Malaysia Holiday

• Stunning Borneo - Shangri La Tanjung Aru
• Pangkor Island
• Borneo
• Kuala Lumpar Attractions
• Things to do in Penang
• Langkawi Beaches and more
• Things to do in Langkawi
• Things to do in Kuala Lumpur
• Bargain Malaysia - Bayview Beach Resort
• Pangkor Laut

Pangkor Island

Should you fancy a brief change from sun, sand and watersports, Pangkor offers plenty of places to visit and sights to see.

For example, just south of Pangkor Town lies Kampong Teluk Gedung in the south west of the island. It is the site of the old Dutch Fort, built in 1670 and originally a store house for tin – Malaysia’s Perak state on the mainland being the main tin-producing kingdom in the whole peninsula. The Dutch then fortified the building – known as Kota Belanda by local Malaysians - as a stronghold against Malays and pirates. Dutch records refer to it as the Dindings fort ('Dingdingh') - named after the Dindingh River, which faces the coast of the peninsula.

The Dutch East India Company wanted to control trade – particularly from the English – and it was at war with Indonesia so it blockaded Perak for much of the 17th and 18^th Centuries via the fort. The Malays attacked in 1690, massacred the garrison and the fort lay abandoned. Today it is a tranquil, verdant place that belies its bloody history, full of flowers and shaded walks.

Just next to the Dutch Fort is Batu Bersurat – literally, "the stone of inscriptions": a large granite boulder with the inscription ‘1743 I.F.CRALO’ and the initials ‘VOC’ (Veerenigde Oostindische Compagnie - The Dutch East India Company), and the image of a tiger. The story behind it is that a child of a Dutch dignitary, was playing by the rock then disappeared without trace. It was presumed that a tiger had taken the child, but the villagers said that it was more probably angry Malays who wanted to rid Pangkor of the Dutch. The Dutch could have also chiselled this incident on the stone depicting the Malays as a tiger; so the rock became known as Tiger Rock.

At the foot of Pangkor Hill, in the village of Sungai Pinang Besar is the Foo Lin Kong Temple - a fairly new Taoist temple with a garden partly build into the hillside. There is a miniature Chang Cheng (Great Wall) of  China, while on the roof are the 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac.

In Sungai Pinang Kecil, the Kali Amman Temple is the only Indian temple of any significance on the island, and one of only two Indian temples in Malaysia that have the entrance to the shrine of the goddess Kali facing the sea (the other is on Penang Island). The temple has a short staircase that descends to the sea where worshippers are required to cleanse themselves before entering the hall for worship.

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