Hello all.
Well, since our arrival in Langkawi, there really hasn't been anything to report. The
marina is quite full and some other friends have arrived back. I'm not
quite sure what they'll do when another 60 boats or so arrive on the Sail
Malaysia Rally at the end of the month. Incidentally, the Sail Indonesia
Rally was free this year after the debacle checking in for the group last
year so something like 130 boats signed up. Most of them go on to the
Malaysia rally to get up the Malacca straits. While our friends on Scot
Free II have decided to stay another year, there must be at least 40 or 50
boats heading off to the Red Sea starting at the end of the year when the
Monsoon (trade winds) are right. The usual suspects are already organizing Radio nets and convoys for Pirate Alley.
Our plan and the conventional wisdom is to make landfall in Oman and then
sail down the coast of Yemen to enter the Red Sea. I expect there will be
several "flotillas" arranged for further security, but we understand this is
not a problem close to shore. Almost everyone is starting from Phuket and
some are going directly to the Maldives, just southeast of India. We are
planning to go to the Andaman Islands on the way and then call in at Cochin
on the SE coast of India, before making the further 200 mile passage down to
the Maldives. I'm pretty sure we'll go in tandem with at least one other
cat, Freebird, and their friends, The Southern Cross, may also come along.
One of the veterans here tipped us off to locally manufactured cigarettes
(you need ciggies and coke and whisky for bribes) so we picked up 5 cartons
for 13 ringgit apiece--that's about $3.00 for a carton of ten packs. That's
like 1960's pricing.
So, even if you're not interested, because I have nothing much to report, I
thought I would chronicle a typical day here. Keep in mind this is not just
a marina, but mainly a 4 star, maybe 5, resort. The captain rises early and
does email and things like this letter awaiting Rose, the admiral, to get up
around 8. Coffee and breakfast follows, but Rose has sworn off coffee and
eats a couple of pieces of rye toast spread with banana with her tea. Yuk, but it's
supposed to help her affliction. If we're not going into town, I'll do some
boat work. Most recently we've refinished the cockpit table and fixed a
slightly warped leaf. A bit of reading, lunch, then Rose goes to the beach.
They also have a pool, all this for $300/month (I'm going to hate to leave).
Sometimes I go too, and I also just chill out and read or sometimes, rarely,
do some more work. Hey, it gets hot here in the afternoon. I usually find
time for a nap.
Okay, so I wrote the foregoing a month ago and haven't sent it. I was going to bore you some more with stories about the Halloween party, the new wood grating for the cockpit well, repairing the coffee pot, movies on the hard drive, Mr. Din, the car man's problems, massages, etc., etc., etc. However, now I have something interesting to report. On the way from Langkawi to Penang last week where we were going to haul the boat, add a coat of bottom paint and get some general service in preparation for our departure to the Red Sea, we managed to encounter a near miss with a lightning bolt. I know it was a near miss as I was hit once before. The static charge seems to have blown only circuit board type stuff, like the regulators, radar--which I had just replaced on the mast, autopilot brain, etc. etc. No human damage. However, this is requiring a refit of the whole boat including batteries which were getting a bit old anyway and inverter and autopilot course computer and I still don't know what else. Yesterday the 12 volt refrigeration went. A guy might come to look today. Tomorrow is some kind of holiday. And just try to get a serviceman here. I've alerted all the guys in Phuket who are saving time for me, but we need to get basically sorted out here before we can leave. Complicating matters is we're trying to get all the replacements into Langkawi which is duty, and hassle, free whereas Thailand in a nightmare for imports. Also the battery guy here who has AGMs at a reasonable price doesn't have them in yet--next week; yeah, right. Checking with contacts in Thailand to see if I can source them there at an acceptable cost. This, alone, is about two grand!!!! Insurance would cover this, but I'm on the cusp of the combination of deductible and the 20% no-claim discount so I'm eating all the expense. On the brighter side, I'll basically have all new electronics, and every other Ray Marine instrument had already failed so it is likely I'd be replacing the "brain" soon anyway. The batteries were already 4 years old and one had failed so I had a jury rigged system anyway as you can't get 6 volt gel cells anywhere in SE Asia.
So the boat is a pit; we're limping along on electrics and are heading to Phuket ASAP for the holidays. Oh, we really loved hand steering from Penang up here. Haven't done that since the autopilot crapped out in 1999 on the way from St Martin to Tortola. Fortunately, seas were calm and the wind right yesterday. Rose almost mutinied but found out it wasn't too bad. Hah, that's what he thinks !Rose.
The latest Rose report from seeing the specialist in Penang: The doc wanted a limited MRI of some of her joints because the pain hasn't been matching the arthritis, and the blood tests have shown good improvement in the rheumatism. Sure enough, there is only minor damage from arthritis, although they found a bone spur in her shoulder. SO--Rose is on different stuff now. She has one set of pills for the rheumatoid arthritis and another for what they call Fibromyalgia which goes with the other and causes undo sensitivity to pain. Of course, the benefits don't kick in for 3 weeks so we're just hoping this finally does it. Rose will fly back to Penang Jan. 2nd for a final visit and checkup with the doc before our departure.
Ok. That's it. I'm having a fit of depression as I hate when things break and now everything has broken and I can't get the parts or the people to fix it for at least over the weekend. The one bright spot is the electric freezer still works so we have ice!!!!
Cheers and happy holidays from both of us.
Tim & Rose
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Phuket Sept 2009 Oct. 20 2009
Hello to you all. Some of you really do care and have inquired as to our well being since it has been a while since we wrote. Now you may look on this as whynging, but we look at it as wondering if anyone cares!!!
We are now back in Rebak Marina at Langkawi in Malaysia, having spent an entire month in Phuket. Unfortunately, we weren't sure we were going to be that long so we didn't sign up for the cheap monthly massage, etc. deal at the spa at the marina. Still got our share!!!!
Most of the month we spent working on the boat or arranging for others to do so. Remember, Joe was still on board and, until he fell in with a disreputable South African crowd, did a yeoman's job on the boat. Of course, I have now thrown my list out and Alzheimer's is kicking in (maybe it's mad cow like Denny Crane. I just acquired the original Star Trek series and Rose can't believe it's the same guy!!!), but things like buffing the topsides, fixing lights, changing oil (of course the sail drive that was leaking had to be changed again, as well as engine oil, etc. We even did the windlass) etc., etc. A friend here has advised me that we can fix the sail drive problem by drilling a small pressure relief hole in the oil fill cap. Seems like it is common for heat to build up pressure internally in the sail drive which then pushes oil out the seals. That's okay, but then, when it cool off, it creates a vacuum which sucks seawater in through the seals. The small hole stops this from happening--you just have to put a rag over the hole or when the pressure builds up, it will spew oil all over. I've never heard of this and am getting new seals when we haul out in December, but, should it recur, I will definitely do this as it is a pain to change the oil!! Now this is probably more than you want to know about sail drives, but I'm going to tell you anyway. On the old ones, the only way you could thoroughly change the oil was to haul the boat, which is quite expensive, and drain it from the bottom. You are instructed to do this every 150 hours which would mean 2 or 3 haulouts a year. No Way!! Too many gears to get a vacuum pump in there from the top. On the new ones, however, the geniuses have come up with a pressure system whereby you put a nipple at the very top and another where it goes through the hull, connected to hoses, and use a scuba tank to pressurize the drive and blow the oil out into the container of your choice. Joe had become quite proficient at this, but he stayed in Phuket, and it needed to be done on arrival in Langkawi. Don't want to leave salty oil in the drive. What I neglected to know was you pull the bottom plug first and screw in that nipple before opening up the top. This leaves a semi-vacuum in place for minimum spillage. The way I did it, opening the top, then the bottom allows all the oil to run quickly out and makes putting in the bottom nipple with the hose, while this is going on, almost impossible. Took a while to clean the bilge, but next time...
Our boat status was improved, but not completed in Phuket. Seems the mother board was blown on the radar, but they do not make them anymore. As a major win, the radar guy actually found an old one in the shop. Yes!!! (we believe the coincidence of the board blowing so soon after he worked on it and the fact that he charged us nothing for the diagnostics nor the board, indicate he knew he was at fault) Unfortunately, the mother board took another board with it which, again, they don't make for ancient systems like ours. Finally, we have tracked down the a replacement for about $350 which will allow us to avoid replacing the entire radar dome for $2,000. Some places, namely Ray Marine, say we can't even get a new scanner for our model while others here in Asia say complete replacements are available for the two grand. Nonetheless, as backup, we found a shorter range used system on line, including a display (another thing you can't get parts for) for cheap. Keeping it in reserve, and we'll let you know if our repairs work once we get the board.
Also, the genset wasn't pumping water. We tried everything, like changing the hoses in case there was a pinhole leak, but no dice. One of the great guys we have used there, took off the pump and basically rebuilt it for us for next to nothing. He also custom made aluminum alloy sea water strainer screens for the genset and freezer water intakes to improve flow. We poured acid down the freezer to clean all the crud out so it was working great. Unfortunately, on departure, it all came apart. The genset stopped pumping again, and the freezer pump (brand new) started leaking. Turns out the impeller was bad on the genset--an easy fix, but why? Had another pump for the freezer and not sure why that leaked, but all is well now. Had both the genset guy and the electrician on the hunt for some new batteries but so far, we're having no luck in either Thailand or Langkawi. Fortunately, we're on shore power and only need one 6 volt and one starter battery, according to the electrician, but we need to find them somewhere. That's really good news as we have 10 batteries and they are about $300 each. I was worried we needed a full complement!!
Other boat stuff--got the rigging replaced; reconditioned the jib; did canvas repairs; organized the haulout for Dec. 2, tried to fix a new water maker leak--again not critical as we're on the dock--but I can't find it. The element on one of the the hot water heaters is bad, but we can't find a replacement (110 volt) in Asia. Fortunately, I found a spare on board but haven't hooked it up yet awaiting some info, as an OEM part is $114 for a normally $10 element!!?? Organized a bunch of stuff in waterproof boxes; cleaned, resealed leaky hatches, etc. etc. etc. Also need to get a new dinghy prop and found that the spare from the old dinghy, which was supposed to fit the new engine, didn't. Researching that and hoping for some kind of adapter. Also discovered the almost new BBQ was rusting through. The old one lasted 10 plus years!!! Trying to see what "they" will do about that. Oh, also installed the new brighter LEDs we've had for some time. Awesome. Very bright and they use almost no power. I'm sure there's more, but I'm equally sure you are about asleep if not already!!!
Our social lives were pretty good in Royal Phuket Marina. We got a car for the time we were there from the faithful Mr. Morn. Same as last time. Joey rented and promptly wrecked a scooter which cost him $300 or $400. He, by the way, is in Bangkok finishing the RYA Captain's paper work (seems the guy in Oz was not RYA certified so we're duplicating here, folks) Congrats that he's passing his tests, but brickbats for leaving stuff in his room at the backpacker place. He's now short one IPod and 7,000 baht ($200). We finally went to the Big Buddha, a 40 meter statue on top of one of the hills in Phuket. We found a most excellent western style grocery, got massages, shopped, etc. All in all a good time and productive. A few days after our arrival, a sister ship pulled in from the Maldives with a permanent skipper, Dieter and two crew, all South African. This was unfortunate as we all know what these guys are like--Dieter knew the Voyage crowd--so Joe's work ethic went out the window. There will have to be some major adjustments when he finally gets employed. The plan is for him to return to Phuket and rent a place while job hunting. Wish him luck!!!
Because of the tides, we had to leave Phuket around noon meaning we could only get as far as Phi Phi, about 25 miles out. So the next day we either had to start on two short legs back the 100 miles to Langkawi, or really go for it. Would have left before sunup if we had radar but managed to get off at morning twilight. Fortunately, there was a bit of wind and we made the anchorage at Telaga (where you check in) just after dark. Checked in the next day, although we're still trying to get to the harbour master who seems to make his own hours, and took off for Rebak only about 5 miles away. Pissed rain but we got a break and made it to the slip. Same spot as last time, but they aren't sure we can stay after month end due to another reservation. I really don't want to anchor out with the water maker leaking and battery problem, but Telaga looked pretty full. Will call them next week to see if they can accommodate us. Quite the usual suspects here. Freebird arrived back from the states the day after we got in and Scot Free II from Canada just got back yesterday, but they won't get to Rebak until the end of the week.
Now I know most of you are only interested in the Rose report so I purposely left it until last so you had to read the rest of my drivel. Rose actually flew down to Penang from Phuket to see the doc (one of the reasons we stayed a full month was we couldn't get everything done in time to leave for Malaysia in time to make her appointment). The news is mixed. The doc keeps telling Rose her blood tests are showing improvement but the pain just keeps on. Fortunately, the next appointment is when we will be in Penang for the haulout, and we're hoping that things will improve by that point. Shortly after that appointment we'll leave for Phuket, and points west so we need to get the situation sorted!!!
Cheers from us both
Tim & Rose
We are now back in Rebak Marina at Langkawi in Malaysia, having spent an entire month in Phuket. Unfortunately, we weren't sure we were going to be that long so we didn't sign up for the cheap monthly massage, etc. deal at the spa at the marina. Still got our share!!!!
Most of the month we spent working on the boat or arranging for others to do so. Remember, Joe was still on board and, until he fell in with a disreputable South African crowd, did a yeoman's job on the boat. Of course, I have now thrown my list out and Alzheimer's is kicking in (maybe it's mad cow like Denny Crane. I just acquired the original Star Trek series and Rose can't believe it's the same guy!!!), but things like buffing the topsides, fixing lights, changing oil (of course the sail drive that was leaking had to be changed again, as well as engine oil, etc. We even did the windlass) etc., etc. A friend here has advised me that we can fix the sail drive problem by drilling a small pressure relief hole in the oil fill cap. Seems like it is common for heat to build up pressure internally in the sail drive which then pushes oil out the seals. That's okay, but then, when it cool off, it creates a vacuum which sucks seawater in through the seals. The small hole stops this from happening--you just have to put a rag over the hole or when the pressure builds up, it will spew oil all over. I've never heard of this and am getting new seals when we haul out in December, but, should it recur, I will definitely do this as it is a pain to change the oil!! Now this is probably more than you want to know about sail drives, but I'm going to tell you anyway. On the old ones, the only way you could thoroughly change the oil was to haul the boat, which is quite expensive, and drain it from the bottom. You are instructed to do this every 150 hours which would mean 2 or 3 haulouts a year. No Way!! Too many gears to get a vacuum pump in there from the top. On the new ones, however, the geniuses have come up with a pressure system whereby you put a nipple at the very top and another where it goes through the hull, connected to hoses, and use a scuba tank to pressurize the drive and blow the oil out into the container of your choice. Joe had become quite proficient at this, but he stayed in Phuket, and it needed to be done on arrival in Langkawi. Don't want to leave salty oil in the drive. What I neglected to know was you pull the bottom plug first and screw in that nipple before opening up the top. This leaves a semi-vacuum in place for minimum spillage. The way I did it, opening the top, then the bottom allows all the oil to run quickly out and makes putting in the bottom nipple with the hose, while this is going on, almost impossible. Took a while to clean the bilge, but next time...
Our boat status was improved, but not completed in Phuket. Seems the mother board was blown on the radar, but they do not make them anymore. As a major win, the radar guy actually found an old one in the shop. Yes!!! (we believe the coincidence of the board blowing so soon after he worked on it and the fact that he charged us nothing for the diagnostics nor the board, indicate he knew he was at fault) Unfortunately, the mother board took another board with it which, again, they don't make for ancient systems like ours. Finally, we have tracked down the a replacement for about $350 which will allow us to avoid replacing the entire radar dome for $2,000. Some places, namely Ray Marine, say we can't even get a new scanner for our model while others here in Asia say complete replacements are available for the two grand. Nonetheless, as backup, we found a shorter range used system on line, including a display (another thing you can't get parts for) for cheap. Keeping it in reserve, and we'll let you know if our repairs work once we get the board.
Also, the genset wasn't pumping water. We tried everything, like changing the hoses in case there was a pinhole leak, but no dice. One of the great guys we have used there, took off the pump and basically rebuilt it for us for next to nothing. He also custom made aluminum alloy sea water strainer screens for the genset and freezer water intakes to improve flow. We poured acid down the freezer to clean all the crud out so it was working great. Unfortunately, on departure, it all came apart. The genset stopped pumping again, and the freezer pump (brand new) started leaking. Turns out the impeller was bad on the genset--an easy fix, but why? Had another pump for the freezer and not sure why that leaked, but all is well now. Had both the genset guy and the electrician on the hunt for some new batteries but so far, we're having no luck in either Thailand or Langkawi. Fortunately, we're on shore power and only need one 6 volt and one starter battery, according to the electrician, but we need to find them somewhere. That's really good news as we have 10 batteries and they are about $300 each. I was worried we needed a full complement!!
Other boat stuff--got the rigging replaced; reconditioned the jib; did canvas repairs; organized the haulout for Dec. 2, tried to fix a new water maker leak--again not critical as we're on the dock--but I can't find it. The element on one of the the hot water heaters is bad, but we can't find a replacement (110 volt) in Asia. Fortunately, I found a spare on board but haven't hooked it up yet awaiting some info, as an OEM part is $114 for a normally $10 element!!?? Organized a bunch of stuff in waterproof boxes; cleaned, resealed leaky hatches, etc. etc. etc. Also need to get a new dinghy prop and found that the spare from the old dinghy, which was supposed to fit the new engine, didn't. Researching that and hoping for some kind of adapter. Also discovered the almost new BBQ was rusting through. The old one lasted 10 plus years!!! Trying to see what "they" will do about that. Oh, also installed the new brighter LEDs we've had for some time. Awesome. Very bright and they use almost no power. I'm sure there's more, but I'm equally sure you are about asleep if not already!!!
Our social lives were pretty good in Royal Phuket Marina. We got a car for the time we were there from the faithful Mr. Morn. Same as last time. Joey rented and promptly wrecked a scooter which cost him $300 or $400. He, by the way, is in Bangkok finishing the RYA Captain's paper work (seems the guy in Oz was not RYA certified so we're duplicating here, folks) Congrats that he's passing his tests, but brickbats for leaving stuff in his room at the backpacker place. He's now short one IPod and 7,000 baht ($200). We finally went to the Big Buddha, a 40 meter statue on top of one of the hills in Phuket. We found a most excellent western style grocery, got massages, shopped, etc. All in all a good time and productive. A few days after our arrival, a sister ship pulled in from the Maldives with a permanent skipper, Dieter and two crew, all South African. This was unfortunate as we all know what these guys are like--Dieter knew the Voyage crowd--so Joe's work ethic went out the window. There will have to be some major adjustments when he finally gets employed. The plan is for him to return to Phuket and rent a place while job hunting. Wish him luck!!!
Because of the tides, we had to leave Phuket around noon meaning we could only get as far as Phi Phi, about 25 miles out. So the next day we either had to start on two short legs back the 100 miles to Langkawi, or really go for it. Would have left before sunup if we had radar but managed to get off at morning twilight. Fortunately, there was a bit of wind and we made the anchorage at Telaga (where you check in) just after dark. Checked in the next day, although we're still trying to get to the harbour master who seems to make his own hours, and took off for Rebak only about 5 miles away. Pissed rain but we got a break and made it to the slip. Same spot as last time, but they aren't sure we can stay after month end due to another reservation. I really don't want to anchor out with the water maker leaking and battery problem, but Telaga looked pretty full. Will call them next week to see if they can accommodate us. Quite the usual suspects here. Freebird arrived back from the states the day after we got in and Scot Free II from Canada just got back yesterday, but they won't get to Rebak until the end of the week.
Now I know most of you are only interested in the Rose report so I purposely left it until last so you had to read the rest of my drivel. Rose actually flew down to Penang from Phuket to see the doc (one of the reasons we stayed a full month was we couldn't get everything done in time to leave for Malaysia in time to make her appointment). The news is mixed. The doc keeps telling Rose her blood tests are showing improvement but the pain just keeps on. Fortunately, the next appointment is when we will be in Penang for the haulout, and we're hoping that things will improve by that point. Shortly after that appointment we'll leave for Phuket, and points west so we need to get the situation sorted!!!
Cheers from us both
Tim & Rose
Monday, September 14, 2009
September 14 2009
I almost forgot, tomorrow marks my 11th anniversary of living on the boat.
While it sure doesn't seem like yesterday given all that's happened, the
time has truly flown, and I have no regrets. As many of you have heard me
say: "it sure beats working". Attached a 2005 and a current pic. You can print these out and put them on the fridge door!!
While it sure doesn't seem like yesterday given all that's happened, the
time has truly flown, and I have no regrets. As many of you have heard me
say: "it sure beats working". Attached a 2005 and a current pic. You can print these out and put them on the fridge door!!
Malaysia II & Phuket Sept 14 2009
Hello all.
Yes, we are seriously overdue, not having written since July 8th. Unbelievably, some of you have actually inquired as to our well-being.
Okay, so the reason there's been no letter is there has been precious little to write about. Shortly after our last one, Rose took off for Europe for five weeks and Joey took off for Singapore and New Zealand. Like he needs another vacation!!! The poor captain was left to his own devices until August 16th when the lovely Rose returned to Penang. Ah, solitude. Ah, peace and quiet. My days were filled with a long overdue thorough cleaning of the boat from stem to stern, from bilges to cabin top. The galley alone took 3 full days!!! Of course, there were a few massages and pizzas thrown in. I was also responsible for looking after Freebird while they were gone. The only excitement was a storm generated surge that spent a day hammering the boats and breaking dock lines. Installation of the new autopilot head was surprisingly easy, EXCEPT, the changeout "told" one of the other instruments that it should "lock" up due to suspected tampering. The only way, since the new head doesn't use that feature, to unlock is to send the thing to the states. Crap!! Fortunately, with some advice, we were able to solve the problem by putting the old head back in line after the new one--all the instruments are interconnected and talk to each other. Just removed that today to see if the fix was permanent and it is--saves hundreds in shipping and aggravation. Speaking of which, since we're on the way to the Med in January, I thought it would be a good idea to blow a few hundred on an AIS (automatic identification system) which works like an aviation transponder to identify other boats vital statistics. It works in tandem with the radar, and can be displayed on your chartplotter or computer--IF you have the right version. Took me about 2 weeks to figure out that I don't and that the upgrades wouldn't load properly. Fortunately, there is a free stand alone program that provides an excellent interface. Then there were the idiots at ICOM, the manufacturer that set the cabling up for a serial interface. That's one of those nine pin plugs like you used to have on the computer for your printer a million years ago. Now everyone uses USB, so I had to manufacture a cable and then the dummies don't really tell you which wire hooks up where. OK. Enough! We got it to work, and it was lucky since the radar has gone out again. Oh yeah, the genset went out too. Doesn't want to pump cooling water in spite of everything appearing okay and replacement of all the hoses. The mechanic is checking it as we speak and thinks it is a bad seal on the water pump shaft.
Anyway, after more than four months in Penang, we were ready to move on and decided to head back up to Phuket to get the rigging done, and the radar and generator fixed. We stopped off at Rebak on Langkawi for a few days to allow Joey to load up on $10/case beer and to see a bunch of friends there. Actually, we also finally (Norman and Rose) got to ride up the cable car to a mountain top. Great views 'til we actually arrived at the top when the weather decided to sock in. Had lunch at a most excellent Tapas place nearby and then did it again on our way out of Malaysia. Spent a futile day or two trying to collect Rose's passport. Unlike the US, commonwealth countries including the UK will not issue additional pages, so, in spite of having 5 more years to run, Rose had to spend almost $200 on a new passport which was issued in KL with instructions to return it to Rebak. Nope, courier service won't deliver out there, so first we wasted a Friday when, due to Ramadan, everything was closed, then Monday, we went to the wrong depot. Have finally retrieved it.
Our trip up to Langkawi was marked with high winds and heavy rain as was part of the trip to Phuket. We were also babying the port transmission as we found milky oil in there signifying leaky shaft seals. That will be okay as long as we frequently change out the oil, but it can't be fixed without hauling the boat out of the water. As for further news, Rose has put her foot down (I think she was just humoring me before anyway) and has insisted we resume our westward trek come January, so it's just as well we're doing the rigging, getting AIS, etc. Unfortunately, as she was weaned off the steroids, Rose's condition has not responded as we all hoped it would. She had an appointment she had to fly down to Penang for and put the fear of God in the docs as they have now changed her dosages, given her some new stuff and added back a small dose of steroids. After the miraculous improvement of a few months ago, needless to say, we are very disappointed with the results of the new treatment thus far, but Rose is on the comeback trail with the changes in her medication and time will tell. She needs to fly back to Penang early October for more checks, etc. and will do so from either here (Phuket) or Langkawi. Round trip is only about $50.
On the Joey front, there are some job prospects here he is working on and, in any event, he can finish up his captain's qualifications here. It's also about as cheap a place to be as there is, so being unemployed here is less of a drain on the pocketbook. Hell yes, that's why I wanted to stay.
So, here we are back in our old stomping grounds at Royal Phuket Marina, having arrived Thursday night. We were quite happy to get away from the 1000 decibel disco 'til 3 AM each Friday and Saturday in Penang only to have a couple of parties here all weekend. The one Friday night actually went 'til 8 AM Saturday!!!! Fireworks at midnight last night. Hoping it was an anomaly as this didn't happen in Feb.. We're checked in for at least a month, and today, Monday, I've called the radar guy, the generator mechanic, the electrician (I forgot to mention it looks like I'll need new batteries--don't ask what they cost), and the canvas man for some minor repairs. We also need some work on the jib, but the riggers can handle that when they change out the rigging later this week. So, all in all, we'll be in great shape for a January departure, and this is about as cheap as it gets for this kind of work. Still deciding where to spend the holidays, and won't know how long we're here until the work starts.
Cheers until later
Tim & Rose
Yes, we are seriously overdue, not having written since July 8th. Unbelievably, some of you have actually inquired as to our well-being.
Okay, so the reason there's been no letter is there has been precious little to write about. Shortly after our last one, Rose took off for Europe for five weeks and Joey took off for Singapore and New Zealand. Like he needs another vacation!!! The poor captain was left to his own devices until August 16th when the lovely Rose returned to Penang. Ah, solitude. Ah, peace and quiet. My days were filled with a long overdue thorough cleaning of the boat from stem to stern, from bilges to cabin top. The galley alone took 3 full days!!! Of course, there were a few massages and pizzas thrown in. I was also responsible for looking after Freebird while they were gone. The only excitement was a storm generated surge that spent a day hammering the boats and breaking dock lines. Installation of the new autopilot head was surprisingly easy, EXCEPT, the changeout "told" one of the other instruments that it should "lock" up due to suspected tampering. The only way, since the new head doesn't use that feature, to unlock is to send the thing to the states. Crap!! Fortunately, with some advice, we were able to solve the problem by putting the old head back in line after the new one--all the instruments are interconnected and talk to each other. Just removed that today to see if the fix was permanent and it is--saves hundreds in shipping and aggravation. Speaking of which, since we're on the way to the Med in January, I thought it would be a good idea to blow a few hundred on an AIS (automatic identification system) which works like an aviation transponder to identify other boats vital statistics. It works in tandem with the radar, and can be displayed on your chartplotter or computer--IF you have the right version. Took me about 2 weeks to figure out that I don't and that the upgrades wouldn't load properly. Fortunately, there is a free stand alone program that provides an excellent interface. Then there were the idiots at ICOM, the manufacturer that set the cabling up for a serial interface. That's one of those nine pin plugs like you used to have on the computer for your printer a million years ago. Now everyone uses USB, so I had to manufacture a cable and then the dummies don't really tell you which wire hooks up where. OK. Enough! We got it to work, and it was lucky since the radar has gone out again. Oh yeah, the genset went out too. Doesn't want to pump cooling water in spite of everything appearing okay and replacement of all the hoses. The mechanic is checking it as we speak and thinks it is a bad seal on the water pump shaft.
Anyway, after more than four months in Penang, we were ready to move on and decided to head back up to Phuket to get the rigging done, and the radar and generator fixed. We stopped off at Rebak on Langkawi for a few days to allow Joey to load up on $10/case beer and to see a bunch of friends there. Actually, we also finally (Norman and Rose) got to ride up the cable car to a mountain top. Great views 'til we actually arrived at the top when the weather decided to sock in. Had lunch at a most excellent Tapas place nearby and then did it again on our way out of Malaysia. Spent a futile day or two trying to collect Rose's passport. Unlike the US, commonwealth countries including the UK will not issue additional pages, so, in spite of having 5 more years to run, Rose had to spend almost $200 on a new passport which was issued in KL with instructions to return it to Rebak. Nope, courier service won't deliver out there, so first we wasted a Friday when, due to Ramadan, everything was closed, then Monday, we went to the wrong depot. Have finally retrieved it.
Our trip up to Langkawi was marked with high winds and heavy rain as was part of the trip to Phuket. We were also babying the port transmission as we found milky oil in there signifying leaky shaft seals. That will be okay as long as we frequently change out the oil, but it can't be fixed without hauling the boat out of the water. As for further news, Rose has put her foot down (I think she was just humoring me before anyway) and has insisted we resume our westward trek come January, so it's just as well we're doing the rigging, getting AIS, etc. Unfortunately, as she was weaned off the steroids, Rose's condition has not responded as we all hoped it would. She had an appointment she had to fly down to Penang for and put the fear of God in the docs as they have now changed her dosages, given her some new stuff and added back a small dose of steroids. After the miraculous improvement of a few months ago, needless to say, we are very disappointed with the results of the new treatment thus far, but Rose is on the comeback trail with the changes in her medication and time will tell. She needs to fly back to Penang early October for more checks, etc. and will do so from either here (Phuket) or Langkawi. Round trip is only about $50.
On the Joey front, there are some job prospects here he is working on and, in any event, he can finish up his captain's qualifications here. It's also about as cheap a place to be as there is, so being unemployed here is less of a drain on the pocketbook. Hell yes, that's why I wanted to stay.
So, here we are back in our old stomping grounds at Royal Phuket Marina, having arrived Thursday night. We were quite happy to get away from the 1000 decibel disco 'til 3 AM each Friday and Saturday in Penang only to have a couple of parties here all weekend. The one Friday night actually went 'til 8 AM Saturday!!!! Fireworks at midnight last night. Hoping it was an anomaly as this didn't happen in Feb.. We're checked in for at least a month, and today, Monday, I've called the radar guy, the generator mechanic, the electrician (I forgot to mention it looks like I'll need new batteries--don't ask what they cost), and the canvas man for some minor repairs. We also need some work on the jib, but the riggers can handle that when they change out the rigging later this week. So, all in all, we'll be in great shape for a January departure, and this is about as cheap as it gets for this kind of work. Still deciding where to spend the holidays, and won't know how long we're here until the work starts.
Cheers until later
Tim & Rose
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Southeast Asia July 8 2009
Hello everybody.
Well, we've given you a week or so to thoroughly study our last missive, so it's time to bring you up to date, like it or not!!
First, about the bozos at homeland security which, unfortunately, the Coast Guard is now part of. I need to renew my Captain's license and emailed the CG to find out how, since it had already expired. They said no problem; just send in the paperwork, but, oh, by the way, you need to get a TWIC card. What is that, say I? That is the new requirement for all transportation workers of which you are one, say they. What do I need to do? Oh, just come into any CG office to be fingerprinted and photographed, then, after a two week vetting period, come in to pick it up in person. But I'm out of the country; couldn't I do this at an embassy like getting a new passport. Nope. There is not enough demand for us to set up that kind of thing offshore. But what about the thousands of merchant seaman plying their trade all over the world. Sorry, call your congressman if you don't like it. What assholes. So now I won't be licensed which isn't really necessary, but I think it helps on my insurance. Wrote the White House but haven't heard back.
Back to the fun stuff. After only 2 days back in Penang, we took off for Siem Reap in northern Cambodia, site of the Angkor Wat complex and embarkation point for our cruise down the Mekong. Cambodia was awesome. First, the US$ is the currency of choice, even in ATMs, which was nice after so long making mental calculations of what stuff cost. Second, we had a nice hotel, fairly centrally located--the place isn't very big--for $30/night. Top floor, big balcony, great cable!! In fact, everything there was dirt cheap. A massage was $4--our cheapest yet--$8 if you had two people work on you which I did by accident. BUT, it was great. You can get visas on arrival--$20 plus $2 for pics, but Rose had a problem since she had run out of passport pages. They charged her an extra $10 to cover over another page. The stupid UK doesn't allow extra pages (I'm on my second insertion) so she'll have to pony up about $50 for a new one when she's back in the UK. Other than that, clearance was a breeze. I don't think they even had a customs officer on duty!!!
After walking around that afternoon, getting the requisite massage and a very cheap liter of JD, we took a $2 tuk tuk (motorized rickshaw) ride down to the night market. It was really nice with some good food places and a nice bar with $2 mojitos. Silk shirts were $10 which I thought was a good deal until we hit the $5 ones in Saigon. We were a bit worn out and just headed back early, after a couple of the aforementioned cocktails, to the hotel for dinner. Cambodia is very poor, and we all remember the horror of the Khmer Rouge genocide, but, amazingly, the people are among the friendliest and, at least outwardly, happiest people we've encountered. So, this was the off season, and we arranged for our tuk tuk man to take us around again the following night and to take us to the Raffles Hotel gathering point for the cruise. We were his only fares those days!!! We had also arranged with our cab driver from the airport to pick us up the next day for a tour of Angkor Wat, only 10 minutes away. That was $25!! These guys might be inexpensive but they have the right idea--they're so cheerful and helpful, you just can't help giving them a good tip. The tuk tuk guy waited for us both nights for the return to the hotel--no charge!
The Angkor Wat complex is simply amazing. To think some of this stuff was built as much as 1,300 years ago is staggering. AW was completed around the fourteenth century and is a marvel. It was constructed at the peak of Khmer glory and was the capital when the "empire" encompassed much of Thailand, Laos, Malaysia and southern Vietnam. Things have gone downhill since then, but the monuments remain. Sadly, after the Khmer Rouge fiasco, the country and its economy fell into ruin and most of the statues are headless or faceless as the people figured out they could sell these relics. The temples are huge, though, as is the site, encompassing about 40 temples and other palaces in an area of hundreds of square kilometers. Once again, it was hot as blazes so we just did three of the main temples, including Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and the Bayan temple. We also visited the elephant wall and leper terrace. You could easily spend a month exploring all the sites. We had a really good lunch at a local place outside one of the temples. We finished about 4 pm and stopped at another local market which wasn't too good, but we found a good Mexican place--go figure--and returned by tuk tuk for dinner after a nap and a much needed shower at the hotel. Dinner was surprisingly good with even better mojitos there. Our "driver" waited and we segued to the night market for shirts, genuine crocodile skin belts, and miscellaneous knick knacks and gifts.
Even though we each brought 2 suitcases and left room for purchases, we know we needed another. Next morning , it was off to another local market, just near the hotel, to find one. It's quite strange negotiating in US$s, but we got a fake Samsonite or something for about $20, and we definitely needed it by the time we left Vietnam. Our driver picked us up at 11 or so for the short trip to Raffles to meet up with the cruise people. Same hotel as the famous one as Singapore. Pretty funny with the 2 of us and 5 pieces of luggage plus backpack all crammed into a 2 person rickshaw. Fortunately the ride was short. We all met at the Elephant Bar at Raffles and there were about 18 of us, far short of a full ship's complement. More on that later. After a bit of a wait we all piled on a nice tour bus for the trip down to where the ship was. Because it is early in the season the water levels on the river and Lake Tonle, another major waterway, do not allow the ship to come to Siem Reap. The ride would have been about 4 hours, but we made several stops. One was an old bridge, one was just a rest stop with a shop and restaurant, but the middle one was the Spider Village. Obviously a popular tourist stop, because one is greeted at the bus with huge platters of fried tarantulas and pans of cooked grasshoppers. Many of the venders are playing with live ones while trying to get you to buy some. Crazy Rose ate a grasshopper and then tried a tarantula leg. Yes, I have pictures!!!
So we arrived at the ship at about 6 pm, and our cabin was just outstanding. Twin beds, but quite roomy with a regular sized bathroom. Nice little slippers to wear on board and a Pandaw Cruises robe. The ship was basically four decks and resembled a Mississippi paddle wheeler without the paddle wheels. Bottom deck was operations and some single cabins which weren't in use. Main deck was cabins, dining room, and bar. Second deck was cabins and spa. Upper deck was the sun deck and another bar with the helm and a small gift shop. All our meals were included as was beer and local spirits. Had to buy wine, though. After a briefing, we had dinner at about 7:30, still only about half full. HOWEVER, in the middle of dinner, in piles a dozen French travel agents being comped by the cruise line. As it turned out, these a-holes ruined the trip for everyone. Excursions were held up because they were always late, the ship gave them preferential treatment and many were typically rude frogs!!! On top of that, I had to pay an extra $300 because they put them in all the mid deck cabins and forced some of us upstairs to identical, but more expensive cabins. This wasn't the only problem as you will hear, but I definitely do not think this most expensive of our travels was a very good value for the money. When I complained to the cruise line afterwards, they blew me off with "So be it!" Piss on "em". In spite of the problems, we had a good time, but wouldn't recommend it to others. That being said, before all these problems arose, we were impressed. The dinner that night was excellent, and the paying passengers were quite nice. We sort of hung out with some Aussie couples who were interesting and entertaining, one of whom was even more upset than me. The ship sailed that night for Kampong Chnang and after breakfast the next day we hopped on local boats to check out the local culture with floating villages and markets. We had excellent English speaking guides the entire trip. The frogs had their own guides and separate transportation.
Back for lunch and down to another village famous for weaving. I didn't go, but Rose bought some stuff. So far all the meals had been really good, but it started to go downhill with the second dinner. While breakfasts and lunches were all really good, dinner, after the first night, was uninspired and, many times, served family style. They even snuck some durian, a really smelly local fruit into the dessert one night. Some nights there was a movie in the bar relating to local stuff, like the killing fields.
Without boring you with the details, there were generally two excursions a day, some of which were pretty good, like the King's Palace in Phnom Penh and ancient temples, but some, mainly in Cambodia, were thinly veiled attempts to get money to their favorite charities, exposing us to sub par goods at 5 times their price in a regular market. There wasn't a person aboard who didn't feel compassion for the troubles of the Cambodian people, but we would have rather made a donation than trek through the jungle in 100 degree heat only to see same old same old and be conned into buying overpriced stuff. I mean, really, there were free drinks to be had on board. Speaking of which, me and one of the Aussies gave Bloody Mary lessons to the bartender with outstanding results! Phnom Penh was a great stop with tours of the Palace arriving in convoy by rickshaw, and a visit to the Silver Pagoda which is floored with hundreds of kilograms of silver tiles. The captain got on Cambodian national TV. They were doing some kind of story about the rickshaw as a means of local travel and chose me for the interview. Got a good "blind" massage there too.
The next problem came at the Cambodia/Vietnam border. The cruise line had put the fear of God into us that we needed visas in advance. Failure to produce a visa would result in huge delays and probable fines, so everyone's paperwork WAS in order, except the ship's, that is. We were never told what they screwed up, but we were stuck at the border for a day and a half. They tried to gloss it over with some free wine and discounted massages, but we ended up missing an excursion or two and there never was an apology. They filled the time with woman stuff like cooking demos, napkin folding and sarong tying. Whoopee!!! Disembarkation was painless--the frogs got off first, of course, and we bussed it about 1 1/2 hours into Saigon. On the way, another American couple asked if we wanted to share the cost of hiring our Pandaw Vietnam guide for a tour of the Chu Chi tunnels and the city the next day, so we were pretty set. A short taxi ride from our drop-off point brought us to our Saigon Hotel.
Well, Saigon pretty much made up for the disappointment from the cruise. We had a great "boutique hotel" in the heart of the city, near a giant market. At night, the regular market closed and the 2 streets on either side were blocked off for a night market and "portable" restaurants which were excellent. I had a lot of fun with the local currency which is the Dong (yes, I was always whipping out my Dong, etc. Rose got sick of it, but I am easily amused), but the currency of preference was the US$. Seems to me we really won the war as there were all the fast food chains as well!!! So, after a market reconnoiter that night, we had a great breakfast (included) with good views at the top of the hotel, and took off on our tour. I was a bit concerned about being American, but everyone was really friendly and most of the locals still call it Saigon instead of Ho Chi Minh City.
The first stop on our tour was the tunnels, about 30 kilometers outside the city where tens of thousands of Viet Cong hid out during the war. The place is now a huge national park as there are 80 k of tunnels. you get to go through some of them and they've raised the ceiling on others so you don't have to bend over, but they were 3 or 4 levels deep and we didn't go too far down. Really unbelievable to think people lived down there, especially with 1,000 pound bomb craters all over the place. Gives new insight into the persistence of these people, who, by the way, call it the civil war. We headed back into town and visited the old presidential palace which is now called Reunification Hall. It's like a time warp into the '60's and is preserved as it was when the NVA tanks, which are there on the lawn, rolled through the front gates. We had a super lunch and in the afternoon did some touristy stuff, but also visited the Sea Goddess Pagoda, one of the oldest in SE Asia and which was really cool. That night we hit the market, bought more stuff and had a good local dinner.
Next day, Monday, I needed to see a dentist as a crown had come loose just before we left Penang. Rose went too for a cleaning. I was in the chair about 2 hours, and she cleaned my teeth as well as fixing the crown and grinding down another rough spot--$100. Unbelievable!!! It rained heavily that day, so after a massage, we napped and ate dinner in at the hotel. Pretty funny, really, as there was a crowd of about 30 barely teenagers and their chaperones who came in later for what must have been the finale dinner on a road trip. Got a bit noisy.
Tuesday, we hit the botanical gardens and Saigon zoo. The zoo was a surprise hit as it was feeding day for the pythons. Rose claimed to be grossed out but took a million pics. They just put a few rabbits in the cages with the snakes which are huge--about 20 feet long and a foot thick--and let nature take its course. There were quite a few snakes, and the rabbits were in varying stages of still hopping about to in the coils of the snakes to half way down their gullet. I don't think they could get away with this in the states. My ATM card crapped out so the afternoon was spent on the phone and napping. The time difference didn't help, but Morgan Stanley rose to the occasion immediately (well, next day) getting the card reinstated after it was cancelled. We shopped some more and ate local that night.
The morning saw us off to Hanoi. We had wanted to spend more time in Vietnam taking the train up and hitting Hue and a couple of other spots, but the travel people all said the trains aren't too good so we just flew direct to Hanoi. You'd never know we bombed the hell out of the place on the long ride into town, but we were unimpressed with Hanoi, itself. Language was a major problem and people were a bit standoffish to westerners. Our hotel, while not a disaster, was just short of one, and the place is very spread out. But, we only had 3 nights there and made the most of it. A highlight was Uncle Ho's mausoleum which in addition to the tomb, encompasses where he lived and a museum or two. Very interesting. There's also a lot of lakes there and we had some pleasant times just sitting in the cafe's waterside. Hanoi is also famous for their "water puppets" which was an ancient form of entertainment for the people living on the water. Basically, there are a bunch of puppeteers waste deep in water behind a screen operating puppets on sticks. Yeah, okay, you had to be there. There were markets to explore, but I don't think we bought a single thing there. Shopped out, I guess. BUT, I forgot to mention, I bought a bottle of snake wine in Saigon. Just for display for me, but the locals drink it. It's the local vodka in a cool bottle with a small cobra with a scorpion in its mouth preserved inside. Of all the places we've visited, Hanoi is one of the very few we have no interest in returning to.
We're now back in Penang and Joey back on board for a while while he works out where to get more captain's credentials and or a job. Our Freebird friends are also here and we celebrated Joey's 26th early at the fabulous E & O Hotel brunch. Rose has seen the doc who increased her medicine dosage, and we've generally been hanging about and working on the boat. The new autopilot control head came today so that is a future job and some major cleaning needs to be done. Rose leaves for the UK tonight at 10 for 5 weeks and Joey is departing for Singapore a week from today so I'm being abandoned for my own birthday on the 30th. Freebird is leaving on some land travel as well so it will be pretty boring around here for a while.
So, that the latest and greatest and we're completely up to date.
Cheers
Tim, Rose & Joe
Well, we've given you a week or so to thoroughly study our last missive, so it's time to bring you up to date, like it or not!!
First, about the bozos at homeland security which, unfortunately, the Coast Guard is now part of. I need to renew my Captain's license and emailed the CG to find out how, since it had already expired. They said no problem; just send in the paperwork, but, oh, by the way, you need to get a TWIC card. What is that, say I? That is the new requirement for all transportation workers of which you are one, say they. What do I need to do? Oh, just come into any CG office to be fingerprinted and photographed, then, after a two week vetting period, come in to pick it up in person. But I'm out of the country; couldn't I do this at an embassy like getting a new passport. Nope. There is not enough demand for us to set up that kind of thing offshore. But what about the thousands of merchant seaman plying their trade all over the world. Sorry, call your congressman if you don't like it. What assholes. So now I won't be licensed which isn't really necessary, but I think it helps on my insurance. Wrote the White House but haven't heard back.
Back to the fun stuff. After only 2 days back in Penang, we took off for Siem Reap in northern Cambodia, site of the Angkor Wat complex and embarkation point for our cruise down the Mekong. Cambodia was awesome. First, the US$ is the currency of choice, even in ATMs, which was nice after so long making mental calculations of what stuff cost. Second, we had a nice hotel, fairly centrally located--the place isn't very big--for $30/night. Top floor, big balcony, great cable!! In fact, everything there was dirt cheap. A massage was $4--our cheapest yet--$8 if you had two people work on you which I did by accident. BUT, it was great. You can get visas on arrival--$20 plus $2 for pics, but Rose had a problem since she had run out of passport pages. They charged her an extra $10 to cover over another page. The stupid UK doesn't allow extra pages (I'm on my second insertion) so she'll have to pony up about $50 for a new one when she's back in the UK. Other than that, clearance was a breeze. I don't think they even had a customs officer on duty!!!
After walking around that afternoon, getting the requisite massage and a very cheap liter of JD, we took a $2 tuk tuk (motorized rickshaw) ride down to the night market. It was really nice with some good food places and a nice bar with $2 mojitos. Silk shirts were $10 which I thought was a good deal until we hit the $5 ones in Saigon. We were a bit worn out and just headed back early, after a couple of the aforementioned cocktails, to the hotel for dinner. Cambodia is very poor, and we all remember the horror of the Khmer Rouge genocide, but, amazingly, the people are among the friendliest and, at least outwardly, happiest people we've encountered. So, this was the off season, and we arranged for our tuk tuk man to take us around again the following night and to take us to the Raffles Hotel gathering point for the cruise. We were his only fares those days!!! We had also arranged with our cab driver from the airport to pick us up the next day for a tour of Angkor Wat, only 10 minutes away. That was $25!! These guys might be inexpensive but they have the right idea--they're so cheerful and helpful, you just can't help giving them a good tip. The tuk tuk guy waited for us both nights for the return to the hotel--no charge!
The Angkor Wat complex is simply amazing. To think some of this stuff was built as much as 1,300 years ago is staggering. AW was completed around the fourteenth century and is a marvel. It was constructed at the peak of Khmer glory and was the capital when the "empire" encompassed much of Thailand, Laos, Malaysia and southern Vietnam. Things have gone downhill since then, but the monuments remain. Sadly, after the Khmer Rouge fiasco, the country and its economy fell into ruin and most of the statues are headless or faceless as the people figured out they could sell these relics. The temples are huge, though, as is the site, encompassing about 40 temples and other palaces in an area of hundreds of square kilometers. Once again, it was hot as blazes so we just did three of the main temples, including Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and the Bayan temple. We also visited the elephant wall and leper terrace. You could easily spend a month exploring all the sites. We had a really good lunch at a local place outside one of the temples. We finished about 4 pm and stopped at another local market which wasn't too good, but we found a good Mexican place--go figure--and returned by tuk tuk for dinner after a nap and a much needed shower at the hotel. Dinner was surprisingly good with even better mojitos there. Our "driver" waited and we segued to the night market for shirts, genuine crocodile skin belts, and miscellaneous knick knacks and gifts.
Even though we each brought 2 suitcases and left room for purchases, we know we needed another. Next morning , it was off to another local market, just near the hotel, to find one. It's quite strange negotiating in US$s, but we got a fake Samsonite or something for about $20, and we definitely needed it by the time we left Vietnam. Our driver picked us up at 11 or so for the short trip to Raffles to meet up with the cruise people. Same hotel as the famous one as Singapore. Pretty funny with the 2 of us and 5 pieces of luggage plus backpack all crammed into a 2 person rickshaw. Fortunately the ride was short. We all met at the Elephant Bar at Raffles and there were about 18 of us, far short of a full ship's complement. More on that later. After a bit of a wait we all piled on a nice tour bus for the trip down to where the ship was. Because it is early in the season the water levels on the river and Lake Tonle, another major waterway, do not allow the ship to come to Siem Reap. The ride would have been about 4 hours, but we made several stops. One was an old bridge, one was just a rest stop with a shop and restaurant, but the middle one was the Spider Village. Obviously a popular tourist stop, because one is greeted at the bus with huge platters of fried tarantulas and pans of cooked grasshoppers. Many of the venders are playing with live ones while trying to get you to buy some. Crazy Rose ate a grasshopper and then tried a tarantula leg. Yes, I have pictures!!!
So we arrived at the ship at about 6 pm, and our cabin was just outstanding. Twin beds, but quite roomy with a regular sized bathroom. Nice little slippers to wear on board and a Pandaw Cruises robe. The ship was basically four decks and resembled a Mississippi paddle wheeler without the paddle wheels. Bottom deck was operations and some single cabins which weren't in use. Main deck was cabins, dining room, and bar. Second deck was cabins and spa. Upper deck was the sun deck and another bar with the helm and a small gift shop. All our meals were included as was beer and local spirits. Had to buy wine, though. After a briefing, we had dinner at about 7:30, still only about half full. HOWEVER, in the middle of dinner, in piles a dozen French travel agents being comped by the cruise line. As it turned out, these a-holes ruined the trip for everyone. Excursions were held up because they were always late, the ship gave them preferential treatment and many were typically rude frogs!!! On top of that, I had to pay an extra $300 because they put them in all the mid deck cabins and forced some of us upstairs to identical, but more expensive cabins. This wasn't the only problem as you will hear, but I definitely do not think this most expensive of our travels was a very good value for the money. When I complained to the cruise line afterwards, they blew me off with "So be it!" Piss on "em". In spite of the problems, we had a good time, but wouldn't recommend it to others. That being said, before all these problems arose, we were impressed. The dinner that night was excellent, and the paying passengers were quite nice. We sort of hung out with some Aussie couples who were interesting and entertaining, one of whom was even more upset than me. The ship sailed that night for Kampong Chnang and after breakfast the next day we hopped on local boats to check out the local culture with floating villages and markets. We had excellent English speaking guides the entire trip. The frogs had their own guides and separate transportation.
Back for lunch and down to another village famous for weaving. I didn't go, but Rose bought some stuff. So far all the meals had been really good, but it started to go downhill with the second dinner. While breakfasts and lunches were all really good, dinner, after the first night, was uninspired and, many times, served family style. They even snuck some durian, a really smelly local fruit into the dessert one night. Some nights there was a movie in the bar relating to local stuff, like the killing fields.
Without boring you with the details, there were generally two excursions a day, some of which were pretty good, like the King's Palace in Phnom Penh and ancient temples, but some, mainly in Cambodia, were thinly veiled attempts to get money to their favorite charities, exposing us to sub par goods at 5 times their price in a regular market. There wasn't a person aboard who didn't feel compassion for the troubles of the Cambodian people, but we would have rather made a donation than trek through the jungle in 100 degree heat only to see same old same old and be conned into buying overpriced stuff. I mean, really, there were free drinks to be had on board. Speaking of which, me and one of the Aussies gave Bloody Mary lessons to the bartender with outstanding results! Phnom Penh was a great stop with tours of the Palace arriving in convoy by rickshaw, and a visit to the Silver Pagoda which is floored with hundreds of kilograms of silver tiles. The captain got on Cambodian national TV. They were doing some kind of story about the rickshaw as a means of local travel and chose me for the interview. Got a good "blind" massage there too.
The next problem came at the Cambodia/Vietnam border. The cruise line had put the fear of God into us that we needed visas in advance. Failure to produce a visa would result in huge delays and probable fines, so everyone's paperwork WAS in order, except the ship's, that is. We were never told what they screwed up, but we were stuck at the border for a day and a half. They tried to gloss it over with some free wine and discounted massages, but we ended up missing an excursion or two and there never was an apology. They filled the time with woman stuff like cooking demos, napkin folding and sarong tying. Whoopee!!! Disembarkation was painless--the frogs got off first, of course, and we bussed it about 1 1/2 hours into Saigon. On the way, another American couple asked if we wanted to share the cost of hiring our Pandaw Vietnam guide for a tour of the Chu Chi tunnels and the city the next day, so we were pretty set. A short taxi ride from our drop-off point brought us to our Saigon Hotel.
Well, Saigon pretty much made up for the disappointment from the cruise. We had a great "boutique hotel" in the heart of the city, near a giant market. At night, the regular market closed and the 2 streets on either side were blocked off for a night market and "portable" restaurants which were excellent. I had a lot of fun with the local currency which is the Dong (yes, I was always whipping out my Dong, etc. Rose got sick of it, but I am easily amused), but the currency of preference was the US$. Seems to me we really won the war as there were all the fast food chains as well!!! So, after a market reconnoiter that night, we had a great breakfast (included) with good views at the top of the hotel, and took off on our tour. I was a bit concerned about being American, but everyone was really friendly and most of the locals still call it Saigon instead of Ho Chi Minh City.
The first stop on our tour was the tunnels, about 30 kilometers outside the city where tens of thousands of Viet Cong hid out during the war. The place is now a huge national park as there are 80 k of tunnels. you get to go through some of them and they've raised the ceiling on others so you don't have to bend over, but they were 3 or 4 levels deep and we didn't go too far down. Really unbelievable to think people lived down there, especially with 1,000 pound bomb craters all over the place. Gives new insight into the persistence of these people, who, by the way, call it the civil war. We headed back into town and visited the old presidential palace which is now called Reunification Hall. It's like a time warp into the '60's and is preserved as it was when the NVA tanks, which are there on the lawn, rolled through the front gates. We had a super lunch and in the afternoon did some touristy stuff, but also visited the Sea Goddess Pagoda, one of the oldest in SE Asia and which was really cool. That night we hit the market, bought more stuff and had a good local dinner.
Next day, Monday, I needed to see a dentist as a crown had come loose just before we left Penang. Rose went too for a cleaning. I was in the chair about 2 hours, and she cleaned my teeth as well as fixing the crown and grinding down another rough spot--$100. Unbelievable!!! It rained heavily that day, so after a massage, we napped and ate dinner in at the hotel. Pretty funny, really, as there was a crowd of about 30 barely teenagers and their chaperones who came in later for what must have been the finale dinner on a road trip. Got a bit noisy.
Tuesday, we hit the botanical gardens and Saigon zoo. The zoo was a surprise hit as it was feeding day for the pythons. Rose claimed to be grossed out but took a million pics. They just put a few rabbits in the cages with the snakes which are huge--about 20 feet long and a foot thick--and let nature take its course. There were quite a few snakes, and the rabbits were in varying stages of still hopping about to in the coils of the snakes to half way down their gullet. I don't think they could get away with this in the states. My ATM card crapped out so the afternoon was spent on the phone and napping. The time difference didn't help, but Morgan Stanley rose to the occasion immediately (well, next day) getting the card reinstated after it was cancelled. We shopped some more and ate local that night.
The morning saw us off to Hanoi. We had wanted to spend more time in Vietnam taking the train up and hitting Hue and a couple of other spots, but the travel people all said the trains aren't too good so we just flew direct to Hanoi. You'd never know we bombed the hell out of the place on the long ride into town, but we were unimpressed with Hanoi, itself. Language was a major problem and people were a bit standoffish to westerners. Our hotel, while not a disaster, was just short of one, and the place is very spread out. But, we only had 3 nights there and made the most of it. A highlight was Uncle Ho's mausoleum which in addition to the tomb, encompasses where he lived and a museum or two. Very interesting. There's also a lot of lakes there and we had some pleasant times just sitting in the cafe's waterside. Hanoi is also famous for their "water puppets" which was an ancient form of entertainment for the people living on the water. Basically, there are a bunch of puppeteers waste deep in water behind a screen operating puppets on sticks. Yeah, okay, you had to be there. There were markets to explore, but I don't think we bought a single thing there. Shopped out, I guess. BUT, I forgot to mention, I bought a bottle of snake wine in Saigon. Just for display for me, but the locals drink it. It's the local vodka in a cool bottle with a small cobra with a scorpion in its mouth preserved inside. Of all the places we've visited, Hanoi is one of the very few we have no interest in returning to.
We're now back in Penang and Joey back on board for a while while he works out where to get more captain's credentials and or a job. Our Freebird friends are also here and we celebrated Joey's 26th early at the fabulous E & O Hotel brunch. Rose has seen the doc who increased her medicine dosage, and we've generally been hanging about and working on the boat. The new autopilot control head came today so that is a future job and some major cleaning needs to be done. Rose leaves for the UK tonight at 10 for 5 weeks and Joey is departing for Singapore a week from today so I'm being abandoned for my own birthday on the 30th. Freebird is leaving on some land travel as well so it will be pretty boring around here for a while.
So, that the latest and greatest and we're completely up to date.
Cheers
Tim, Rose & Joe
Thursday, July 2, 2009
China July 1 2009
Hello everyone.
We know we are way past due on more exciting installments of the happenings on Rendezvous Cay, but it has been an action packed month and a half. We left you in mid-May with a good report on Rose's situation and rebooking our trip to China. As for the Rose update, the new pills take about 3 months to take effect, and the doc is building up the dosage, At the same time she is tapering off the steroids, so there is a bit of a relapse as the reduction in steroids is outpacing the increased dosage of the other stuff. In any event she is deserting the boat for almost six weeks on July 8 (AND missing my birthday) to visit everyone back in the UK. Seeing her family always perks her up so we are hoping all will be well on her return.
So, we were able to rebook China and spent the interim week hanging around Penang, doing chores and generally chilling. We left at the crack of dawn on May 22. First stop Macao. We have to admit this part of the trip was a disappointment. The whole 4 days it pissed rain, and our hotel was really unsatisfactory. More on that later. We flew direct from Penang to Hong Kong. There was supposed to be some way to check our luggage through to the Macao ferry, but we never did figure it out, so we had to check into HK, then take a ferry to Kowloon where we got the Macao ferry. The good news is we did figure the deal out on our way to Beijing and were able to check everything through from Macao. So the hotel!!! Depending on what you read this was supposed to be either a 3 or 5 star casino hotel. Not. On arrival late in the day, I must admit we were fairly impressed with the room, but then we tried to get a "welcome to Macao" drink around 5 or 6. Nope. Only one bar in the place, but not really in the hotel and it wasn't opening 'til 7. Okay, we'll walk around and find another bar. Nope, nothing nearby; tried again at 7. Not open. In fact, in 4 days, we never found it open--in a casino hotel!!!!!!?????? Oh, and you can't drink the water out of the tap. In fairness, this is pretty much all over China, but they give you two mingy bottles and the charge about 5 times the cost in a 7 11 for more. Next morning we went to get a cup of coffee. Nope. Must buy the entire $15 breakfast buffet to get coffee. Oh, and the TV never worked right. The casino consisted of a million baccarat tables, about 1 blackjack table and no craps. We're getting seriously pissed off. On a more amusing note, we did find a reasonable restaurant in the casino, and, one night, I asked what the soup of the day was--pork, I was told--and ordered some. After a few spoonfuls, I dipped a little deeper to get some pork and came up with a chicken foot. Otherwise the food was pretty good and cheap. We passed on the double boiled pig lung soup, though.
Our first full day, we hired a driver, but, unfortunately, we had very heavy rain. We hit a temple or two, the old Portuguese quarter, etc. Not very interesting in the rain, but we did go the the big new Venetian Casino hotel, where the captain took them for a bit of money at craps. A return trip later was not as successful. Another day, we took the ferry over to Hong Kong and took a rather long ride down to a famous market. Some good deals, especially on silk shirts. I had wished I bought more until we hit even cheaper Saigon!! Another day there was supposed to be a "famous" market near the hotel. Nope, rained out, but we managed a really nice lunch at a Portuguese place. All in all, this was a bummer of a start to our trip, but we couldn't be in China and not check this part out.
Anyway, China proper made up for it all. Piece of cake, as I said, with baggage check through, and Beijing officialdom for getting into the country (they still treat Macao and HK differently) were the best we've encountered, especially eliminating the usual 2 miles walk to immigration. By the way, everywhere we flew, there were new forms to fill out about swine flu. Our Beijing hotel was a 5 star and really was. Bottled water was free, good lobby cafe and bar, and an all you could eat Japanese Teppanyaki (like Beni Hana) restaurant. From this point on in all our travels, breakfast was included, and they were the full deal, huge buffet, custom eggs service. Our room was large and really nice with a working TV. There was a big picture window into the bathroom from the sleeping area which we still can't figure out. Kinky Chinese, I guess. Rose closed the shade over my protestations!!! The only problem was the lack of English speaking staff. In all our travels, here and Hanoi were the only places where there were serious communication problems. One night, we decided to stay in and get room service after a long day of sightseeing. They had a small menu in the room, unfortunately without numbering the items. It took a couple of calls to room service and, finally, two calls to the front desk to get anyone who could understand club sandwich and cheeseburger!!!! Small price to pay for such a nice hotel, but we didn't get dinner 'til 9.
This was an organized tour with English guides, and they were just packed days starting at about 7:30 and ending sometimes as late as 7. We had for 5 to 11 people on the tours. As a small bummer, and we knew about it, every day you had to stop at some way over priced tourist shop--Jade, Silk, etc. Just a waste of time. However, about China, all we can say is WOW. The stuff you see in the movies and on TV just don't do justice to the monuments in China. The Forbidden City is acres and acres right in the center of the city, and, unbeknownst to us, adjacent to Tiananmen Square. We were there just before the anniversary so everything was quite open. Surprisingly, they still revere Mao, although I thought he had been discredited for the excesses of his last years. I really expected to see everyone in those Mao outfits and millions of bicycles, but that's a thing of the past. Traffic is awful and everyone is in western dress. The first day, we also visited the Temple of Heaven, a giant pagoda and the Summer Palace which is a huge park--among the many in Beijing--where people do Tai Chi and there are a bunch of sort of karaoke entertainers--hard to explain. This is mainly for the old folks to get together as their living quarters are so small. The city is just full of large parks and wide Parisian type boulevards. Really quite nice.
The next day we headed out of town to the Great Wall, the section you always see on TV. Totally awesome. First we hit the Ming Tombs, also very cool. So to get to the first guard tower on the wall, you have to climb 600 odd steps, some about a foot high and quite steep. We had our doubts, but were spurred on by the sight of a woman descending the stairs using crutches. We thought the 230 steps at Batu Caves here in Malaysia were tough, but try over 600!!! BUT, the old folks made it. You could actually go up another bunch to a couple of more towers, and a couple of young girls fresh from a trip in Tibet did do that. We stopped at the first, though, and just a little way on--a flat part and then down about 20 steps--was a souvenir shop, so I went off to get a couple of bottles of water. I have neglected to mention that on our entire travels through China and SE Asia, it has been blazing hot--high 90's with humidity to match so in spite of our eating ourselves silly, we both dropped a few pounds with all the sweaty exercise. Anyway, at the souvenir shop, for about $5, they had these cool brass plaques with some etching of the wall and "I have climbed the Great Wall", and then they etch in your name and the date. Got one for us both, but on our descent, we checked out the shops at the bottom and the bastards were selling the same thing so one doesn't really have to climb the wall to get a plaque. That's really cheating, but we're glad we did do it!!! After lunch we headed back to Beijing for a trip to the Olympic village where we got poor foot massages thinly disguising an attempt to sell us Chinese medicine!
We got back to the hotel late that day to wait for our lift to the train to Xian, site of the Terra Cotta warriors. The train left at about 9:30 PM and, fortunately, they had a MacDonald's in the station. We arranged the train on purpose to get an idea of the countryside and booked a "soft sleeper". This is a roomette with 4 berths so we had room mates. A Saudi guy and his Thai girlfriend. While they weren't too sociable, there was an American expat next door, and he clued us in on the way the train works, etc. The train was quite nice with good facilities and a dining car for morning coffee and a Chinese brekkie. We were a bit late arriving--about an hour--so our guide met us and suggested we swap days and do the warriors the next day and a city tour that day. Okay by us. The hotel--4 star this time--was pretty good and near the station. Xian is a city of about 2 million and was the first imperial capital of China, seat of Qin, first emperor who has the huge tomb with the warriors. The inner city in enclosed by a 14 kilometer 10 meter high by 5 meter thick wall which is still in good shape. We climbed up--again--walked around a bit, but the rickshaw drivers up there had touristitis--somewhat a problem all over China--so we decided not to ride all the way round. Hit the local museum which was fascinating in its portrayal of ancient China, and finished at an old famous mosque. To get to the mosque, you have to wend your way through a huge outdoor market where I added a fake Omega to my collection of replicas. We followed that up with a proper foot and body massage--dirt cheap, too. On the way back, I asked to stop at a western pharmacy as I thought I was developing a tooth infection. Cost me about $2.00 for two different prescriptions!!! $100 easy in the states. God, the older and poorer I get, the more liberal I become. My brother probably won't speak to me at all now!!! Whose says socialism is all bad?
The second day was one of the highlights of the trip. Our guide spoke fluent English, and we drove out to the site of the warriors. History has known about the emperor's tomb, but no one knew where it was. A farmer was digging a well in the 70's and dug up a terra cotta head, reported it to the authorities, and now the entire site of the tomb--55 square kilometers--is under investigation. The warriors are only a small part of this tomb which took 700,000 workers 39 years to construct. Fascinating and lots of photo ops. There's also a museum with history of the Qin dynasty. Followed that up with a trip to Wild Goose Pagoda, site of the original Buddhist guys in China, then back to the hotel to wait for the train back to Beijing. This time we had some crazy Romanians that had migrated to the states as roommates. They were more sociable and brought out cookies and a bottle of the local spirits reminiscent of slivovitz. Ouch.
We arrived early AM in Beijing with our driver meeting us at the train door. This was a free day for us, and we thought we'd do some "real", as opposed to tourist, shopping at the Silk Market, a huge multistory air-conditioned place. Added a few more watches and silk shirts, while Rose got some jeans and shoes. Doesn't pay to bargain too hard with those damn Chinese though. On our return, we discovered one of Rose's shoes was missing a decorative stud. Should have checked the one she didn't try on, but we think we can repair it. I love these places, however. They ask 100; you offer 10. Bargain, bargain, bargain, and you end up about 30. One shirt Rose bought started at 425 Yuan--about $60, and she got it for 50--about $7!!! Cool, but the best shopping was yet to come and with that I will leave you as the rest of the trip was too long to get in the letter. Next day we flew to HK, changed planes and flew directly back to Penang. On a side note, the old man can get social security this year and for some reason the website to enroll is inaccessible here in Malaysia. Kudos to the guys in manila we were directed to who promptly (same day!!!!) emailed me to set up a phone call on June 3rd, called me on time and did a 15 minute interview to set up my benefits. No pain, no strain unlike the Homeland (or should I say Nazi) Security problem I'm having with my Captain's license (more on that later). Two days there doing laundry and resting up, buying a netbook computer for wifi on the road, and we were off to Siem Reap, home of Angkor Wat. How's that for a cliffhanger.
Cheers
Tim & Rose
We know we are way past due on more exciting installments of the happenings on Rendezvous Cay, but it has been an action packed month and a half. We left you in mid-May with a good report on Rose's situation and rebooking our trip to China. As for the Rose update, the new pills take about 3 months to take effect, and the doc is building up the dosage, At the same time she is tapering off the steroids, so there is a bit of a relapse as the reduction in steroids is outpacing the increased dosage of the other stuff. In any event she is deserting the boat for almost six weeks on July 8 (AND missing my birthday) to visit everyone back in the UK. Seeing her family always perks her up so we are hoping all will be well on her return.
So, we were able to rebook China and spent the interim week hanging around Penang, doing chores and generally chilling. We left at the crack of dawn on May 22. First stop Macao. We have to admit this part of the trip was a disappointment. The whole 4 days it pissed rain, and our hotel was really unsatisfactory. More on that later. We flew direct from Penang to Hong Kong. There was supposed to be some way to check our luggage through to the Macao ferry, but we never did figure it out, so we had to check into HK, then take a ferry to Kowloon where we got the Macao ferry. The good news is we did figure the deal out on our way to Beijing and were able to check everything through from Macao. So the hotel!!! Depending on what you read this was supposed to be either a 3 or 5 star casino hotel. Not. On arrival late in the day, I must admit we were fairly impressed with the room, but then we tried to get a "welcome to Macao" drink around 5 or 6. Nope. Only one bar in the place, but not really in the hotel and it wasn't opening 'til 7. Okay, we'll walk around and find another bar. Nope, nothing nearby; tried again at 7. Not open. In fact, in 4 days, we never found it open--in a casino hotel!!!!!!?????? Oh, and you can't drink the water out of the tap. In fairness, this is pretty much all over China, but they give you two mingy bottles and the charge about 5 times the cost in a 7 11 for more. Next morning we went to get a cup of coffee. Nope. Must buy the entire $15 breakfast buffet to get coffee. Oh, and the TV never worked right. The casino consisted of a million baccarat tables, about 1 blackjack table and no craps. We're getting seriously pissed off. On a more amusing note, we did find a reasonable restaurant in the casino, and, one night, I asked what the soup of the day was--pork, I was told--and ordered some. After a few spoonfuls, I dipped a little deeper to get some pork and came up with a chicken foot. Otherwise the food was pretty good and cheap. We passed on the double boiled pig lung soup, though.
Our first full day, we hired a driver, but, unfortunately, we had very heavy rain. We hit a temple or two, the old Portuguese quarter, etc. Not very interesting in the rain, but we did go the the big new Venetian Casino hotel, where the captain took them for a bit of money at craps. A return trip later was not as successful. Another day, we took the ferry over to Hong Kong and took a rather long ride down to a famous market. Some good deals, especially on silk shirts. I had wished I bought more until we hit even cheaper Saigon!! Another day there was supposed to be a "famous" market near the hotel. Nope, rained out, but we managed a really nice lunch at a Portuguese place. All in all, this was a bummer of a start to our trip, but we couldn't be in China and not check this part out.
Anyway, China proper made up for it all. Piece of cake, as I said, with baggage check through, and Beijing officialdom for getting into the country (they still treat Macao and HK differently) were the best we've encountered, especially eliminating the usual 2 miles walk to immigration. By the way, everywhere we flew, there were new forms to fill out about swine flu. Our Beijing hotel was a 5 star and really was. Bottled water was free, good lobby cafe and bar, and an all you could eat Japanese Teppanyaki (like Beni Hana) restaurant. From this point on in all our travels, breakfast was included, and they were the full deal, huge buffet, custom eggs service. Our room was large and really nice with a working TV. There was a big picture window into the bathroom from the sleeping area which we still can't figure out. Kinky Chinese, I guess. Rose closed the shade over my protestations!!! The only problem was the lack of English speaking staff. In all our travels, here and Hanoi were the only places where there were serious communication problems. One night, we decided to stay in and get room service after a long day of sightseeing. They had a small menu in the room, unfortunately without numbering the items. It took a couple of calls to room service and, finally, two calls to the front desk to get anyone who could understand club sandwich and cheeseburger!!!! Small price to pay for such a nice hotel, but we didn't get dinner 'til 9.
This was an organized tour with English guides, and they were just packed days starting at about 7:30 and ending sometimes as late as 7. We had for 5 to 11 people on the tours. As a small bummer, and we knew about it, every day you had to stop at some way over priced tourist shop--Jade, Silk, etc. Just a waste of time. However, about China, all we can say is WOW. The stuff you see in the movies and on TV just don't do justice to the monuments in China. The Forbidden City is acres and acres right in the center of the city, and, unbeknownst to us, adjacent to Tiananmen Square. We were there just before the anniversary so everything was quite open. Surprisingly, they still revere Mao, although I thought he had been discredited for the excesses of his last years. I really expected to see everyone in those Mao outfits and millions of bicycles, but that's a thing of the past. Traffic is awful and everyone is in western dress. The first day, we also visited the Temple of Heaven, a giant pagoda and the Summer Palace which is a huge park--among the many in Beijing--where people do Tai Chi and there are a bunch of sort of karaoke entertainers--hard to explain. This is mainly for the old folks to get together as their living quarters are so small. The city is just full of large parks and wide Parisian type boulevards. Really quite nice.
The next day we headed out of town to the Great Wall, the section you always see on TV. Totally awesome. First we hit the Ming Tombs, also very cool. So to get to the first guard tower on the wall, you have to climb 600 odd steps, some about a foot high and quite steep. We had our doubts, but were spurred on by the sight of a woman descending the stairs using crutches. We thought the 230 steps at Batu Caves here in Malaysia were tough, but try over 600!!! BUT, the old folks made it. You could actually go up another bunch to a couple of more towers, and a couple of young girls fresh from a trip in Tibet did do that. We stopped at the first, though, and just a little way on--a flat part and then down about 20 steps--was a souvenir shop, so I went off to get a couple of bottles of water. I have neglected to mention that on our entire travels through China and SE Asia, it has been blazing hot--high 90's with humidity to match so in spite of our eating ourselves silly, we both dropped a few pounds with all the sweaty exercise. Anyway, at the souvenir shop, for about $5, they had these cool brass plaques with some etching of the wall and "I have climbed the Great Wall", and then they etch in your name and the date. Got one for us both, but on our descent, we checked out the shops at the bottom and the bastards were selling the same thing so one doesn't really have to climb the wall to get a plaque. That's really cheating, but we're glad we did do it!!! After lunch we headed back to Beijing for a trip to the Olympic village where we got poor foot massages thinly disguising an attempt to sell us Chinese medicine!
We got back to the hotel late that day to wait for our lift to the train to Xian, site of the Terra Cotta warriors. The train left at about 9:30 PM and, fortunately, they had a MacDonald's in the station. We arranged the train on purpose to get an idea of the countryside and booked a "soft sleeper". This is a roomette with 4 berths so we had room mates. A Saudi guy and his Thai girlfriend. While they weren't too sociable, there was an American expat next door, and he clued us in on the way the train works, etc. The train was quite nice with good facilities and a dining car for morning coffee and a Chinese brekkie. We were a bit late arriving--about an hour--so our guide met us and suggested we swap days and do the warriors the next day and a city tour that day. Okay by us. The hotel--4 star this time--was pretty good and near the station. Xian is a city of about 2 million and was the first imperial capital of China, seat of Qin, first emperor who has the huge tomb with the warriors. The inner city in enclosed by a 14 kilometer 10 meter high by 5 meter thick wall which is still in good shape. We climbed up--again--walked around a bit, but the rickshaw drivers up there had touristitis--somewhat a problem all over China--so we decided not to ride all the way round. Hit the local museum which was fascinating in its portrayal of ancient China, and finished at an old famous mosque. To get to the mosque, you have to wend your way through a huge outdoor market where I added a fake Omega to my collection of replicas. We followed that up with a proper foot and body massage--dirt cheap, too. On the way back, I asked to stop at a western pharmacy as I thought I was developing a tooth infection. Cost me about $2.00 for two different prescriptions!!! $100 easy in the states. God, the older and poorer I get, the more liberal I become. My brother probably won't speak to me at all now!!! Whose says socialism is all bad?
The second day was one of the highlights of the trip. Our guide spoke fluent English, and we drove out to the site of the warriors. History has known about the emperor's tomb, but no one knew where it was. A farmer was digging a well in the 70's and dug up a terra cotta head, reported it to the authorities, and now the entire site of the tomb--55 square kilometers--is under investigation. The warriors are only a small part of this tomb which took 700,000 workers 39 years to construct. Fascinating and lots of photo ops. There's also a museum with history of the Qin dynasty. Followed that up with a trip to Wild Goose Pagoda, site of the original Buddhist guys in China, then back to the hotel to wait for the train back to Beijing. This time we had some crazy Romanians that had migrated to the states as roommates. They were more sociable and brought out cookies and a bottle of the local spirits reminiscent of slivovitz. Ouch.
We arrived early AM in Beijing with our driver meeting us at the train door. This was a free day for us, and we thought we'd do some "real", as opposed to tourist, shopping at the Silk Market, a huge multistory air-conditioned place. Added a few more watches and silk shirts, while Rose got some jeans and shoes. Doesn't pay to bargain too hard with those damn Chinese though. On our return, we discovered one of Rose's shoes was missing a decorative stud. Should have checked the one she didn't try on, but we think we can repair it. I love these places, however. They ask 100; you offer 10. Bargain, bargain, bargain, and you end up about 30. One shirt Rose bought started at 425 Yuan--about $60, and she got it for 50--about $7!!! Cool, but the best shopping was yet to come and with that I will leave you as the rest of the trip was too long to get in the letter. Next day we flew to HK, changed planes and flew directly back to Penang. On a side note, the old man can get social security this year and for some reason the website to enroll is inaccessible here in Malaysia. Kudos to the guys in manila we were directed to who promptly (same day!!!!) emailed me to set up a phone call on June 3rd, called me on time and did a 15 minute interview to set up my benefits. No pain, no strain unlike the Homeland (or should I say Nazi) Security problem I'm having with my Captain's license (more on that later). Two days there doing laundry and resting up, buying a netbook computer for wifi on the road, and we were off to Siem Reap, home of Angkor Wat. How's that for a cliffhanger.
Cheers
Tim & Rose
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Captain Joe June 14th 2009
ok so this is not from tim. Joe has recently lost his job do to politics. We are sorry to report, since he was so eager and happy with his new life. He will be in malaysia on Tim's boat til he gets a plan together. Tim is enjoying his vacation and i am sure he will write soon to let you all know what he has been up to.
Liz
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Soon to be Captain Joe May 15 2009
Hi everyone. In the heat of Rose's medical problems, I forgot one of the most important things going on. Joe, the prodigal son, hasgainful employment on the 120 foot motor yacht Sunchaser. It's a long story, but this is the boat he almost got the 1st mate's job inSingapore. The position opened up again and, bingo, he's in Phuket learning the ropes. The way it works is a 3 month trial as bos'ns mate, and if he doesn't get fired, he's first mate with a raise. The difficult captain even seems to like him. Must be all the training he got on Rendezvous Cay. Not a bad way to jump start one's boat career. (okay I took a little poetic license in the subject, but captain comes after 1st mate). Way to go, Joe, sir.
T
T
Friday, May 15, 2009
Bali & Penang May 19 2009
Hello everyone.
A few of you may remember that we wrote Lovina Beach on Bali was as close to
heaven as we've been. SO--we booked a trip down there for 10 days. We
planned to stay a week in Lovina and then segue down to Ubud which is the
arts and crafts center. Our travel agent has been less than stellar so we
missed the $150 flight but got a $200 fare. On the way to the airport at
dark o'thirty, I mentioned to Rose I hadn't flown since we returned from our
around the world gig in early 2006. This became obvious as I unloaded my
pockets and put my carry-on on the conveyor and then walked through the
metal detector. Oops, alarms galore. Forgot to take off my backpack. I'm
still hearing about it. Air Asia is a real cheap cattle car type of airline
that charges for everything including luggage, so we carried on. This was a
bit of a pain as, I'm sure you all know, for some reasons the airports make
you walk about 5 miles to get to customs and immigration. It was about an
hour from Penang to Kuala Lumpur and then a plane change for the 3 hours to
Denpasser on Bali.
Unlike coming in on a boat, you can get a 30 day visa on arrival coming in
by plane--$25 p/p, but they only take Rupiahs or US$, neither of which we had. Left my passport at
the desk to hit the ATM, but it's outside the restricted area. An agent stopped me,
but I just explained I needed some cash, gave her my entire wallet and
grabbed a couple million Rupiahs. Of course, that delay put us at the end of
the immigration line. After about an hour, with little movement, some guy
came up and offered to expedite us for about $15 each. Done. Only took him
10 minutes. It was now about 3 pm, but we found our driver and set off for
Lovina. The hotel cut us some slack and only charged $40 instead of the
quoted $50 and it's a long way. With traffic, the 3 hour ride took 4 hours,
but the scenery was nice. Seems they can't put in an expressway because the
direct route would require tunnels, but Balinese and/or Hindus (I'm not sure)
don't like going underground.
The hotel was Sunari Villas, right on the beach. All the internet and
keepsake maps we had were wrong for almost every hotels' location, and we
thought we would be much closer to the little village we anchored off of in
September, but it was only about a 1 k walk up the beach to the town. The
place was really outstanding. It was billed as a 3 star hotel, but it was
better. Nice pool, massages on the beach, good food--$50 night. During the
season these rooms go for about $150. Then, we befriended the GM who
insisted we upgrade our room and gave us a "pool villa" which is a little
self standing cottage behind a wall for privacy with our own Jacuzzi.
Sweet. We really don't know why this is off season as the weather was the
best we've had in months. Quite warm during the day but nice breezes and
about 70 at night with lower humidity and not a cloud in the sky our whole
stay except the last night. So we shopped, got Rose some pain killers for
her latest incident of the mystery disease, and actually looked at some real
estate which is dirt cheap for what you get. In fact, the real estate guy,
Putu, is the one who introduced us to the hotel GM. Seems they were
shipmates on Norwegian Lines cruises years ago. Anyway, we're toying with
the idea of moving there, but Rose wants to start a business or something, so
we have to wait for her trip to the UK for her to check out the market. I
think I'd stay in a heartbeat, because I don't mind being a bum, but she
wants something to occupy her besides cocktails and massages. Got all sorts
of welcome messages from Celcom, Malaysia and Telekomsel, Indonesia on the
phone, and we were able to receive calls and SMS's. For some reason, though,
we couldn't do any outbound traffic, not even to customer service to figure
out what is wrong. Going to check it out here in Penang and see what needs
to be done as all the Asian companies allow roaming all over.
So we had a great week in Lovina and checked out where to stay in Ubud. It
was even cheaper, and we found Nick's Hotels which had the "cottages", the
"pension" and a home stay thing. Cottages looked a bit nicer, but the
pension was closer to the town center, and we picked that. It's about 2-2
1/2 hours down form Lovina, and we ended up with our same driver, Komang,
from our last trip. Coincidentally, Our friends, Dave and Judy-Freebird
were at cottages about 1/4 mile away. We met Freebird for lunch, as the
room wasn't ready yet, so we just left our bags for them to put in there.
After lunch everyone sort of went their separate ways, and I went on a
mission to find the same massage place that gave me one of the best ever
last year. Nah, they were closed, but the one down the street was still
pretty good. The plan was to all meet back up at the Mojita bar, a place
called Cinta, which had really good Mojitas two for one 'til 7. However,
naptime came first, so I wended my way back to the hotel through the
shortcut off the main road to the back entrance, which, as it turned out,
was where our room was. Were we pleasantly surprised!!! Unbelievable!!!
From the front, you walked through a few rice paddies and down the hill to
the room. From the back way, you went down a narrow side street to a bridge
over a small river and ravine. Our room was on the side of a hill
overlooking the river with rainforest and Hindu shrines on the other side. Just beautiful
and, better yet, $40/night!!! Had cocktails and dinner and an early night.
Next day, Dave had rented a car and driver to check out another spot as he
and Judy were staying a full month, so we drove all around. Did I mention
all these places include a full breakfast with the rooms, Lovina, too?
While we were sightseeing, the girls were supposed to go to the post office
and shopping but got side tracked at some famous Indonesian "healer" who's
in the well known book, "Eat, Pray, Love". They couldn't resist and spent
most of the day there, and Rose went back again the next day for 4 hours as
it seemed to be doing some good, and the next day the woman took her up in
the hills to the "master" who poked her and treated her spiritually and gave
her a bunch of herbal stuff. Our last night was really rainy so we just
stayed in and got room service--steak, lemon chicken, drinks, trimmings
$10!!!! In the middle of the night, we got a text message that our 7:45 pm
flight from KL to Penang was changed to 10:45. Bummer as there were no
earlier flights, so we hung around the airport for 5 hours. The upside was
Air Asia has an on time guarantee and pays you about $56 in vouchers for
every hour delay. Should cover our trip to Chang Mai Thailand later this
year. No hassles getting back into Malaysia, but we had been well prepared
with all our boat docs as some countries require an ticket out of the
country when you arrive. Got back to the boat at about midnight.
We did a few of the usual things back here. Reflexology, massages, night
markets, etc. We also hit the travel agent to get our China visas. China
doesn't like Americans. My visa was RM500, Rose's RM140!!! We also got
that trip squared away for a week later and finalized our Angkor Wat tour
and Mekong River cruise. Still working on the tour of Vietnam; the cruise
ends at Ho Chi Minh City. Rose has been up and down with this stupid
recurrence of her mystery disease and Tuesday--we got back Friday--she took
1/2 hour to get out of bed so off we went to emergency at Adventist
hospital. They started her on steroids (she finally gave in) and another
pain killer, but it's only at another hospital where they have the one
rheumatologist on the island, and she only makes appointments for Friday.
The pills helped but not enough yet, so we've delayed the trip to China
until this gets sorted.
After the doc, I had to run out to the airport to talk to customs as they
wanted me to get an import permit for the $6 toaster Lizzie sent. I
schlepped all the way out there, only to have the FedEx guy cut a deal with
the customs officer, so with cabfare, my $6 toaster now costs $25, including
the cabfare. I never did talk to customs; they just waived the permit!!!
Wednesday, we did have a bit of excitement. I was going below to take a
shower and saw a sizable lizard scamper down the hall into my head. These
are not geckos, folks. They are about a foot long and have a mouth like a
crocodile with very sharp teeth. We found the front half of one sort of
mummified in the sail (we figure a bird dropped it there sometime), and they
are nasty. Even the guys at the marina we called to get rid of it trod
lightly. They said if the thing gets its teeth into you, it's hard to shake
loose. So, about 8 guys came down to the boat with nets and one of those
snake hook things--things are slow down here at the marina. It was sort of
a Malaysian Ghostbusters. Anyway, they couldn't find it, but I did a few
minutes later--hiding under the toilet brush holder. Now, however, the guys
wanted to get some kind of pincher gadget to grab it with. I said I'd pay,
and two of them returned with one of those things you use to get stuff off a
high shelf along with a giant bag. Well, after all sorts of banging around for
about 10 minutes, up they came with the thing in the bag. They'd let it get
out of the head, but I had wisely closed my cabin door. They broke my
"grabber" and deracked all my clothes, but they got it and now Rose is
happy. I was drafted by her to get pictures of it in the bag!!! What a
chicken!
Okay, so it's Friday the day we were supposed to leave for China, but went to see the specialist instead. I have to preface my remarks by saying (and Rose would probably disagree) that every time we see one of these doctors, they invariably seem to find something wrong with her that is in their specialty. That being said, with some healthy skepticism, the rheumatologist seems to be on the ball and everything fits. First of all, the steroids have markedly reduced Rose's aches and pains. The guy on Tuesday started her on those. So the diagnosis--and this is the first time we've had a firm one--is rheumatoid arthritis, albeit more rheumatism than arthritis. After a long wait, they snuck us in this morning and, after a thorough debriefing, the doc ordered more blood tests and x-rays. Unlike in the states, the results were in this pm, and the doc made the diagnosis. All the symptoms, the ups and downs, and the tests seem to confirm this, and it's pretty easily treatable, initially with steroids tapering those off as the other pills (sulfazine), which take a couple of months to reach effective levels, kick in. The sulfazine has minimal side effects, but the poor woman isn't supposed to drink. While I would probably shoot myself, Rose is more circumspect!!! Just the relief of knowing what's going on has been a boost, and the treatment promises pretty much a return to normalcy over time. This disease is an autoimmune deficiency, and we still come back to the damn tick bite screwing things up, but at least now something is being done.
So, the trip to China is back on. We just need to rebook with the travel agent and she is working on it. Hopefully we'll depart mid week next week and return just in time for Angkor Wat, our cruise down the Mekong and Vietnam. The extra week here has allowed us to get out Viet visas now instead of between trips.
So we'll report more exciting news as it occurs, but we wanted to give everyone the "Rose" report.
Cheers
Tim & Rose
A few of you may remember that we wrote Lovina Beach on Bali was as close to
heaven as we've been. SO--we booked a trip down there for 10 days. We
planned to stay a week in Lovina and then segue down to Ubud which is the
arts and crafts center. Our travel agent has been less than stellar so we
missed the $150 flight but got a $200 fare. On the way to the airport at
dark o'thirty, I mentioned to Rose I hadn't flown since we returned from our
around the world gig in early 2006. This became obvious as I unloaded my
pockets and put my carry-on on the conveyor and then walked through the
metal detector. Oops, alarms galore. Forgot to take off my backpack. I'm
still hearing about it. Air Asia is a real cheap cattle car type of airline
that charges for everything including luggage, so we carried on. This was a
bit of a pain as, I'm sure you all know, for some reasons the airports make
you walk about 5 miles to get to customs and immigration. It was about an
hour from Penang to Kuala Lumpur and then a plane change for the 3 hours to
Denpasser on Bali.
Unlike coming in on a boat, you can get a 30 day visa on arrival coming in
by plane--$25 p/p, but they only take Rupiahs or US$, neither of which we had. Left my passport at
the desk to hit the ATM, but it's outside the restricted area. An agent stopped me,
but I just explained I needed some cash, gave her my entire wallet and
grabbed a couple million Rupiahs. Of course, that delay put us at the end of
the immigration line. After about an hour, with little movement, some guy
came up and offered to expedite us for about $15 each. Done. Only took him
10 minutes. It was now about 3 pm, but we found our driver and set off for
Lovina. The hotel cut us some slack and only charged $40 instead of the
quoted $50 and it's a long way. With traffic, the 3 hour ride took 4 hours,
but the scenery was nice. Seems they can't put in an expressway because the
direct route would require tunnels, but Balinese and/or Hindus (I'm not sure)
don't like going underground.
The hotel was Sunari Villas, right on the beach. All the internet and
keepsake maps we had were wrong for almost every hotels' location, and we
thought we would be much closer to the little village we anchored off of in
September, but it was only about a 1 k walk up the beach to the town. The
place was really outstanding. It was billed as a 3 star hotel, but it was
better. Nice pool, massages on the beach, good food--$50 night. During the
season these rooms go for about $150. Then, we befriended the GM who
insisted we upgrade our room and gave us a "pool villa" which is a little
self standing cottage behind a wall for privacy with our own Jacuzzi.
Sweet. We really don't know why this is off season as the weather was the
best we've had in months. Quite warm during the day but nice breezes and
about 70 at night with lower humidity and not a cloud in the sky our whole
stay except the last night. So we shopped, got Rose some pain killers for
her latest incident of the mystery disease, and actually looked at some real
estate which is dirt cheap for what you get. In fact, the real estate guy,
Putu, is the one who introduced us to the hotel GM. Seems they were
shipmates on Norwegian Lines cruises years ago. Anyway, we're toying with
the idea of moving there, but Rose wants to start a business or something, so
we have to wait for her trip to the UK for her to check out the market. I
think I'd stay in a heartbeat, because I don't mind being a bum, but she
wants something to occupy her besides cocktails and massages. Got all sorts
of welcome messages from Celcom, Malaysia and Telekomsel, Indonesia on the
phone, and we were able to receive calls and SMS's. For some reason, though,
we couldn't do any outbound traffic, not even to customer service to figure
out what is wrong. Going to check it out here in Penang and see what needs
to be done as all the Asian companies allow roaming all over.
So we had a great week in Lovina and checked out where to stay in Ubud. It
was even cheaper, and we found Nick's Hotels which had the "cottages", the
"pension" and a home stay thing. Cottages looked a bit nicer, but the
pension was closer to the town center, and we picked that. It's about 2-2
1/2 hours down form Lovina, and we ended up with our same driver, Komang,
from our last trip. Coincidentally, Our friends, Dave and Judy-Freebird
were at cottages about 1/4 mile away. We met Freebird for lunch, as the
room wasn't ready yet, so we just left our bags for them to put in there.
After lunch everyone sort of went their separate ways, and I went on a
mission to find the same massage place that gave me one of the best ever
last year. Nah, they were closed, but the one down the street was still
pretty good. The plan was to all meet back up at the Mojita bar, a place
called Cinta, which had really good Mojitas two for one 'til 7. However,
naptime came first, so I wended my way back to the hotel through the
shortcut off the main road to the back entrance, which, as it turned out,
was where our room was. Were we pleasantly surprised!!! Unbelievable!!!
From the front, you walked through a few rice paddies and down the hill to
the room. From the back way, you went down a narrow side street to a bridge
over a small river and ravine. Our room was on the side of a hill
overlooking the river with rainforest and Hindu shrines on the other side. Just beautiful
and, better yet, $40/night!!! Had cocktails and dinner and an early night.
Next day, Dave had rented a car and driver to check out another spot as he
and Judy were staying a full month, so we drove all around. Did I mention
all these places include a full breakfast with the rooms, Lovina, too?
While we were sightseeing, the girls were supposed to go to the post office
and shopping but got side tracked at some famous Indonesian "healer" who's
in the well known book, "Eat, Pray, Love". They couldn't resist and spent
most of the day there, and Rose went back again the next day for 4 hours as
it seemed to be doing some good, and the next day the woman took her up in
the hills to the "master" who poked her and treated her spiritually and gave
her a bunch of herbal stuff. Our last night was really rainy so we just
stayed in and got room service--steak, lemon chicken, drinks, trimmings
$10!!!! In the middle of the night, we got a text message that our 7:45 pm
flight from KL to Penang was changed to 10:45. Bummer as there were no
earlier flights, so we hung around the airport for 5 hours. The upside was
Air Asia has an on time guarantee and pays you about $56 in vouchers for
every hour delay. Should cover our trip to Chang Mai Thailand later this
year. No hassles getting back into Malaysia, but we had been well prepared
with all our boat docs as some countries require an ticket out of the
country when you arrive. Got back to the boat at about midnight.
We did a few of the usual things back here. Reflexology, massages, night
markets, etc. We also hit the travel agent to get our China visas. China
doesn't like Americans. My visa was RM500, Rose's RM140!!! We also got
that trip squared away for a week later and finalized our Angkor Wat tour
and Mekong River cruise. Still working on the tour of Vietnam; the cruise
ends at Ho Chi Minh City. Rose has been up and down with this stupid
recurrence of her mystery disease and Tuesday--we got back Friday--she took
1/2 hour to get out of bed so off we went to emergency at Adventist
hospital. They started her on steroids (she finally gave in) and another
pain killer, but it's only at another hospital where they have the one
rheumatologist on the island, and she only makes appointments for Friday.
The pills helped but not enough yet, so we've delayed the trip to China
until this gets sorted.
After the doc, I had to run out to the airport to talk to customs as they
wanted me to get an import permit for the $6 toaster Lizzie sent. I
schlepped all the way out there, only to have the FedEx guy cut a deal with
the customs officer, so with cabfare, my $6 toaster now costs $25, including
the cabfare. I never did talk to customs; they just waived the permit!!!
Wednesday, we did have a bit of excitement. I was going below to take a
shower and saw a sizable lizard scamper down the hall into my head. These
are not geckos, folks. They are about a foot long and have a mouth like a
crocodile with very sharp teeth. We found the front half of one sort of
mummified in the sail (we figure a bird dropped it there sometime), and they
are nasty. Even the guys at the marina we called to get rid of it trod
lightly. They said if the thing gets its teeth into you, it's hard to shake
loose. So, about 8 guys came down to the boat with nets and one of those
snake hook things--things are slow down here at the marina. It was sort of
a Malaysian Ghostbusters. Anyway, they couldn't find it, but I did a few
minutes later--hiding under the toilet brush holder. Now, however, the guys
wanted to get some kind of pincher gadget to grab it with. I said I'd pay,
and two of them returned with one of those things you use to get stuff off a
high shelf along with a giant bag. Well, after all sorts of banging around for
about 10 minutes, up they came with the thing in the bag. They'd let it get
out of the head, but I had wisely closed my cabin door. They broke my
"grabber" and deracked all my clothes, but they got it and now Rose is
happy. I was drafted by her to get pictures of it in the bag!!! What a
chicken!
Okay, so it's Friday the day we were supposed to leave for China, but went to see the specialist instead. I have to preface my remarks by saying (and Rose would probably disagree) that every time we see one of these doctors, they invariably seem to find something wrong with her that is in their specialty. That being said, with some healthy skepticism, the rheumatologist seems to be on the ball and everything fits. First of all, the steroids have markedly reduced Rose's aches and pains. The guy on Tuesday started her on those. So the diagnosis--and this is the first time we've had a firm one--is rheumatoid arthritis, albeit more rheumatism than arthritis. After a long wait, they snuck us in this morning and, after a thorough debriefing, the doc ordered more blood tests and x-rays. Unlike in the states, the results were in this pm, and the doc made the diagnosis. All the symptoms, the ups and downs, and the tests seem to confirm this, and it's pretty easily treatable, initially with steroids tapering those off as the other pills (sulfazine), which take a couple of months to reach effective levels, kick in. The sulfazine has minimal side effects, but the poor woman isn't supposed to drink. While I would probably shoot myself, Rose is more circumspect!!! Just the relief of knowing what's going on has been a boost, and the treatment promises pretty much a return to normalcy over time. This disease is an autoimmune deficiency, and we still come back to the damn tick bite screwing things up, but at least now something is being done.
So, the trip to China is back on. We just need to rebook with the travel agent and she is working on it. Hopefully we'll depart mid week next week and return just in time for Angkor Wat, our cruise down the Mekong and Vietnam. The extra week here has allowed us to get out Viet visas now instead of between trips.
So we'll report more exciting news as it occurs, but we wanted to give everyone the "Rose" report.
Cheers
Tim & Rose
Monday, April 27, 2009
Thailand III & Malaysia April 7 2009
'RE BACK ON OUT MALAYSIAN PHONE NUMBER: country code 60 197951501 My apologies in the past for not advising you to drop the zero in front of the regular number after the CC.
Hello everyone.
When we last wrote, we were wrapping things up in Phuket and getting ready to head back down to Langkawi and Penang to begin our Asian land travel. We stayed around a few extra days in Phuket to get part of the rigging done. The rest will have to await our return as it was going to take 2 weeks to get parts like turnbuckles in from Oz. Rose also started seeing an acupuncture guy at the hospital and had a last appointment to attend to. So far not much luck with either her prescriptions or that to ease her aching. However, she came up with the thought that there might be something in the boat's water system--has to be chemical--causing her discomfort. We're experimenting with bottled water and out impending 10 days in Bali will tell the tale. Wish us luck.
So we left Ao Po Marina in the north for Ao Chalong on the south end of Phuket to check out of the country. Major drama at Ao Chalong. Phuket, and maybe all of Thailand, have public moorings which are orange with a blue stripe. There's been some problem in Ao Chalong with the commercial boats throwing yachties off these public balls, claiming they are theirs alone. Some other guys checked with the harbor master who uncategorically confirmed they were first come first served moorings. So we took an empty ball and, to make a long story short, about 5 pm a sport fisherman with 2 local guys came up, honked and ordered us off. Well, let me tell you, I saw another side of Rose!!! She was rather assertive and told them in no uncertain terms to stay away from our boat. Shortening this up dramatically, after about 2 hours of haggling over the phone, yelling back and forth and them getting more guys, the harbor police came out. No one admitted we were right but they finally agreed we could stay the night (we were leaving the next day anyway). So we go to bed and I find Rose cowering worried they're going to come back and slit our throats!!! She now explains she was only assertive because she was afraid. Coulda fooled me!!! Really, this was mild mannered Rose Dyer turning into super bitch withour even a phone booth--sharper than a honed razor, able to heap shit on small Thais with a single bound, etc. There is a moral in this--don't mess with Rose!
Next morning, bright and early, we left for the Phi Phis, about 25 miles away. Oh oh, the engine driven freezer isn't working again!!! Oh, and I forgot to mention some workman stepped on the port engine water lock (keeps water from siphoning back into the engine), but the guy changing the oil noticed it. This is a rip-off $600 plastic box with a baffle, but our guys fabricated us one out of aluminum (aluminium if you prefer) alloy for a fraction of the cost of a new plastic one!!! So we did the usual touristy things at Phi Phi and left the next day for an intermediate stop before getting to Langkawi. This was the area in which the pirates got the English couple so we were a bit nervous. Also friends who had left earlier had had terrible weather. We had neither and had to motor all the way to the Telaga Harbor marina for check in to Malaysia and freezer repairs. The freezer had a leak in the coolant return pipe and these guys changed the whole thing out as the old one was built too far into the bowels of the boat to effect a repair. They only found it after discovering a couple other problems and 2 guys worked two 12 hour days to get the job done. This $ thousands job in the states or Caribbean was about $300 here!! Yippee!!!!!!. Working great now. Of course, now the electric one has crapped out. Cooling water problem that I diagnosed and really nothing wrong with the freezer, thank God. They'll change out the clogged hose while we're gone.
Rose met a couple of other pommies, one of whom had a car which we rented from him for a day or two to go see our friends in Kuah, about 20 kilometers away. Had lunch with Freebird and next day met Scot Free II and took a longboat out to the "Hole in the Wall" where they are leaving their boat to travel home to Canada. Very cool outing and the food at the place was excellent. We also took the opportunity of the car to restock our depleted liquor stocks at dirt cheap duty free prices. One night we had dinner with the two English couples Rose had met and had a great meal--surf and turf for two was about $50 and had shrimp, fish, squid, steak and lamb chops with the usual extras. Before we knew it, it was midnight and they kicked us out, but not after an amusing story from one of the guys. You may remember us talking about the Kiwi boat Squid. Joey befriended the son on board with his elderly, and somewhat odd parents. As usual, the conversation turned around to boating "incidents" and after a few harrowing tales, Graham says something about this Kiwi cat, Squid. Seems they were anchored in some bay and Squid pulled up in front of them, putting out, according to Graham, way too much chain. Well, the wind kicked up a bit which tends to push boats backward to the full length of their chain, and, sure enough, Squid banged into Graham's boat. However, Ian, the crotchety father on Squid (you have to know the guy) claims that Graham's boat dragged forward into Squid. Folks, this is physically impossible but typical of Ian, a short man with an even bigger syndrome. He even tried this preposterous story out on the insurance guys who were paying Graham's damages. Graham got paid!
So we finally got our repairs made and headed around to Kuah before leaving for Penang. We decided to stop at the resort beach just beyond Telaga for a quick lunch and massage before heading on. More drama!! We anchored the dinghy out a ways so we wouldn't have to drag it around the beach. After my massage (Rose was getting a longer treatment) I saw the dinghy was getting grounded and a couple of guys helped me get it back out a bit. I went back to the beach bar to settle in for a few screwdrivers and some spring rolls waiting for Rose. I had debated just going back to the boat and waiting for Rose to call, but the thought of food and a cool drink impaired my judgment. I had just ordered my libation when, bam, all of a sudden, the surf kicks up. We're not talking Hawaiian size rollers, but big enough. I saw the dinghy get swamped and raced down the beach to get out of there, holding my wallet and cell phone over my head. A guy came out to help me and I was trying to pull on the anchor line so I could go, while he pushed. Boom, 3 foot breaking wave over the bow, knocked me in the water and completely flooded the boat. I have a new cheap phone now and have confirmed that the dinghy bilge pump works well!!!
We ran into SFII half way to Kuah and hung out with them for a few days. Had some big storms and we actually--I know you'll find it hard to believe--dragged anchor a bit. Had their crew over for dinner both for their company and to empty our freezer prior to land travelling. Had a few dolphin swimming around the boat and watched the sea eagles feeding at sunset. It was really nice except for dragging, but, at least, we didn't hit anyone!! The boom light went on the fritz, but I got it fixed only to have it and a couple of other lights outside go off the next day. We're leaving that to the electricians in Penang.
We spent an uneventful couple of nights in Kuah, arriving in pouring rain, and then we left for the 60 mile run down to Penang. Damn it, found another leak in the starboard engine room, but it wasn't a deluge. Leak in the exhaust muffler. We finally had some wind and actually put a sail up--first time in weeks or maybe months.
So we arrived in Penang about 4 days ago and have met with Harris, the boat yard guy who is doing our repairs and looking after the boat while we're gone. We met the travel agent who, by and large, isn't too good, but got Rose a cheap flight to the UK and does the tedious legwork of searching out acceptable alternatives. So far, all we have booked is 10 days in Bali, which, even with airfare, is as close to free as you can get a vacation. They're researching the rest at the travel agents, but when we return, we have to hustle out passports over to the Chinese consulate for visas--takes about a week. Then we're doing China for 2 weeks or so, back for a week to get Vietnamese visas, then off to Bangkok, River Kwai, northern Thailand and the golden triangle for about a week. We then segue to Siem Reap, site of Angkor Wat, pick up a week cruise down the Mekong river ending in Ho Chi Minh city (Saigon), a week in Nam and then back to Penang. Lest you think I have beaten the financial crisis, here's an example of travel costs around here. We're not doing this particluar tour but it is indicative of the deals. 8 day/7 nights in five star hotels, tours up the yingyang, almost all your meals and round trip airfare from Penang to Beijing--which is a loooonnngg way--is about $900, taxes and service included.
Okay, that's it. You're up to date and we have an 8:15 flight to get tomorrow morning.
Cheers
Tim and Rose
Hello everyone.
When we last wrote, we were wrapping things up in Phuket and getting ready to head back down to Langkawi and Penang to begin our Asian land travel. We stayed around a few extra days in Phuket to get part of the rigging done. The rest will have to await our return as it was going to take 2 weeks to get parts like turnbuckles in from Oz. Rose also started seeing an acupuncture guy at the hospital and had a last appointment to attend to. So far not much luck with either her prescriptions or that to ease her aching. However, she came up with the thought that there might be something in the boat's water system--has to be chemical--causing her discomfort. We're experimenting with bottled water and out impending 10 days in Bali will tell the tale. Wish us luck.
So we left Ao Po Marina in the north for Ao Chalong on the south end of Phuket to check out of the country. Major drama at Ao Chalong. Phuket, and maybe all of Thailand, have public moorings which are orange with a blue stripe. There's been some problem in Ao Chalong with the commercial boats throwing yachties off these public balls, claiming they are theirs alone. Some other guys checked with the harbor master who uncategorically confirmed they were first come first served moorings. So we took an empty ball and, to make a long story short, about 5 pm a sport fisherman with 2 local guys came up, honked and ordered us off. Well, let me tell you, I saw another side of Rose!!! She was rather assertive and told them in no uncertain terms to stay away from our boat. Shortening this up dramatically, after about 2 hours of haggling over the phone, yelling back and forth and them getting more guys, the harbor police came out. No one admitted we were right but they finally agreed we could stay the night (we were leaving the next day anyway). So we go to bed and I find Rose cowering worried they're going to come back and slit our throats!!! She now explains she was only assertive because she was afraid. Coulda fooled me!!! Really, this was mild mannered Rose Dyer turning into super bitch withour even a phone booth--sharper than a honed razor, able to heap shit on small Thais with a single bound, etc. There is a moral in this--don't mess with Rose!
Next morning, bright and early, we left for the Phi Phis, about 25 miles away. Oh oh, the engine driven freezer isn't working again!!! Oh, and I forgot to mention some workman stepped on the port engine water lock (keeps water from siphoning back into the engine), but the guy changing the oil noticed it. This is a rip-off $600 plastic box with a baffle, but our guys fabricated us one out of aluminum (aluminium if you prefer) alloy for a fraction of the cost of a new plastic one!!! So we did the usual touristy things at Phi Phi and left the next day for an intermediate stop before getting to Langkawi. This was the area in which the pirates got the English couple so we were a bit nervous. Also friends who had left earlier had had terrible weather. We had neither and had to motor all the way to the Telaga Harbor marina for check in to Malaysia and freezer repairs. The freezer had a leak in the coolant return pipe and these guys changed the whole thing out as the old one was built too far into the bowels of the boat to effect a repair. They only found it after discovering a couple other problems and 2 guys worked two 12 hour days to get the job done. This $ thousands job in the states or Caribbean was about $300 here!! Yippee!!!!!!. Working great now. Of course, now the electric one has crapped out. Cooling water problem that I diagnosed and really nothing wrong with the freezer, thank God. They'll change out the clogged hose while we're gone.
Rose met a couple of other pommies, one of whom had a car which we rented from him for a day or two to go see our friends in Kuah, about 20 kilometers away. Had lunch with Freebird and next day met Scot Free II and took a longboat out to the "Hole in the Wall" where they are leaving their boat to travel home to Canada. Very cool outing and the food at the place was excellent. We also took the opportunity of the car to restock our depleted liquor stocks at dirt cheap duty free prices. One night we had dinner with the two English couples Rose had met and had a great meal--surf and turf for two was about $50 and had shrimp, fish, squid, steak and lamb chops with the usual extras. Before we knew it, it was midnight and they kicked us out, but not after an amusing story from one of the guys. You may remember us talking about the Kiwi boat Squid. Joey befriended the son on board with his elderly, and somewhat odd parents. As usual, the conversation turned around to boating "incidents" and after a few harrowing tales, Graham says something about this Kiwi cat, Squid. Seems they were anchored in some bay and Squid pulled up in front of them, putting out, according to Graham, way too much chain. Well, the wind kicked up a bit which tends to push boats backward to the full length of their chain, and, sure enough, Squid banged into Graham's boat. However, Ian, the crotchety father on Squid (you have to know the guy) claims that Graham's boat dragged forward into Squid. Folks, this is physically impossible but typical of Ian, a short man with an even bigger syndrome. He even tried this preposterous story out on the insurance guys who were paying Graham's damages. Graham got paid!
So we finally got our repairs made and headed around to Kuah before leaving for Penang. We decided to stop at the resort beach just beyond Telaga for a quick lunch and massage before heading on. More drama!! We anchored the dinghy out a ways so we wouldn't have to drag it around the beach. After my massage (Rose was getting a longer treatment) I saw the dinghy was getting grounded and a couple of guys helped me get it back out a bit. I went back to the beach bar to settle in for a few screwdrivers and some spring rolls waiting for Rose. I had debated just going back to the boat and waiting for Rose to call, but the thought of food and a cool drink impaired my judgment. I had just ordered my libation when, bam, all of a sudden, the surf kicks up. We're not talking Hawaiian size rollers, but big enough. I saw the dinghy get swamped and raced down the beach to get out of there, holding my wallet and cell phone over my head. A guy came out to help me and I was trying to pull on the anchor line so I could go, while he pushed. Boom, 3 foot breaking wave over the bow, knocked me in the water and completely flooded the boat. I have a new cheap phone now and have confirmed that the dinghy bilge pump works well!!!
We ran into SFII half way to Kuah and hung out with them for a few days. Had some big storms and we actually--I know you'll find it hard to believe--dragged anchor a bit. Had their crew over for dinner both for their company and to empty our freezer prior to land travelling. Had a few dolphin swimming around the boat and watched the sea eagles feeding at sunset. It was really nice except for dragging, but, at least, we didn't hit anyone!! The boom light went on the fritz, but I got it fixed only to have it and a couple of other lights outside go off the next day. We're leaving that to the electricians in Penang.
We spent an uneventful couple of nights in Kuah, arriving in pouring rain, and then we left for the 60 mile run down to Penang. Damn it, found another leak in the starboard engine room, but it wasn't a deluge. Leak in the exhaust muffler. We finally had some wind and actually put a sail up--first time in weeks or maybe months.
So we arrived in Penang about 4 days ago and have met with Harris, the boat yard guy who is doing our repairs and looking after the boat while we're gone. We met the travel agent who, by and large, isn't too good, but got Rose a cheap flight to the UK and does the tedious legwork of searching out acceptable alternatives. So far, all we have booked is 10 days in Bali, which, even with airfare, is as close to free as you can get a vacation. They're researching the rest at the travel agents, but when we return, we have to hustle out passports over to the Chinese consulate for visas--takes about a week. Then we're doing China for 2 weeks or so, back for a week to get Vietnamese visas, then off to Bangkok, River Kwai, northern Thailand and the golden triangle for about a week. We then segue to Siem Reap, site of Angkor Wat, pick up a week cruise down the Mekong river ending in Ho Chi Minh city (Saigon), a week in Nam and then back to Penang. Lest you think I have beaten the financial crisis, here's an example of travel costs around here. We're not doing this particluar tour but it is indicative of the deals. 8 day/7 nights in five star hotels, tours up the yingyang, almost all your meals and round trip airfare from Penang to Beijing--which is a loooonnngg way--is about $900, taxes and service included.
Okay, that's it. You're up to date and we have an 8:15 flight to get tomorrow morning.
Cheers
Tim and Rose
Monday, April 6, 2009
Thialand II April 6 2009
Hello everyone.
We left you on our way up the west coast of Thailand with our friends on
Scot Free II (SFII). Our initial stop was a nice bay near the Phuket
(pronounced pooket, by the way) The rainy season is starting, and there are
about 10 foot tides so, needless to say we have been getting a bit wet going
in and out and dragging the dinghy 50 feet back to the water when the tide
ebbs. This was a very nice bay with a few resorts and we stopped at a few
more scenic, but shoreside uninteresting places, on our way up to our ultimate
destination, a little island called Phayam, which, according to a few people,
was like Eden. From there Lottie needed to make a "visa run" to Ranong and
then Burma to get another 2 weeks. Well, the island was nice, but we've
seen a lot nicer. Had some good meals and a great massage, but the surf was
coming in, making dinghy landing and launching difficult at best. One day
we went in around low tide and tried to anchor the dinghy so it could come
in with the tide. No dice. When we all returned, including SFII, it was
about 1/4 mile offshore and it was dark, etc. Discretion is the better part
of valor. After Gerry made an attempt to swim out--too far, too deep--we
had to borrow a local boat and paddle out. It was a circus getting the
girls in and we all got soaked but finally made it. In Thailand--must be a
Buddhist thing--they have these very cool hot air balloon things which you
use with some kind of solid fuel circle, light, make a wish and let it fill
up with hot air, then release it. Made of paper. We got one done before the tide wrecked
the other two, so Rose got her wish made, but the rest of us lost out. The
things go up about 200 feet and it's really neat at night with the light on
the white paper balloon. Later that night--about 3 AM--I awoke to some
serious rock and roll--sort of like Cane Garden Bay when the wind is wrong.
It was full moon so the tides were large and we were broadside to the inflow
and only about 100 feet from the surf break. Okay, no problem. A bit
uncomfortable but we had about 2 feet under the keel. We were rolling quite
a bit so I stayed up just in case. Figured as the tide came in, it would
get more comfortable. Worried a bit about SFII, though as they are a keel
boat and were really rolling. Sure enough, about 4:30, they moved---turned
out they bounced off the bottom. I waited another 15 minutes with no
improvement, woke Rose, and we moved as well. Okay, nice or not, who needs
that aggravation, so we all took off for the Surin Islands, about 50 miles
south--national park. Would have liked to stay for another massage and the
Full Moon Party, but it just wasn't in the cards.
The guides to the Surins weren't much help and the first place we tried to
anchor just wasn't working so we headed over to a gap between a couple of
islands. At one beach was a village of "sea gypsies", the other a Park's
office and restaurant. We went to try to get to the village and saw several
"longtails" (those native boats you see in the movies with the engine
mounted on a 25 foot shaft) go in. However, the captain ran aground several hundred
feet offshore; the admiral said I was going too fast. We tried to wend our
way through the reef, but it was impossible. Decided to check out the
ranger station--going a lot slower this time--but couldn't get in there
either. As a result we had sort of a pot luck on Rendezvous and left the
next day for the Similans, another 50 miles and national park. SFII decided
to stay another night and we didn't catch up with them for several days as
we were just ahead and had to get back to pick up Lottie's friend, Lucy.
The Similans were great. There are basically two islands you can take the
boat to overnight and we did both. The north island is quite a dive and
tourist destination, and the anchorage is in a mini fjord with mooring balls.
The water is crystal clear--the first we've seen since Australia--and we
were greeted by a pod of dolphin on our way in. The water is also warm
enough for the captain to swim, which, hold on to your hats, he did four
times in 2 days. Lots of fish, good snorkeling and we even had sea turtles.
We had just missed the whale shark season but it was still nice. Surprise,
surprise, our friends on Freebird pulled in that afternoon. They'd spent 2
weeks there and were just heading north where we'd been. Had cocktails and
caught up. Couldn't believe with all the tourists, there wasn't a
restaurant. Rose and Lottie kayaked ashore to reconnoiter. You simply must
see the pictures of that event.
Well, with no restaurants and our friends gone, we headed to the next
anchorage south--only about 6 miles away. It was beautiful as well with
lots of tour boats during the day. The parks had a backpacker tent city
going and, halleluiah, there was a restaurant. This restaurant brought new
meaning the the term "fast food". We went in around 6 planning on a few
beers and dinner before returning to the boat. Got our beer, ordered some
local fare and went to get a table. Before I could get the 10 feet to our
table, the waitress paged me and there was our food. Lots of mozzies, so we
ate fast as well and hightailed it to the boat.
The original plan was to head back to Ao Chalong, get the windlass wiring and the freezer done, pick up Lucy and head out cruising in Phangnga Bay, between Phuket and the mainland. As it was closer and had been nice, we decided to go back to Nai Yang. As it turned out this worked out well because Lottie decided to fly to Bangkok for the weekend and hang out with Lucy there while we, presumably, were getting work done. Anyway, it was too rough in Nai Yang and was a mission just to drop Lottie off, so we hightailed it back to Ao Chalong on Saturday. In terms of work getting done, we pretty much had to wait until Monday, so we just hung out a bit, got massages and hit the local market. On Monday, the electrician came out and I asked him to see if he could get a new radio unit for the wireless remote control for the windlass which has mysteriously disappeared. We also needed it completely rewired. Gerry and I (mainly Gerry) had done some work at Phayam having to replace a fuse holder and just disconnect another wire (we think it had something to do with the remote) Later on, the down stopped working, and I found another loose wire so it was time to get things done professionally!!!! An errant engine alarm has also been chirping, and I wanted him to fix that, but, of course, it stopped doing it when we arrived. Well, he couldn't do any work early in the week but promised to look into the remote. We were to call him on our return. Same deal with the freezer man. He found a small leak and fixed it but didn't want to get into replacing the expansion valve. So our plan was to get the girls on board, cruise around and then return to Ao Po on the dock after their departure to get the work done. In the meantime, the icemaker still wasn't turning out cubes at an acceptable rate. Yesterday, we concluded it was the thermostat but it uses a special one which I have now inquired about with the manufacturer.
After what must have been some hardy partying, the girls arrived not Monday, not Tuesday, but Wednesday!!!! and we headed north to Ao Po marina which is really nice except it's in the middle of nowhere. Their water is drinkable and they are about half the cost of RPM. We stopped there for the night and to fuel up. The girls went up to the local resort's pool. Next day, we fueled up and took off for the short trip to James Bond Island. The idea is to get there on the early side before all the tour boats come in. A longtail came over and we hired him for a few hundred baht to take us ashore and then circumnavigate the island for us. Well worth the money with the crowds of boats and hassle of launching the dinghy. Well, it's just like the movie, which we confirmed by watching that night, except for about 50 identical stalls selling identical crappy souvenirs. Lot of photo ops with the big pillar in the bay in the background. After a night at a nearby bay, the next morning we went just a few miles around the corner to another tourist area--a sea gypsy fishing village on stilts. Same deal, a longtail came along and took us on a tour of the river which was pretty cool, with lots of mangroves and a rather large cave/tunnel along the way. Another branch had some prehistoric drawings on the rocks. Back down the river to the stilted village for shopping and lunch. Food was okay. Shopping was only slightly better than James Bond.
The next day we had planned to go to "Pearl Island" for a tour of the pearl farm and lunch. As we approached, the skies opened up so we opted to head on back to Ao Chalong because, that Monday, Lottie needed to hit immigration again for another extension. We also got a call from SFII that they were down there. Once there, I did a little research on windlass remotes as Lofrans apparently cannot replace the sending unit--only sells the remote as a matched package tuned at the factory. This was distressing as the US price for this thing is $600, meaning it would be about $1,000 here. Fortunately, Lewmar has come out with one for $140 which is now installed and working. Of course it was $240 here!!! So we hooked up with SFII for drinks and dinner Sat night and, Sunday, hit Patong for shopping and lunch with Freebird who had called to let us know they were back at RPM. On Monday, first thing, Charlotte went off to immigration. What a rip-off! It costs the same 1,900 baht (about $50) to get the 1 month renewal Rose and I did, or this one week deal which is all you can get on the kind of visa Lottie had. Done with the visa by 11, off we went to the Phi Phi (pronounced pee pee--I'm not kidding) group, one of Thailand's premier tourist destinations, especially for the backpacker crowd.
There are basically two islands there--about 20 miles east of Ao Chalong. The larger, Phi Phi Don, has the hotels, shops, etc. and the bay with all the commercial boats, ferry dock, etc.. The smaller, Phi Phi Le, is a park and has the "beach" where the movie of the same name was filmed. Lottie bought the movie and it sucked, but the beach was nice. Both islands were seriously wiped out in the tsunami, but have rebuilt. Judging from what we saw, the tsunami destruction, from an aesthetic viewpoint, was probably a good thing. Nonetheless, Don, just off the beach, have miles of "alleyways" with shops, bars, restaurants, hotels, dive shops, travel agents, you name it. SFII had pulled in just before us having spent the prior night at Le, and sort of talked us in. There are public moorings there, but beware!! That afternoon, the first one started dragging; we noticed and moved to a more secure location, but a couple of days later, we awoke in the middle of the night as we had dragged (this was a different ball we picked up on our return from Le) and were banging into 3 fishing boats rafted together. Fortunately, the only damage was a 1 inch scrape at the stern but we've RE-learned to back down on moorings like you do when anchoring. Had a nice night or two in Don, exploring the shops and hitting some of the live entertainment the bars provide. SFII had to depart to drop off a guest, who, by the way, had taken a fancy to the girls, especially Lucy. We took off in the morning to explore Le before all the tourists arrived. It's about a 3 mile trip to the "Beach". We picked up a mooring and dropped the dinghy. They--and I wish more places would do it--had a floating dinghy dock. The beach was nice, and we were early enough to avoid the crowds and the park fees. One group was filming some sort of commercial which was sort of interesting. After a bit of exploring, the crowds arrived and we took off to circumnavigate the island in the dinghy. Around the corner to the east was a large hong, which is a lagoon created by a collapsed cave. The first one was okay but loaded with tour boats, but as we proceeded north we came on another that was quite large and almost hidden from the water. There were also some caves which had locals there, which we later discovered were there to protect the birds' nests used in bird's nest soup. Apparently the saliva they use in making the nests has beneficial qualities. They even have an ad here for "Scotch, real bird's nest beverage". Yuk!!! Back to Don where we dragged and off to Krabi the next morning amidst threatening storms.
We thought for sure we'd get stormed on as we left for the 20 mile trip north to Krabi, another tourist destination, but we were running out of time for the girls who wanted to get off in a day or two to do the elephants and tiger temple up in Chang Mai. I'm sure the prospect of another weekend in Bangkok didn't hurt either. We managed to outrun the storm. Krabi, itself is up a river from the anchorages, but there are a couple of bays loaded with tourist stuff. We opted for a southeast bay called Railai. It's supposed to be a sand bottom but we had a hell of a time getting the anchor down, and the tour boats kicked us off the one mooring in the bay. The girls kayaked in and spent the night ashore. The weather wasn't that good so we hung out on board. Next day we moved over to Ao Nang, a mile or two away, as the girls, all three, were taking a cooking course the next day, Saturday with the pick up there. Railai is built at the base of giant rock cliffs and has no land access whatsoever. One of the resorts there caters to rock climbers. We explored again--same old, same old, but the tides are fairly high and we had a time getting the dinghy back in the water. The girls decided to go back to Railai for the night and meet Rose in the morning for the class. When I dropped them to get a longtail over to Railai, they both took a dive after disembarking as it appears the long tails must stir up holes in the sand. Unfortunately, Lucy's camera is now history, but Rose had the same thing happen the next morning and her phone was toast. While Rose's good camera also got wet, to date it is still working. Thank God for that; I was able to get her a replacement phone later for about $25, so not too much damage done.
Unbeknownst to me, it was a lot cheaper to fly out to Bangkok from Phuket than Krabi. All this time I thought the girls were departing from Krabi. Anyway, there is a happy ending sort of. After checking out all the alternatives they found a bus (13 hours) from Krabi to Bangkok for almost nothing, saving them megabucks from flying and the hassle of bussing it to Phuket. So the girls left around 3 on Saturday for the bus and Rose and I just hung out on the boat not wishing to drag the dinghy around nor fall into another longtail hole!!!
Now, left to our own devices, we decided to get back to Ao Po and get the work finished up so we could enjoy our remaining time in Thailand. There is a shortcut over there, through a channel between 2 islands. Saves about 2 hours, but the cruising guide warns "local knowledge" only. Well, we had the SunSail guide to Phuket that showed the way so we anchored off a fishing village at the entrance to the channel and, next day, Monday, made the delightful run 5 miles through, making it to Ao Po at about 10 or 11. First order of business was getting a car and the faithful Mr. Morn (Our RPM car guy) delivered one to us which turned out to be the same one we had before. Nice service. Did I mention the marina picks up our garbage and drives us around in golf carts? Anyway, we wanted the car as we're nowhere, and Rose's ailments are acting up again so we needed to see the doc. I ran a few errands and phoned up the workmen. I also called to get the rigging surveyed (looked at and checked). Next day we got Rose to the doctor.
So, to try to end this, it it now a week later and the new remote and rewiring are done for the windlass. The engine alarm is fixed; the freezer seems to be working, and the rigging has been checked. The only downside is the rigging ALL needs to be replaced. Still waiting for a final on the quote as one wire supplier went belly up and a fitting supplier was out of stock for something, but this will run 5 figures. Damn, but better than losing the mast. Ah, you say, but what about Rose. These guys seem to think her aches and pains all boil down to some kind of digestive problem but the good news is they have, at least prescribed some medication. We'll just have to wait and see. They seemed pretty familiar with her syndrome. Same place I took my physical.
Other news before I end this. There was a "pirate" attack south of here and the captain was killed and thrown overboard. (Rose is holding out hope they will escape for our return to Langkawi). We think it was a "one off" as they caught the guys who were 3 Burmese teenagers who claimed they were enslaved on a Thai fishing boat. Most of our friends here have left for Malaysia as their visas expired. We're thinking of following soon as this is the transition period for the monsoon and we've had some wicked storms pass through with up to 50 knots of wind. Rose is in the process of booking her flight back to the UK and it looks like 3 or 4 weeks from mid July on. So, right now, we're waiting around for a decision on the rigging, Unfortunately, today, Monday, is a national holiday. It's much easier for them to do the head stay while we're on the dock so, hopefully, we'll get that done in a couple of days and then head back down to Ao Chalong for he rest of the work assuming they can get the stuff in a timely fashion. Then off to Phi Phi and back to Langkawi and Penang. We've hooked up with a travel agent in Penang who is working on our plans for land travel.
A couple of personal notes. Joey has broken up with Olivia and is heading back to the states tomorrow to try to pick up work in Fort Lauderdale. He has a coastal Yachtmaster and still needs to do a "practical exam" to get his offshore, but this should be enough for him to get a job. Can't say Rose and I are disappointed about this development. My fashion consultant, Rose, has made me change my wardrobe from what I consider normal shorts to the very fashionable, below the knee version. Probably just as well as I'm getting too fat for the old ones, and clothes are cheap here in SE Asia!! Finally, in a major change and late breaking news, I have been bullied into changing my hairstyle from what I've done for the last 50 years--i.e. combed left to right with a part. Suffice it to say Lottie started calling me Ming (after Ming the Merciless in Flash Gordon) and I told Rose I look like Mike Ditka (she asked, gasp!!!, who's he?). Anyway, combing my hair straight back isn't so bad except now my rapidly thinning Ming widow's peak is more evidently thinning. How can this be? I'm not that old yet. Must be Morgan Stanley's fault (just kidding Joe).
That's the latest and greatest. Sorry it was so long but we are SOOO interesting.
Cheers
Tim & Rose
We left you on our way up the west coast of Thailand with our friends on
Scot Free II (SFII). Our initial stop was a nice bay near the Phuket
(pronounced pooket, by the way) The rainy season is starting, and there are
about 10 foot tides so, needless to say we have been getting a bit wet going
in and out and dragging the dinghy 50 feet back to the water when the tide
ebbs. This was a very nice bay with a few resorts and we stopped at a few
more scenic, but shoreside uninteresting places, on our way up to our ultimate
destination, a little island called Phayam, which, according to a few people,
was like Eden. From there Lottie needed to make a "visa run" to Ranong and
then Burma to get another 2 weeks. Well, the island was nice, but we've
seen a lot nicer. Had some good meals and a great massage, but the surf was
coming in, making dinghy landing and launching difficult at best. One day
we went in around low tide and tried to anchor the dinghy so it could come
in with the tide. No dice. When we all returned, including SFII, it was
about 1/4 mile offshore and it was dark, etc. Discretion is the better part
of valor. After Gerry made an attempt to swim out--too far, too deep--we
had to borrow a local boat and paddle out. It was a circus getting the
girls in and we all got soaked but finally made it. In Thailand--must be a
Buddhist thing--they have these very cool hot air balloon things which you
use with some kind of solid fuel circle, light, make a wish and let it fill
up with hot air, then release it. Made of paper. We got one done before the tide wrecked
the other two, so Rose got her wish made, but the rest of us lost out. The
things go up about 200 feet and it's really neat at night with the light on
the white paper balloon. Later that night--about 3 AM--I awoke to some
serious rock and roll--sort of like Cane Garden Bay when the wind is wrong.
It was full moon so the tides were large and we were broadside to the inflow
and only about 100 feet from the surf break. Okay, no problem. A bit
uncomfortable but we had about 2 feet under the keel. We were rolling quite
a bit so I stayed up just in case. Figured as the tide came in, it would
get more comfortable. Worried a bit about SFII, though as they are a keel
boat and were really rolling. Sure enough, about 4:30, they moved---turned
out they bounced off the bottom. I waited another 15 minutes with no
improvement, woke Rose, and we moved as well. Okay, nice or not, who needs
that aggravation, so we all took off for the Surin Islands, about 50 miles
south--national park. Would have liked to stay for another massage and the
Full Moon Party, but it just wasn't in the cards.
The guides to the Surins weren't much help and the first place we tried to
anchor just wasn't working so we headed over to a gap between a couple of
islands. At one beach was a village of "sea gypsies", the other a Park's
office and restaurant. We went to try to get to the village and saw several
"longtails" (those native boats you see in the movies with the engine
mounted on a 25 foot shaft) go in. However, the captain ran aground several hundred
feet offshore; the admiral said I was going too fast. We tried to wend our
way through the reef, but it was impossible. Decided to check out the
ranger station--going a lot slower this time--but couldn't get in there
either. As a result we had sort of a pot luck on Rendezvous and left the
next day for the Similans, another 50 miles and national park. SFII decided
to stay another night and we didn't catch up with them for several days as
we were just ahead and had to get back to pick up Lottie's friend, Lucy.
The Similans were great. There are basically two islands you can take the
boat to overnight and we did both. The north island is quite a dive and
tourist destination, and the anchorage is in a mini fjord with mooring balls.
The water is crystal clear--the first we've seen since Australia--and we
were greeted by a pod of dolphin on our way in. The water is also warm
enough for the captain to swim, which, hold on to your hats, he did four
times in 2 days. Lots of fish, good snorkeling and we even had sea turtles.
We had just missed the whale shark season but it was still nice. Surprise,
surprise, our friends on Freebird pulled in that afternoon. They'd spent 2
weeks there and were just heading north where we'd been. Had cocktails and
caught up. Couldn't believe with all the tourists, there wasn't a
restaurant. Rose and Lottie kayaked ashore to reconnoiter. You simply must
see the pictures of that event.
Well, with no restaurants and our friends gone, we headed to the next
anchorage south--only about 6 miles away. It was beautiful as well with
lots of tour boats during the day. The parks had a backpacker tent city
going and, halleluiah, there was a restaurant. This restaurant brought new
meaning the the term "fast food". We went in around 6 planning on a few
beers and dinner before returning to the boat. Got our beer, ordered some
local fare and went to get a table. Before I could get the 10 feet to our
table, the waitress paged me and there was our food. Lots of mozzies, so we
ate fast as well and hightailed it to the boat.
The original plan was to head back to Ao Chalong, get the windlass wiring and the freezer done, pick up Lucy and head out cruising in Phangnga Bay, between Phuket and the mainland. As it was closer and had been nice, we decided to go back to Nai Yang. As it turned out this worked out well because Lottie decided to fly to Bangkok for the weekend and hang out with Lucy there while we, presumably, were getting work done. Anyway, it was too rough in Nai Yang and was a mission just to drop Lottie off, so we hightailed it back to Ao Chalong on Saturday. In terms of work getting done, we pretty much had to wait until Monday, so we just hung out a bit, got massages and hit the local market. On Monday, the electrician came out and I asked him to see if he could get a new radio unit for the wireless remote control for the windlass which has mysteriously disappeared. We also needed it completely rewired. Gerry and I (mainly Gerry) had done some work at Phayam having to replace a fuse holder and just disconnect another wire (we think it had something to do with the remote) Later on, the down stopped working, and I found another loose wire so it was time to get things done professionally!!!! An errant engine alarm has also been chirping, and I wanted him to fix that, but, of course, it stopped doing it when we arrived. Well, he couldn't do any work early in the week but promised to look into the remote. We were to call him on our return. Same deal with the freezer man. He found a small leak and fixed it but didn't want to get into replacing the expansion valve. So our plan was to get the girls on board, cruise around and then return to Ao Po on the dock after their departure to get the work done. In the meantime, the icemaker still wasn't turning out cubes at an acceptable rate. Yesterday, we concluded it was the thermostat but it uses a special one which I have now inquired about with the manufacturer.
After what must have been some hardy partying, the girls arrived not Monday, not Tuesday, but Wednesday!!!! and we headed north to Ao Po marina which is really nice except it's in the middle of nowhere. Their water is drinkable and they are about half the cost of RPM. We stopped there for the night and to fuel up. The girls went up to the local resort's pool. Next day, we fueled up and took off for the short trip to James Bond Island. The idea is to get there on the early side before all the tour boats come in. A longtail came over and we hired him for a few hundred baht to take us ashore and then circumnavigate the island for us. Well worth the money with the crowds of boats and hassle of launching the dinghy. Well, it's just like the movie, which we confirmed by watching that night, except for about 50 identical stalls selling identical crappy souvenirs. Lot of photo ops with the big pillar in the bay in the background. After a night at a nearby bay, the next morning we went just a few miles around the corner to another tourist area--a sea gypsy fishing village on stilts. Same deal, a longtail came along and took us on a tour of the river which was pretty cool, with lots of mangroves and a rather large cave/tunnel along the way. Another branch had some prehistoric drawings on the rocks. Back down the river to the stilted village for shopping and lunch. Food was okay. Shopping was only slightly better than James Bond.
The next day we had planned to go to "Pearl Island" for a tour of the pearl farm and lunch. As we approached, the skies opened up so we opted to head on back to Ao Chalong because, that Monday, Lottie needed to hit immigration again for another extension. We also got a call from SFII that they were down there. Once there, I did a little research on windlass remotes as Lofrans apparently cannot replace the sending unit--only sells the remote as a matched package tuned at the factory. This was distressing as the US price for this thing is $600, meaning it would be about $1,000 here. Fortunately, Lewmar has come out with one for $140 which is now installed and working. Of course it was $240 here!!! So we hooked up with SFII for drinks and dinner Sat night and, Sunday, hit Patong for shopping and lunch with Freebird who had called to let us know they were back at RPM. On Monday, first thing, Charlotte went off to immigration. What a rip-off! It costs the same 1,900 baht (about $50) to get the 1 month renewal Rose and I did, or this one week deal which is all you can get on the kind of visa Lottie had. Done with the visa by 11, off we went to the Phi Phi (pronounced pee pee--I'm not kidding) group, one of Thailand's premier tourist destinations, especially for the backpacker crowd.
There are basically two islands there--about 20 miles east of Ao Chalong. The larger, Phi Phi Don, has the hotels, shops, etc. and the bay with all the commercial boats, ferry dock, etc.. The smaller, Phi Phi Le, is a park and has the "beach" where the movie of the same name was filmed. Lottie bought the movie and it sucked, but the beach was nice. Both islands were seriously wiped out in the tsunami, but have rebuilt. Judging from what we saw, the tsunami destruction, from an aesthetic viewpoint, was probably a good thing. Nonetheless, Don, just off the beach, have miles of "alleyways" with shops, bars, restaurants, hotels, dive shops, travel agents, you name it. SFII had pulled in just before us having spent the prior night at Le, and sort of talked us in. There are public moorings there, but beware!! That afternoon, the first one started dragging; we noticed and moved to a more secure location, but a couple of days later, we awoke in the middle of the night as we had dragged (this was a different ball we picked up on our return from Le) and were banging into 3 fishing boats rafted together. Fortunately, the only damage was a 1 inch scrape at the stern but we've RE-learned to back down on moorings like you do when anchoring. Had a nice night or two in Don, exploring the shops and hitting some of the live entertainment the bars provide. SFII had to depart to drop off a guest, who, by the way, had taken a fancy to the girls, especially Lucy. We took off in the morning to explore Le before all the tourists arrived. It's about a 3 mile trip to the "Beach". We picked up a mooring and dropped the dinghy. They--and I wish more places would do it--had a floating dinghy dock. The beach was nice, and we were early enough to avoid the crowds and the park fees. One group was filming some sort of commercial which was sort of interesting. After a bit of exploring, the crowds arrived and we took off to circumnavigate the island in the dinghy. Around the corner to the east was a large hong, which is a lagoon created by a collapsed cave. The first one was okay but loaded with tour boats, but as we proceeded north we came on another that was quite large and almost hidden from the water. There were also some caves which had locals there, which we later discovered were there to protect the birds' nests used in bird's nest soup. Apparently the saliva they use in making the nests has beneficial qualities. They even have an ad here for "Scotch, real bird's nest beverage". Yuk!!! Back to Don where we dragged and off to Krabi the next morning amidst threatening storms.
We thought for sure we'd get stormed on as we left for the 20 mile trip north to Krabi, another tourist destination, but we were running out of time for the girls who wanted to get off in a day or two to do the elephants and tiger temple up in Chang Mai. I'm sure the prospect of another weekend in Bangkok didn't hurt either. We managed to outrun the storm. Krabi, itself is up a river from the anchorages, but there are a couple of bays loaded with tourist stuff. We opted for a southeast bay called Railai. It's supposed to be a sand bottom but we had a hell of a time getting the anchor down, and the tour boats kicked us off the one mooring in the bay. The girls kayaked in and spent the night ashore. The weather wasn't that good so we hung out on board. Next day we moved over to Ao Nang, a mile or two away, as the girls, all three, were taking a cooking course the next day, Saturday with the pick up there. Railai is built at the base of giant rock cliffs and has no land access whatsoever. One of the resorts there caters to rock climbers. We explored again--same old, same old, but the tides are fairly high and we had a time getting the dinghy back in the water. The girls decided to go back to Railai for the night and meet Rose in the morning for the class. When I dropped them to get a longtail over to Railai, they both took a dive after disembarking as it appears the long tails must stir up holes in the sand. Unfortunately, Lucy's camera is now history, but Rose had the same thing happen the next morning and her phone was toast. While Rose's good camera also got wet, to date it is still working. Thank God for that; I was able to get her a replacement phone later for about $25, so not too much damage done.
Unbeknownst to me, it was a lot cheaper to fly out to Bangkok from Phuket than Krabi. All this time I thought the girls were departing from Krabi. Anyway, there is a happy ending sort of. After checking out all the alternatives they found a bus (13 hours) from Krabi to Bangkok for almost nothing, saving them megabucks from flying and the hassle of bussing it to Phuket. So the girls left around 3 on Saturday for the bus and Rose and I just hung out on the boat not wishing to drag the dinghy around nor fall into another longtail hole!!!
Now, left to our own devices, we decided to get back to Ao Po and get the work finished up so we could enjoy our remaining time in Thailand. There is a shortcut over there, through a channel between 2 islands. Saves about 2 hours, but the cruising guide warns "local knowledge" only. Well, we had the SunSail guide to Phuket that showed the way so we anchored off a fishing village at the entrance to the channel and, next day, Monday, made the delightful run 5 miles through, making it to Ao Po at about 10 or 11. First order of business was getting a car and the faithful Mr. Morn (Our RPM car guy) delivered one to us which turned out to be the same one we had before. Nice service. Did I mention the marina picks up our garbage and drives us around in golf carts? Anyway, we wanted the car as we're nowhere, and Rose's ailments are acting up again so we needed to see the doc. I ran a few errands and phoned up the workmen. I also called to get the rigging surveyed (looked at and checked). Next day we got Rose to the doctor.
So, to try to end this, it it now a week later and the new remote and rewiring are done for the windlass. The engine alarm is fixed; the freezer seems to be working, and the rigging has been checked. The only downside is the rigging ALL needs to be replaced. Still waiting for a final on the quote as one wire supplier went belly up and a fitting supplier was out of stock for something, but this will run 5 figures. Damn, but better than losing the mast. Ah, you say, but what about Rose. These guys seem to think her aches and pains all boil down to some kind of digestive problem but the good news is they have, at least prescribed some medication. We'll just have to wait and see. They seemed pretty familiar with her syndrome. Same place I took my physical.
Other news before I end this. There was a "pirate" attack south of here and the captain was killed and thrown overboard. (Rose is holding out hope they will escape for our return to Langkawi). We think it was a "one off" as they caught the guys who were 3 Burmese teenagers who claimed they were enslaved on a Thai fishing boat. Most of our friends here have left for Malaysia as their visas expired. We're thinking of following soon as this is the transition period for the monsoon and we've had some wicked storms pass through with up to 50 knots of wind. Rose is in the process of booking her flight back to the UK and it looks like 3 or 4 weeks from mid July on. So, right now, we're waiting around for a decision on the rigging, Unfortunately, today, Monday, is a national holiday. It's much easier for them to do the head stay while we're on the dock so, hopefully, we'll get that done in a couple of days and then head back down to Ao Chalong for he rest of the work assuming they can get the stuff in a timely fashion. Then off to Phi Phi and back to Langkawi and Penang. We've hooked up with a travel agent in Penang who is working on our plans for land travel.
A couple of personal notes. Joey has broken up with Olivia and is heading back to the states tomorrow to try to pick up work in Fort Lauderdale. He has a coastal Yachtmaster and still needs to do a "practical exam" to get his offshore, but this should be enough for him to get a job. Can't say Rose and I are disappointed about this development. My fashion consultant, Rose, has made me change my wardrobe from what I consider normal shorts to the very fashionable, below the knee version. Probably just as well as I'm getting too fat for the old ones, and clothes are cheap here in SE Asia!! Finally, in a major change and late breaking news, I have been bullied into changing my hairstyle from what I've done for the last 50 years--i.e. combed left to right with a part. Suffice it to say Lottie started calling me Ming (after Ming the Merciless in Flash Gordon) and I told Rose I look like Mike Ditka (she asked, gasp!!!, who's he?). Anyway, combing my hair straight back isn't so bad except now my rapidly thinning Ming widow's peak is more evidently thinning. How can this be? I'm not that old yet. Must be Morgan Stanley's fault (just kidding Joe).
That's the latest and greatest. Sorry it was so long but we are SOOO interesting.
Cheers
Tim & Rose
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Phuket Thailand I March 11 2009
Hello out there.Bringing you up to date on Phuket.Well, It's been an event filled month, but I'll try to keep this short.Right now we're at see on the way to the Similan Islands off the northwestcoast of Thailand. We're on our way back from Koh Phayam at the Burmeseborder where we had to take Charlotte, Rose's daughter, to do a "visa run"across the border to get another couple of weeks. She's been with us on andoff for about 3 weeks and Rose is in heaven.We spent the month of February at the Royal Phuket Marina (RPM) to get somework done, chill out and use our full month at the spa (massage or some suchevery day) as well as get some work done. I have to say the boat is in thebest shape in years. We have a new sail cover (the most expensive workdone) as well as a new "used" ice maker, repaired radar that now shows wesupposedly can get 72 mile range, and every possible courtesy flag we canuse for the next 2 years, all at really bargain prices. Also got someniggling electrical problems taken care of which have bothered us for years.We got Rose's mail delivered by a friend from Langkawi, but, alas, mine hasbeen lost. Of course it was the only really important package in yearsincluding 2 renewed credit cards of which we have desperate need!!!.Citibank got it right this time, though and FedExed a replacement in just 3days!!!The only downside of the marina was they (and apparently everyone else) donot have potable drinking water out of the tap. It looked and smelled okaybut why risk it. As a result we put in a dock water inlet on the boat whichbypasses the tanks and uses shore pressure to run the system. Drinkingwater in a 30 liter jug was 35 baht or $1 so it was just a minorinconvenience. Wish I'd done the dock water hookup years ago!!!. The otherproblem was getting in and out. There is another marina up the samechannel, but between the government cheaping out and apparent rivalrybetween the two marinas, the only was to get in is via an ultra shallow 15Kchannel. Seems everyone is too cheap to dredge out a direct route which isonly about 3K. Oh well we still loved it and they didn't charge the normalcatamaran 50% premium so out rate was quite good although about double thatof Malaysia.There were quite a few familiar faces between the 2 marinas, includingFreebird, Scorpido, Windbird, and others. Quite a bit of comings and goingsand regular dinners out at the excellent restaurants around the marina.Prices were great and our last night there, we went across the street to alocal place, a total of 11 of us. We ate until stuffed--really goodfood--and consumed mass quantities of beer for about $5 each!! Awesome! Wehad quite a few "gatherings, and a big Valentine's day party at one of therestaurants. Just try and find greeting cards in Phuket!!! There was alsoa Blues festival going on and the marina establishments kicked in and weeven had a free concert one night. Marina Navratilova was at the table nextto ours. Ah, lifestyles of the rich and famous!!!Rose and I spent ours days driving around checking the place out--the carwas $300 for the month!! Long overdue purchases were new sets of towels andnew tableware; they have a really good stainless operation here. New sheetswhen we get back. Oops, I knew things were going too well. The enginebilge alarm just went off--same one that flooded. There's another smallleak down there in the exhaust system. It's not serious but I'll have towait until we get in and the engine cools down to really check it out. Wepretty well circumnavigated the island by car and checked out every shoppingmall in the place--really nice ones, including a local "night" market. Thelocal markets aren't nearly as good as Penang so out collection ofsunglasses and replica watches has remained static!! It's amazing toimagine the tsunami coming in here as most stuff is built right up to thewater. One of the islands we just stopped at actually had a meter stickshowing the height of the water. Only about 1 meter but it would have sweptway inland as everything is so low lying!!! We also made regular use of theroadside "chicken man" who sold really good whole BBQ'ed chickens for 120baht--about $3.The captain also took a long overdue complete physical, as if anyone cares!!The International hospital here has a deal for about $250 that rivals all ofour old company physicals, including stress tests, EKG, a million bloodtests, chest X-ray and even a full abdominal ultrasound. In and out inabout 4 hours with results and they even have a nice nurse escort youaround. We didn't do Rose as she has had every test known to man over thelast couple of years. She, by the way, really got into the exercise thingand is "shaping up" quite nicely!!! I'm sure you'll all be excited to knowthat, in spite of my dissolute lifestyle, everything was in the acceptablerange, including cholesterol. My blood sugar is just a touch over normaland they suggested I check back in a couple of months. Could have somethingto do with the amount of candy I eat!!??We left the marina about a week ago and hooked up with our friends on ScotFree II to head up the west coast. They, as we do, need to get back toPhuket to pick up friends. Charlotte's friend, Lucy, will be joining usthis weekend. There's been no wind, but the scenery has been spectacular.The windlass (what you use to raise and lower the rather heavy anchor andchain crapped out. For a while jiggling the wires worked but a couple ofdays ago--nada. Turned out the fuse on the up button was a bit corroded andthe fuse holder needed replacing, but after trial and error we disconnectedsome unknown wire on the down and that works now too. Will have theelectricians work on it when we return as well as the freezer guy as theengine driven system, he thinks, needs a new expansion valve. All onlyminor irritations which will get sorted out next week. We sort of had to dothis recent trip up the coast now as the monsoon winds will be changingsoon, making that an unpleasant trip. After we pick up Lucy, the plan is todo the "inner" islands, including the James Bond, Man with the Golden Gun,island and the millions of resort areas in Phang Nga bay between themainland and Phuket.Okay, this is a shorty as we can only tell you about so much shopping, somany massages and so many cheap and outstanding meals. More later on ourtour of the inner islands.CheersTim & Rose
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)