Category Archives: Sail Malaysia

Moving right along

July 29, 2009 Ruth

Sail Malaysia continues

Hi All,

We are cruising towards Kota Kinabalu, the final stop of Sail Malaysia. We left Miri, Malaysia on the 24th and arrived in tiny Brunei on the 25th about 5 am. Since it’s not light till about 6:15 and the Immigration Officials weren’t due to arrive at the Royal Brunei Yacht Club until 10 am we actually dropped anchor outside the channel into Brunei and went to sleep. We’d left Miri the afternoon before and cruised through the night so we were tired. As for Brunei, other than about a hundred photos, good memories, a trip down Outward Bound memory lane and the best bus tour around Brunei with Allan Riches, eating back about 3 additional pounds I had just lost, a rock from the Ulu Tamburong National Park, and what is still an itchy bee sting, other than all that, we hardly did a thing in our 3 days in Brunei! Several boats took the opportunity to load up on diesel in Brunei where they had special cheap rates for the locals; our visiting yachts were allowed the lower price. But you had to haul it in large fuel containers from the inland station and at too small amounts to be useful to us. Sailboats obviously need and hold lots less fuel than we do. Yachts were allowed 300 litters which is 79 gallons. We had taken on 300 gallons at the fuel dock in Terengganu at the higher but much more convenient rate. Now we’re here in Labuan mostly to wait until July 31st when a slip will open for us in Kota Kinaba (Randal Close the Hatches!, It’s raining!!) Kinabalu . Of course, now the sun’s out and we really did need the rain to clean the salt off the boat. Since we are anchored out here in Labuan we can’t spare our water to wash the boat. We are in a bay; but need good salty ocean water to make water. We do have half a tank of water and that will last us. Sail Malaysia regroups in Kota Kinabalu August 1st.

Until we leave for KK boats will stay here in “duty free, buy all your booze” Labuan or head the 30 miles to Tiga Island which is half way, 30 miles, to KK. Not sure what we’ll do. I’d like to see Peace Park where the Japanese surrendered to the Allies in WW2 and also the WW2 memorial to the Australian soldiers. But as Randal says, we can stop here on our way back around after the rally. It would be nice to split the 60 mile cruise to KK. We do have to check back into Malaysia here since we left to go to Brunei and because there are “independent” parts of Malaysia who require visiting yachts to check in and out no matter it’s all Malaysia. Miri was in Serawak and Labuan and KK are in Sabah, all Malaysia, but different states.

We plan to stay several weeks in Kota Kinabalu so I should be able to start sending lots of photos. From some comments, I won’t feel the need to discuss bird saliva should Randal and I encounter it on a tour. In August 2008, Randal and I spent a month in KK so we know our way around. There is a pretty good library and hopefully in that time I’ll find some art lessons too. Islamic art is often beautiful calligraphy so I’m not sure about my success finding watercolor lessons; but I’ll try. We still have boat chores and with shore power and water, the boat should get a good cleaning. And we’ll be able to dive and clean our propeller.

Here in Pulau Labuan we are anchored in the working harbor next to the fleet of fishing boats. It’s like being anchored in downtown New Bedford next to the fishing fleet which I think is quite cool! Things are getting morning busy now, but I slept like a log last night. It was calm and quiet. No kereokee. The harbor doesn’t have much room for visiting yachts so some cruisers had to go over to the unfinished marina; unfinished because it was more rolling there than here in the working harbor. But there is only so much room and most of the 30 something Sail Malaysia boats are here. We were lucky it get here in the middle of the pack so found a space.

We’re off later this morning to check into Sabah, see a bit of the city and then to buy our share of beer and some wine and hopefully some form of sugarfree Coke product. Pepsi is dreadful! Cruiser chatter about checking in and out and buying booze is over the VHF radio just now. We all turn to the same not busy channel to keep in touch. Apparently booze isn’t so cheap and the water taxis might take a bit to come, but the sun is shining and all seems good.

Kuching, Malaysia, Sail Malaysia, Santubong

Santubong and Kuching

July 6, 2009 Ruth

Hi Everyone,

We’re off to Kuching later this morning. Not much really going on. It takes about 40 minutes to get to Kuching from Santubong so we don’t go every day. It’s not difficult; minibuses come along fairly frequently but by the time you close up the boat, take the dinghy, walk up to the road….it does become somewhat of a project. Being able to step off the boat onto a dock at a marina makes exploring easier.

Santubong and Kuching

Last night Randal was worriedly checking our chart plotter to make sure the wind wouldn’t swing us into the boat anchored 120 feet away. We have about 100 ft of chain out and our neighbor boat Arnak has about the same. Technically when the wind blows we all blow the same way so no one bashes into each other. But sometimes the wind blows and every boat is moving every which way! Some look as if they are sailing by you. This is the problem of the rally anchorages. There’s lots of river or ocean anchorage, but everyone wants to be as close to the dinghy parking area as possible and there are no marked spots in the river so it’s guess work based on anchoring theory. Plus the sound of our anchor chain dragging on the river bottom and then going “THUNK!” is rather disconcerting. But we haven’t moved and neither have the other boats so everyone’s chain seems to be holding. If they drag, that’s the problem because you can flow into another boat.

Looks calm, everyone’s bow pointing in the same direction. Picture the wind blowing and those two sailboats swinging around at each other. We are not far from these boats and Mt. Santubong is our land neighbor. We park the dinghy over near the cluster of boats on the right. The jetty is privately owned but we are kindly allowed to use it; get fresh water and dispose of our trash. Parking at a jetty is so much nicer that having to splash through the ocean surf and then drag our 250 lb dinghy through the sand up onto the beach. Your feet get wet and sandy and so do your shorts. Jetties are better.

Saturday we spent the morning running the genset to refill the batteries that power the frig, freezer and things. Randal read and I agonized over and then was miserable about the Sox game. After that we took a minibus to Kuching which takes about 40 minutes and costs about 4 ringits per person. The 4 teen boys in the back seat kept trying to talk with us but only knew a few words in English. But one kept saying he liked America. He unfortunately also smoked. A the end of the ride Randal gave him one of our flag bandannas. We walked over to the Tourist Office to make sure we knew where Immigration and Customs were and then ate at the Little Lebanon Restaurant at the foot of India Street.

Water pipes for men only. The sign about said, “Why drink and drive when you can smoke and fly.” They offered a choice of flavors. I might ever be tempted, but if it’s men only I guess not. They also served beer so technically you could smoke and fly and then drink and drive. We do neither.

Immigration and Customs for Sarawak are in Kuching and we had to check in. The offices are a good ways from the center of Kuching and the bus service rather complicated. In Singapore we had gone to the Harbor Master’s Office using public transportation and it took forever and was hot and we walked forever as well as taking the MRT and a local bus. In Terengganu we rode our bikes to Customs and then followed some other cruisers who had hired a taxi over to Immigration. Luckily we had lots of red lights so we could keep up. Randal had met Greg and Eddie in the Custom’s Office. Thinking that Immigration was a tricky place to find, it was suggested that we follow their taxi on our bikes. Like I said; luckily we had lots of red lights and considerate drivers as we cut lanes to “follow that cab!” Randal told me to stay with our bikes; which is usually our plan. The taxi driver indicated that he would watch our bikes and I should go with the guys. Not wanting the taxi driver to think I didn’t trust he would watch our bikes, I ran to catch up with Randal. This was not easy to do since I had to cross a busy road and run in my bike shoes. Actually, the hardest part was walking on the slippery tile floor with my metal bike clips. I had doubts right away about my clothes, shorts and a sleeveless top so went up the elevator with he guys and back down and out and back to the bikes. Government building have stricter clothing requirements than anything other than the mosques. I saw our taxi driver at a small corner food place so joined him for iced lemon tea. I treated us both. Randal came back and off we went and promptly took a wrong turn and did Tour De Terengganu. But it was a good ride and everyone knew where the Giant was so we kept asking directions and finally got there. From the Giant we knew our way back to the boat. We stopped for a drink and some shopping at the better grocery store MyDin that the locals use. They have these wonderful things…They taste like those fat Chines restaurant noodles except they are round and flat and have tiny fish flattened into them and peanuts stuck to them too. I first bought them thinking they were very thin peanut brittle cookies like I’d once had in China. But these are salty and peppery and I have hooked at least 10 other cruisers on them. If I find them again; I’ll take a photo since they are all eaten. So, to make a short story long, here in Kuching we took the taxi option. We paid the driver to take us and wait for us and bring us back. Total cost for the hour was 50 ringits. Too much traffic and road with no shoulders to bike into Kuching.

That done Randal and I went to get haircuts. The cuts were good. Our mistake was agreeing to the “wash” which is their term for head, neck, and back massage which seemed to take forever. I’m not wild about it because I’m just too ticklish. But once you get started there is no stopping. Apparently the price for the wash and massage doubles the cost of the cut. We hadn’t experience this since China so were not expecting it. Lesson; ask first, “How Much?”

The new Legislative building under construction. It kind of looks like the Yurt we built at Outward Bound in Maine in 1971.

Lots of colorful shop houses in Kuching just like Singapore and Indonesia. Businesses down below and living areas upstairs. Big window shutters that are painted to look like windows.

The last minibus back to Santubong was at 4 pm so we slogged through what had become a deluge to the public “tandas” (toilet) and then over to get on the bus. We’d hoped for rain so our rain catchers would fill our water tanks. You can’t use river water to make water; it has to be salt water. Santubong is on a river so we have to be very careful about our water usage. You can take a shower with a half gallon of water if you are careful. And you wear everything 2 or 3 times because there is no water for laundry. If we were desperate we can get water at the dinghy jetty; but not enough for anything other than drinking, cooking and dish washing.

Today we spent the morning on the boat, took the dinghy to the jetty and then walked into Santubong for lunch at our favorite restaurant. All the locals, kids, adults, grandparents call hello and are very welcoming. The food is very good too and inexpensive

Tomorrow we’re going into Kuching and decide if we want to go to the Rainforest Music Festival on Saturday at the Cultural Village a few miles away. There is a craft fair I want to attend and it is also at the Cultural Village. We’ll decide tomorrow.

Mt. Santubong at night. I am enchanted by it and today had a conversation with it when it wouldn’t push away a cloud to let me see the shape of the top. I was attempting another painting. We are anchored just below this view and it is wonderful to watch it change during the day and night. You can see where folk tales come from. Something has to be happening in all that mist and mystery. And what kind of creature is that rising from the mist? Whatever it is, hopefully it is guarding our boat.

Kuching, Malaysia, Sail Malaysia, Santubong, Sarawak

Santubong

June 30, 2009 Ruth

Anchorage at the foot of Mount Santubong

We are here at Santubong (Kuching stop on the rally) and will go to Miri up north next.

There is a stop in Brunei but we may not make that stop.

Hi Everyone,

The legend of MT Santubong goes like this. Beautiful Princesses Santubong and Sejinjang were sisters and great friends. Sejinjang was an expert rice grower and Santubong an expert weaver. They were sent to bring peace and harmony to the warring villages of Kuning and Putih. All would be well unless the sisters would quarrel and that would bring war back to the villages. All was well until, you guessed it, the handsome Prince Serapi came along and fell for them both. Being modern princesses (in spirit) they refused to be joint wives. They chose to fight it out, (not so modern spiritwise) Anyway, so the legend goes, Sejinjang swung her rice thresher smack into Santubong’s cheek. Falling backwards, Santubong returned the favor throwing her loom and hitting Sejinjang’s head. Their father the king, in disgust (though what did he expect) cursed both sisters into mountains. Mount Santubong is supposed to resemble a woman lying on her back with a crevice at the peak where she was hit by her sister’s thresher. At the base of Mount Santubong is the Sarawak Cultural Village Museum. www.scv.com.my is the website. The legend comes from a small booklet Treasured Malaysian Legends that Elizabeth from Labarque gave to me. She had gotten an extra copy at one of the visitor centers. Just to keep things on a light note, at the bottom of the back cover in all caps it says, “TRAFFICKING IN ILLEGAL DRUGS CARRIES THE DEATH PENALTY.)

MT. Santubong

We watched clouds roll over the top of Princess Santubong’s head. At least I think that’s supposed to be the top of her head.

My version.

We walked into the small town of Santubong today for lunch. They have one restaurant and a few stores and several schools with kids helloing us along the way. We really weren’t sure where the town was and mixed it up with the Cultural Village. But after walking one way then another and then another we found the really longest way to Santubong and took it. Lunch was rice, greens, tofu and sprouts, curried okra and friend chicken. Pretty good. Then we browsed the 3 stores but didn’t buy the half gallon of ice cream since it would be totally melted by the time we got it back to the boat. Tomorrow we are going with Jim and Jenny Jobbins from Amalthea (New Zealand) and maybe Elizabeth from Labarque to Kuching. We go out to the road and wait for the minibus to show up. It sort of has a schedule. On July 3rd the rally is doing a tour of Kuching and the National Park. I’m looking forward to that and also to maybe finding a hiking trail for Mt. Santubong.

Our 3 night, 4 day passage from Terengganu to Santubong was good. We left Terengganu 5 am Friday morning and cruised at a very slow 4.5 knots average most of the day. During the nights we each take 2 watches. The watches start at 7 pm and go to 7 am. Each watch is 3 hours. Randal starts the 7pm watch. He wakes me at 10pm. I wake him at 1 am. And he wakes me again at 4 am. If he is lucky I don’t wake him during my watch to ask for help. During the 3 nights of passages I had to wake him during my 4am to 7 am watch on the first and third night. But that is great because I have in the past almost always had to wake him at least once each watch. I don’t like standing watch because I have to make decisions about how to interpret what I see on the radar screen. Sometimes I see lights not on the screen usually they are further away than the radar radius; but it looks like they are RIGHT THERE!!! I have learned not to panic if the radar says boats will be within a mile of us, or even a half mile if it is an anchored squid boat with huge lights. If I can really see it, then it’s ok. When it rains, that’s the biggest problem for me because the rain covers up the entire area and I can’t yet pick out the boats on the screen. Luckily I can see them with my eyes and luckily it was a very light rain my third night. We also have an AIS Automatic Identification System now. If a boat has AIS, and most large boats do, it tells you more accurately where they are going and how close they will come. We crossed a shipping lane our third day and it really helped to have that. Our fourth day we had a storm and I realized that I wasn’t so afraid of them now. Watching the boat’s bow go down where I couldn’t see it and then back up again just became uncomfortable, not so scary. But the waves were only about 5 feet and that apparently is no big deal to seasoned cruisers which I am not yet.

So that’s about it. Hope all of you have a great 4th. There is actually another American boat here so maybe we’ll get to say, “Happy 4th” to someone this year. We haven’t yet met them because they haven’t been on any of the stops at the same time. Not sure why.

DoraMac

Malaysia, Sail Malaysia

Fueling the Boat

June 17, 2009 Ruth

Heritage Bay Marina

Terengganu, Malaysia

Hi All,

It just took me about 47% of my battery to attach this email. Hope it goes! We’re off to Radang Island tomorrow as are most of the Sail Malaysia cruisers. Will email again when I can. I might try to send the Batik email if my battery lasts. I am over at the marina office.

DoraMac

Fueling the Boat

The price was right and the fuel dock was just down the river. So Monday Randal and I went to fill up. Hashim, one of the marina supervisors came with us. We got 1500 litres @ 1.88 ringits per litre (393.3 gallons @ $2.03 US per gallon = $804.49 ) Only Hong Kong, back in July 2007, was cheaper. The most we have ever paid at one time was in Subic Bay. We took on 1,321 gallons and paid a total of $3,579.91. The most we paid per gallon was in Makassar in August of 2008 where we paid $3.26 per gallon. Divide the amount of fuel we had bought prior to our Terengganu purchase over the time cruising so far and it equals about $182 US per month. Randal says that’s not really the way to do it, but it does give you an idea after I write that we just put $804 of diesel into the boat. I wouldn’t want anyone to think we do it very often. We burn about 1 and 2/3 gallons per hour. We also burn fuel when we run the genset at anchor to charge the batteries.

Maybe this spreadsheet will make things clearer.

There were other boats at the fuel dock so we pulled alongside and tied ourselves to one. Hashim is in the red hat. The fuel worker in the white hat came aboard DoraMac for a tour.

I don’t know his name, but he was 22 and not married. He said he needed to earn money first. Smart young man! He was polite and helpful too. Randal made a flag bandana hat for him.

The fuel intake has a red cover so there is no mistaking it with something else. You can see our bow line leading from DoraMac to the one we are tied to. I had to throw the line and hope I didn’t mess up because we really didn’t have time for a second try. There are no brakes on a boat.

We’re the boat on the left!!!!

I really had a hard time interpreting this photo, but the real green and brown fishing boat is the one on the right. The image of the boat on the left is all reflected from our boat. Even the blue and white fender on the left is a reflection. The green paint on DoraMac is reflecting back all of that color…pretty amazing to me.

The bank of the Terengannu River.

A fishing boat going by.

See all of the lights? They are used for night fishing to attract the fish to come to the surface. When we make night passages you can see the lights from miles away even. With our radar set for 3 miles, you don’t see the boats on the radar but you see their lights. Makes me nervous though I am getting better at trusting the radar. The bridge at the top of the photo is the one we ride over to get to town. On the other side of the bridge is the Crystal Mosque.

Malaysia, Sail Malaysia, Terengganu

Sail Malaysia

June 13, 2009 Ruth

Hi All

Each stop has an official welcome dinner. This email is the welcome dinner at Terengganu.

DoraMac

Heritage Bay Marina

Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia

Wednesday night was the welcome dinner for Sail Malaysia here in Terengannu (apparently pronounced Trehgahnu.) Tables were set out on the lawn in front of the marina and we were served a buffet of local dishes. Many of them were quite good, but since it was quite dark when we ate and the tables weren’t lit, it was hard to tell what you were eating. Even the buffet line was fairly dark so I just took some of everything that wasn’t fish and tried it all. I don’t take the fish because it always seems to be boney and I end up with a mouthful trying to figure out what to do since by then the fish and bones are all mashed together in my mouth. There were speeches and dances and a tiny ballet of sorts when the dancers acted out a story of fishermen who become possessed but then are saved by “the princess.” I didn’t quite hear the whole story. We took some short video pieces and I hope to be able to send some but so far my connection has been too slow.

There is always a local dignitary to welcome us and give a speech promoting the wonders of the area. One of the rally members usually gives a speech also. So far it seems as if they choose men from among the cruisers. I’ll have to investigate that; not that I want to get up in front of everyone…..

So how did this happen? I can’t even explain it to myself; Muslim events have no alcohol. After the formal dancing, cruisers are invited to join the dancers on stage. At the dinner in Kuantan one of the dancers invited me to dance with them and I said no and she looked hurt. So this time I said yes. No more front row seats for me! But I wasn’t the only one up there.

Some cruisers seem to really enjoy it. The man in the center is a retired dance instructor so he has no problems joining in!

Each cruiser was given a batik wrap.

My favorite part of the meal was the dessert! This is the Malaysian version of the Philippine Halo Halo! Crushed ice, condensed milk, and jelly bean and syrup toppings! Yum.

Thursday morning we boarded a bus to visit the local boat building area and next the Islamic Civilization Park. http://www.tti.com.my/ That will be my next email.

Ruth Johnson

DoraMac

Malaysia, Sail Malaysia, Terengganu

Traditional boat building

June 13, 2009 Ruth

Hi All

We went to see two local boat building facilities….Randal found it to be interesting. I was more interested in the street life.

DoraMac

Traditional Boat Building Tour at Paulau Duyong

“The traditional boat builders of Terengganu are famous for their skills that have withstood the test of time. These craftsmen do not require plans or blueprints. They build boats from memory passed from generations and yet produce intricate designs with great precision and details. Built with the touch of modern technology and traditional precision, the boat is sought after by sailors from all over the world due to its sea-worthiness. “from the Terengganu travel guide. www.tourism.terrengganu.gov.my

I really can’t tell you much about the boats or the building process. I spent more time talking to the other cruisers or taking photos of the flowers in front of the workers’ homes.

Reminds me of the guys who built our boat!

Boats under construction

Most of the cruisers have sailboat and were interested in this one being built.

Computer screens, classroom area, and technology.

Walking from one boat building workshop to another I saw this scene, a mix or old and new from the cycle on the left to the bicycle on the right and the clothing of the men in the middle.

A young boy and his sister posed for a photo.

I liked all of the colors here.

Sail Malaysia, Terengganu

Islamic Culture

June 13, 2009 Ruth

After the visit to the boat building workshops we visited the Islamic Civilization Park.

DoraMac

Islamic Civilization Park

Part of the heritage tour was to visit this Islamic Entertainment Park. There are replicas of major mosques around the world, a convention center and the famous Crystal Mosque. www.tti.com.my is the website.

A map showing the entire complex. It was really hot and the entire group was supposed to stay together….”herding cruisers is like herding cats,” as Patrick from Labarque said during the welcome speech he gave representing the cruisers at the welcome dinner back at Kuantan….so it was hard to take your time and read all of the info or watch all of the informational movies at some of the mosques. And there were varying levels of interests…mine was somewhere in the middle of the group.

Shaykh Lutfallah in Iran on the left. Scale is 1:4 It was built in the 17^th century and once used as a royal mosque. On the right one of the more unique, Samarra in Iraq. Scale 1:5.7 The original was built in the 9^th century of bricks and clay. It is located just north of Baghdad.

Replica of the Taj Mahal in India. Scale 1:10. We watched a short movie about the building of the Taj Mahal which included the little factlet that a hand of many of the craftsmen was cut off so no other building could rival the Taj Mahal.

We next were taken to see the Crystal Mosque built with steel and “crystal effect glass.” I think I read on the Park’s web site www.tti.com.my that it is the only mosques built with steel and glass. It is actually a working mosque, though my guess it’s for more special occasions.

The Crystal Mosque is also called the Floating Mosque. From the bridge crossing the river you see it from the back and it looks to be floating on the river.

Tourist robes and headgear are provided. Another cruiser being helped into the robe and scarf.

A local woman in her prayer robes, praying and watching over her son. She was off in sort of a separate area and I peaked in and couldn’t resist her white robes.

When I came out, I couldn’t remember exactly where I’d left my sandals… But I did find them.

Then it was off for lunch in Chinatown and finally an overcrowded public ferry ride back to the marina. Normally the water taxi doesn’t go to the marina, but it did because there were so many of us; too many for the small marina water taxi.

Malaysia, Sail Malaysia, Terengganu

Sail Malaysia Kuala Terengganu

June 6, 2009 Ruth

Hi Everyone,

Email issues again. For some reason my outlook email won’t work with the Heritage Bay Marina wifi. And our new cell phone is just too slow so the outlook times out. I am going to try sending this email as an attachment.

Sail Malaysia Kuala Terengganu Day One

Hi Everyone,

We are in Kuala Terengganu, and a bit ahead of Sail Malaysia. We had some boat chores to catch up on and Terengganu has a marina where we can tie up, have shore power. Wednesday we had cruised from

7am to 3:30 pm; but the anchorage where we’d planned to stop wasn’t good enough so we cruised on until 8 pm and anchored at Pulau Kapas. Not only did we have to anchor in the dark, but the last hour we were surrounded by rain squalls and lightening. Luckily the heavy rain missed us and the anchorage was good. We slept well that night. Thursday we made the 90 minutes passage from Pulau Kapas to Kuala Terengganu. Our friends Ruth and Cliff on Icicle One were our travel companions and are here at Heritage Bay Marina too. Friday we all went off to see the sights just a quick water taxi ride across the harbor.

Just so you know where we are… Came across this street sign in KT and thought it was pointing to different restaurants named for famous places. Only when I was looking at the photos later did I see it was really a signpost telling a traveler where he was.

“As the capital of Malaysia’s oil producing region, KT has money and has used it to tastefully redecorate. Large brick sidewalks and elegant mosque-like shopping complexes have gussied up the place yet the soul of the former fishing village has been maintained.” Lonely Planet. My first impression is of a smaller Kota Kinabalu where we had spent a month last year. The first local person who asked where we were from had a daughter who studied English at a University in Tennessee and now taught at Malaysian university.

We took a marina water taxi for the 5 minute ride over to the city. We can take our own dingy when we refill the gas tank. It might be possible to bike also. The round trip water taxi is about $2 US per person.

The waterfront area. We climbed the stairs up tree covered Bukit Puteri ( 650 FT Princess Hill ) to see the remains of a fort, a sultan’s palace and a view of the city.

The cannons are aimed across at the marina and DoraMac! Notice the big cannon and little canon.

These cannon are named Meriam Beranak or “The Cannon that give birth” due to their positions that are close to each other and of different sizes. The cannon of bigger size is said to be the mother of the smaller size cannon.

“This throne was made by His Majesty Sultan Umar for His Majesty to sit when having discussions on various strategies with high ranking officials.” Or as Chad Mitchell Trio recited, ” No matter how high or great the throne, what sits on it is the same as your own!” as Randal is proving….. You know you are far away from home when you are in a place ruled by Sultans.

The world is the same all over. A “typical” scene of women in the dress shop and the husband being bored.

And “in the world is the same all over category,” this dad and his daughter were in line ahead of us at KFC. We went from chicken rice in Chinatown to ice cream at KFC.

After a walk around the part of town near the waterfront, we went to the wet market and bought some fruit and veggies. We were hot, tired and hot. So about 3 pm we water taxied back to the marina to rest up for the Night Market; a 10 minute (really 30 minute) walk away towards town. It was a hot walk and the Night Market was mostly food. Since we had planned to have dinner on Icicle One, we will wait until next Friday to sample the food. Back on the boat we found our electricity off. Some cruisers going off to the Night Market told me to find Steve on Wind Swift who seemed to know the most about electrical issues, the marina office being closed…. Luckily it was our friend Steve Calpin whom we had met in KK and whose wife, Valerie and I had gone exploring together. Actually, Steve had been to the boat the prior evening. Between Steve and Randal our electricity was back working, whew!!!

Randal and Steve working on the power cable that hooks us to shore power. This picture actually tells a great deal about cruising. Things are always going wrong. Cruisers have to know how to fix almost everything on the boats themselves. Cruisers will always help each other.

Today is boat chore day. Randal is changing oil filters and I’m doing laundry, blog mail, and then will clean the heads…. Also the cruising life.

Next email some Night Market photos…

Ruth Johnson DoraMac

Kuantan, Malaysia, Sail Malaysia

Sail Malaysia Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia

June 1, 2009 Ruth

Hi Everyone,

We have officially joined up with Sail Malaysia. We left Tioman Island 2:45 AM May 30^th and arrived here in Kuantan May 31^st 2:45 PM after a passage of about 75 miles. We passed through one storm that dropped our visibility but didn’t generate waves so it wasn’t too bad (read that scary.) We were the 2nd boat to arrive; usually we are one of the last since we always seem to be playing catch up at these rallies. Because it’s better to arrive at an anchorage in daylight we plan our passages to arrive before dusk at 6:30 pm. We are still near the Equator so have 12 hours of daylight and dark. Leaving an anchorage at night isn’t so problematic because you are familiar with it and have laid down a track on the chart plotter to follow out from the anchorage. New anchorages are unknown so better to enter in the light of day.

Yesterday we took a taxi into the city to the Megamall. We found a DiGi store where we can buy minutes for our 3LG phone which will provide Internet access on the boat. We used it in the Philippines with lots of success and in Indonesia with little success (read that as good at times and terrible most of the time.) Service runs from the 1^st to last day of the month so we didn’t buy the service yesterday since it was May 31^st and the DiGi guy was afraid that it wouldn’t carry over if we bought it yesterday so we will return this morning. It costs about $45 US for unlimited service; we’ll try it for a month. As long as we have cell towers nearby, it should work.

Our anchorage, officially called Teluk Chempedak, is a bit rolly but quite nice. There is a lovely beach and several small eating places along with a Hyatt resort hotel. It is a 10 minute taxi ride to Kuantan, which is the capital city of Pahang, the largest state on Peninsula Malaysia (East Malaysia) . (West Malaysia is located on the island of Borneo and we will go there too.)

Yesterday evening we met on the beach for a welcoming reception.

Any time you go to shore you take your dinghy and most of the time you just leave them on the beach. If your anchor holds they will be there when you return. No one bothers them.

On the beach we found cruising friends Craig and Lynne from Solan, Margaret and Doug from Tonic, Elizabeth and Patrick from Labarque, Greg, Leanne and small Jack from Keshi. The welcoming event began almost immediately. We were given Pahang hats. There were short speeches from local officials and from Sail Malaysia organizers. There was a great band playing wonderful American popular songs, and a buffet of local dishes. A group in black T shirts with Marshall written in white letters seemed to be helping out and joined in the meal. I told someone that they reminded me of a motorcycle “gang.” She pointed to the motorcycles parked on the plaza and said they were a motorcycle “group.” Randal thinks the group’s name is Marshall.

The Marshalls….

Young men led off the festivities with a martial arts demonstration.

They were accompanied by a group of musicians playing traditional instruments.

We were invited up to the plaza area and given coconut milk; I’m getting used to it.

Our new hats, coconut drinks and bottled water. We are all at the buffet table loading up our plates!

Chicken on skewers, rice, fish, leaf-wrapped meat, cucumber salad and a rolled piece of bread.

All quite good.

While we ate the band played, Country Roads, Hotel California, some Credence Clearwater music… and they were very good.

And cruisers danced….

And checked out the Marshalls’ motorcycles.

It was a lovely evening. Today we’ll return to the Mall and take care of the phone/computer set up. At 3 pm we will join with the other cruisers for today’s rally event. We will meet on the beach at 3pm. Buses will take us to a local museum and then to a dinner. The sun is shining and all seems well.

Ruth Johnson

Doramac

Two little girls in pink. The one on the left is the 5 year old daughter of Sazli, one of our Sail Malaysia organizers.

This anchorage is a beach and resort area so there were lots of people around all day Sunday, enjoying the beach and food stands. Many of them came over to watch our festivities too which is always nice.