, I think Pangkor is an excellent starting point of your journey through Malaysia. No place better to get adjusted to the heat, the hectic and load the battery before going to Penang, Langkawi, east coast or east Malaysia.

Recommended places to stay in Pangkor, high end:

http://www.pulau-pangkor.com/Swiss-Garden.html

mid range

http://www.pulau-pangkor.com/vikry-beach-resort.html

But what about Penang? We have found a little hidden gem that few people know. I hear you thinking... but serious. How many hotels at Batu Ferringhi do you think travelers know? Many! True. The Lone Pine is one of those skipped by many. Don't ask me why. The Lone Pine is the oldest at Batu Ferringhi and has still that old time style. Peace, quietness and a clean beach, what else do you need after a hectic day in Georgetown!

http://www.pulau-pangkor.com/batu-ferringhi.html

Thus, what is a better place, Pangkor or Penang... that is up to you... depending on your requirements.

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http://www.pulau-pangkor.com/timeshare.html

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Why the Pangkor website is successful?
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Malaysians know Pangkor as a small holiday island, good for a long weekend or  a few days during the school holidays. Outside Malaysia and Singapore, Pangkor is very unknown. So how is it possible a website about a small unknown island is so successful? The answer is simple and complex at the same time.

The first question you have to ask yourself is why you surf on the net! Answer: need information, FREE information. The more and the better the information, the more comfortable you will feel and the more you will trust the website. We, here in Sitiawan try to give you the very best info about Pangkor, Lumut and a series of other related topics.

Unfortunately we are human! Thus we can not do everything but we try our best. The Pangkor website is now over 300 pages big and still growing. We keep adding useful and relevant detailed info about the subjects we write about. This process is based on what Ken Evoy describes as the CTPM model. In short:

Content ==> Traffic ==> Presell ==> Monetization

Our Pangkor website is proof that this process works. But there are plenty of other websites using the same principle, check

http://www.pulau-pangkor.com/proof

But how do you do it? Can you earn a living with a website? The answer is yes with a big BUT. It's not a quick rich thing. Ask yourself, if quick rich would exists, wouldn't everybody on the net already be rich and have no need to work anymore?

You see, it doesn't work that way. Building a website like the Pangkor website takes time. It takes time and a lot of effort to build, make the Search Engines happy and most of all, you, the visitor. How to start the process I have written down on this page:

http://www.pulau-pangkor.com/complete_site_build_it.html

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Cycling in North Malaysia
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In January I had to travel a few times up and down to Penang for Thaipusam. As I usually do, I took my bicycle and went on the road. This time I choose an alternative route, avoiding the trunk road through Bagan Serai and Parit Buntar. Instead I went from Sitiawan (where I live) to Trong and then crossed the trunk road into Air Kuning. From here you can go to Taiping and Kamunting. After Kamunting you will follow the road north, passing an old typical Malay pavilion, once in use byu the Sultan of Perak but now in totally abandoned state. Through Selama I followed directions to Kulim and from here Butterworth and Penang are not far. Here's the full story:

http://www.pulau-pangkor.com/penang-to-pangkor.html

This road is little traveled. This is partly because the public transport is irregular so your best choice is your own transport. In the hills nearby are waterfalls. Local Malaysians know to find them but for foreign visitors these are virtually impossible to reach (except if you rent a car, or like me, get a bicycle).

Some claim cycling in Malaysia is impossible due to the heat. I disagree. Of course you need to keep drinking, take enough rest, try to avoid the hottest hours if you have problems, so, start early. The roads are almost all in excellent condition and the small roads are a pleasure to do.

More about cycling in north Malaysia on my bicycle website

http://www.bicycle-adventures.com/cycling-in-malaysia.html

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Jessie's new tours in Yangshuo China
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Our Guide in Yangshuo has set up a set of very special tours in and around Yangshuo. As we know Jessie, we did tours with her, I know how Jessie works.  Thus it was easy for use to recommend her tours. Apart of the tours and the friendship I have traveled intensively in the Yangshuo area. Jessie's tours offer an exclusive view of Yangshuo and the area around Longsheng with the rice terraces.

Have a good look at Jessie's tours:

http://www.yangshuo-travel-guide.com/yangshuo-tour.html

For my own bicycle journeys around Yangshuo, Longsheng and other areas, please have a look here:

http://www.bicycle-adventures.com/longsheng.html

If China is your next destination, Jessie is the guide you need to explore Yangshuo to its fullest.

Recommendations by travelers:

• Dave and Marian
  http://www.yangshuo-travel-guide.com/dave-tour-in-yangshuo.html
• Bob and Debbie
  http://www.yangshuo-travel-guide.com/rice-terrace-hike.html

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Tour de Langkawi 2008, 2 days in Sitiawan
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Every year the biggest cycling event in Asia is the Tour de Langkawi. Two years ago, the caravan came to finish in Sitiawan and started the next day in Lumut. This year finish and start was in Sitiawan. This year too the organizers of the Tour de Langkawi had selected a big group of cyclist from everywhere. In Sitiawan it was Jeremy Hunt who won the sprint of the 2nd stage and got the day price.

Overall winner in Kuala Lumpur, days later would become  Ruslan Ivanov followed by Mattieu Sprick

Here's a report of the arrival of the 2nd stage and the start of the 3rd stage of the Tour de Langkawi in Sitiawan

http://www.pulau-pangkor.com/tour-de-langkawi-2008.html and some additional photos

http://www.pulau-pangkor.com/tour-de-langkawi-2008-photos.html

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Advertise on Pulau Pangkor com
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Advertising can be expensive. Pulau Pangkor com gives you now the option to advertise on the Pulau Pangkor com website. You have different choice how to advertise. You can even advertise in the Pulau Pangkor com newsletter! We would like to do business with Pangkor, Lumut, Malaysia businesses or related to the travel business in general. Read more here:

http://www.pulau-pangkor.com/advertise.html

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Malaysia Vacation Guide
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Of course for Pangkor you have your favorite website, and with the addition of a huge Perhentian section you do not need another website for your Malaysian information. For other part of Malaysia, the Malaysia Vacation Guide is a great source of information. Michael is living in Kuala Lumpur and has written a great overview of what Malaysia offers: from Kuala Lumpur to Cameron Highlands and from Johor to Kota Bharu, from Genting Highlands to Langkawi. Give it a good look.

http://www.malaysiavacationguide.com/

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123Greetings.com
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