by Judy Handley | Nov 28, 2009 | Malaysia, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 33, Year 5: Contact with Justin, Jo, and Ziggy
Date: Saturday, November 28, 2009
Weather: Beautiful Day with Blue Skies; Thunder in the Evening but No Rain
Location: Rebak Marina, Pulau Rebak, Langkawi, Malaysia
Where did today go? I had great ambitions, but they seemed to fade right away. Mark made one tremendous step forward today when he attached the new 3M Keel Guard to the bottom of our dinghy. This was a West Marine purchase while we were home in the US and we sure hope it works. Much of the gelcoat on the bottom of our dinghy has been rubbed away by dragging it up sand beaches, so this new rubber guard should help protect the bottom. I just hope it will not be a hindrance when we try to drag the dinghy ashore. At least the application went smoothly.
I spent a great deal of my late morning, early afternoon walking around trying to borrow a couple of green peppers from friends. I need them to make the spaghetti sauce that I plan to can for the long Indian Ocean passage. The young woman who runs the little store here told me she would try to get some by tomorrow, and that will be my only hope as no one had any to loan. My trek took more than an hour and half as there are always things to talk about, and in the meantime, Justin, Jo, and Ziggy made a Skype call to Mark. I missed it and when I returned home, the internet connection went away for almost two hours. By that time, it was way past midnight in New Mexico, so I missed them today. Hopefully I will get to see Ziggy tomorrow. Justin and Jo have completed their move from Santa Fe to Cerrillos and they posted great photos on Picasa for us to see. Their new home looks spacious and beautiful and there was one video of Ziggy eating Thanksgiving Dinner that is a true classic. I have never seen such an attack on food. Ziggy is full of life and his photos show it. Look out, Justin and Jo.
The friends who came over for drinks last night left the marina today, but not before we snatched a great bit of information from them. Ed and Lynne of Constance (a US boat) have been out here since 1994 and they have learned all the tricks of the trade. And add to that the fact that they are avid National Public Radio (NPR) listeners. They have a WorldSpace radio that allows them to receive all NPR and BBC news programming, news from all parts of the world, as well as music from around the world including classical and jazz. They bought the radio in Singapore for $70 US and they pay about $5 US per month for the satellite service. This morning I heard all those familiar voices from NPR on their radio and decided that I just have to have one of these. We will try to contact the guy in Singapore where they bought their unit and hope that we can have one sent here. You can receive NPR and the BBC on HAM radio, but the times are strange and the connection is always noisy. This satellite version is as clear as can be. So we’ll hope we can purchase one of these units for the upcoming months of . . . who knows where we will be.
by Judy Handley | Nov 27, 2009 | Malaysia, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 32, Year 5: This Way or That?
Date: Friday, November 27, 2009
Weather: Beautiful Day with Blue Skies, Rain in the Evening
Location: Rebak Marina, Pulau Rebak, Langkawi, Malaysia
The good thing about a daily log is that you know what we are thinking and doing at all times. The bad thing about a daily log is that you know what we are thinking and doing at all times. And in these times, our minds change on an hourly basis. There has been a new development in the saga of the English sailing couple presently being held hostage in Somalia. A day or so ago, the Somali pirates issued a video of the couple saying that if the 7 million dollar ransom for their safety is not paid in the next week they believe they will be killed. Then we talked to Jack on the boat next to us this afternoon and found out that he and his wife just recently delivered a boat from the Med to here. He described how chilling it is to transit the Gulf of Aden and to see one ‘supposed’ fishing boat after another. Any one could be a pirate boat, so he said the passage is quite tense. Then we had another couple over for drinks this evening and found that they are going around South Africa. So we are spending a great deal of time researching the South African route and are seriously considering changing our minds . . . again. Our original plan was always to round South Africa, but in August as I was researching the details of that trip, I decided that I didn’t want to be out of video Skype range for as long as we would be if we go the southern route. So we decided to go north to the Med so I could see the grand babies via Skype and then have the possibility of having them visit us in the Med as early as June of next year. Going around South Africa, it will be another whole year before we could see them again in person. That seems like a VERY long time, but better to see them in a year and half than spend time in Somalia as a captive and run the risk of never seeing them again.. Obviously this decision is probably the most important of our circumnavigation to date, so we are going to take our time making the final decision. Tonight South Africa is looking like the way to go. But that could change at any moment. Stay tuned on this one.
I continued working on the website today while Mark did internet research on the South Africa route. We talked to my sister Patsy via Skype video and made arrangements to talk to our siblings this weekend. I cleaned the dinghy and applied a coat of 3 M UV Protectorant. I had cleaned the port side of the hull a couple weeks ago and mark got in the dingy and cleaned the starboard side today Lots of little jobs around the boat keep us busy
By the way, pumpkin pie is even better the day after Thanksgiving.
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.
