The art of doing nothing

I read an article on Lonely Planet a few days ago on the art of doing nothing (I cant seem to find it, its buried somewhere on my Ipad). It talked about the discipline needed to sit still and to silence yourself from being distracted by other things.

We live in a world today where time is of the essence, when time off is considered a luxury and is typically piled in with as many activities as you can muster. You take a 'vacation' go somewhere and then travel throughout the day, checking out 2,3 sites within a few hours. Otherwise somehow, you worry that your time off would have been wasted. God forbid you only saw ONE interesting site that day.

I haven't had a vacation - a true vacation in that style, in a long time now. Since the beginning of the year Ive spent my holidays celebrating Eid (NOT even close to a vacation I can tell you that), or heading off to Bangkok to meet Miss N (again, a lot of fun, but still tiring).

So this weekend with it being the long weekend, I decided to head off to Pangkor island for a much needed beach vacation. I had actually never been to Pangkor, so it was a really nice surprise to get here and see how great things are.

I decided to stay at the Sandy Beach resort, Pangkor after reading up numerous feedback on TripAdvisor (very positive). Got myself a beachfront chalet (where I am now parked out front on the porch). The beach literally 30 steps in front of me.

Its not the quietest part of town, but I do like it quite a lot. The chalet is off on its own, so you dont have people bothering you or thin walls to contend with. The Sandy spoon cafe is 15 steps to my left and does serve pretty good meals. I recommend the Pangkor grilled fish. Though if some people may be bothered by the price, to the left of the resort is a whole road filled with roadside stalls selling waffles, burgers, and other local snacks as well as restaurants a plenty.

This area is also home to numerous water sports activities, which means that it can get a bit noisy (and the hotel next door tends to blast out techno music first thing in the morning, do not ask me why). But at the same time, there are sufficient activities for those who dont want to just sit around and do nothing.

For those, like me, who look forward to doing nothing, all you have to do is walk down the beach a little bit (Maybe another 50 steps or so?) and you would suddenly find yourself on a secluded part of the beach. It was perfect. Quiet, the clear blue sky, perfect water temperature and a clean sandy beach.

Pangkor island mostly caters to locals, so dont be shocked if you end up being the only person there in a bikini. But that being said, everyone is very nice and polite and nobody bothers you (nudity of course still strictly prohibited)

To paraphrase the Lonely Planet article a little bit - the art of doing nothing

If you have to venture more than 200 ft away for food - you have failed
If you ask yourself what else is there to do - you have failed
If you realized you were late for dinner - you have failed
If you ask "oh whats that over there" - you have failed

Hope you enjoy your REAL vacation!

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Drive from KL - Lumut jetty: 3 hours and 15 minutes (with traffic) on the North South Highway. Exit at Bidor and then just follow the signs to Pangkor or Lumut.
Ferry from Lumut - Pangkor: ~30 minutes trip. They sometimes wait until the boat is full before moving so timing isnt exact, but seems quite frequent
Pangkor - hotel: RM10 for a taxi ride. From what I understand, its pretty standard to most places (if further away expect to be charged more). Theyre all pink vans and the charge is per trip, so maybe to optimize cost you can share with a few people going your way.