Calypso's Journal: Crossing the South China Sea

01° 42' 935 N

110° 19' 731 E

We spent a few days in the relatively large town of Kuala Terengganu on the east coast of the Malaysian peninsula as again, we were hosted by the local tourism and regional bodies for a day tour and dinner. By the way, the name 'Kuala' means river mouth or the meeting of two rivers as is the case of Kuala Lumpar.

One of the tour's highlights was a trip to the "Crystal Mosque"' an impressive glass structure with crystals in the minarets. We were supplied with clothing to cover our infidel bodies while visiting inside and it made me wonder for the umpteenth time, "how the hell do these women survive this heat dressed like that?!" And, the supplied coverings were a light colour whereas the women wear predominantly dark headscarves and long dresses here with nothing but their hands and faces uncovered. No hair, no ankles, no arms are to be visible. We see the odd evidence of full black burkas but they are mainly visitors from Saudi Arabia. These people here are lovely, open, smiling and very friendly, but still, how do they cope with the heat?

Our tour included the ubiquitous batik and weaving factory as well as a shipyard building wooden fishing boats.

Kuala Terengganu has a large market selling 'who knows what' and a very vibrant Chinatown creating a vastly different culture to that of the Muslim population. No wailing mosques, no closed shops on a Friday, plenty of beer and, sadly, no curries but they do have excellent Chinese cuisine instead.

We have become rather enthusiastic curry fanatics since entering Malaysia and, of course, Thailand too. Never mind just the ordinary Indian curries, we've now sampled and cooked our own Massaman curry, Penang curry, Thai green curry, and Rendang to name just a few along with the likes of Laksa and Thom Yum. If you've never tasted any of these, do yourself a favour and Google search a recipe, they are all truly wonderful!

Our next venture was to cross the South China Sea to western Borneo, almost five hundred nautical miles taking us through a host of Indonesian Islands, dozens upon dozens of oil rigs and several very busy shipping lanes leading to and from mainland China southwards.

Wind? What wind?

This region is notorious for no winds, not ideal for a sailing vessel, however we were lucky enough to alter our route directly eastwards and pick up some favourable winds for the first couple of days. Those who cut directly southeast had to motor the entire distance. When the winds died after the second day we too, started motoring southeast but at least we relished in a couple of days of the good stuff.

As I write this it's still morning and we have just arrived in Santubong (abovementioned coordinates) in Sarawak, Borneo, and have not yet ventured ashore. Today is a day to "chill out" and catch up with some much needed shuteye.

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