Christmas in Langkawi

 

The end of the Malaysian rally has dropped us off in Langkawi, a holiday playground for many a nationality and seemingly, especially honeymooners from Saudi Arabia. The island is abound with resorts and hotels and, for the first time since we left Australia, we are finding the people indifferent. In the rest of the country, we found the locals to be incredibly welcoming and friendly as we had in Indonesia. Perhaps they've been tainted by too many wealthy and demanding tourists.

Our final dinner was held in a fabulous restaurant in a rice paddie, beautiful surroundings and spectacular food with the usual dose of Malay entertainment thrown in. 

 The following day, we hopped aboard Saol Eile to attend the open day at a marina on the west side of the island. This so-called event turned out to be a bit of a damp squid as there were no activities put on with the exception of finalising the results of the rally photo competition. There were five categories to choose from and I was thrilled to walk away with two firsts, a second and two third places. I've been desperately trying to improve my photo techniques and it definitely seems to be paying off. We then hopped on another boat to return to Calypso back in the bay at Kuah.

Once the rally was officially over, the fleet starting moving off in a variety of directions, some headed straight over to Phuket in Thailand while quite a few put their boats into marinas to fly home.

We chose to visit a couple of different anchorages but to stay put for Christmas to celebrate with a few friends who stayed behind. We knew that our good friends, Shelia and Stuart of Imagine whom we hadn't seen since our first trip to New Zealand, were anchored around the other side so we headed off to meet them and enjoyed three days of heavy socialising, catching up on all their news. It was so great to see them both again.

Calypso is anchored just inside the two little islands

Once they left for Phuket, we basked in a day of sightseeing by going up the Langkawi cable car which presented a magnificent view over the entire island and on over to Thailand. We had perfect weather that day so thoroughly enjoyed the excursion. While up there, I volunteered to take a couple's photograph for them and like an idiot, said the usual 'smile' only to realise as I walked away what a stupid remark that was. She was dressed in a complete burka with huge sunglasses hiding her eyes or any part of her skin (black gloves on her hands) and, for all I know, she could have been poking her tongue out at me. He, however, did smile. Why do they bother?

Langkawi is a duty free island which, in some senses, doesn't really mean much with the exception of booze. For the first time in forever, we can actually afford to stock up on beers and alcohol. The wines aren't what we'd consider cheap but it is possible to purchase cask wine which is certainly acceptable. Gin, whisky and rum is very inexpensive, as is beer. So, yeah, at long last we can fill the coffers (bilge) for the future.

Five boats found themselves in the Kuah bay anchorage come Christmas so Myra on Saol Eile and myself organised a Christmas pot luck which turned out to be amazing. Gene and Sherry aboard Reflections actually found a whole turkey despite being told there were none to be had, David and Jackie from Jackster brought a roast pork, potatoes and a soup. Then Jason and Karen from Yolo also brought pork and other goodies while Calypso offered starters and lemon meringue pies. Myra and Paraic, Saol Eile, seemed to bear the brunt of it all by contributing a roast lamb, corned beef, veggies galore and cheese and biscuits and their boat as a venue. Needless to say, it was impossible to go hungry. What a spread. However, the sad thing for me was, I caught some dreadful stomach bug a few days before so my entire Christmas menu consisted of dried Marie biscuits and water – didn't even get to sample the bubbly, damn.

Paul delivering his desserts

And, the amusing thing was, I was far too sick to even contemplate the cooking of our contribution so Paul came to the rescue. Now you must understand that although Paul makes an excellent cup of tea and a fair scrambled egg, that about sizes up his culinary skills (oh, I mustn't forget the occasional warming of a tin of beans) so now you have me, prone in the aft cabin trying to talk him through making a double batch of hummus and two lemon meringue pies. Well, congratulations to the dear man, he did a sterling job and certainly saved the day for Calypso. 



 

Fireworks from our cockpit

Malaysia has a massive campaign on at the moment Visit Malaysia in 2014 so have, accordingly been putting on a big water display set to music and fireworks every night for a couple of weeks. This is all held just 100 metres from where we're anchored so we have front row seats to some spectacular sights. How this prompts those not actually in Malaysia is questionable but it's fun while it lasts.

The important thing is, the locals love it all and it gives us a real sense of 2013 coming to an end and the New Year about to begin.  Here's to an exceptional one!

PHOTO ALBUM:

One needs sunglasses inside the tour buses here

What a spread

The Malay dancers, colourful and gorgeous

The anchorage from below

The usual array of gorgeous sunsets

And more......

Clean plates - what a spread

Season's Greetings

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR

Season's greetings to all our friends and family. Another year has almost passed and this sees us celebrating our 9^th anniversary out on the oceans of the world. 2013 has been quite hectic as we've covered almost five and a half thousand nautical miles since our arrival in Brisbane on Christmas Eve last year, an amazing distance using what has to be one of the world's slowest forms of transport.

Earlier this year I had a trip back to Canada to see my family which was terrific with Paul using that opportunity to catch up on the inevitable boat projects that pile up relentlessly.

While in Australia, most of our sightseeing was restricted to Brisbane and the coastline but we had a great trip down to Sydney with friends and once we started moving up the coast, stopped and visited as many places as possible. We met up with a few friends we'd not seen in many a year and then our journey took us up the Queensland coast through the Great Barrier Reef, over the top of Cape York through the Endeavour Straits and on over to Darwin where we joined our first ever rally to take us through Indonesia.

Indonesia was wonderful; the people so incredibly friendly and welcoming despite the abject poverty in so many of the places we touched. We saw dozens of active volcanoes, beautiful reefs and islands, spectacular mountainous scenery, rice paddies, traditional villages and tropical fish and corals. We were constantly entertained with traditional song and dance, sampled the delicious local fare, saw Komodo dragons, watched Orang-utans in the wild, visited temples hundreds and hundreds of years old and were generally treated like royalty. A three month visit but memories to last a life time.

Then on to Malaysia, a country which is very first world in comparison to Indonesia with a fascinating combination of cultures (Malay, Chinese, Indian, Indigenous and Dutch, Portuguese & British) as well as religions (Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist). We also managed a few days in Singapore with a friend there. Another fascinating city.

As I write this, we have travelled up the west coast and are currently in Langkawi, the last island we'll visit before moving on to Thailand. En route, we visited Kuala Lumpur, the historical city of Melaka, toured islands and revelled in the past and present. Again, the people are one of the country's greatest assets and I mustn't forget to mentioned the food...we're in gastronomical heaven!

We've decided to spend our Christmas at anchor here with other cruising friends. As we continue our adventures, we will toast in the New Year and wish you all everything of the best for 2014.

Love and best wishes from Paul and Maureen aboard the good ship Calypso.

  

Cheers Everyone

Palau Penang

Georgetown from the 'Junk' anchorage

As we arrived at the island of Penang, we learned of the passing of Nelson Mandela. Although this was inevitable, it's still sad news and we can only hope that the nation honours his memory with a peaceful mourning. He was a great man who proved greater by openly admitting that he made mistakes. He wasn't a saint but a man with a moral compass who showed that it was possible to forgive and move forward. The world is a sadder place without him and, as former president F.W. de Klerk said :”the greatest legacy the nation can give him is to uphold the constitution”. Let's hope so.

Back to our travels: Penang surprised us. We arrived at the southern tip just as the sun was setting so dropped anchor at a little island named Palau Rimau; it was too late to get up to our proposed anchorage. From there we could see dozens of skyscrapers nestling among a hilly background. As we were still a long way from the main city of Georgetown, we hadn't expected to see anything but a rural setting.

In the morning, we moved further up the island passing under the new bridge (not yet open) and what a marvel of engineering this is. It crosses from the southern end of Penang right over to the mainland and is so long that it disappeared over the horizon. We were told that it is some 27 kilometres long – amazing. There is a second bridge, the original Penang Bridge and it is 13 kilometres long; we sailed under that one too a few days later. It's always a bit unnerving passing under these bridges – one's convinced that they aren't high enough to allow us to get through so we go under waiting for the crunch of the mast tumbling down.  Of course that doesn't happen but, for a minute or two, we hold our breath.

Our mission the first day was to apply for our Thai visas so we hopped on a bus that took us into Georgetown passing huge new apartment blocks, hotels and shopping centres en route. Georgetown itself is a much older area with many old Colonial buildings giving evidence of its past British occupancy and history with an incredible mix of the Malay, Indian and Chinese cultures that make up the majority of Malaysia's population. History has seen Georgetown ruled by the Dutch, the Portuguese and more recently, by the British making it a very fascinating mix of cultures and architecture.

After a few days at the lower anchorage, we moved on up to what is referred to as the 'junk' anchorage right outside the city harbour among the big ships. Something quite amusing that we heard is that this anchorage is well known for the garlic smuggling that takes place between Malaysia and Indonesia. 

 Indonesia only produces 14,000 tons of garlic a year but the national demand is around 400,000 tons. In their wisdom, the ministries of agricultural and trade banned the import of certain horticultural commodities, garlic included, to protect local production, but failed to anticipate the consequences of such a policy and the serious shortfall caused prices to rise significantly hence the advent of garlic smuggling from neighbouring Malaysia.

Georgetown has dozens upon dozens of samples of wall art. Some are paintings but many are wrought iron caricatures with anecdotal descriptions of the streets that they adorn. Below are a few examples.

 

There are interesting examples of fine Colonial architecture, a few which have been beautifully restored but some....... I think beyond redemption.

The Eastern & Oriental Hotel was built by the same firm as the famous Raffles Hotel in Singapore but is even older.  It has been beautifully restored.  Some other structures leave a little to be desired.

We spent a day wandering the streets of the old town with our Irish friends, Myra & Paraic off Saol Eile, and finished off with the usual sampling of street food. A great day in a very interesting piece of history. 

PHOTO GALLERY:

The original Penang bridge disappears into the mist

Colourful shop in Little India

A Chinese temple roof in China Town

And looking up one finds amazing ceilings

The Christmas tree in the Eastern & Oriental Hotel

The rooftops of an historical building

A Buddhist Temple

Strolling along the pedestrian pathway - I just have to ask the question "WHY?"

 What idiot did this?

A tour around Pangkor Island

 

The skies opened up throughout the night and the deluge continued even as we climbed aboard the ferry that took as over to Pangkor Island, however, luck was on our side as the rain finally gave up after just half an hour into the tour.

Once the ferry had docked, our group was led onto a dozen bright pink mini-buses and taken off to our first stop, an old Dutch fort where not much of the original structure remained.  It was, however, a reminder of the interesting history which is very much a part of Malaysia.

We then visited a Chinese temple, a beautiful brightly coloured building which looked as though it would have been more at home in Disney World.

At the top of the hill we took in a grand view of the entire valley, home to the temple.

We were told that this was a safe haven for any lost or mistreated animals which was good to hear.  There was a huge pool with some extra large koi fish and another full of turtles.  Monkeys often took refuge there as did any stray cats and dogs.

The tour took us anti-clockwise around the island and since the weather had cleared considerably, it turned out to be a very scenic trip along windy roads with beautiful coves and beaches.  

Not a job I'd want

Our next stop was at a fish factory where dozens of obnoxious concoctions are dried, packaged and sold.  The shop was chock full of exciting "must have" items such as dried jellyfish chips, yuck, dried shrimp this and dried squid that - none of them remotely appealing.  I'm glad I wasn't born Chinese.

 

Lunch was the main attraction for the day.  The owner of the Pangkor Marina invited us all to join him for lunch at a Chinese seafood restaurant on the island.  This included all the participants of the Sail Malaysia Rally as well as all the cruisers with their boats up on the hard - there were over a hundred of us.  Plate after plate of food arrived at each table as well as cool drinks and beer for all.  What a spread. It was run by a tiny little old Chinese lady with no teeth but a vibrant spirit who danced around in delight. 

 

The last stop was to visit a ship builder and this was quite amazing.  These huge wooden fishing boats are built the old traditional way without any plans or instruments other than a chain saw and an electric drill (very recent additions).  Everything is done by eye with the architect (an old Chinese gentleman) directing the laying of the all the timber beams individually.  It's a tradition that has been passed down throughout many generations but, sadly he says, the young ones today are not interested and there is no one to learn the trade from him for the future.

Once we returned to the area of the ferry, we spent another hour wandering around the town which looks as though it could have been airlifted straight out of China. 

Another great day to add to our memories.

PHOTO ALBUM:

The skeleton

Tiny dried fish - I'd rather not thanks

The hardware shop? Hmmm.

 

Kuala Lumpur

Visiting Kuala Lumpur was very much like our visit to Singapore, so amazingly first world and so cosmopolitan.  What a wonderful city.

Statue of Lord Murugan

This was another tour that the rally offered.  We were collected early in the morning by a luxury bus which took us about an hour and a half along first class roads and stopped initially at a Hindu temple in a fabulous cave structure, the Batu Caves, set into limestone hills on the outskirts of the city. The temple is dedicated to Lord Murugan and guarded by a 42,7 metre golden statue of him.

In order to get up to it, we had to climb 272 steps into a gigantic chamber of high-roofed caves dotted with prayer areas plus another 70-odd steps once inside.  Quite spectacular. And up the steps were many rather mischievous monkeys ready to grab any bags from unwary visitors.

 Cynomolgus monkey at Batu Caves

Our next stop was to a batik factory, but unlike the one I visited in Java, this was using a more free-hand style and there was more emphasis on trying to get us to buy the products than there was on the technique.  However, our following stop was more my cup of tea.  We visited the Royal Selangor pewter factory which I thoroughly enjoyed as I've always been a fan of this metal and all things pewter.  Tin is readily available in this neck of the woods and many generations ago, a Chinese gentleman set up a small workshop to make traditional serving utensils out of pewter and it has now grown into a huge industry but still a family business to this day.  I would have loved to buy so many of the goodies on display. 

Model of KL

A quick stop to the City Museum was next on the agenda which included a massive model of the city.  It looked quite spectacular when the main lights were turned off and the entire city lit up.

We drove through the city past numerous interesting buildings then off to the famous twin towers.  What an incredible structure; covered in stainless steel and glass and very very impressive.  For a short while, the towers were the tallest structures in the world but has been superseded by a few others. From what we saw at the City Museum, it appears that KL will be trying to regain that record by building yet another ridiculously tall skyscraper in the upcoming future.  What's with this compulsion to have the tallest, longest, widest, deepest, whatever in the world?  Must be a man thing.

Anyway, it was a wonderful day and a great outing.  So far, we're really impressed with Malaysia having never expected it to be so vibrant and diverse.  We look forward to the remaining few weeks to experience more of this intriguing country.

PHOTO ALBUM: 

One of the temples inside the caves

One of the entrance gates

Silk batiks

Batik in progress

Beautiful pewter cups

And even some of my favourite characters

Hammering pewter

Gigantic pewter mug

Scenes around the city: