Pangkor Laut Resort: the jungle is neutral

A three hours drive from KL and you arrive in Lumut. Ferry across to Pangkor Laut Resort to experience Malaysian luxurious hospitality at its finest…

Just coming back from Pangkor Laut island, it feels like there has been an overload of greenery and azure skies. It is a perfect combination for relaxation. We spent a long weekend in Pangkor Laut after a wedding in Ipoh and welcomed with open arms the jungle chalets that seem to emerge over lush trees, undergrowth and creepers, encased with the sound of a million crickets. As the layers of our city-stress peeled away, we slowly discovered the charms of our island retreat.

Getting to Pangkor Laut Island

It’s surprisingly easy to navigate to Pangkor Laut. A three-hour road trip gets you straight into Lumut from KL. Waze took us directly to the air-conditioned waiting area of the resort office. Here, we got welcome drinks, while waiting for the scheduled boat to ferry to you to the island.

The stay

Families are not allowed to stay in the sea chalet but we had no complaints. The jungle chalets were quite wonderful and the kids were in awe that they were amidst a million year-old rain forest. We had the ground floor rooms which were spacious and came with an outdoor shower which was quite nice. There was a nice verandah wrapping the room. That’s where I planned to spend some quite time in the mornings, curled up with a good book – but much to my dismay, every morning I could hear the constant rumble of motorbikes of workers plying up and down. So much for the quiet jungle mornings.

What to do at Pangkor Laut

The highlight of PLR is the fabulous Emerald Bay. This place is a blue expanse of undulating waves for many sun-soaked swims, sand castles, seashell picking and rounds of beach soccer. Parents have nothing more to do than catch up on a good read, soak up the sun and order many Tiger beers.

I was hoping for some kid related activities like fishing or batik painting but there were none. Sometimes, too much of organised activities may not necessarily be a good thing. But when one has two active kids, it does help to have some! I guess I have been spoiled by the kid-friendly activities of the many resorts in Asia.

The resort shares one pool and we thought that it was not the most child friendly simply because we felt that we were too noisy and intruding on the honeymooning couples.  Luckily, two tennis courts and a squash court kept the whole family busy in the evenings after the beach and pool to-do list.

I am a bit of a history aficionado and was very happy to find out that Emerald Bay was where decorated English war hero, Colonel Chapman was rescued from after having spent 3 years in jungles of Malaya hiding from the invading Japanese. The children were very interested about the story and planned to do more research on WWII when they got home.

‘The truth is that the jungle is neutral, it provides any amount of fresh water and unlimited cover for friend as well as foe – an armed neutrality, if you like, but neutrality nevertheless. It is the attitude of mind that determines whether you go under or survive.’

The jungle trek is definitely on the to-do list. It starts every morning at 10 and is led by a very knowledgeable naturalist guide. We learnt a lot about the island and its tropical inhabitants.

Food

There are several restaurant options. We tried Chapman’s bar on the beach for some lovely chicken rice. We also booked Uncle Lim’s for local Nyonya food. Service is fantastic as in most YTL properties. Getting the residents’ package might work out better for dining as the food tends to veer on the expensive side.

Conclusion

A hint of the wild, a bit of luxury and a chance to be totally in tune with nature – Pangkor Laut Resort works at many levels. It is however low on the child-friendly barometer, but does make up for it with good service and is fabulously close to nature. You can check the latest prices here.

 *This is not a sponsored post – we paid for our own stay. The links in this post are affiliate links – bookings through them help us to maintain this site, thank you!