Day 11, Year 5: Still Raining
Date: Friday, November 6, 2009
Weather: Rain All Night and Day
Location: Rebak Marina, Pulau Rebak, Langkawi, Malaysia
It’s umbrella weather here. We had a deluge of rain on Tuesday afternoon, some sun on Wednesday until late afternoon, and then the rains started, and they just haven’t stopped. Today was the worst. It was dark and stormy all day. The weather report calls for rain through Sunday and then only scattered thunderstorms on Monday and Tuesday, so maybe we’ll get a bit of sunshine in between rains. That would be a welcome change. Having to be totally shut up with no air conditioning in this weather would be almost cruel with the high humidity levels, so we give thanks for the air conditioning that is making life inside Windbird most pleasant.
We started our day with a ferry ride to the main island. Every Friday, the food man (known as the Veggie Man even though he sells wonderful meats) comes to the ferry dock in his van. He has the most fantastic array of frozen meats, cheeses, and fresh veggies available in this part of the world. You pay a little more, but everything he sells is fantastic and you don’t have to rent a car to go buy it. So going to see the Veggie Man on Friday mornings is a ritual when you stay at Rebak Marina. Mark went with me this morning just so he could see first hand what everyone talks about and he was quite impressed.
We returned to Windbird by 10:30 am. Mark went over to check on Robert and Tina’s boat, Shirena, and did a little visiting along the way. When he returned, we had a great Skype call with Justin, Jo, and Ziggy. Ziggy is the most verbal baby I have ever heard. When Justin or Jo tries to talk, he starts squealing. It almost sounds like he is saying, “Wait a minute, guys, I want to do the talking here.” As soon as they stop talking, he gets quiet. It is really a riot. He now has his first two teeth, lower front, and just seems to be such a happy baby. Justin and Jo announced that they are moving from Santa Fe back out into the desert to a town named Madris. It was once a mining town and then became Hippy Haven in the 1960’s and 70’s. The hippies have grown older, but the town is still a really kicky little place. They are doing this so that they can buy horses and keep them on a ranch in nearby Cerillos. Why do they want horses? Because they plan to travel across the country in a covered wagon drawn by horses. You reap what you sow and Justin is definitely his father’s son with dreams of adventures beyond the imagination. Do we worry? Of course we do. But we once sold everything we owned and headed to Alaska to build a cabin in the north woods. We actually ended up in northern Idaho and built that cabin. It was a wonderful experience. So we can’t say much when Justin and Jo come up with their dreams that seem a little over the top. All we can do is to hope that their dreams really do come true.
After talking with Justin and Jo, I spent the rest of the day trudging away at cleaning out the closets and cabinets on the boat and Mark worked on getting various electronics working once again. He is still trying to get the new wifi booster working, but he is having trouble with that one. So that will continue tomorrow. And I am still trying to dry the clothes that I washed yesterday morning. I had them hanging in the cockpit, but they just weren’t drying with the humidity. I brought them inside today and let the drying of the air con work on them.
There is always more work to do on a boat, but we are setting Monday as our deadline for starting to spend at least four hours each day looking forward. We have got to make some decisions about our stops along the way when we leave Thailand. Are we going to the Andaman Islands, and if so, when, and are we going to stop in Cochin, India? If so, we have to go back to Penang to get a visa for India. Are we going to be in Thailand for more than two weeks? If so, we also have to go back to Penang to get a Thai visa. It is really weird, but you can only get two month visas if you apply in another country. If you enter by plane or boat without a visa, you get only two weeks.
We are now off to the cocktail party being thrown by the marina and resort. That should be great fun and nice way to end a dreary day.
