Pangkor in the old days was known as Dinding, which means 'screen' or 'partition'. This was in reference to the position of the island as it protects the mainland's estuary.

In the 60's and 70's , the name 'Pangkor' was synonymous with salted fish, ikan bilis produce, dried shrimps, shrimp paste etc. Kids grew up on 'Satay Fish' , a stinky but delicious snack made of barbequed and caramalised fish wafers. Those were the days when the packaging was secondary to the content and hygiene was not of utmost priority. Today, walking around Pangkor Island's main village and and you will find shop after shop stuffed with all sorts of produce from the sea, supplied mostly by local cottage industries in the area. In vacuum sealed bags, sanitised bottles, garrish packaging - but once open , the aroma brings back memories of kids running around with their stash of junk food. The packaging has changed somewhat but the Satay Fish is just as delicious ...and as stinky as I remember!

Today, Pangkor Island is a popular island destination for local and Singapore holiday makers. It gets extremely busy during school and public holidays. One operator on the island reported that approximately 2000 holidaymakers were left without a place to stay on the island during the Chinese New Year holiday period.. Of course, many people assume that there's plenty of available rooms on the island and that reservations weren't necessary.

Pangkor Island is located off the western coast of Malaysia, 90km south-west of Ipoh. There are a number of smaller islands close to Pangkor including Pangkor Laut and the much smaller Mentanggor and Giam Islands.

The majority of the good beaches are found on the west coast of Pangkor though there are a few found on the south coast and north east coast of the island. The island is only 8km2 so easy to travel around to get to the nice beaches.

The east coast of Pangkor, facing the mainland of Malaysia has many fishing villages.