by Judy Handley | Nov 26, 2009 | Malaysia, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 31, Year 5: Thanksgiving Dinner on Windbird
Date: Thursday, November 26, 2009
Weather: Beautiful Day with Blue Skies
Location: Rebak Marina, Pulau Rebak, Langkawi, Malaysia
We had a full day today from Penang in the early morning to Kuah, Langkawi, mid-day, and then back to Rebak Marina to Windbird. We were very lucky with our connections and made it back to Rebak on the 12:30 pm ferry. We then spent the remainder of the afternoon preparing a traditional (as traditional as you can get here) American Thanksgiving dinner. It didn’t go without hitches, but the end result was great. I started by making a pumpkin pie. I opened one can of Libby’s pumpkin and it was obviously bad. So Mark dug in and found one more can and it was good. Then I opened the first can of Carnation Evaporated Milk. Not good. So we dug down and found another. Not good. So I dug into another cabinet and found UHT packaged cream and it was good. Okay so far. I found the cinnamon, the ground ginger, and the ground cloves. Still good. I made the pie crust and mixed the pumpkin pie ingredients. Oops. Just as I was putting the pie into the oven, I realized I had forgotten to add the ground cloves. So the pie was back on the counter and I did my best to mix in the cloves. An hour later, we had pumpkin pie. In the meantime, I prepared the turkey for baking and the stuffing. Before we left, we sliced and toasted bread of three varieties to make our own version of Pepperidge Farm Country Style Stuffing. I used the last of the sage that I bought somewhere French, cooked the sweet potatoes and fresh green beans.
Robert of Shirena and Carolyn and Fatty Goodlander of Wild Card were our dinner guests. It was just a great evening. Mark carved the turkey and Fatty entertained us with his stories. He is every bit as entertaining in person as he is when you read his articles-even more so. His life story is quite compelling and Carolyn is obviously his anchor in life. They are a great couple and we had a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner together. But now we are thinking of all our friends and family back home as you gather ’round the dinner table. We miss being with you but hope that you enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner as much as we did.
Prior to dinner, we had some serious discussion about our plans for heading to the Med through the Red Sea. Shirena, Wild Card, and Windbird are currently headed that way. But there have been current articles written discouraging sailors from heading that way. Fatty and Carolyn know the authors of these stories and find them to be people that panic easily and that are not always reputable. Pirate activity on cargo ships has really increased in the past month, so this is something that we must watch carefully. And we will. We will keep you posted of our current thinking as we go through this decision process-Red Sea or South Africa. We are keeping both plans open.
by Judy Handley | Nov 25, 2009 | Malaysia, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 30, Year 5: Enjoying Penang
Date: Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Weather: Partly Cloudy Day with No Rain
Location: Windbird at Rebak Marina; Mark and Judy in Penang, Malaysia
Penang reminds us a smaller version of Singapore, just not as clean and shiny. Just like Singapore, Penang is an island, but the island of Penang is only part of the state of Penang, the smallest in size in Malaysia but the densest in population. It is also the only state in Malaysia where ethnic Chinese are in the majority. Thus, all of the very tall apartment buildings that dominate the landscape and the huge number of Chinese temples. Here are some statistics that I find very interesting.
Population of Penang Island-678,000 with a density of 2,000 per sq km
Population of Singapore Island-Almost 5 million with a density of 6,814 per sq km
Population of the United States-Almost 303 million with a density of 32 per sq km
Population of Greater Boston-4,697 with a density of 4,697 pr sq km
Enough of statistics, but I just had to do that comparison to put things in perspective for us. But more important than the statistics is the fact that it is a great little area to explore by foot and by bus. We started our day by walking to the main Banana guest house to apply for our two-month Thai visa. We were also able to get a Western style breakfast there and then catch a bus to take us on our search for canned salmon and canned green beans. This search led us to two ultra modern shopping malls all decorated for Christmas. In addition to salmon and green beans, we found canned spinach and a frozen turkey that we could afford. I brought our soft cooler bag with me, so we bought the turkey and will enjoy that instead of chicken for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. After going back to our little room at the Banana2 to pack our goods in the suitcase we brought with us for that purpose, we set out on foot to do a walking tour of the area. I can’t believe it, but I forgot to bring my Lonely Planet. I never go anywhere without it, but I guess I’m still not into the tourist mode. So we used a little travel brochure to plan our own walking tour.
When we had seen more mosques and more temples than we could handle in one day, we hopped on the bus to ride a few miles south to Penang Hill. We went there to ride the funicular train 830 meters straight up from sea level. A funicular train is a car on a track with steel wheels but it is like an elevator in that it has a cable pulling the car up the incline. A standard train could never head straight up such an incline because the steel wheels wouldn’t have enough traction. And rubber tires probably couldn’t do the job either, thus the funicular train. We were jam-packed into the train with a huge group of people from India. As we climbed the mountain, a couple of the men started talking to us in English. They were fascinated by our story of sailing around the world and we found their story most interesting as well. Their employer, Amway, sent them here with their families to attend seminars (all four hundred of them). Amway! I couldn’t believe it. They wanted to know if I had ever heard of Amway and I told them that when I had a house I was once a dedicated Amway user. This whole group is from southern India and we told them we might be stopping in Cochin in southern India on our way to the Red Sea. Who knows? We might see some of them again as we exchanged email addresses. What an interesting world.
We returned to the Banana guest house to pick up our Thai visas and then we spent our evening walking over to Little India looking for a place to eat. We weren’t successful, but we enjoyed the walk through that part of town. We actually ended up eating at a delightful little Indian restaurant three doors down the street from our guest house.
by Judy Handley | Nov 24, 2009 | Malaysia, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 29, Year 5: Temporarily Transported to Penang
Date: Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Weather: Beautiful Day, No Rain (yeah!), Cooler Temps
Location: Windbird at Rebak Marina; Mark and I in Penang, Malaysia
First I have to back up and tell you a bit of a scary story that I just didn’t have the heart to write about last night. But the story has a happy ending, so all is well. Yesterday when we went to Kuah with Cory and Barbara, Mark was driving. He made a sudden right turn (thought he was turning further on until Cory pointed out that he needed to turn immediately) and didn’t put on the right-turn signal. As he slowed and turned, we heard a thud and stopped immediately. We had collided with a young couple on a motorbike passing us on the right. None of us had seen them. We were all stunned and horrified, but when we got out of the car, the young woman was getting up and had only a few scrapes. The young man was a bit slower to get up and had one shoulder and one foot that were really hurting. We were immediately so thankful that they were not hurt seriously, but then we scrambled to know what to do. When you rent cars here, there is no written agreement and no insurance of any sort. So we got on our cell phone to call Mr. Din from whom we rented the car. No sooner than we had dialed he arrived on his motorbike. The young couple could speak some English and we learned that they were visiting from Korea. They called the manager of their guest house and he also arrived quickly. At this point, the bike and the car are still in the middle of the road and another young man who witnessed the accident called the police. They arrived and asked if we wanted to file a police report. We understood from Mr. Din that we should by-pass that if possible, so we said no. So the police told us to move the car and the motorbike and they left. The guest house manager called a driver to take the young couple to the clinic. We exchanged phone numbers, and then we left. Of course, we were worried sick all day. Mid-afternoon the young man called to say he was fine but wanted to meet with us today. So on our way from the Rebak ferry terminal to the main ferry terminal in Kuah this afternoon, we had the taxi driver take us to their guest house. We paid the guest house manager for the bike repairs and understood from the young couple that they are actually traveling slowly around the world by airplane and this accident is going to cause them to have to cancel flights planned in the next three weeks as the young man’s foot is very sore and he can only hop or walk with crutches. The young man kept saying he was unlucky, but actually I think we were all incredibly lucky. Motorbike accidents can be much more serious, so we are just thankful that he is really fine. We made a settlement paying for most of the cost of the flights that they are going to have to cancel, breathed a big sigh of relief, and traveled on.
We arrived in Penang at 8 pm tonight and decided to walk to the backpacker guest house we had booked, or so we thought we had booked. We successfully walked through the back streets and found the Banana Travel and Tour Agency (and guest house). But they thought we were arriving yesterday and didn’t have a room for us. They are running such a successful business, however, that they have a NEW Banana guest house about a ten minute walk from the first and there were rooms there. So here we are in the new guest house just a stone’s throw from the Hotel Malaysia where we have stayed previously. Tomorrow we will walk back to the OLD Banana and arrange to get our two-month Thai visa. We will have the visa by 4 pm tomorrow, but there is no ferry back to Langkawi until Thursday morning. So we will spend time touring Penang tomorrow and will get directions on how to find the Cold Storage here. We heard from another cruiser last year that they have canned green beans, and if they do, they might be the only place in Malaysia or Thailand that has them. It’s not that I love canned green beans, but it would be nice to have something green as we make our way across the Indian Ocean and up the Red Sea. There are not a lot of stops to get fresh vegetables, so canned ones will have to do. And the only canned vegetables that you can readily find are peas and corn. So tomorrow will be the search for green beans and canned salmon. Canned salmon is one of our staples and you just can’t find it easily in this part of the world. I feel like I am in search of the Holy Grail.
This morning we walked over to check on Robert and Tina’s boat, Shirena, and walked on down the dock to Fatty and Carolyn Goodlander’s boat, Wild Card. On a whim we invited them to our boat for a Thanksgiving dinner that I will have to prepare after returning to the island in mid-afternoon on Thanksgiving Day. Fatty and Carolyn were in the midst of aligning their engine and prop shaft when we arrived, but they took the time to talk with us and happily agreed to the Thanksgiving invitation. For those of you who are not avid cruising magazine readers, Fatty writes almost monthly for Cruising World. We had briefly met the Goodlanders in New Zealand and then said hello to them again late last week when they were still on the hard at Rebak. They suggested that we get together, so what better time than Thanksgiving.
by Judy Handley | Nov 23, 2009 | Malaysia, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 28, Year 5: A Busy Day in Kuah
Date: Monday, November 23, 2009
Weather: A Little Bit of Sunshine, Sprinkles Here and There
Location: Rebak Marina, Pulau Rebak, Langkawi, Malaysia
After our rude awakening last evening that time really is slipping away, we kept ourselves busy today shopping, making decisions, and looking forward. We rented a car with Cory and Barbara of Increscent Moon and headed to Kuah. Cory and Barbara are leaving for Thailand tomorrow, so they were doing their provisioning for that trip. We were just continuing our search for the food we will need to cross the Indian Ocean. We also made a decision to buy our courtesy flags for the Maldives, India, Oman, Yemen, Eritrea, Egypt, Greece, and Turkey. We have put this off since we have been so indecisive about whether we will round South Africa or go through the Red Sea. But today we made yet another step toward the Red Sea. Cory and Barbara went to the Langkawi ferry terminal to Customs and Immigration to check out of Malaysia, and we walked to the Langkawi Yacht Club to pick up our Top Climber from Nauti Bits, the used boat equipment store that was trying to sell this for us on consignment. We published a sheet of things for sale and posted it on the bulletins boards here and found a buyer. When we walked back to the ferry terminal, Cory and Barbara were still in the process of checking out, so we called the infamous Banana Travel and Tour agency in Penang to make sure we could get our Thai visas on Wednesday. We were assured by “Mr. Banana” that we could, so we booked our ferry trip for 5:15 tomorrow afternoon and booked a room at the Banana in Penang for tomorrow and Wednesday night. Evidently, the gentleman that owns the Banana Agency is very efficient and knows everything about the visa rules for various countries. And he even offers you a room with air conditioning and pool. Not bad.
We made it back to the Rebak ferry terminal just in time for the 4:30 ferry and then spent the greater part of the evening unpacking our purchases and storing them away. Before doing that, however, we did take the Top Climber to Mike and Faye on Minke II. We had not met them before and we had a delightful visit. They are from Adelaide, Australia, and sailing around in this part of Southeast Asia before returning home. They asked us about our plans, and in talking about going through the Red Sea to the Med we discovered that they have a daughter-in-law from Ankara, Turkey, and have traveled a bit through Turkey and parts of Europe. They reminded us of the Schengen Agreement and will allow us only three months in EU countries. As of this time, Turkey is not part of the EU, so we are thinking we will go straight from the Suez to Greece, spend two or three months there, and then go to Turkey for the next couple of months before heading to Morocco and points west. This is another one of those cases of thinking out loud, because he could go to Turkey first and then Greece. So if you are planning to come visit us, let us know where you want us to be at what time and we’ll try to plan accordingly!
Our sudden plans of heading to Penang tomorrow have put a bit of a crimp on my Thanksgiving dinner plans, but we do hope to be back here by mid-afternoon on Thursday and still cook a Thanksgiving dinner. We actually found a turkey in town today, but it cost 144 ringgetts, the equivalent of about $45 US. I was so excited to find this lone turkey, but I had to say no. I don’t think any self-respecting Native American or Pilgrim would have paid that for a turkey, and neither shall we.
by Judy Handley | Nov 22, 2009 | Malaysia, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 27, Year 5: Never Ending Rain
Date: Sunday, November 22, 2009
Weather: Totally Overcast with Periods of Rain
Location: Rebak Marina, Pulau Rebak, Langkawi, Malaysia
The rain just keeps on coming down. We have not been having the torrential rains that we did a few days ago, but neither are we having just sprinkles. It just dibble dops off and on all day and all night. It will be two weeks tomorrow since we have had a sunny day without rain, but if the reports are correct, it could be another week before we see the sunshine. I guess I couldn’t ask for better weather to sit inside and do computer work, so no complaints here.
I am still working in the past, fixing the logs and the photos on the web to reflect the correct sailing season. Mark worked on the SailRite sewing machine today. It was only sewing a zigzag pattern as some little piece in the workings had broken. But he was able to jerry rig it so it now sews a straight pattern as well. He then made new polar fleece covers for our four fenders. Cory and Barbara of Increscent Moon were coming over for dinner tonight so we also spruced up the inside of the boat and prepared dinner. We had a wonderful evening with Cory and Barbara. It is so much fun to talk with cruisers who have the same boat as yours and compare likenesses and differences. Tomorrow we will go to town with them and then on Tuesday morning, they leave for Kuah. We are here for another week, leaving the marina on Tuesday morning, December 1. If our main sail cover is completed before then, we will leave from here for Thailand. If it is not, then we will sail to Kuah to pick up the mainsail and leave for Thailand from there as soon as the work is completed. So one way or another some time next week we hope to be headed to Thailand.
BUT before we can go, we have to make a trip to the mainland to Penang to get our Thai visas. We are hoping that one of us will do a one day flight to Penang and back to get the visas, and that will probably have to be on this Wednesday. Or we we both go by ferry on Tuesday afternoon and return on Thursday morning. And then that is Thanksgiving. Yikes! It’s a good thing I write these logs to remind us of what we need to do. We had better get busy and figure this one out.
by Judy Handley | Nov 21, 2009 | Malaysia, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 26, Year 5: Tense Jobs, Tedious Jobs
Date: Saturday, November 21, 2009
Weather: Totally Overcast with Sprinkles
Location: Rebak Marina, Pulau Rebak, Langkawi, Malaysia
This was a day where our different jobs gave us different views of the day. For Mark, this was a tense day. Last year when re-installing the Air-X wind generator he got the wires crossed and blew the circuits in the generator’s control board. While we were home he ordered repair parts that also amounted to an upgrade. We waited for months while the special order was filled. We received it only a few days before we left Massachusetts headed for North Carolina. Today Mark finally found the time (and the courage) to install the upgrade. He checked and re-checked the wiring. He was really tense as we began the tests. The first test went well. The second test required hooking it up to the batteries. When we did the test, the LED didn’t blink like it was supposed to. His heart sank. He decided to test each component in the system and found that the ammeter was not working. We did the test again by-passing the ammeter and the LED blinked! Success! After cleaning the ammeter terminals, it too worked So now the “new” wind generator has passed all the tests except the final and most critical one: Will it generate electricity when the wind blows?
Judy, on the other hand, spent the day re-naming logs in year 3 that really should have been in year 4. This is a long and tedious process. Add to that the fact that for every log that is renamed, the associated pictures also have to be renamed. This was not a banner day for her. And then Mark burned out the motor on the little Kirby DC powered hand vacuum that is almost as good as nothing, but when you have nothing better, something is better than nothing. We have two sets of plugs everywhere in the boat: one for 110 volt AC and one for 12 volt DC. If you plug a DC applicance into an AC plug, it is no more! And we are truly vacuum-less.
We did have a nice surprise this morning. Mark’s nieces and nephews were gathered in Gainsville, Florida to watch the ‘Gators play. They called on Skype and we had great fun talking with them. Go ‘Gators, go.
We got an email from our friends Tina and Robert of Shirena today. They have been visiting family in Australia and were supposed to be back on Tuesday. But Tina’s passport was sent away to get a UK visa and it has not been returned. So Robert will probably return on Tuesday, followed by Tina when her passport is returned. We are anxious for them to return so we can talk about plans for the upcoming cruising season. They are headed our way and we would like to connect with them as we travel. Hopefully Tina will be back before we leave for Thailand, but if not, we will just have to catch up there.
