by Judy Handley | Nov 19, 2008 | Malaysia, Sailing Logs Year 4 |
Day 28, Year 4: Arrival in Langkawi
Date: Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Weather: Wind NNE 15-20; Rough Seas; Rain Early; Overcast Day
Latitude: 06 degrees 18.642 minutes N
Longitude: 099 degrees 50.904 minutes E
Location: Kuah, Pulau Langkawi, Malaysia
According to Malay folklore, Langkawi derived its name from the beautiful eagles that live here. Helang means big bird or eagle and kawi refers to the reddish-brown color. So basically Langkawi means “reddish-brown eagle.” When we sailed into the harbor here today, we were greeted by a huge eagle sculpture that looks over the harbor. It is mountainous, but the beautiful turquoise waters are not here in Kuah. They are on the northern side of the island. But still, it is a beautiful place and we are so glad we made the decision to come here directly. We had a little difficulty getting here, however. When I recorded the data in our log at midnight last night, the seas were silky and the winds were light. Thirty minutes later we were bashing into heavy seas with 15-20 knots of wind right on the nose. Windbird was hobby horsing through the waters and then the rains came. When I talked about the Northeast Monsoon in last night’s log, I guess I jostled some memory and made the winds come alive. But even with the adverse conditions, we still made it here by noon today. We spent part of the afternoon cleaning up a bit of seawater that came into our forward head through the hatch that was not dogged down tight. We then went over to see Eric and Robyn on Scorpido as they are leaving in the morning, and then went into town for dinner. We will have to fully explore Kuah, the main town here on Langkawi, in the daylight, but at least we found the people to be extremely friendly. We’ll stay in this location for another two or three days and then move to a small island to the west to Rebak Marina. Tomorrow we start the search for things on our “To Buy” list and for people to do the things on our “To Do” list we can’t do ourselves. So it is early to bed tonight as we have a big day ahead of us.
by Judy Handley | Nov 18, 2008 | Malaysia, Sailing Logs Year 4 |
Day 27, Year 4: Strike That, Move Forward
Date: Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Weather: Rain Early Morning; Mostly Overcast Day; No Wind
Latitude: 02 degrees 45.665 minutes N
Longitude: 101 degrees 21.500 minutes E
Location: Second Day of Passage, Port Dickson to Langkawi, Malaysia
Miles to Go: 109
You just can’t depend on some people to do what they say they are going to do. Yesterday we were headed to Penang, a city on the coast of Malaysia, but today we are headed to Langkawi, a group of islands offshore. I wrote to both of our children this morning and told them that we are as fickle as the wind at this time of the year in Southeast Asia. But actually, I think we have just mellowed into the cruising life where your plans change constantly depending on the weather, the wind, the currents,
and your frame of mind. We would like to see Penang, but once we got going, we decided that we just didn’t want to stop. I checked my bible, the Lonely Planet, and found that we can take a ferry from Langkawi to Penang for very little money and be there in less than two hours. So we changed our plans. We now have one more night in the Strait of Malacca with it’s myriad of fishing boats, tugs, tankers, floating debris, and rain storms, and then we will be in Langkawi where we can relax and get
ready for a week or two of boat maintenance. Langkawi is really a group of about 99 islands on the northern Malaysian border. Only one of the islands is of any size and it is the one referred to when people say they are going to Langkawi. We will arrive in the only town of any size on the island tomorrow mid-day, check-in, and try to meet up with Robyn and Eric on Scorpido before they leave for Thailand the following morning. We got an email from them today and Robyn explained that we will arrive
just in time for the Wednesday Night Market. Don’t know what that is, but we’ll check it out and probably see them there.
When we arrive in Langkawi, we will have moved from the Strait of Malacca to the Andaman Sea. We will have rain, but nothing like we have been experiencing. We are in the transition period between the Southwest and the Northeast Monsoons and the further north we go, the drier it will get. Because we are in that transition period we have been having very fickle winds. Sometime between now and the middle or end of January, the Northeast Monsoon should come into full play and that is when people
head across the Indian Ocean. We are looking forward to no more thunder and lightening shows, much less rain, and slightly cooler weather. It is amazing to me that we are leaving an area where the wet season is just beginning and almost overnight we will be in a new weather zone where the dry season is just beginning. But we will still have the 90 per cent humidity. You can’t have it all.
by Judy Handley | Nov 17, 2008 | Malaysia, Sailing Logs Year 4 |
Day 26, Year 4: First Day of Passage to Penang
Date: Monday, November 17, 2008
Weather: Rain Overnight and Early Morning; Totally Overcast Day
Latitude:02 degrees 45.665 minutes N
Longitude: 101 degrees 21.500 minutes E
Location: On Passage from Port Dickson to Penang, Malaysia
Miles to Go: 181
Sailing, well, actually, motoring in the Strait of Malacca is really no fun at all. It is truly a nerve-wracking experience. First of all, the water is an ugly greenish-brownish-yellowish color. It is rainy season, so it is either raining or overcast. But when the sun does shine, it is so hot you can hardly breathe. We mostly have wind against us, what little wind there is, and the currents are strong. Half of the time you have one to two knots against you and the other half of the time you
do enjoy the boost of a two-knot current. The coastline is low, no mountains, with lots of manufacturing plants. So suffice it to say, we will be glad when we reach the city of Penang and then have only a day sail to get us out to the island of Langkawi. It is a tourist destination and should have white sand beaches and turquoise water. Neighboring Thailand is in a totally different season. It is the dry season there, so I’m hoping that the weather in Langkawi in Malaysia will be much more like
Thailand. The real problem with the rain is that we have to shut the boat up tight to keep the water out, but that also makes it unbearably hot. Thailand should be a tad cooler and without the rain, we can at least have ventilation down below.
The other things that make sailing here no fun is the amount of “stuff” in the water. Today we have seen huge logs, five gallon buckets, tree limbs, plastic, Styrofoam, lots of huge ships, little fishing boats, you name it. It is in the water here. We are currently passing the entrance to Port Klang, the major big ship port in modern-day Malaysia. We are currently going through the big ship anchoring area for the port, and I am sincerely hoping that after we pass this area, the traffic and stuff
in the water will both reduce in numbers. Robyn and Eric on Scorpido crossed from Penang to Langkawi a few days ago and they were actually able to sail. We’ll just hope that the conditions are right for us as well. But until then, we will continue motor sailing north and hoping that it is our lucky day and that we will not have any collisions with logs. If we make it safely to Langkawi, I will be ready to give thanks on Thanksgiving Day next week. The land experiences this cruising year have
been wonderful, but the water travel has been challenging.
by Judy Handley | Nov 16, 2008 | Malaysia, Sailing Logs Year 4 |
Day 25, Year 4: Second Day in Melaka
Date: Sunday, November 16, 2008
Weather: Beautiful, Sunny Day, but HOT
Location: Admiral Marina, Port Dickson, Malaysia
Can you know more about something but understand it less? I think you can, because today we visited a Buddhist temple (yes, another one), and a gentleman took us under his wing and tried to explain the religion to us. I got as far as understanding that first came Taosim, then Confusionism, and then Buddhism (I think.). And then I understood that there our four essential elements-energy, soil, air, and water. But then I got lost when the gentleman tried to explain Guanyin, the Goddess of Compassion, with eighteen arms. This is a modern Qianshou version of this Goddess and she is way out of my comprehension range. Mark and I have both decided that we have to take a good comparative religion course when we get home. And we might have to take it twice to even begin to get a bit of understanding. But our visit at the Guanyin Temple today was at least a start for Buddhism.
We slept in this morning and then went to breakfast at the Baba House Caf� since breakfast came with the room. We then started a marathon walk to visit every temple and mosque in the historic district of Melaka. The first stop was right beside where our car was parked. Buddhist monks were chanting for someone who had died. When we returned to the car six hours later, they were still chanting. We visited the newest temple, the oldest temple, and a mosque with a meru roof stacked similar to those of Balinese Hindu architecture. Dutch tiles were seen in many of the temples. Melaka’s multicultural development is expressed in the architecture and building materials of all of her buildings. After the temple and mosque tour, we hiked back across the river to the Maritime and Naval Museum. Either we were tired or this museum just didn’t measure up, but we did see some interesting replicas of local vessels and of the trading ships that made Melaka a port of call. The Portuguese replicas looked just like the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. This reminded us that we still hadn’t found the Portuguese part of town, so a gentleman in the museum gave us directions and we went to get our car and headed out once again to find Medan Portugis. This time we were successful, but we have to admit that we were a little disappointed. Portuguese Square looks like any other shopping square and the architecture in the area was not impressive. Country music was blaring from a speaker stacked on a bicycle in the entrance to the Square and the Restoran de Lisbon served decent Chili Prawns but nothing spectacular. So the Portuguese heritage in Melaka is not its shining star.
We drove back to Port Dickson a different way than we drove down to Melaka and we drove through miles of palm oil plantations. It felt good to get home and start thinking about where we are going next. We will leave here late tomorrow morning and head for Penang, two days and nights from here. We will spend just one day there and then do a long day-sail to Langkawi. We will be there for just a day or two before we will be hauled out of the water to do a much needed bottom paint job. Once that
is done, we can enjoy the Langkawi area until mid-December when our friends Kevin and Claire arrive and we all head for Thailand. So on we go.
by Judy Handley | Nov 15, 2008 | Malaysia, Sailing Logs Year 4 |
Day 24, Year 4: Tour of Melaka
Date: Saturday, November 15, 2008
Weather: Pouring Rain AM; Overcast in Afternoon
Location: Admiral Marina, Port Dickson, Malaysia
Once a coveted seaport, Melaka is now a tourist destination showing off its multicultural background. Prior to the 1400’s, it was just a Malay fishing village. But it was then discovered by a rogue Hindu prince, Parameswara, who fled Java and was living the life of a pirate in Temasek (now Singapore). At that time, Temasek was part of the Thai empire and it didn’t take the Siamese long to realize that Parameswara needed to be removed from Temasek. This led the Hindu prince to flee to Melaka and he built the fishing village into a favored port for traders from all over the East. Then the real trouble began for Melaka. The traders from China, India, Portugal, the Netherlands, and England all laid claim to this port for periods of time over the next 500 years. And each of these countries brought with them the influences of their religions. Although Malaysia as been an Islamic state since the mid 1400’s, the influences of the Buddists, the Hindus, and the Catholics are seen everywhere in Melaka as mosques, temples, and churches stand side by side. Once Singapore became the areas main trading port, Melaka’s importance dwindled. Then its true wealth as a tourist destination was discovered.
We arrived in the pouring rain and spent our first hour touring one of the main streets in the historic district under ponchos and umbrellas, stopping to take photos of the wonderful Chinese traditional homes now serving as hotels, museums, and shops. We stopped for a proper Baba-Nyonya (Malay Chinese) lunch and then crossed the river to see Stadthuys, the imposing barn-red town hall built by the Dutch. Stadthuys is thought to be the oldest Dutch building in this part of the world, and right next door is the matching red Christ Church. Christ Church is currently being renovated, but the workers gladly welcomed us inside to take a look at the 15 meter long ceiling beams, each cut from a single tree. We then followed the masses of people walking up the hill to the ruins of St. Paul’s. There were large groups of Hindu and Muslim school children visiting, as well as huge numbers of Islamic Malaysians. When we walked down from St. Paul’s to what is left of the old Portugese fortress A’Famosa and looked back, the streams of people looked like a pilgrimage moving steadily uphill to St. Paul’s. We then walked just a few hundred feet to the Sultanate Palace, a wooden structure built in the Malay tradition using no nails. It is a fascinating museum showing the influences of the traders from all over the world on this little town. We walked past other memorials and museums, visited an old Dutch cemetery, made a quick stop at St. Francis Xavier’s still functioning catholic church before walking back across the river. We then made a quick dash back across town to where we had parked our car and started a three-hour marathon search for the Medan Portugis, the Portuguese part of town, and a place to spend the night. Three hours later we arrived back where we had started and found a room in The Baba House, a traditional Chinese home turned hotel. We never did find Medan Portugis, but we saw a lot of Melaka as we drove around hunting for this elusive destination. We ended the evening by taking a ride in one of the many, highly decorated and bedecked with lights, trishaws, taking a walk down the crowded Jonker’s night market, and finally relaxing with dinner and a few beers at The Geographer’s Cafe. We didn’t have a fantastic Portuguese meal, but we enjoyed the street cafe atmosphere and live music American style. John Denver’s “Almost Heaven, West Virginia” has made it to Melaka. Maybe tomorrow we’ll find Medan Portugis and have a late seafood lunch before returning to Port
Dickson.
by Judy Handley | Nov 14, 2008 | Malaysia, Sailing Logs Year 4 |
Day 23, Year 4: Love Those Asian Elephants
Date: Friday, November 14, 2008
Weather: Sunshine Mixed with Pouring Rain
Location: Admiral Marina, Port Dickson, Malaysia
It was a long and tiring day, but it was totally worth it to be see the Asian elephants at the Kuala Gandah Elephant Centre. The drive there took us four, not three, hours but that did include a stop for lunch. We drove north through the center of the Malaysian peninsula and enjoyed seeing the countryside. Most of it has been developed into palm oil plantations, and although they are beautiful and productive, these plantations are the very thing that has put the Asian elephant on the critically endangered species list. So it was very special to be able to spend an afternoon with them “up close and personal” as they say on the Centre brochure. When we arrived it was absolutely pouring rain, so we headed to the visitor center to view a video explaining the issues affecting wild elephants, their dwindling habitat, and relocation efforts. But our plan was foiled by a faulty video projector. So we, and a number of other people, waited out the rain under cover. On Fridays, 2:45 pm is feeding
time, and right on cue, the rains stopped and the sun came out. We tromped through the mud to go see the elephants in their enclosed pasture area. There were six elephants in the enclosure. Cek Mek and Mek Bunga, the Centre’s oldest citizens at fifty, were there, along with Mentopian, a thirty-five year old female from Myanmar and Abot, a teenager from Johor Bahru at the southern tip of the peninsula. These elephants are well trained and are used to capture the wild elephants that have to be brought to the Centre. We watched the elephants in their enclosure, watched the guides mount the elephants and ride them out to the river where they bathed them, and then we got to feed them (watermelon and papaya), pet them, and go for rides on their backs. Asian elephants are much smaller than their African counterparts. And because of that, they seem much more approachable. I still jumped back a few times when I would put a piece of fruit on an elephant’s tongue and the mouth started to close. But after a few tries, you learn that they are gentle and not going to take off your hand! And since half of the visitors today were under the age of ten, those of us “over ten” had to look brave. As the last activity, we were all invited to join the elephants in the river. Due to the rains, the river was muddy, the water level was high, and the there was quite a current. Mark and I decided to skip this last activity and spent the time watching a baby elephant with her trainer. She was a real cutie but had quite bellow. Once acclimated, she will be translocated to the national forest. Just as in Borneo with the orangutans, even the national forest is threatened with logging, but it seems the government here has better control of logging in a national forest than was true in Indonesia. For the elephants’ survival, let’s certainly hope so.
On the way home, we thought we were taking a short-cut, but in actuality; we ended up on the expressway going around Kuala Lumpur. It was six lanes of bumper to bumper traffic going at a snail’s pace. I felt like I was trying to drive from Boston to Cape Cod on summer holiday weekend. But we did get to see Kuala Lumpur (affectionately referred to as KL by the locals here) from the highway. It is a city of almost two million people and miles of tall buildings in not so great shape. Singapore
has set a new standard for squeaky clean cities for us and KL just didn’t measure up. But we can say that we spent two hours in traffic there on a rainy, rainy afternoon. As the sun set, the rains really started coming down and stayed that way all the way back to Port Dickson. We were shocked when we got to the marina to find that it hadn’t rained here at all.
Tomorrow we head south to Melaka. But first it is definitely time for a good’s night rest.
