Day 31, Year 4: Walking, Walking
Date: Saturday, November 22, 2008
Weather: Mostly Clear Day
Location: Kuah, Pulau Langkawi, Malaysia
In Indonesia “jalan, jalan” means “walking, walking” but here in Malaysia “jalan” means mad. But after Indonesia, anytime we do a town walk-about I always think “jalan, jalan” in my head. And today we certainly did a bit of walking. We left Windbird around 10 am and stopped by Blue Marlin to check in with Idunne and Rune. We saw Idunne in town our first day here, but we tried to visit yesterday and kept missing each other. Rune was home alone this morning, but we were really glad we connected.
He had a five-page document from another cruiser in the bay listing all of the businesses here, what they offer, with directions on how to the find the place. There was even a detailed map. We took Rune’s only copy since they were leaving today for Rebak Marina and we can return their copy tomorrow when we get to Rebak. This document saved our day. We had a huge list of things we needed to purchase and we had no idea where to find the things. With a little help from our friends, we located International anti-fouling paint in a store that sells marine charts. We went on to buy charts for Thailand, engine oil, transmission fluid, multi-grain and dark rye bread, Australian frozen meat, and on and on. The two things we didn’t get were fresh veggies and paint roller sleeves. We must have walked five miles to the veggie market only to find that it is open at 7 am and 4 pm daily but is not open in the middle of the day. We also did not find 7″ paint roller sleeves. So tomorrow morning before leaving for Rebak Marina, we will make one more trip into town to get these items.
It was after 5 pm when we returned to Windbird with a heavily laden dinghy. Soon after we got things packed away, Marianne and Kaye of Nabob popped in for a visit. They had arrived this morning after we left for town, but they had connected with Blue Marlin before she left and had been told to get a copy of the Kuah Town directory from us. We made a copy for them and made arrangements to go back in for dinner together. After a dinner not far from the dinghy landing, we walked around the corner to the Saturday night market. We immediately realized we had made a huge mistake eating dinner before coming to the night market. There was food of every type imaginable and lots of fresh fruit for sale. I loaded up on fruit and onions, but there were no other veggies. That must wait until tomorrow morning.
After a short shopping trip tomorrow morning, we will pull up anchor and head the twelve or so miles to Rebak Marina. As soon as we arrive, we will start the cleaning of the deck and topsides so that once Windbird is out of the water on Tuesday, we will be ready to assault the bottom. You never want to clean above the waterline just after painting the bottom due to the fear of destroying the bottom paint with harsh cleaners from above. So Sunday and Monday are clean, clean, clean, and then Tuesday she’s out of the water and the real fun begins.
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| 081122 Day 31 Langkawi, Malaysia–Glimmpses of Kuah |
