'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
Monday, April 27, 2009
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
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Malaysia IV Feb 11, 2009
Hello everybody.I promise this will get us pretty well caught up!!! Hah, Left you hangingwith our harrowing departure from Langkawi. Actually, the departure wasn'tharrowing at all, but about 5 miles out, off go the bilge alarms. Checkedthat starboard engine (even though we had been keeping a very close eye onit) and, sure enough, it's flood city--déjà vu all over again, as YogiBerra used to say. Only this time it's worse. We have no bilge pump andthe @#&*ing engine won't shut down. I'm pushing the electronic stop andnada, so water is just spewing forth all over everything down there andNorman yelled at me, seriously hurting my feelings!!! I had an enginemanual handy and found the emergency shut off. Whew! Whoops, that's notworking either. Water continues to fill the engine room and now there issmoke and that electrical fire smell. Probably wasn't a good idea reachinginto the salt water to find the emergency stop. Finally, as it is my boat,and I am a Captain, "I can help you", I remembered there is a fuel shutoffat the filter down there. That finally did it, but the smoke kept coming.We had to shut down the entire starboard side electrics to stop whatever itwas from smoking. Out came the emergency bilge pump and we had the waterunder control in a few minutes.Good thing we were headed for another haulout anyway, but we are notseriously going to damage our New Year's Eve celebration over the damnboat. So I got on the phone with Harris when we finally got in range and heworked with the marina to be ready for us. With one engine, it is almostimpossible to maneuver the boat, and the marina had serious tidal current,etc., so we needed help. Nope, no one can do that, but they can temporarilyput us on the inside of the outer breakwater which doesn't require anymaneuvering. Then, the thought is, we'll sort something out with a tow boator something to get us in a slip as the outer breakwater is only accessibleby water and has no power. Now the deal is, when you only have one engineand try to slow down or back up, that one engine moves only that half of theboat causing you to go in circles or back up sideways. We were doing okaycoming in to the breakwater but the genius "helpers" from the marina puttheir skiff right where I needed to go. Tried to back up, got into thecurrent, and we are now floating sideways down the channel. The only way toget under control is forward, but these guys just couldn't get it in theirheads to move the dinghy. Well, my voice carries and they probably heard,after I had asked politely a few times, "move that f'ing dinghy" all theway to Kuala Lumpur. The girls on board were not pleased; Normanunderstood. So to wrap this up, we finally got tied up, but only afterbanging up my newly repaired bow pretty bad. We decided to wait until thenext day to move to a slip as it was already about 5 or 6. Yes, folks, thatis cocktail time!!The next day, New Year's Eve, I think, the harbor guys dug up a boat,assuring us they knew what they were doing, and we put Norman in our dinghy.We did manage to get into the slip but only after the harbor master put a 3foot scrape on the starboard side. Oh well, I figure Pen Marine is payingfor all this anyway. To make this of manageable length, suffice it to saythat it was the starter motor that was smoking, so we had a fire drill toget a new one. (I thought I had a spare, but Yanmar must have changed theirspec as it wouldn't fit). Did that and cleaned everything up and rebuilt thealternator again, etc., etc., which was the plan anyway to do before I hauled.The "paint" specialist came down as well to see what could be done about thestains on the hull, and nothing worked. Ultimately, they 1500 gritsandpapered the entire hull--looks new now. The water leak in the holdingtanks are fixed now. Starboard was obviously caused by their failure toremove one of the stands when we relaunched, and port was a small pinholeand crack where the keel meets the hull. Both tanks are bone dry, and it'snow been 4 days. So everything got fixed, and the boat looks great.Unfortunately, it still cost me an extra three grand--some of the cost wasfuel and other stuff outside of the warranty that didn't get done lasttime. Oops, icemaker still not working. Now it makes ice and fills okay,but it doesn't automatically turn out the cubes. Oh, and the engine drivenfreezer isn't working either. That's okay. Phuket has all these services,and none of it is critical. Harris really went out of his way to get thisdone and done right, so I really can't complain too much. That's justboats!!!Okay, after that extremely abbreviated version of the boat work, we need to get back to oursocial life. That first night, we went to Little India which is right bythe marina. We were in Tanjung City marina which is in the center ofGeorgetown, the big city on Penang. Had a great meal for about $2 each,ridiculously cheap. That might have been the 29th--mad cow again, so Ithink I lost a day here somewhere. Anyway, New Year's Eve (NYE) I needed tobe on the boat to coordinate workmen and the other three took off exploring.I got a call about 4 pm to meet them at some touristy place.As it turned out later, this was very close to the Eastern and Oriental Hotel (E & O) which is an institution there and was started by the same guys who built Raffles,Singapore, so there are plenty of tony bars in the neighborhood. The crew was in an Espresso place drinking everything but and we decided, as it was about 6 by this time, to reconnoiter for a place for dinner. Norman and I hit an Irish pub while the girls explored something called the Red Garden Night market or something like that. They arrived back to report the place had a giant, very interesting looking food court. This is one of those where the tables are numbered and a million food stalls surround the central table area. You go order your food and give them the table number to which they deliver and you pay. So the giant beers were about $2.50 and they had Sake and wine as well, all of which I think I had. We really lucked out. The place was obviously very good as it was jammed, mainly with locals. The food was outstanding; the beer guys just kept bringing us cold ones, and they had a bunch of entertainment as well. Oh, and did I mention there were stores/stalls around, including a massage place. So not only was the food great, I was able to get a massage as well. Time flew. The old guys made it, not only to midnight, but well past and it was especially sweet as it was one of those unexpected good deals.The next day--we had had this brilliant idea later in the evening the night before--we headed off to the E & O Hotel for their famous Brunch. Norman bought which was great, because the drinks were a rip-off, but we were not disappointed!! While expensive for Malaysia, I think the New Year's Day price was about 80 ringgit or $25, it would have been $80 in the states. Unfortunately, the free wine and champagne were a rumor only, but that would have been too much to ask!! I'm writing this now so long after the fact, I can't remember what we did for the next couple of days, but there was the inevitable shopping by the girls, pubs for the boys and most meals out. R & N left on the 3rd and our livers are still recovering. As an aside, Norman has decided cats are alright after all, after spending 2 weeks with Charlie!!!The rest of our stay in Penang can be described in short order. The yard worked on the boat in the water for a few more days until the tides were right to re-haul. We got the engine running to get down to the yard and hauled on the ninth, I think. We got the car Harris was loaning us, dropped Charlie at the vet and checked back into the Krystal Suites which was having a promotion so our "room" (we got a 2 BR one this time) was even cheaper than before. The boat was out another 10 days, mainly because we had to wait for the tide again. We did every touristy thing there is to do in Penang and had some great food as our waistlines show. Shopped 'til we dropped at markets with Rose "I don't want a new watch" going crazy and buying about 6 or 8, all authentic designer fakes, of course. She also managed to pick up a few sunglasses. The captain managed to get a custom silk shirt made to replace his 15 year old one as well as a Patek Philippe and 2 Tag Heuers. These replicas are $10-30, some self winding and are "authentic" down to the name on the band and the backs. We are stylin' on Rendezvous now!!! We rode the tram to the top of Mount Penang; we visited the largest Buddhist temple in SE Asia, and it is huge; the fruit farm; we did everything!!So I did some pretty close supervision this time around and everything looked good, and, as it turned out, was pretty good. The hull looks brand new, the engines and all the pumps are working. Leaks are sealed and, so far, the holding tanks are dry. The replacement guts for the ice maker--this is important folks--were in and it was making ice, BUT, the thing was not turning out the cubes. It's off the boat right now being fixed in Phuket. Likewise, the guys acid-cleaned the engine driven freezer and did a great job--even found a piece of plastic bag in there (Joey, I'll bet it's left over from Sandy Strait when we sucked that bag up the engine intake), but I tested it and I don't think it's cooling. The icemaker guy is going to have a go at it when he brings the icemaker back. We were pretty nervous after all our past problems taking off for Langkawi, but left the day after our 11 pm launch and have had no problems since.The current was a bit against us heading up north so we stopped at the little bay on the south side from where we had departed 3 weeks earlier. The trip to Rebak the next day was only about 15 miles but it was really blowing until we "turned the corner". Quite a few unsuspecting boats were on their way out. We arrived on Chinese New Year's which is a huge deal in the heavily Chinese Malaysia--sort of like Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year's all rolled into one. Businesses shut down for a week, sometimes two. Rebak had a really nice buffet dinner. The next day was Australia day, and the Aussies in the group threw a BYO party at the boat yard which was nice. Our purpose in coming to Langkawi was threefold. First, we needed to get some mail . Wouldn't you know, the only important mail I was getting this year--renewed credit cards--didn't show up. The USPS has washed their hands of it saying the Malaysians don't answer their emails, but I got Harris and the Penang PO involved to track it from this end. No luck yet, but we sent it Express mail and so have a tracking number. Damn. Second and most important reason for the return was to load up on cheap booze at the duty free shops. We know we'll be back as you can only stay in Thailand 3 months (forgot to mention we got our Thai visas in Penang) so our water line dropped only about 2 inches. When we leave for good every spare space will be filled as there has not been a cheaper place for booze we've ever seen and where we're ultimately headed, it is ridiculous. Third, we had to check out of Malaysia.So after three nights in Rebak we took off for Thailand, which is only about 5 miles away, but we were going to Phuket which is 120 miles out. We had to go to another harbour to check out and almost didn't get off as there was still vacation fallout from the New Year. As it was, we got out of Langkawi about noon for the 25 mile trip to the first stop in Thailand. They're very flexible about this run and don't make you check in to the country until Phuket as long as you get there in a week or so. There's tons of interesting places on the way, but we decided just to press on so, two days later, Jan. 30, (see I am catching up!!!) we arrived at the Royal Phuket Marina (RPM). It's sort of interesting getting in as there is a well marked but very shallow channel that weaves it's way in making a 4 km trip as the crow flies into a 15 km trip. Why not dredge a channel, you ask. Politics, I answer.So today is the 11th, and we are really loving this--better than our previous heaven of Lovina Beach on Bali. First, the climate is somewhat better as we're moving a bit farther away from the equator. Water's clearer too, although we haven't been back out. All the services you could ever want are here as are really, really, really good restaurants which are really, etc. cheap. Everyone has 2 for 1 happy hours for up to 4 hours and the drinks aren't too dear to start with. The Spa in the marina has a monthly deal. For 8,900 baht, you get unlimited massages, manicures, pedicures, wraps, facial--the whole nine yards---that's about US$250!!! Yahoo. We also got a car for $300/month and the marina waived the multihull premium of 50%. The only downside is there is no potable tap water in all of Thailand, so it screws up our water thing somewhat. We're using dock water for everything but drinking but there is no way to avoid "polluting" the tanks. A bit of bleach takes care of that, though. We're getting the finishing touches put on the boat here with refrigeration repair, some minor electrical work and a new sail cover which is disappointingly not so cheap. There are also a bunch of our American cruising compatriots here so the social life has been good. Everyone is toying with how to stay longer. We've pretty much made the decision to blow off the eastern Malaysia rally as Rose's daughter has bought her a ticket back to the UK, and the logistics would be off if we went east. But also because Phuket is so nice. Just imagine a cheap BVI where the people love you and want you there.So there. I'm up to date. We've done only a little exploring so far as our massage and workman schedules have interfered. More next time.CheersTim & Rose.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Malaysia III Januray 23 2009
Hello everybody.Please remember we're using the satphone and don't just reply to this--Mywhinging must be working; a few of you actually have responded. Thanks.We actually might get caught up with this one, space and time permitting,but there's a lot so I might need another. Nah, didn't happen.We arrived back in Penang on Friday Dec 5, and the boat was scheduled tolaunch a week later. That was actually a few days more than they originallyestimated, but we didn't need to get to Langkawi until around the 15th,anyway. I went down to the yard on Saturday to check on the progress--theywork weekends here. Everything was pretty much getting done but the yardmanager, Mogan, asked me if I had sacrificial zincs for the sail drives.For you non sailors these zincs keep electrolysis from eating up the saildrives themselves. Now I had already, weeks ago, informed the yard theseneeded to be replaced, and it was pretty obvious from day one, just lookingat them, they needed tobe done. I had also asked the yard to let me know in advance if there wereany parts I needed to source. Okay, no real problem, I had spares--Ithought. Must have used them in Auckland--still no problem; these arestandard and any Yanmar guy will have them. To make a long story short, bythe following Thursday--2 days before launch--the only source was on Borneoand, for some reason that was going to take 2 weeks to get here. Thecaptain got cross!! Not only was all this drama unnecessary, but we neededto get to Langkawi, and it was costing me about $100/day in expenses to beout of the water. After some unpleasantness which included me having toscout out a computer capable of downloading directions to get the prop offso the zincs could be changed, we agreed they would fabricate new ones.So Saturday arrived. We got the cat. We dropped off the car. We launchedthe boat. There was still a bit of minor work to be finished includingchecking the alternator they had worked on. Not working; no problem, we'llget that done in Langkawi. Small fuel leak in the generator--fixed.Alright, we're ready to go and at daybreak Sunday--left early because we hada long way to go--off we went. There is a bridge between the mainland andPenang about 5 miles north of the yard. We have a sticky float switch onthe starboard engine, and, while we always check when the alarm goes off,normally there isn't any urgency, so when it started, I decided to waituntilwe got under the bridge which would coincide with sunup as well, so I'd havesome light. Yep, you guessed it. Opened the hatch and seawater wasforcefully spewing everywhere. Shut down the engine which was almostsubmerged and got the emergency pump out just in case. Fortunately, thebilge pump was keeping up and water inflow stopped with the engine off. Welimped back to the yard on one engine all the while trying to reach Mogan.I also started the generator since we now had nothing charging the batteries(remember the alternator we are going to fix in Langkawi). After droppinganchor, a check of the engine room revealed that the pump had failed, butthere was only about 4 inches of water left. However, the genset was spewingdiesel all over so that fix obviously didn't work. Irate would be toomild a word. We finally got hold of Mogan who sent some guys out. One ofthe cooling hoses--did I mention that part of the work order was to checkall the hoses--had burst. The diesel leak just hadn't been fixed. Anyway,everything had been soaked in seawater and diesel so they fixed the problemsand cleaned up, sort of. The guys just left at about 3 for, I thought, acheck of the bilge pump--it's not too smart to head off without a workingpump in the engine room, but they never came back. Screw it. We'releaving. Strong letter to follow to Harris, the owner, demandingreparations. Who knows what damage the saltwater caused and I noticed thehulls were not properly buffed out. Figured I could get all that done inLangkawi and would get an appropriate refund from the yard.This is probably boring you, but almost sinking is not amusing, and thisshoulddispel any ideas that this life is a piece of cake. All the way toLangkawi, we had a periodic bilge alarm going off. Being a bit sensitive bythis time, we diligently checked everything, but couldn't pin it down. Ifigured I hadn'tproperly seated the speedo impeller or something. Couldn't find anything,including the guilty engine room. Again, to shorten this up, it turns outthe holding tank on the starboard side was filling up from the outside--aleak!!!--and just seeping through the access port into the bilge. Nowwe're beyond irate as this was one of the main reasons for the haulout andwas meant to be fixed. Not only that but now the tank was filling up every12-16 hours whereas before they worked on it, it could take days or weeks.Of course, if Joey was still on board, I'd just have him pump it out and letit go until I returned to Penang in May. However, both the flow rate andthe fact that the captain was MANUALLY pumping this thing out every 12hours lead to 1)installation of an electric pump and 2)rescheduling ahaulout in January after Rose and Norman departed. Much more nastinesstranspired as you might imagine, but, to Harris' credit, there was noargument about hauling the boat for free and fixing all these problems. Asa result, we settled into Rebak Hotel Marina and waited for Rose and Normanto arrive on the 21st. There was the grand finale dinner for the rally aswell on the 20th. This was a very well done affair at the "EcoPark" withgood food and cheap drinks. It was nice to catch up with the rest of thefleet.Rebak is a 5 star resort on a small island off the coast of Langkawi, whichis a fairly large island. We went to the hotel bar for happy hour--yachtiesget a 20% discount on food and beverages--and checked out the restaurantmenu. Fairly expensive by Malaysia standards, but the Maitre d' told usthere was a breakfast buffet for RM15. Up we get the next morning and headover. One look told us we'd misunderstood--couldn't be 15, must be 50, butwe get 20% off so that's about $12 and what a spread!!! champagne, caviar,smoked salmon, custom egg, etc., etc., etc. Awesome service as well.Worth every sen (Malaysia penny). There's also another cheaper yachtierestaurant and bar down at the marina proper and we managed to eat there afew times.Our friends on Freebird were at the Langkawi Yacht club on the main islandand friends of theirs had lent them a car so we hooked up and explored themaintown of Kuah. This is a duty free island so we started to rebuild ourprovisions ofalcohol. Talk about a kid in a candy store. We hadn't seen prices likethis since Tortola and, in some cases, never before. Case of beer $10,booze, all liters. Stoly $6, JD $15, wine $5 or $6/bottle. We had somefun.Back on the dock, an older South African guy stopped by, recognizingRendezvous as a Voyage boat. He was in the process of selling his boat andheading home, and we invited him on board for a beer or two. Later on, hiswife joined us and we got some valuable info from them. First, the numberofthe cheap car guy at the ferry dock--$12 a day. They also had the secretnumber of the Friday produce guy's girl friend who takes one's pork orders.That's right folks, this is a highly Muslim country, and ham and bacon, notto mention pork chops, are not easy to come by. The Friday produce guy wasgreat, and you take the ferry over at 9 and he comes about an hour laterwithall sorts of cheeses, meats (but you get your pork products separately,wrapped in newspaper and brown bagged), veggies and fish. The quality isquite good, but it ain't cheap.The Sunday after the finale dinner, Rose and Norman arrived, bringing a mostvaluable Christmas turkey. We didn't get one in Penang due to logistics,but, foolishly, believed we could get one in Langkawi. Everyone has turkey,right. Wrong. The Muslims strike again, but we outfoxed them by asking N &R to pick one up in KL. Thanks guys. R & N arrived early, somehow gettingaprivate ferry ride right to our dock. A few beers later, my memory is alittle foggy being so tardy with this letter, we went to the hotel bar forhappy hour. Not sure where we ate dinner. Next day it was off to Kuah,again,in Langkawi in a cheap rental for provisioning. The plan was to stickaround Rebak for Christmas, cruise the following week and return for NewYear's Eve. We loaded up on cheap booze and wine and groceries. The girlsmanaged to dent the wine supply pretty good the first few nights so we hadtosacrifice and make another trip to town to buy more. Rose is nowcomplaining that the cabin where she keeps her stuff has no room for it dueto all the booze.Okay, so the breakfast we had was so good, with free champagne, we decidedtodo the Christmas brunch at the hotel and talked a bunch of other boats intodoingit as well. Okay, so what do we do with the turkey. Fortunately, my socialconsultant, Norman, who is of German heritage, suggested we do it like theGerman's and have our Christmas dinner on Christmas eve. We did, and it wasquite nice. Did our presents then as well. Christmas morning, we invitedthe guys from Scot Free II over for champagne and a viewing of Love Actuallywhich we consider the modern replacement for It's a Wonderful Life. (brunchwasn't 'til 11:30) We strongly suggest you see it if you haven't alreadyand, even thought there is just a bit of rough language and skin, it is oneof the ultimate feel good movies. Rose has seen it 6 times and still cries.Even the boys got a bit teary!!! The food that morning was a bitdisappointing. While the brunch was good, there was no champagne, nocaviar, no smoked salmon, although the chef brought some out for Rose afterwe whinged. We didn't think they'd do breakfast Christmas day due to thebrunch, and expected allthe goodies at the brunch. Nope. All the good stuff was at breakfast, butwe did get some champagne anyway. Besides the turkey, the other change inplan was to head off to Penang for New Year's. The crew decided thiswithout the captain's knowledge, and the only problem was R & N's presentfrom us was a massage at the hotel, so how could they do that if we left.The problem was solved when they took them on Christmas day. Anyway,despite the subpar--only based on our expectations--brunch, and the massageissue and the mutiny about where to spend New Year's Eve, we had a greatChristmas.The next day, as you know, was Friday, and we weren't going far, so we madea quick run in to the Friday produce man and took off for a large bay(Tenga) just a few miles from Rebak but on the main island of Langkawi. Wehad walked around there when we had the car, but were pleasantly surprisedby the great beach, good anchorage and numerous very reasonably priced beachbars and restaurants. Turns out this is the main resort area in Langkawi.Somewhere about this time, my main GPS started showing a date in August2028, even though all other aspects seemed to work. Of course, with a wrongdate, the position shown is going to be off as the software relies onsatellite triangulation and satellite position depends on the date. To make along story short, after numerous emails, and calls to the local Raytheonguys here in Malaysia over a period of several weeks, it turns out thegovernment launched a new satellite which is incompatible with my receiver,and it needs to be replaced. Here in Asia, they want the equivalent of$500, but Raytheon has a trade-in deal in the US and you can get it for$200. Naturally, they won't ship it here and want the old unit back first.After some groveling, I got them to agree waive the return and am shippingto Lizzie. In the meantime we'll be using the good old 11 year old Garmin12, handheld and a new USB mouse-sized GPS, we picked up in OZ.We spent the next couple of days at Tenga, and, for our last night inLangkawi, moved further south so the trip back to Penang would be ofmanagable length. Had the usual massages, cocktails and great food.With that, I'll leave you here with the teaser that the trip back to Penangwas hair raising with another close call for sinking. I am stillunbelievably behind as it is Jan 20th as I write this and much has happened.As the boat is once again out of the water, perhaps, I will be able to catchup in the next couple of days.Cheers,Tim & Rose
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Malaysia II, Haul Out & touring Jan 6 2009
Hello everybody.Please remember we're using the satphone and don't just reply to this--notthat most of you even acknowledge our existence out here!Still way behind.So---we hauled the boat at about 1 PM and Rose, Charlie and I were off.First stop the vet to board the cat. Harris, owner of the boat yard hadgraciously given us directions to his vet and it was near our hotel. Ofcourse, S E Asians have no sense of distance. So Harrises' go 100 meters,turn, go another 300 meters was more like 1 km, turn, etc. but we found theplace finally and it, like most of this area was a great deal. Boarding wasRM8/day including food. We also had to pay RM16 for the flea stuff theystick on the animals neck. That's about US$2.50, a tenth of the costin the states!!! Even veterinary medicine in the states is a rip.With Charlie boarded, off Rose and I went to the Krystal Suites Hotel, about10minutes from the yard and in the middle of a business district with tons ofrestaurants. Penang is sort of a Silicon Valley for Asia and had Agilent,Intel, etc., all the big players here. Our room, at RM150 ($40) really wasa suite with a living room (lounge) dining room with a small kitchenette,and office area. One bedroom and bath. Sweet!! (get it sweet, suite). Wealso had free internet, but the TV was a bit subpar--no HBO.The hotel was in an area near the airport and industrial parks housing allthe silicon valley companies and was in a kind of extended strip mallcontaining at least 15 restaurants including Domino's Pizza (YES!!) and aChinese Irish pub. So we ate really well. Twice at the Steamboat place.There, for a fixed price of RM26, we got enough food for 4, maybe 6. It'sone of those deals where they bring you a big pot, split in two, with 2kinds of broth of your choice (watch out for the Thai Tom Yam which isreally hot) and plates and plates of different food to cook in the broth,including just about everything you can imagine. Oh, dessert and appetizersincluded, all for about $7!!!! Then there was the Teppan Yaki Japaneseplace--like Beni Hana. We did that three times. The captain loves sake!!.There was also an excellent Italian place and several Chinese or Malay. Inthe Hotel ground floor was a chain restaurant that was pretty bad but hadgood pastry and coffee. We spent our early days checking out Penang whichis a fairly large island. We hit the snake temple where there are all sortsof snakes around--some Buddhist deal or something--but it took us 2 days tofind the place; the Komtar market downtown which is a rabbit's warren ofshops in a high rise and we did some other stuff which was so long ago, I'veforgotten. Must be the Mad Cow disease (for those of you not in the know,that's what Denny Crane in Boston Legal calls his Alzheimer's). Anyway,also spent some time planning our sojourn into Malaysia by car.Unfortunately, once again, we had hit a school holiday period and rooms werehard to find, but we did. More on that later.The boat was supposed to be out of the water for a couple of weeks so weplanned on about 7-10 days off island with the remainder back in Penang,sightseeing, which is a euphemism for visiting temples and shopping!!!First stop was Cameron Highlands (CH) up in the central mountains abouthalfway the 500 kilometers to Kuala Lumpur (KL), next was Genting Highlands(GH) just north of KL which is a mini Las Vegas with a finale in KL followedby a leisurely trip back up the coast if anyone thought it was worthwhile.So, off we go over the 15 km bridge between Penang and the mainland. We hadmaps, phrase books and tourist guides galore. Roads are well marked inEnglish and a couple of other languages so, believe it or not, we didn't getlost once. There is a relatively new back way to CH, and that knocked about60 km off the trip so we just followed the signs. Up in the mountainsproper, it was windy, twisty roads with lots of switchbacks but we made itto our "supposedly" 3 star hotel about lunchtime. Yes folks, I and theinternet said this place was 3 stars, but what a dump. We had no choice asevery other place we had tried, and it was several, were booked. It wasonly one night we said, so in we went. Cost almost as much as out suite inPenang!!! Hard mattress on the floor, bathroom about the size of the headon the boat but grotty and a pervasive musty smell. Moslem place so youwere supposed to take off your shoes on entry--right.... The (tehee)concierge arranged an afternoon tour and we set off for lunch. Found alittle bakery but also found a German place for dinner. To digress, dinnerwas awesome. We were into pork withdrawal--yes, it is very Islamic here andthe national religion--but this place was authentic. The Malay owner evenbought us a beer while we feasted on real sausage and sauerkraut.Our tour was RM25 and really a good value. We were in a minibus with a fewother people and hit all the highlights, some of which, like the butterflyfarm and a rose center, the captain skipped. We mainly wanted to see a teaplantation and that was cool. There are thousands of acres planted andprocessing is really quite simple with picking followed by cleaning,shredding, drying and packing. Because it was a holiday weekend, there wasan unbelievable traffic jam getting back to the hotel. We were just in timefor the most excellent German dinner--not much else to do up there exceptcommune with nature. Our plan was to get up fairly early--breakfast was notincluded in the hotel rate--and get a bite at the local Starbucks--they'reeverywhere--and check our email before taking off for GH. (sound of buzzer)Malaysia's a bit laid back so Starbucks wasn't open at 8AM. Plan B was tostart down and get something on the way. Surely there would be a place onthe way to the resort. (sound of buzzer) If we thought the northern approachto CH was twisty, the 50 k trip to the main road south was like an oldslinky. Navigated that to about 10 k from the main road (buzzer again).Landslide. Tree down blocking the road. Figuring it would take hours toget someone up there on Sunday to clear the road, we turned around andworked our way back to our starting point. By this time, 9 or 10, Starbuckswas open so we stopped for our coffee, muffin and internet. The rest of thejourney to GH was uneventful if you can a 100 km detour uneventful.Once again, we were able to just follow the signs to GH. We were staying inthe Theme Park Hotel and our room was okay but actually did overlook theTheme Park. Luckily the screaming did come to a stop at 10p.m. This place issomething, and totally crammed onto the actual top of a mountain. There isa giant 6,500 room hotel as well as a couple of others besides ours and bothindoor and outdoor amusement parks with about 10 casinos and a millionrestaurants. Great, right--ring that buzzer. Millions of kids, difficultygetting a drink--Muslim you'll recall--and what I imagine Circus Circus inVegas must have been like years ago. We'd planned on 2 nights but secretly,I was hoping to extend--until we got there. But we did make the best of it,and anything was better than the CH dump. Had fun people watching and I wonsome money. Would have done about 400 better except for a crazy woman whohit against a dealer's 6. They didn't have craps which I'd expected, butthey also did not have true Blackjack. There's a new game out there I raninto in Sydney called Pontoon. It's pretty much blackjack but they take allthe tens out of the deck. There are some other rule changes as well infavor of the players. Too much to describe here--Google it if you want toknow more. Anyway, I did Google it as I figured this had to improve thehouse odds--otherwise why change. Nope, according to several sources on theinternet, Pontoon, played correctly, unlike that b@#*& who cost me RM400, isbetter for the players. So we did a lot of people watching, had some goodfood, wandered, gambled and had a pretty nice time. Also took the cable cardown and back which had lovely scenery.Man, I need a break, and I'm sure you do, as I haven't even got us to theadventure filled trip to KL. Take a breath. I'll be back.I can't believe I'm still about 6 weeks behind and much exciting hasoccurred for you to read about in our next installment!! Can hardly wait,eh? It's 50 k from GH to KL, and, on the north side, is a big Hindu templeinside a cavern called Batu Caves. Of course, we had to stop, and then wehad to walk up the 272 steps to the actual cave and temple. And, yes, wedid and without too much huffing and puffing nor too many rest breaks Cool,lots of photos. Back in the car and off to central KL the site of our hotelwhich we were hoping would be okay. The normal rate was about RM275/nightwith breakfast and we got an internet deal at 160. We were notdisappointed. Great hotel--Ancasa, look it up on the internet. This was areally nice hotel and the breakfast buffet was huge, although it would benice to get bacon and real, not chicken, sausage. Basically we just parkedthe car and explored on foot or by taxi. Taxis are pretty cheap all over,but they almost never use the meter so you have to ask in advance andnegotiate. We found out from one guy that the government hadn't allowed arate increase in 17 years so the metered rate is ridiculously low.We did the KL twin towers that are a famous landmark and have a bridgebetween them you get to visit and cross. We did China town and the markets.Got a new optical fiber Christmas tree as we think we inadvertently leftours with the locals in Tanna, Vanuatu. Loads of authentic fake Rolexes(and every other kind of watch), Mont Blanc pens, designer women's stuff andjust about anything your heart desires. I even got a green laser thingwhich they sell in the catalogs as a rescue beacon for about $200--cost me$25--range is about 3 miles--cool!!! Found one favorite Chinese place weate at three times and frequented the Reggae bar, an expat hangout. The Tshirts are amusing with a pic of Bob Marley, and "Reggae bar, Chinatown KL,Malaysia"--covers it all. The owners also started a Beatles Bar across thestreet where we also spent some time. KL is a very civilized city withexcellent infrastructure. In fact, the entire country is very well kept,and they have built on what the British left instead of letting it fall intoruin like the BVI. Just as a side note, this is a really great littlecountry and worth a visit for all you world travelers. It's not as cheap assome (but it's till inexpensive for what you get), but it is clean, wellrun, great food--I mean really great, and the people are super nice. Whilea Moslem country, they are not anal about it and are very tolerant ofeveryone and all religions which are legion here with the blend of IndianChinese and all other SE Asia. Big thumbs up from Rose and Tim.Our last day, we wanted to go on an organized city tour which was offered atthe hotel--RM80/each. At the last minute the chick called and said theywere full but said she had a friend who could do it for 60 each. Hey, we'rein, and the car was very nice instead of a bus. We did a huge Chinesetemple, the war memorial, the national museum--another example of how niceand modern the country is, the national mosque, which was gigantic and theyactually let Rose go inside--the captain wasn't interested. I get a bitpissed off when some of these mosques won't let infidels inside but you seeMuslims touring all the other temples. We drove past a bunch of otherattractions like the railway station, etc. Now it's getting towardslunchtime, and the driver wants to take us to the obligatory tourist trapswhere, if we buy something, he gets a cut. We did leather; we did batik; wedid souvenirs; we said enough Jeeves. Home please. Back at the hotel, Islip the guy his RM120 and start in. He chases me down and explains it's60/hour, not 60/person. No wonder he was stretching it out. Rose got thegirl who booked us who, of course, denied everything, so we gave him 180 forthe 4 hour tour. At least we didn't end up like Gilligan. Believe it ornot, this is coming to an end.Enjoying KL and with nothing much else to do we tried to extend our stay--wereally liked the Reggae bar and the Chinese joint. First the hotel saidthey had no rooms, then they said okay, but at the RM275 rate. Nah, we'retoo cheap. After a while here, even though a ringgit is only $.30, itstarts to get to you and you start thinking it's real money, even thoughit's only a third. I don't know--you sort of have to be here to get it.You should see Rose yell at the cabbies over 20 ringgit!!! Anyway, we likedPenang and there is really nothing on the coast on the way up so off wewent.I think I'm going to stop here, and pick up on our return next time. Lotsgoing on. Stay tuned. The excitement, including almostsinking--twice--will be in upcoming episodes. I'm going to make an honesteffort to catch up this week.CheersTim & Rose
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Malaysia I December 20th 2008
Well, once again I've fallen way behind so this will be long. Braceyourselves.IN THE MEANTIME, BEFORE YOU GET TOO BORED WITH US, ROSE AND I WOULD LIKE TOWISH EVERYONE A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR.Please don't send us those silly electronic cards to this emailaddress--satphone, etc.Even I had to look back and see where we left you. We were leaving thedock in Singapore with teary farewells 6 weeks ago. Much has transpiredsince then.Our departure was in company of seven others heading off to Malaysia.Singapore has a goofy system for checking out with immigration and you haveto take the boat to the quarantine anchorage and they come out to you. Anannoying and unnecessary interruption. After that, our route was taking uswest along the south shore of Singapore and then up into the west side inthe Johor Strait to Danga Bay, Malaysia. There were at least a millionships around as we navigated through shipping lanes, strong currents and thebridge to Singapore on this 30 mile journey. Every mile or so in the straitthere was a Singapore patrol boat and that side of the island is fenced offto keep out illegal aliens, primarily Indonesians. Also a few Malaysianboats,but none bothered us. On the way back down we actually saw a patrol chasing a local boat all over the place. A second boat joined the pursuit with both firing flares across the other guys bow, but we don't know if they caught him. Danga Bay was a pleasant surprise. The rally up theMalacca Straits starts there and it was the venue because the new marina inJohor wasn't complete. We expected sort of third class environs but theplace is a huge resort area for Malaysia and Singapore, alike, with tons ofrestaurants, tour boats and even an amusement park. Check in was the bestin 4 years with the officials asking us to sign about 10 forms and takingthem away with our passports. Next day they returned everything and theyhad taken our info and filled in the forms for us.It was an eventful 3 days. First, I went to get a new SIM card for thephone and, I must have screwed up aconnection prying the old SIM card out of the phone. Another 20 minute walkbackto the nearby shopping mall to get a new phone. Ended up with a used phone,but a really nice one for $80. By the way, the Malaysian Ringgit ishoveringaround 3.5 to the dollar, so Malaysia is relatively inexpensive. Not ascheap as Indonesia, but so much more civilized with really great food. Ofcourse , Rendezvous Cay is not at rest in any venue and we had our usualproblems. In Singapore, we had them put on a spare alternator as the otherhad crapped out. We were on shore power, though and couldn't check it.When push came to shovethe spare didn't work either. We had also been told that we could fuel upeasily in Danga. Wrong. They bring in a barge, which we had to beg them todo early, and you either bring the boat to them or jugs. Since we neededquite a bit of fuel we elected to bring in the boat. Of course, the bargewas late and we had to rush out during the middle of the Rally briefing toget it done in daylight. Their idea of fenders was a large chain through anold tire so the boat hits the chain and we got a couple of nice scratches.No problem, though, as we were on our way to getting hauled out and boththings could be fixed easily then--sure!!The next day was an all day tour which Rose went on but I decided to foregoand get a massage. For RM80, you get 2 hours!! Yes. I had been in massagewithdrawal since Bali. That night was the official rally dinner and it wasreally well done. Lots of good food and free beer and wine. SailIndonesia could take a few lessons. It was held in the park's band shellthing and there was a ton of free entertainment as well. An oldies band(they love oldies in Malaysia) alternated with traditional dance. Quitenice and not too many speeches. We were leaving the next day and concernedabout the heavy current in the strait so we were being a bit flexible on ourdestination. There was a close in island about 25 miles away that the priorday's bus tour actually went to and another island 15 miles further on.So off we went on the early side due to potential current, which, as itturned out, were unfounded. However, it was more of the same, motoring,motoring, motoring. Light air. Another boat, our dock mates in Singapore,Freebird, left the same time. So we decided to go to Pulau Pisang, about 40miles away which breaks up the trip to our ultimate destination, PortDickson, into more manageable chunks. The bottom there was a very stickygooey clay, and there was tons of traffic on the way including all thecommercial traffic as well as a billion local fishing boats. The nextintermediate stop was Pulau Besar in the Water Islands and there were a fewother boats there. Freebird dropped their dinghy and came over to see if wewanted to explore and maybe have a happy hour drink. Not much on theisland, and NO alcohol--damn Muslims--so we beat a hasty retreat to Freebird(Dave and Judy) for an extended happy hour. Next day we finally made AdmiralMarina which is about 10 miles south of Port Dickson. The attraction hereis that is is very close to the colonial town of Melaka (where the MalaccaStraits gets its name) Melaka was a very important trading port even beforeEuropean exploration and conquest and has both Dutch and Portugueseinfluence.The marina was a little pricey, for Malaysia, mind you, not Singapore, butvery nice. I think they're trying to make the area into an entire resortthing. Drinks were a bit much but they had a monthly special "all day,every day" happy hour which was two for one so that brought down the price.Fuel was ridiculous--50% more than Danga, though, so we decided to passuntilPenang, our next real stop. Several of the Blue Water Around the Worldrally were in which might explain why Sail Malaysia dropped Admiral from therally. We spent a day or two reorganizing the boat to suit our tastes andthen rented a car to drive down to Malacca about 1.5 hours away. Several ofthe boats were spending a couple of days there, but we were on a fast trackto get to Penang for the haulout so we just went for the day. Gave Dave andJudy a ride--the car was only RM80. We ran into a few other yachties in thetourist area and dropped D & J with them as they needed to findaccommodations while we went to Carre Four for something that escapes mymindat the moment. We met up with everyone later for lunch at Nancy's Kitchen,a Malaysian place with really great food and cheap beer. Architecture wasinteresting but it was all pretty touristy.On our return, we ran into Peter from Dutch Touch. I may have mentioned himfrom Noumea where he stirred me up. He's still a jerk but we couldn't avoidhim and did get the real scoop on another boat he'd been travelling withwhich has headed on a fast track back to California for business andpersonal reasons. The price of the gossip was listening to Peter talk abouthimself endlessly. Hey, that's my job!!! We were going to leave the nextday, but decided to stay. The weather wasn't that good and Rose had to sortout her ATM card which NatWest, in their infinite wisdom, decided to put ahold on without informing her. It was a pretty cheap cab ride into PortDickson just for the heck of it and to get Rose money which is when we foundout her card wouldn't work. So, back to the Marina after lunch, happy hour,dinner at the cafe there and off to our next stop in the Port Klang area.One good thing that came out of our drinks with Peter was he'd heard of anundocumented (at least in our guides) anchorage north of Klang thatshortened the trip to Lumut, our next anchorage, into a managable but quitelong day trip. The weather was very iffy when we left, but turned nice.Still no wind.It was a long, long day up to Lumut, actually Pulau Pangkor, off the coastwith no wind and varying currents that make arrival times uncertain. Someof the other rally boats were also underway and there was loads of radiotraffic deciding stop or go on, anchor here or there, arrive after dark ornot, etc. Pangkor was quite nice and a resort destination. There weren'ttoo many boats in, and we decided we were ahead of schedule to get to Penangso we'd stay another day and chill out. Just as well as the next day theweather was lousy. While we were there, I emailed the yard to tell themwe'd be at Penang in another day. Now there's been all sorts of dramasurrounding the timing of the haulout. It seems the bottom of the slipway(marine railway) has silted in a bit and unless the tide is high,it is notpossible to get the thing deep enough to float the boat on top. That's whywe were racing a bit. They could either haul us around Nov 30th or notuntil 2 weeks later. Well it turns out we were early enough, Nov 18th, thatthey could get us out earlier. The bad news is they wanted us there thenext day and the haul wouldn't happen until 11 PM!!! Past our bedtime.Okay, we're in, but Penang is even farther than Lumut was so we left beforedawn. While we can motor at 8 or 9 knots, you never know when you'll get 3knots of current against you so it's best to leave plenty of time for thetrip. There was a passage out of the bay which would have knocked a fewmiles off, but too scary in the dark. As it turned out, we had the currentwith us and got in mid afternoon. To make a long story short, we went inand reviewed the work orders and made arrangements for a hotel and car.Oops. forgot to mention, something was rotten in the state of our shorepower. When we left Singapore, I noticed the plug that goes into the 110Voutlet on the boat was burned. Looked like it had been loose, however, soI changed power cords and made sure the connection was good in AdmiralMarina. Uh,oh. Same result --in fact, worse, with both female and maleends melted and burned. As most of our freezer capacity is water cooledand we'd be out of the water, we needed shore power to run our spare aircooled freezer, so the electrician came out to look. In the meantime, wewere able to offload some of the food to Pen Marine's freezer, and the nextday the guy got ours working with a 3rd cable. Probably a loose connectionto the plug on the boat. Harris Loo, the guy who owns the yard spent 5years in Chicago at IIT so we hit it off right away. Mogan, an Indian guy,runs the yard, itself--foreman, if you will. Late that day, it startedpouring rain and we were really tired from getting up at 5 so it was a greatrelief when Mogan called at 6 pm to say the railway wasn't working and we'dhave to delay hauling until the next day.So the next day, we booked into Krystal Suites Hotel and got a car. Car wasabout $35/day and the hotel (our room was like an apartment) was about $43.The guys at the yard are very nice and drove me around and booked the hotelfor us. Harris even set us up with his vet to accommodate Charlie who nowmeows in Malaysian. Back on the boat about 1, we were getting ready to moveoff when Mogan called and said he thought they could get us out right then.Yes!!!! Brought the boat in, offloaded our stuff and the cat and we wereout of there.Okay, we're not halfway caught up but I'm going to have to break this into 2or 3 or no one will read it allWill start volume 2 tomorrow.Best holiday wishesTim & Rose
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