All posts by Ruth

Limbongan Batu Maung SDN BHD: The boat yard

November 22, 2009 Ruth

Hi Everyone,

I don’t know if I used to be braver or just oblivious to possible catastrophe. Car ownership, home ownership, now boat ownership, and as I’ve gotten older, the possibility of broken bones if I fell really hard off a large horse have eliminated much of the bliss of ignorance; and bravery hasn’t replaced it. In the past week or so I’ve found myself saying, “I’m not brave enough for this.” When we had that fish net anchor mess last week and again yesterday when we were trying to get DoraMac into the tiny concrete slip at the boat yard, I just had to wonder about those cruisers who see all of this as “just a part of cruising.”

First, let me say, it all turned out fine with not a scratch on man or boat. (As the fish net mess did too.) But while it was happening I couldn’t imagine anything other than “possible disaster.” (I may have mentioned in earlier emails that my mother used to call me “Calamity Jane” because I was a predictor of doom.) We’d had the boat pulled successfully once in China, but things do happen. And with our experiences lately, I really do believe “things do happen”. They, luckily, just don’t happen so often or so awfully that you want to pack it up and go home. Randal continually seems to be able to deal with whatever happens and the more I see that, the less really worried I get. But controlling a 34 ton boat against the forces of wind and current is truly difficult.

Docking a boat at a marina or boat yard involves throwing long, heavy lines (ropes) to someone, or better, several someones, standing on the dock to catch them. You put rubber fenders out on the side that will come close to the dock to protect the boat. I’m not great at throwing our lines, though I am getting better. At a marina when the weather is very calm and there is no wind, it’s not so bad. But during our docking procedure at the boat yard I knew that there would be no room for error so suggested that the boat yard have someone on our boat to throw the lines. I’m glad I did for 2 reasons. One, it was problematic and our helper had to climb on the boat railing to be able to throw the lines to the guys on the dock, and two, even he missed once and they missed once. If I had done it, Randal would have been embarrassed by his inept crew member. To top it off, the slip cleat had broken and several men who weighed maybe a combined 500 lbs were trying to play tug of war with a 34 ton boat that had to back away to move into position. Did not work as they kept having to drop the line. Finally a temporary cleat was rigged and that managed to hold the line. I have no photos because I was poised, fender in hand to place said fender between DoraMac and the concrete slip if we came close enough to make contact and damage the hull. I also, was in on the line throwing act and luckily got it right the first time. By then we were close enough to the slip and the men there caught my throw which was dead on! Fear is a strong motivator!!

Randal had to back the boat into this concrete slip which is about 22 to 24 ft wide. DoraMac is almost 15 feet wide. That’s about 3 ½ feet to spare per side. You have to do it right. At a marina dock, the fenders can protect the boat from damage. But the sides of this concrete slip are much higher where fenders won’t really work, so men were holding large sheets of Styrofoam between the boat and the slip walls. I walked along with a fender to use if we needed extra protection.

The concrete slip. Backing a boat is very different than backing a car. The wind and current keep the boat moving no matter where you are trying to make it go. That’s why you need the lines and cleats to hold it from moving with the wind. The really icky times are when you share a slip at a marina and the wind can blow you into the boat that’s already there. Then it’s my job to hold a fender between the two boats if necessary. Luckily so far it hasn’t been necessary.

We’re securely in the slip. The travel lift is the contraption on wheels.

Once you are securely in the slip they roll out the travel lift which is a huge contraption that has two slings which go under the hull forward and aft.

Here we are out of the water. Can you see the two straps under the keel?

We had to loosen mast stays and lower aerials, but it all worked and there were no dings anywhere. The boat yard guys knew their job and friends Patrick and Elizabeth helped and gave us advice on the mast stays.

Elizabeth and Patrick sometimes shortened in my emails to E and P or P and E.

This is the boat yard man who came on DoraMac to throw the lines. I’m taller and weigh more: but he is stronger and knows more! And I wouldn’t have climbed onto the railing to throw the line; at least not onto the top rail. Maybe the middle rail. Falling into the water could get you squished between the boat and the concrete dock.

When he first came aboard he asked for a photo of the boat. We didn’t have one handy at that really busy time. I thought he just wanted one to keep as a reminder of the boats he helps “land.” When we were all finished I told him I’d get him a photo for him. Later P and E said that he wanted a photo to see the bottom of the boat to help with the landing and lifting!

Randal and Elizabeth looking at the crusty propeller and the dirty rudder and hull.

The ding in the orange might be part of the leftovers from the fishing net mess. Randal isn’t sure. The whole net mess was wrapped around the propeller and shaft. It’s not a deep dive to get to the propeller, but maneuvering around with a tank that can get caught places ….

Crusty zincs needed to be cleaned and replaced

Our bow thruster propeller needed attention too and the round metal piece in the center will be replaced.

Power washing the green slime off the bottom.

Randal took a turn; a reminder of his old Roanoke Wreck Repair days.

Randal was washing off, our peeling off white water line marker. He’s going to paint one on.

The expert travel lift driver.

The travel lift hoisted us out of the water and drove us over to our parking space bow to bow with P and E’s boat, Lebarque

Bow to bow with Lebarque. It was close enough to be a bit scary to watch.

Though the boats are very steady on their rests, we all have the sensation that we are rolling a bit.

Remember the crusty propeller and the slime green bottom? That’s Randal’s smiling face you see in the clean, shiny propeller arm! Soon the whole thing will look like that. Randal says know one would know what the reflection is, but I think so.

The boat yard is doing some of the work and Randal is doing some of the work. Some confusion with the estimate prompted that. Luckily Randal can do lots of the work himself. P and E are doing much of their own boat work and so are the Olssons on Blue Marlin.

This is how we get off the boat.

We climb down to the swim platform and then down the swim ladder and then step onto the big barrel holding on to the swim ladder and then, still holding on reach with my toe as far as I can until I touch the big block of wood. In my next life, as well as knowing my right from my left, I’m going to be taller.

Nights in the boat yard are very quiet except for the occassional dog quarrel. The dogs are very friendly but they stake out their claims to visiting cruisers and woe be to the dog who tries to get some attention from a cruiser who has already been claimed. Small brown dog has claimed our row of boats which includes Lebarque and now DoraMac. She fiercely guards her territory from the other female dogs but reluctantly allows her male friend to hang around and even get an occassional pat on the head. This morning they both had our left over, very picked over, Sungei Rengit pork ribs bones. She got more because he was afraid of what I might be throwing. Tomorrow they’ll get some really old biscuits that Randal had made. I will look for dog treats when we go to George Town tomorrow. E and P have chores and so do we so we’ll all take the bus in early and depending on who’s done when, we’ll share a taxi coming home. Patrick needs 100 lbs of sand for his sand blaster; not something you take on the bus.

So that’s that.

Ruth Johnson

Doramac

Malaysia, Near George Town, Penang Island

George Town, Penang street scenes

November 20, 2009 Ruth

Anchored further down the river away from the noise

Hi Everyone,

It was a calm and quiet night! We were far enough down the river that we didn’t hear the karaoke though I could feel the thrum when I woke at 3:45 am. It ended at 4 am again. This afternoon we’ll move down to the boat yard. We have to maneuver into position with the help of a tug to get our 34 ton DoraMac onto a travel lift and out of the water. A lot is involved because of the wind and current. One of the boat yard men will come aboard to throw the lines when that needs to happen. That was my idea. I’m not perfect at it and you have to be in this situation because it moves fast. It will be interesting and sort of scary and we hope it all goes as it should. I can’t even imagine though we did go through this once in China when we moved to a second boat yard. I didn’t throw the lines then either. We stayed in a hotel there: this time we’ll stay on the boat and climb up and down by a ladder. I’ll take lots of photos. Life on a boat!

Images of George Town November 19^th, 2009

Customs Building across from the city marina

Old and really old mixed. I was trying to capture the tree and wooden roof and not the man begging. Actually, oddly, I didn’t see him in the photo until I looked at it on the computer. It’s easy to just focus on my original subject and “not see” anything around it.

Chinatown

Lots of motorcycles and modern malls too. We were walking past here on our way to a mall with a grocery store and Maybank (Malaysia Bank.)

Street scenes

Rattan shop

I loved the trickshaw and didn’t notice the snazzy orange car until I looked at the photo. Randal had noticed the car and says it’s either a Porsche or a Nissan.

An alley way with a lovely painted fence and leaning light poles.

Restaurants open onto the sidewalk

A leather shop, like the rattan shop and many others open onto the sidewalk. That’s Randal’s shoulder and backpack strap on the right. Someday Randal will have leather covering the settee and chairs.

Interesting sign

Ruth Johnson

DoraMac

Malaysia, Near George Town, Penang Island

Penang!

November 19, 2009 Ruth

Hi Everyone,

We had a lovely day today. Last night not so great….

Why I Love Penang

I love Penang!!! We have been here for about 31 hours and I already know it’s going to be one of those places that’s hard to leave. One of the best parts is that our friends Elizabeth and Patrick from Labarque are here also. Their boat is pulled out of the water at the same boat yard we’ll go to tomorrow. Our boat will be pulled and the bottom will be repainted with anti-fouling paint. Other work will be done and we’ll spend several days there. The boat will be up on a giant stand (“on the hard” is the term) and we’ll live on it. We’ll have water and electricity, but no AC because the condenser is water cooled from the ocean water and we’ll be on land. I’ll do a separate email about it while we are there. We did live in a boat yard in China so this won’t be a totally new experience. And there will be no Penang karaoke bar blasting music from 10 pm to 4 am! It was totally awful though not really surprising (in hindsight.)

Karaoke Nightmare! And it seemed such a lovely anchorage with wonderful cooling breezes.

You can see our boat and the shore about 600 ft apart. Randal and I had been up since midnight when we left Lumut to do the 75 mile passage to Penang so went to sleep about 9 pm. I don’t know when the VERY HORRIBLE WAY WAY WAY TOO LOUD BAD SINGING started, but I know it ended at 4 am because I looked at the clock. In between we slept and woke and cursed and put pillows over our heads or closed windows and portholes and cursed. And I had actually worried that I hadn’t bungeed our swim platform gate that sometimes clangs.

This busy road was also 600 ft away and no problem at all.

Kind of looks like Roanoke near the river. It is pretty neat anchoring “in town.” We did it in Makassar, Indonesia and the restaurant/bar blasted us too. In Puerto Galera, Redang, Perhentian, lots of places blasted us; but not until 4 am. During Ramadan we heard prayers from mosque loud speakers, but that was different and I could accept that. But there’s no excuse for this and those folks will all be deaf one day, serves them right! (PS We moved the boat further down the river away from the horrid bar. And Elizabeth gave us each some ear plugs. After that we’ll be at the boat yard. We have been warned that when we move to the marina in town with the Rally we’ll be blasted again with horrible loud bar music. Next Malaysian official I meet at a Rally event will hear about it.)

Today Elizabeth took Randal and me on an introductory tour of George Town, a UNESCO designated World Cultural Heritage Site. (Patrick continued with their boat’s work.) The boatyard is a 20 minute taxi ride or a 40 minute bus ride from Historic George Town. Elizabeth and Patrick have spent many months over the past few years here and we met shop keepers who know Elizabeth by name. Chinese, Indians, Arabs, local Malays, Achehnese from the Indonesia, Siamese, Burmese, and Europeans have made for a complex city and culture. It’s great! We first visited the marina and reserved a spot for when our boat work is done. Then we walked along looking and listening to Elizabeth as we made our way to the Indian area for lunch.

Cable maker. If one could draw his would be an interesting face to try!

At his small shop this man twisted strands into cable. His wife ran a small restaurant where E and P have eaten roti many times. Elizabeth was greeted as an old friend. This was across the street from the big, fancy marina.

Woodlands Indian Restaurant.

For 7 ringgits (about $2) you could get one of these wonderful samplers of food. Luckily we walked for a few hours after we ate all that really wonderful food. That is Elizabeth next to Randal. You might remember her as one of my craft adventure friends. There’s not much Elizabeth doesn’t know about world history or geography. She also taught in Malaysia in another life and was thanked by one of her former students in Terengganu while we were there at a rally dinner during the East Malaysia Rally. E and P aren’t on this rally but are spending time in the area. Amazingly, though we were all stuffed to the gills, Randal and I bought more food. We stopped at another Indian restaurant and bought some bread and chicken for later meals (dinner!) I was invited into the tiny area where the bread was cooked so I could take photos.

I kept trying to take photos as the young man worked and he kept stopping to pose! Then I walked outside and tried to take photos through the window so he opened the window and posed some more. The chicken kabobs were hanging on skewers and they were rewarmed in the oven. We were given chopped onion and lime and sauces with all of it. Total cost 13 ringgits $4 and there’s enough bread and dipping soup, because it is like lentil soup for two or three meals. We ate the 5 large chicken kebabs for dinner with some bread and cucumber and tomato.

I took lots of photos just during our quick walk around town which included some used book stores, a small art gallery, a local crafts shop, and a large grocery store. By about 4 pm it was time to catch the bus back to the boat yard where we had tied up our dinghy about 10 that morning. The yard is only a few miles from our anchorage. (Randal had wanted to see the boat yard and make final preparations for our arrival there on the 20^th. ) The bus was the long scenic tour but that’s okay. When we got back to the boat we put the dinghy back aboard and then pulled up anchor and moved further up the river away from the noise. Of course, maybe they just blast music Wednesday nights. That would be nice since we’re not that far up the river. We’ll see.

DoraMac

Lumut International Yacht club, Malaysia

Brave Randal at the Island of Angsa

November 17, 2009 Ruth

N04.14.239 E100.38.286 (Just next to the barge/ferry lane so don’t anchor between the green buoy and the yacht club.)

No, we didn’t encounter pirates and statistically will never encounter pirates. Statistically we will snag fishing lines with the propeller, and that’s what we did which is a real nightmare when you have one prop and really aren’t a sail boat though we do have “ultimately get to somewhere sails.” Obviously you know the end of the story already since I’m sending this email from the anchorage at Lumut and not off tiny Angsa Island. Maybe renamed Anxiety Island! Anyway, here’s the story.

Brave Randal

I once wrote a cute little story about Randal being a hero because he took my accidentally captured snail down the dock to shallow water and safety. Today’s story is a bit different.

Yesterday, late afternoon just short of our anchorage we snagged a floating mess of old, discarded fishing next and lines and it wrapped itself around our propeller creating a giant blob around the shaft.

All of this was sucked under the boat and ended up wrapped around our propeller thankfully leaving a tiny bit of blade still free.

We went from a cruising speed of about 7 knots down to a limping speed of 4 knots and no ability to go in reverse. Luckily we were just short of the tiny island where we would be anchored. There were lots of small fishing boats and it looked like a row of small wooden fishing shacks at the base of the island. It seemed pretty rolly and crowded and smelly so we went around the other side and anchored there. It was 5:45 and there would be about an hour of sun and then dusk. Randal put on a snorkel to see how bad the mess was, but the water was murky and he couldn’t see anything. I dreaded the thought of getting into the diving gear but would have there being no second choice if we were going to move the boat again. But Randal told me to wait on the boat and he would dive. I got out all of his gear and he suited up, took a dive knife and went under. Twenty minutes or so later he came up and was really frustrated because the knife was of no use. It was really getting dark so the next dive would wait till the morning. To top it off, we needed to be on our way fairly early the next morning because we had to cover almost 60 miles.

Randal “slept” in the pilot house to keep an eye on the anchor. It was really windy and we were very close to a rocky island shore. If we had dragged it would have been really hard to get ourselves away with the fouled up prop.

There was a light house on the very small island

After a very sleepless night (I hate to admit I slept well, but I hadn’t slept the night before and just wanted to blot out the net mess,) at first light, Randal got back into his dive gear, took our really good heavy scissors and went down again. When he dove the evening before, the tank had been full. By the end of the final dive the next morning the tank was about empty. Luckily that was all the air that was needed. Just as the tank needle was showing close to empty Randal managed to get the mess off the prop. Whew! I tell you what, I was really scared for Randal and for what would happen if he failed, that I was making deals with any deity that was listening and trading a Sox Series win for a freed prop. By the time my deal making was done, I’m not sure the Sox will even be making the playoffs. But with the boat rolling in the waves, the dark murky water and fish netting, it was scary. Don’t want to do that again any time every again. There are just so many fishing boats and nets and debris floating in the ocean, maybe we’ve just been lucky up until now.

Looking back as we cruise away. Very small Angsa Island

Tonight we are anchored up a clam river with fishing boats and barges passing by every so often. But the noise is not bothersome and the rolls are soft so it’s fine. Tomorrow we’ll continue on to Lumut to rejoin the rally activities with a dinner in the evening. We’ll dispose of the “net mess” when we get to a place where it won’t end up back in the water to snag some other boat.

So that’s the story. Our night at up the river at Bernum was quiet and peaceful and calm! Fishing boat went past on their way home or out to sea and the whole crew would yell hello and wave and smile. Other than that nice and quiet and peaceful. For me. At anchor Randal sleeps in the pilot house to make sure we don’t drag or, with lots of boats anchored together, swing too close to each other. Most cruisers have enough experience to anchor far enough apart so there have been no problems. But if there is lots of wind or current and/or lots of submerged garbage bags that anchors slide on, well then you need to keep a close eye.

Last night after Randal did battle with our dinghy motor (took it apart, drained the watery gasoline, dried the spark plugs, did whatever) we made it just in time as the rally dinner started. It was Italian night with pasta and lasagna and something carved from a spit and lots of good bread. Local dancers performed again and that’s always fun to watch. Today there is a tour of the Marine University. I’m going to check on the library!

DoraMac

Malaysia

Tour Johor Part 2

November 16, 2009 Ruth

Pulau Besar, Malaysia

Hi Everyone,

We had a 68 mile passage today and luckily the weather and tide were with us. No thunderstorms and the tide pushed us towards our destination so we averaged 6.5 knots over the 11 hours. We have recently experienced days where the tide was against us and we were lucky to average 5 knots! What a difference an ebb tide can make. Last night’s anchorage was sort of rolly though it actually rocked me asleep. Tonight it’s just calm and breezy and quiet. There are 2 other boats here but none of us is on the radio trying to chat: too long a day and everyone is tired. We passed lots of small fishing boats, fishing floats with submerged lines that weren’t a problem and many “fish stake areas” with poles attached to nets below the water. You can see the top of the stakes during the daytime. At night it could be a problem though they are closer to shore than we cruise. Some boats have had fishing net issues but we luckily have avoided them. I think our flybridge makes them easier to see in the distance.

Tomorrow is a 40 mile day to Port Dixon where we will spend a few days and maybe take a bus to Malaka. Not sure. I’m trying to finish up these emails about Johor though I know it’s not the most exciting of our adventures. Actually the best story came at lunch when I confused the teapot with the Malaysian version of a fingerbowl. But that’s next email. This one takes us to the pineapple plantation and fish cake factory…. I am using our cell phone modem to send this since there are lots of cell towers on the cluster of islands here.

Tour Johor Part 2

The second part of the tour was to show us Malaysian life outside the big city.

Muzium Nanas Cruisers milling around after the short tour.

This was more of a demonstration site than an actual pineapple plantation. I learned that there are lots of different varieties of pineapple including one called Nanas Yankee. The best eating pineapple: the Nanas Josapine.

The Josapine pineapple is the hybrid you get when combine the Johor pineapple with the Sarawak pineapple. Johor and Sarawak are two Malaysian states. Johor is West Malaysia and Sarawak in on Borneo so is East Malaysia.

Pineapple Kitsch……in case you are tired of cows or cats……

In Kumai we saw a motorcycle laden with pineapples for sale. This photo showed a bicycle as a farm vehicle. The signs weren’t in English but I guess this bicycle is now an ancient artifact rather than still used on real pineapple plantations.

Malaysian scarecrow which looks a lot like the Chinese version. It’s clothes are in better shape than some of our clothes.

There was a small shop selling pineapple juice, pineapple sauce, etc. I was hoping for some juice since it had been way too long since breakfast, but I was there at the end of the line so it was all gone. We’d missed the coffee and donuts in Johor Bahru and now we missed the pineapple samples and juice here at the museum. And still there was no mention of lunch! And…we were heading off for a trek into one of the national parks. And we were hungry!

Fish sticks anyone?

Actually they were quite good and I was there near the head of the line: but I was polite and only took one. They were light and not fishy and probably would have been better with the dipping sauce I skipped. However, I was too far back in the line that very slowly made its way through the tiny, very warm kitchen area to actually see how they were made.

Fish stick assembly line.

I’m guessing this is palm oil.

I had an interesting discussion with our guide about palm oil. In Indonesia Orang Utan were displaced by the palm oil plantations. Here in Malaysia the discussion never comes up as it did while we were on the Indonesian rally. Some palm oil us used for cooking and some of the oil is processed as fuel and is used to pay off debts to both Russia and China who take the oil rather than monetary payment. I accidentally bought an oil mix that had palm oil in it. It turned solid in the frig which made for disgusting salad dressing. My guide said not to put it into the frig and it wouldn’t get rancid in the heat in the meantime. We don’t refrigerate our cooking oil so I don’t know why I put the salad dressing in the frig. And I did read in the NYTimes about a NY restaurant that uses palm oil to meet the tans fat requirement. I just don’t know.

The stand was near a banana tree field and so also sold banana chips. I saw one cruiser put back a bag onto the shelf so grabbed it. We were on our way to the National Park and it would be forever until lunch so Randal and I could snack on banana chips.

Then thankfully plans changed and it was time for lunch. The national park would come later.

Next email, lunch at the Homestay and a walk to lands end.

Admiral Marina, Malaysia, Port Dixon

Leaving Port Dixon

November 13, 2009 Ruth

Hi Everyone,

At daylight tomorrow we’ll be leaving Port Dixon for the 2 day passage to Lumut, the next official rally stop. We will anchor at night each day so there will be no night passages. We’ll stop at Klang the first night and Bernum the second. When we get to Lumut we will be anchoring off the Lumut International Yacht Club. The marina at Lumut tried to get ready for our arrival but couldn’t so no AC or TV. Oh well. Not sure about wifi though our cell phone modem works pretty well.

Yesterday we walked to the small Buddhist temple not far from the marina. It was something to do…. We went with Julia and Horst Wolff, cruisers from Paradise, CA who are also on the rally. Our plan was more to get the exercise and an early lunch than really anything else. I, however, did have an additional goal. While back in China in 2007, when Sallie and I went to the visit the Buddhist temple and ended up singing, “Take me out to the ball game,” with some very enthusiastic college students, I had also lit some incenses as good luck for the Red Sox. The Sox won the Series. Yesterday I lit some incense for the Sox…so here’s hoping it works again. The kind ladies at the temple had to help me because there is a ritual as to how you light the package of incense sticks and then you burn paper money at the end. I know the Sox have burnt lots of money at short stop lately so it was symbolic in many ways. We stopped at one of the small Indian restaurants on our way back to the marina and ate more wonderful tasting food. Then it was back to the boat to wait for the afternoon thunder storm.

The temple, just small like the one in Sai Kung where I lit incense for our safe cruising….

I put 3 really large incense sticks into the huge incense holder in the center of the photo. The rest of the small incense was divided into 4 groups and placed around the temple. The money burner was outside which was good because there was a lot of smoke involved.

I took two interesting sign photos while I was out walking the other day.

Interesting assumptions made in this sign.

Residents would have only one bird, dog, or snake; but they would have two cats!
Residents might actually have a snake as a pet.

You can rent a Segway at the marina. I think I would fall off and break my neck.

So that’s it. Everything is getting packed up and put away for our passage. Our water tanks are full as is our cruising diesel tank. The fuel gage on the diesel tank had gotten stuck showing more fuel than we really had so we arrived at Port Dixon on fumes. Randal fixed the gauge and pumped in fuel from one of the holding tanks. But now we write it all down anyway to keep check on the gauge. As for putting things away, mostly I just don’t take things out anymore, not unless we’ll be somewhere for a month!

DoraMac

Malaysia, Port Dixon

Nice People

November 11, 2009 Ruth

Taxi

Today Randal and I went back into Port Dixon. We waited for the morning’s downpour to end and then walked off the boat, off the dock, through the main marina building, out the front door, down the driveway, along the short private marina road and along the main road stopping at the bus stop not far from the marina exit. It was 11:25 am and I was predicting the local bus would come along within 10 minutes or so. I had seen one go by the bus stop yesterday while I was out for a walk. We’d actually planned to take catch one of the taxies leaving the marina as we had Monday. But we saw none entering the marina so there would be none leaving. That’s why we walked to the bus stop. While we were waiting for the bus a young woman walked out of the apartment complex near the stop. She too came to catch the bus. I asked her what time it usually came but she said she didn’t know and added that it was hard to get a taxi. We started to chat and she told me that she was from the Philippines but worked here because that’s what many Filipinos have to do. They have to leave the Philippines to find jobs overseas. I told her we’d lived in Subic for almost a year. A few minutes later a taxi pulled up to the bus stop and Randal asked if she wanted to ride with us into Port Dixon. She said yes but was getting out at a resort? hotel? condo complex? outside of Port Dixon. As we rode along I thought that we would pay for her too especially since she would be getting out first and we were going further. She, sadly I don’t know her name, asked the driver to pull over and as she got out handed him money and said it was to pay for us too! We said, NO, we would pay for her. But she said no and walked off. Randal and I both felt terrible that she was spending her money on us but just appreciate that there are lots of really nice people in the world. When we got to Port Dixon we asked the driver what we owed and he said that she had paid for us so that was that. I know she gave him at least a 5 ringgit bill and Randal had seen some ones also. The fare from the marina to town is 10 ringgits so I guess that’s what she gave him. We said thanks and walked off for lunch and chores. A stranger had paid our taxi fare and the driver hadn’t tried to get us to pay more. A very positive experience with good feelings we’ll pass along.

We returned to the same Indian “restoran” we’d eaten in Monday so we could have another one of those chicken/onion patties. Still not sure what they’re called but they are good. Randal and I got the last two.

Our bill was 13.30 ringgits. We each had one of those very filling patties along with some dhal dipping sauce. Randal had a piece of chicken too and I had a small dish of cooked curry flavored cabbage. Both of us had a canned drink. We left full and happy and it cost us $4. I was going to say that they also sold penny candy, but it probably cost far less than a penny. A small boy had gotten to pick one out and it was like all kids everywhere doing that same exact thing.

We walked around a bit for the exercise and then headed back to the grocery store for veggies and dessert for dinner. New cruising friends Julia and Horst whom we had met in Puteri and traded books and talk are coming for dinner. Shopping finished, we went back to the taxi stand to the group of drivers who had called out to us earlier as we walked along. We picked one, got in and drove along listening to the news that Jon Bon Jovi wouldn’t act anymore because he hated the audition process and later to Rod Stewart sing Sailing. Randal tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I had told the driver where we were going. No. Neither had Randal but the driver took us to the marina. I guess when westerners walk out of the grocery store there is only one place they could be going and that’s back to their boat. Randal told him that it was the first time we didn’t say where we were going but the driver just knew. I said that he’d read our minds. A second taxi story for the day.

Now we’re back on the boat on the dock of the bay watching the tide roll away wasting time!

DoraMac

Johor, Malaysia, Puteri Harbour

Tour Johor

November 11, 2009 Ruth

Hi Everyone,

Today’s Rally event is an all day tour of Johor. The past 3 days have been dinners with traditional dancers representing Malay, Chinese, and Indian cultures. There was a dance performed by tiny tots who looked just adorable and I did take a few photos: but you have seen it if you have ever seen preschool kids perform. That was during the first day of events. The next two days I spent on the boat trying to find a comfortable way to sit or lay down. Years ago I hurt my back shoveling snow because even in Virginia we get snow. I was in good shape from biking so shoveled for several hours. The driveway which was huge, the front path, the back deck and a path out into the yard for Trapper, my lab. It was that long ago because after Trapper came Pepper and then Belle. It was pre-Randal but he hates to shovel so I would have been the one doing it anyway. I actually used to like it. Anyway, by the end of the path into the yard for Trapper I couldn’t stand up straight and the diagnosis is that I have a disc pressing on a nerve. Every now and then it acts up: even bike riding the other morning didn’t help. Biking usually cures everything. So the past 2 days I’ve stayed on the boat with a heating pad and it’s not so much better. But I’m going off on this tour and will last as long as I can. Wish our friend Julia were here: she’d fix me up. She’s a physical therapist and massage therapist and one time gave me a deep tissue massage that felt great when I could breathe again. She used her hands. But that was ages ago too and now they have those machines with electrodes. And yes Julia, I will restart my exercises so maybe this won’t happen again. (Famous last words.)

The tour starts at 8 am and goes all day. I’ll take my Advil with me and hope for the best.

Johor, Malaysia, Puteri Harbour

Passage Info

November 9, 2009 Ruth

Tomorrow early in the morning we’ll start off FROM PUTERI to Pinang, Besar, and Port Dixon on our way to Lumut, the next official rally stop. The first Lumut event is on November 17th. We’ll anchor each night so this trip has no overnight passages. We will spend 3 nights in Port Dixon where we will be at a marina. Since we don’t have any night passages I’m actually looking forward to the trip. And some of our anchorages might be good for snorkeling if we get there in time and the water is clean. We haven’t gotten to do that for a while and we both miss it. This isn’t necessarily unchangeable, but as of this minute it’s our plan. Not sure about email along the way. It just depends if there are cell tours where we anchor. Our DIGI phone modem is working pretty well with the email here in Puteri though it’s slow loading web pages. Since the Sox are out of it, who cares and baseball trading really hasn’t started yet so I tend to just do email and then I’m off to read or paint. I do still read the NYTimes Art and Book pages. We’re flush with them now! Thanks George and Eileen. And last night after the Tuesday market I swapped some I’d finished reading with Julia Woolf. We had some really good talking time with Julia and her husband Horst when they visited our boat after the night market trip and will see them again as we travel during the rally.

So here it is. Tonight we’ll get the boat all ready and be off tomorrow early.

DoraMac

Malaysia, Port Dixon

Port Dixon

November 9, 2009 Ruth

Admiral Marina http://admiralmarina.com.my/

Port Dixon, Negeri Sembilan Darul Khusus, Malaysia

Hi Everyone,

We’ll be here in Port Dixon for one or two more days and then make our way north to Lumut, the next official rally stop. Many of the rally boats chose to stop in Melaka instead of Port Dixon so there are very few rally boats here with us. We’ll stop in Melaka later in the year or early next year, after the rainy season ends. We have decided to remain in SE Asia through 2010. Originally we had planned to leave Asia and cross the Indian Ocean, go up the Red Sea and then into the Med. That’s now our plan for 2011. There just too much that we haven’t seen; too much that we rushed through and once we leave SE Asia we probably won’t be back. It’s kind of “now or probably not ever.” We want to do lots more snorkeling, revisit some of our favorite places, like Terrenganu, and also do some land travel. Beijing, the Tibet railway and India are on my list though we might very well cruise in India. Anyway, that’s what we’re thinking now.

Today Randal and I went into Port Dixon. We’d planned to take the bus but joined another cruising couple who were planning to flag down a taxi. None of us was sure when the bus would actually come: if we had just missed it we’d have to wait at least 30 minutes or more for the next one. Because it’s always fun to talk with other cruisers, in Port Dixon we all ate lunch together at one of the many Indian restaurants that line the streets. We all thought it was very good and it seems as if you really can’t go too far wrong eating Indian unless you think being way too full is too far wrong. I had yellow flavored rice, some kind of spinach, a cucumber salad and a few bites of what tasted like a very light small onion bagel that had been fried. It was good but I was too full and didn’t need bread with the small mountain of rice. Randal decided to try a chicken onion egg patty along with his meal of rice, chicken and cucumber salad. It was very good and large enough that all 4 of us has as much of it as we wanted. By the end, way too full.

We’d gone to town to shop for veggies, bread, milk, mail my letter to my cousin Naomi and get a desperately needed haircut for me and a shave for Randal. At one point I think the barber thought Randal wanted his head shaved and when I asked Randal just now, he said, “No”, but that he had heard the word bald… Not to worry, it worked out fine. Except the photo I took of me multiplied by the shop mirrors totally disappeared from my computer photo file. There’s just a blank space where the photo had been. It wasn’t deleted, zoomed, cropped, or erased with the brightness option. I have no idea where it went. RATS!

It was only Randal’s beard that got shaved and not his head. I did make sure my flash was turned off before I took the photo. I didn’t want to blind the barber while he was using a straight razor on Randal.

The barber was Indian and the customers was Chinese which seems pretty typical of the population mix that we saw in town.

We finally bought another little clock so I don’t have to keep moving the only one we have from room to room.

Originally we had 3, but for some reason really inexpensive little clocks just don’t seem to last forever.

Of course my overpriced Red Sox watch fell apart even faster and rusted to rediculousness instantly.

We walked around town for a bit before we headed over to the one grocery store at the end of town. I couldn’t resist the elephants.

Not exactly Starbucks. This crow had raided the trash and was flying around with a styrofoam cup. I don’t know what he thought it was but he just wouldn’t let it go.

Our main chores were done and it looked like we were in for the afternoon downpour so we grabbed a taxi and just made it back into the boat in time. We hooked up our water catcher and managed to collect about 100 gallons in less than an hour so you can imagine how hard it rained.

Port Dixon is a beach resort area and also has two big petroleum facilities which seems not a good mix.

So that’s what we’re up to. Is it baseball season yet?

DoraMac