November 16th, Sebana Cove Marina, Johor, Malaysia

Reading and Riding

Reading

I thought I struck it rich the other day when I found the May 2008 issue of Oprah’s magazine in the Sebana Cove Marina office. There are 3 shelves of books and a half shelf of magazines and cruisers may help themselves. Every few days I go to see what’s new. Sadly most of what’s new isn’t in English. It’s either German, Dutch, or Swedish reflecting the passports of many of the cruisers. But every now and then I do find some piece of fiction I think will entertain me. I read one of the Inspector Monk books by Ann Perry and started something called Move to Strike by Perri O’Shaughnessy. I never would have chosen the O’Shaughnessy book if there had been other choices; but there weren’t really. (After a few chapters I skipped to the end to see “who done it.” I don’t really like historical fiction and so left those for someone else. There were no biographies of autobiographies which I do like to read.

But back to Oprah’s magazine. A perk of having worked in a library is that I could take home magazines when the library closed at 9 pm and have them back next morning when we opened. So though I didn’t buy many glossy magazines, I did flip through them often enough to miss them out here in the cruising world. My Oprah magazine’s cover price in $4.50. In the Philippines where one could actually buy magazines, the magazines were even more expensive and just not worth the money. But I do miss them. Randal told me he couldn’t tell my hanging around the boat clothes from my go to town clothes. That’s not quite true, my go to town clothes don’t have cut off sleeves and shortened bottoms that roll up. And my go to town clothes are clean, or at least they are when I first put them on the first day I wear them. So it’s not like I want women’s/fashion magazines for the clothes. I want them for the company.

On the van to town the other day we started talking about books and one woman with a “BBC” accent just had read an amazing amount. We started talking books and have since gotten to know Elizabeth and her husband Patrick a bit. Elizabeth teaches English and History. I say teaches because every now and then they stop cruising and she teaches. Very interesting person with a wide range of knowledge and interests. Sadly she and Patrick will leave this week, but I will think of them when I read the half dozen 2007 New Yorker magazines she passed along to us. The New Yorker was not one of the magazines I took home at night, so old New Yorkers will be new to me.

Riding

Yes, it’s an elephant crossing sign.

Just before the Marina access road meets the main road into Sungai Rengit there is an elephant crossing sign. It isn’t just an example of the Marina owner’s sense of humor. At least I don’t think. Our van driver said there are “no more elephants.” What exactly does that mean? I’m taking it to mean once upon a time there were elephants because I like to think there were elephants here and maybe one day one will come walking out of the jungle that lines the road. Randal and I did see a family of wild boar one day. And of course there are monkeys by the dozens. You can see exactly where the expression, “monkey see, monkey do comes from.”

Look who finally got back onto their bikes! Randal and I got the bikes ready and did an hour test ride Friday night. There is a lovely back way to Sungai Rengit that is totally flat and goes through jungle and palm plantations towards the main road running along the coast. It is paved and FLAT!!! Perfect for riding. Inspired by our Friday afternoon ride, Saturday about 11 we rode all the way to Sungai Rengit for lunch. Occasionally a car or truck will passed by, but we pulled over and let them pass. It’s more the monkeys you need to keep an eye out for though we only heard them in the trees along the way. When we left the back road and joined the main coastal road cars were still courteous. They might be used to bikers. Many come from Singapore to ride and we chatted with several who were also riding to Sungai Rengit for lunch.

By the time we arrived in Sungai Rengit I was certain our 27 kilometer ride was more like 27 miles. For lunch we found a great seafood Chinese restaurant and ate a very filling pan fried sweet and sour fish with rice and veggies. Wisely we took the shorter, 12 kilometer but less flat way back to the marina. Hills, lycra and a full stomach are not a good combination for riding. Thankfully it was overcast and not blazing hot. When we arrived at the Marina entrance gate with 3 more miles to ride I told Randal that I was really out of condition for riding since we hadn’t ridden since the Philippines. But since it was flat I should have done better. “But you’re old,” said Randal. Hmm. Now being, 58 doesn’t mean you’re too old to ride. Our buddy Artie Levin was 75 when he and I rode up Bent Mountain in Virginia and he had to keep waiting for me. I was 30 something. But being 58 means that you can’t hop on your bike once every 4 months or so and ride. While we wait for boat parts, because it is such a tempting area for riding, I should hopefully get better.