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:

Port Douglas and surrounds

Beautiful faces of Malaysia

In an effort to get to know each other better on the Sail Malaysia rally, we were invited to take part in a team-building exercise which proved to be a heck of a lot of fun despite our initial reservations.  It involved various team tasks which meant working out solutions together to complete them successfully.  The photo on the left shows part of the course but time, and probably age, determined that we'd only do some of the more simplistic challenges.  Free beers were on offer to the winning team and the oldest participant and, if Paul couldn't win it on expertise, he won for age and Paul is never one to pass up on a free beer.  I didn't complain either as, when the hotel manager invited him for his beers (plural), he offered me a glass of wine or two into the bargain.  The organisers couldn't believe his age, they'd never had anyone remotely close to that participating previously.

Me hopelessly trying to steer the rim

The day after our outing to Melaka, we were taken on another tour to the village of Jelebu where we started with a few fun and games followed by a visit to the cultural museum which proved very interesting.  After this, we went to a home stay where a traditional lunch was served with music and dance.

In Port Dickson and Danga Bay, we stayed in a marina, only the third and fourth ones we've ever booked into in all our years of travel.  Most of the time, we simply can't afford this luxury but have to admit that even for us, it's within reason here.  It certainly has it's advantages but on the negative side it means the boat doesn't head into the wind to get the cooling breeze (therefore too damned hot and lots of mozzies) and then there is the lack of privacy with everyone tied up cheek by jowl. On the positive side, we avoid those rather wet and bumpy dinghy rides and having to heft the dinghy up the beaches or over the rocks and coral.  And, this marina has a great swimming pool, showers and is a short easy walk to some incredible restaurants.

Malaysia is fascinating in that it is truly multicultural with about 51% Malay, 24% Chinese, 7% Indian, 11% Indigenous and the rest made up of a myriad of others.  The predominant religion is Muslim (about 65%) but all other religions are evident and fully tolerated.  Their list of religious holidays is quite impressive.  This interesting combination of cultures is very evident in the architecture, the fashions and most significantly, the food.  And wow, but the food is definitely something to write home about.  We thought the food was good in Indonesia but this is spectacular; a real taste sensation and, as long as one eats where the locals dine, incredibly inexpensive.

PHOTO ALBUM:

Roti Canai (flying bread) in the making

Marina (Kailani) trying out the stilts

Music and....

Dance

The Historical City of Melaka

Upon departing Danga Bay, our journey took us down the south end of Johor, past the point where we had visited the southernmost tip of mainland Asia and up through the shipping channels of the Malacca Straits.  We stopped the first night at a little island thinking that we'd make the rest of the journey an overnighter but, as seems to be the norm these days, if and when there is some wind, it's NEVER from a sailable direction, in this case, directly on the nose.  Along with that was the fact that we had several knots of current against us more than half the way therefore our brief trip took another day and a half to achieve.  Throw in a nasty weather system, unlit fishing boats and huge ships bearing down on us on either side - well, it didn't make for a relaxing journey but it wasn't as bad as this sounds.  We made it to Port Dickson, the next port of call on the Malaysian Rally.

Town square & clock tower

The rally was offering a couple of different bus tours from this point and the first was a day trip down to the historical city of Melaka (Malacca) which has a rich historical and cultural background from previous Portuguese, Dutch and British rule.  The city centre was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 2008.

We visited the old fort of Fomosa built by the Portuguese in the 16th Century, wandered through the interesting Cultural Museum, Christ Church and St Paul's Church where the body of St. Francis Xavier was interred for a while then sauntered through the narrow streets of Little China and Little India.

Replica of Cheng Ho's ship

We also visited a museum dedicated to China's Cheng Ho (Zheng He), who commanded expeditionary voyages to southeast Asia, south Asia, the Middle East and east Africa from 1405 to 1433 long preceding those of Magellan, Columbus, Drake and Vasco de Gama, history that was somewhat unknown by the western world until recently.

What an interesting day it turned out to be, giving us a good insight into Malay history.  This cruising lifestyle is definitely proving to be the most educational way to take lessons in culture, geography and history.

PHOTO ALBUM:

Elaborately decorated bicycle rickshaws

Fort along the canal

View from St Paul's

Masjid Kampung Kling Mosque

Kuil Cheng Hoon Teng Temple

Chinatown

Tea Shop

16th Century vases

14th Century Ming vases

View along canal