DisconneXion to Pulau Aman - 25032015

Ever since I moved to Penang since Feb 2015, I have never gone to any islands nearby. I've only traveled back and forth Penang island and mainland a couple of times using the new Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah Bridge. The new bridge gets me from Bayan Baru to Simpang Ampat (where I live) with less traffic. Travelling up and down this route, I pass by the signboard that says 'Jeti Pulau Aman' and there will be a few Malay stalls selling fruits as well as some famous mee jawa (local specialty that has yellow noodles with beansprouts, served with fried soy bean and sometimes, deep fried prawns). 

One fine day, my boyfriend and I decided to take a break from work. We decided to pay a visit to Pulau Aman (Island of Peace)! Following the signboard that says 'Jeti Pulau Aman' from Simpang Ampat, we finally reached Batu Musang Jetty. The name of the jetty is called Batu Musang Jetty, where all boats depart to Pulau Aman. Now, if you drive, you can park your car here at the spacious parking lot and you pay RM 2.00 for the parking. The boat fare costs RM 6.00 (round trip) per person and the boat schedule to Pulau Aman is as follow: 

Boat schedule 

Keep your tickets with you

We were just in time for the 1.00 pm boat to Pulau Aman and the 2.5-nautical-mile ride took less than 10 minutes. 

Departing Batu Musang Jetty

Batu Musang Jetty

Some folks were fishing near the jetty

While waiting for the boat

While waiting for the boat (cont..)

Arriving at Pulau Aman Jetty, we took a picture of what we could do around the island.

Some activities include fishing, visiting ancient graveyards and jungle trekking.

Bienvenida :)

So, we started walking and looking at the village houses around here. Pulau Aman is a fishing village and they have a few home stays for tourists who intend to spend some time on the island. You may rent the place for RM80 per night, or maybe even more, depending on the condition of the place.

We took our first right turn :)

I used to chase chickens at my old house when I was a kid :-p

Simple houses with simple life

Power house for the island 

The view is extremely breath-taking and it was peaceful. Purrfect for our take-a-break!

Walking on the clam shells

Cats here are well-fed and fat :)

We also saw rams and monkeys on the way

Chalets to let 

Walking....and walking...and walking....

Now flex those biceps!

As we were walking back to the jetty, we passed by a well called "Telaga Mas" (The Golden Well).

HIstory of The Golden Well

Let me translate what's on the stone.
Around 1789, a villager found a water spring that flowed beside the beach. The villager decided to dig a hole so that it could become a well for the use of the other villagers.

While the villager was digging, the hoe suddenly hit a hard object and when the villager looked closer, it was a golden crock. The villager was surprised and afraid, so the villager told all the others about it. When the villagers arrived at the spot, the golden crock was not there anymore, instead there was just a golden rock.

The British who was ruling Penang at that time got to know about the incident. The British ruler requested the villagers to dig the hole even deeper to retrieve the so-called gold and the pieces were sent to Britain to be analysed. Nevertheless, the piece that was thought gold turned out to be just fools gold and the digging at the site was stopped at a depth of 2.5 meters.

The villagers then decided to make the hole a well which was called The Golden Well. The name remains till today. 

The Golden Well - not quite golden

We continued our walk back to the jetty so that we could explore the other side of the island. While walking, we saw more monkeys.

The monyet! (monkey)

Spot the mudskipper

My boyfriend and I concluded that this side of the island is not as pleasant feeling as the other side we went to a while ago. We found spooky corners like this and the feeling of walking down this route just didn't feel great. This side seemed "dirtier", if ya know what I mean.

Spooky corner

Not sure what plant this is

More mudskippers 

We also went to an ikan bakar (grilled fish) restaurant (you may find more info here) and had neslo ais (iced milo with a tinge of nescafe) and ice limau (lime juice with ice). I'm a vegetarian and my boyfriend is a vegan, so we did not order anything to eat. We were just chilling at the restaurant because the restaurant is out at the beach and it was really breezy.

We waited for our boat to depart at 6.00 pm and we were the last group of people getting out of Pulau Aman, along with 2 other visitors and 2 boatmen. In fact, when we asked the boatman, we found out that they do not follow the schedule! They have frequent boat trips back to Batu Musang Jetty ANYTIME they have a group of people waiting to leave Pulau Aman.

Moral of the story: Do not be too schema when following the timetable. Be kiasu or be left behind
#MichelleChew