Day 16, Year 5: Back in the Land of Nasi Goreng
Date: Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Weather: Sunny Morning Turning Stormy in the PM . . . Again
Location: Rebak Marina, Pulau Rebak, Langkawi, Malaysia

What a whirlwind of a day. We left Rebak on the 9:30 ferry with our very heavy mainsail with us. We met Mr. Din at the ferry dock in Langkawi and got our rental car for the day. We pay 40 Malaysian ringgits ($11.85 US) for a car with only a breath of fuel in the tank. There’s no paperwork, no insurance, no guarantees, and never any fuel. You just take the car and hope it will make it back to the ferry dock in the afternoon. So we thanked Mr. Din and took off for the day. We stopped in the little town of Matsirat to get fuel and then headed to Kuah. We drove straight to the sail shop to drop off our mainsail. While waiting for Ben, the expat that will do the canvas work, we shopped in a little Indian store that I was told had the best array of spices in Kuah. It is right downstairs from Ben’s shop, so this was very convenient. All of our spices onboard simply solidified in the heat while we were gone, so it was good to be able to replenish the Indian curry spices. I also walked up to the wet market to get a few fresh veggies. When I returned, Ben had arrived and had our sail in hand. We discussed a few details of sail cover design and then we were off for other shopping adventures in Kuah. Our first stop was at a small computer shop that we had heard does very good work. We needed help getting our new wifi booster installed and working. We parked and walked a few feet when we saw Bud and Nita of Passage. They were on the hard in the Boat Lagoon while we were there getting our boat painted and it was great to see them again. They were going to the same computer shop, so we had a chance to catch up on plans. They are headed to the Red Sea, so we will definitely see them at different points in the next few months. We stopped at an ATM on the way to shop and found that we could not get money there. Oops! So Bud loaned us the money to get our work done with a promise from us that we would stop by Telaga Harbor on our way home in the late afternoon to repay.

We were successful in getting the wifi booster installed and working, so on we went. We had a mile long shopping list but started by stopping for lunch. We went to a food court and were reminded that this is the land of Nasi Goreng. That is simply fried rice with Malaysian hot spices and we added ayam which is chicken. It costs about $1.30 US each and warms you from the inside out. We then went to our favorite hardware store in Kuah and bought epoxy glue and matting to replenish our stores, various engine and transmission oils, and continued on. We went to the Langkawi Yacht Club to see Paul of Nauti Bits who is trying to sell our monitor windvane and a few other items. One thing had sold since we left last spring and we left two more items. Then it was on to grocery shopping, a stop at Peninsular Marine which is the West Marine outlet here, another hardware store, and the bakery. It was late afternoon by this time and the rain was pouring down, so we started our trek back home. We did stop at Telaga to repay Bud and Nita and we were back at the ferry dock in time for the 6:30 pm ferry to Rebak.

We are spending the evening putting away all of the things we bought today and trying to figure out where we will actually store all the food and drink we need for the long trek ahead. We have done this before, but this next season offers fewer opportunities to restock. Always a challenge.6