|
Hi All, Just trying to catch up on the emails I wrote but couldn’t send. There are about 4 of them. Here is the first, about a woman and a water pipe at the Little Lebanon Restaurnat in Kuching. Ru ps Spent today doing boat chores: defrosting frig, cleaning up exploded Pepsi Max from the freezer, washing sheets and blankets. Randal did his boat chores and our friend Jim came to return a book and retrieve his hat that he left on our boat back in Tioman. Just a quiet day
Woman Smoking a Water Pipe in the Little Lebanon Restaurant, Kuching That about sums it up! Randal and I were in our “favorite by default” restaurant in Kuching. I say favorite by default because we really didn’t explore the city all that much. We ate 3 times in Little Lebanon, once in James Brooke and twice in small Chinese open air restaurants. I say open air because the street side has no wall and it’s all just open. Most small restaurants are like that. But some seem more like bistro sidewalk seating than like the wall is missing. And though I’d prefer eating somewhere new each day, Randal prefers to “go with what you know and serves beer.” One time we were sitting at our same table that we always sit at waiting for our food. We do order different dishes each time and I do have to say that they were all quite good. That visit Randal’s meal came first and mine about 10 minutes later. While I waited a “baggish lady” sitting at a restaurant table but eating her own food, offered me some of her rice. I tried to explain that my food was coming, but she offered again. Maybe she thought Randal wouldn’t buy me any! I had ordered two small inexpensive appetizers that sounded interesting, and were, but larger than I had expected. The first dish was 6 small vegetarian fried pies. When it came I offered some to the lady. She came over to look and was a bit surprised. At first she wasn’t sure what to do, then took one. Then the restaurant owner came out to shoo her away. I explained what had happened; but I guess they weren’t too pleased with her sitting there but couldn’t yell at a tourist. The other dish was Dayak Chicken soup and was wonderful and spicy hot! But that was a different story and this is about the water pipe smoker…. I asked if I could take photos of the process.
They were trying to figure out why it didn’t work. The water apparently acts as a filter. I guess the smoke goes through and makes the water bubble or something that apparently wasn’t happening. The woman was drinking beer and about to smoke this intense pipe. Her male friend was reading a magazine and sipping a Pepsi. Opposites attract.
This woman was beautiful enough to have this odd hairdo. The hair above her ears is shaved almost. The best of both worlds, short and long hair. She actually is quite typical of many of the young travelers we see. The Rainforest World Music Festival attracted many more tourists than we have seen in other places.
Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes…..and several piercings too.
Francesca Ang to the rescue. Somehow she knew how it was all supposed to work and took charge ordering the restaurant worker to bring a different pipe and a new mouth piece. She also took charge of lighting the small piece of coal that heats it all up. A bit later Francesca walked by our table and we stopped her to talk. She is Malaysian but lived in Lebanon (the real place, not this restaurant) and works in the area of Malaysian economic development. Her lunch companions were two men from Egypt. Francesca told us to look for her at the Music Festival and we actually found her and enjoyed a cold drink together. So that’s the story! |
Rainforest World crafts
|
Hi All, We arrived here in Miri yesterday morning after a safe but somewhat problematic 2 night passage. Things broke, the sea was rolly, and we we were tired most of the time. But we did arrive safely and that’s the important part. We will be here until about the 23rd of July. There are some Sail Malaysia events on the 21st and 22nd. I have written 2 emails about the Rainforest World Craft Bazaar. This is the first. The second shows Elizabeth learning to batik. I also tried my hand at it. Ruth Johnson DoraMac
Crafts Fair with Ruth and Elizabeth My crafts companions Ruth, Elizabeth and I regrouped for another crafts adventure. The three of us had spent a wonderful time exploring batik together in Terengganu. The Rainforest World Crafts Bazaar, just in its second year, was held in Santubong in conjunction with the Rainforest World Music Festival now in its 10th year. www.rainforestmusic-borneo.com The festival opened officially on the 10th but there was “cheap” entry day on the 9th so we thought we’d take advantage and go. Ruth, Elizabeth and I can enjoy much more time looking at crafts than Cliff, Patrick or Randal, so we leave them to boat chores and off we go. Perhaps most importantly, the three of us always seem to need teh tarik, lunch and the tandas all about the same time. Quite a compatible trio. (Tea, lunch and the “Ladies Room.) The Crafts Bazaar is held at the Cultural Village about 2 ½ miles from our Santubong anchorage. Randal kindly played dinghy driver and we collected Elizabeth and Ruth for the quick trip to shore. We began walking at 8:10 and arrived at the Village at 9:10. It was a nice leisurely walk not unlike walking up Mill Mountain along the road though not so steep. We passed an upscale condo complex, a resort, one spectacular home and a restaurant along the way. Definitely not a hike through the jungle. On brochures for the Craft Bazaar both Elizabeth and I had noticed the reduced entry fee charged on the 9th. One brochure mentioned that the reduced fee was for “locals,” but each of us at different times had asked in the Kuching tourist office if we could also pay the reduced fee on the 9th. We were both told that we could. The reduced fee was 15 ringits and the regular fee to enter the Cultural Village is 60 ringits which is about $18 US. None of us wanted to pay $18. Our Music Festival Tickets that would allow us to also see the Crafts Bazaar, the Cultural Village and the Music Festival were 180 ringits for our one day. Cliff and Ruth were going for 3 days so had already paid plenty. 15 ringits was about all we were willing to pay for the early visit to the Crafts Bazaar. There was a bit of confusion at the ticket booth as to whether we were included in the 15 ringit option; but because we had walked the 2 ½ miles and had been told by the Tourist Office we could pay the reduced fee, we were finally only charged the 15 ringits. Whew!
Ruth and Elizabeth sitting. Annette standing. Our first cup of tea after our 2 ½ mile walk Annette, originally from Britain has been traveling and teaching most of her adult life. She is retired now in Kuching and among other things was a volunteer at the Crafts Bazaar. Elizabeth, a Brit who has also traveled the world teaching, swapped stories. It’s hard to see, but Annette’s shirt was one of the designs created in a contest among student artists.
Nabilah Abdullah a potter from Sarawak. I bought the small cup on the left. It looks like brass but it is clay as you can see. I was as intrigued with her as with the pots. The piece was 8 ringits, less than $3 US and I love it. I thought about buying a larger one, but it was 100 ringits and not the best investment for cruising on bumpy seas. The small one is perfect for toothpicks.
Nabilah Abdullah Inkubator Caw. Sarawak 016-8009 680 When Randal and I returned for the Music Festival I brought Nabilah an American Flag bandana and she immediately demonstrated that she knew how to wear it hippy style on her head. I would have loved to have taken potting classes from her; she was so regal and calm…. Needless to say, I was impressed.
Batik Painting
This woman made ceramic beads. She too was quite lovely.
Weaving with rattan. There were lots of lovely baskets and these wonderful mats. I limited myself to just my mug and bracelet.
Coconut monkeys. There were many lovely crafts. But there was also lots of just “tourist” quality stuff. It was a mix. But we had a wonderful day, stopping for lunch about noon. Then after some more looking we all decided we’d had enough and would catch a shuttle bus back to the jetty. The bus was not due for another 40 minutes so we decided to try to catch a taxi or flag down a ride. My hesitant “flagging” probably looked ridiculous, but soon a car with a Kuching woman and her mom stopped to give us a ride. They were quite happy to do it and we were happy to accept. I phoned Randal when we arrived at the jetty and he dinghyed us all back to our respective boats. Both Elizabeth and I tried our hand at waxing a batik project and I’ll do a separate email about that. |
Batik training at the Craft Bazaar
|
5:41 pm Miri Marina www.mirimarina.com Hi All, Today Joy and Jim Carey on the boat Kelaerin from Bellingham, WA USA and Randal and I biked into Miri. We stopped first at the Harbor Master and then had a wonderful lunch of Banana Rice. Banana Rice is wonderful rice dish served on a placemat size banana leaf. Around the mound of rice they place small servings of different vegetables and then offer you the choice of 3 sauces, dahl, chicken or fish. It was very good. I had asked about lamb Redang and so also received a dish of that which was also very good. Joy ordered a lemon flip to drink and then Jim had one since it was so good. What made it so thick? Raw egg yoke much to Joy’s horror. We only found that out after the meal. I had a lemon/honey drink that was more lemon than honey so very good. Everything was very good. Randal also had the banana rice, some curry chicken and a 100 Plus which is a carbonated version of Gatorade. Our bill was about 40 ringits, around $12 US. After that we biked the mile into town to the small wet market for cucumber, tomatoes, potatoes, and mangoes. Then we checked out the fish market and then we just went biking around. The city is full of one way, no u-turn streets. But the drivers mostly were very curtious. I think we will quite like it here! So that’s it. I still owe emails about Santubong and the waterpipe smoking woman of Kuching. Hopefully I’ll catch up while we are here. Ru
Batik at the Crafts Bazaar One of the stalls at the Rainforest World Crafts Bazaar was run by a lovely and patient Indonesian woman from Jakarta. Visitors could attempt to use a canting tool to apply wax to a simple picture drawn on a white cloth. The image looked like something one could embroider and we actually used an embroidery hoop to hold the cloth though she did say that mostly children used them and adults often just held the cloth in their hand. Here are photos of Elizabeth doing batik. Hers came out quite good. Mine had lots of wax blobs.
Elizabeth and our teacher. She didn’t mind showing and re-showing and then saying, “Turn the blobs into art!” (Though it was only mine that had lots of blobs. I had gone first and maybe the wax wasn’t so runny or maybe I just had less steady hands.)
Elizabeth being shown how to hold the canting tool.
A steady hand!
The instructor was wearing a lovely skirt and at her feet are the tools and melted wax for making batik.
Tools of batiking and some samples and a map showing Indonesia.
Elizabeth’s project. I found that when I held the cloth up the wax wouldn’t come out of the canting tool and when I held it level the wax came out in blobs. I was encouraged to turn the blobs into “art” but they just really looked like blobs. It was lots of fun to try. I really also liked our batik teacher so brought an American flag bandana for her too when Randal and I returned for the Music Festival. She was very proud of Indonesian batik and encouraged everyone to come to Jakarta. The crafts bazaar and the music were held simultaneously so you could do both during the day and evenings.
And since I wrote so much about it, one photo of Banana Rice. They haven’t put the rice down on our leaf yet; but you can see the pile of it in front of Jim. He had white rice.
There was spicy ginger pickle too and some whispy bread. Randal is holding the orange chopsticks. The rest of us used forks though eating with just your fingers is also acceptable. The lamb Redang is in front of my plate. |
Kuching Minibus Tale
5:04 pm Miri Marina
Here is the 2nd catch up email; it’s about our minibus experiences. A minbus is just a large van with 3 rows of spassenger eats like a large van and could probably hold 11 adults comfortably. For all of our trips there were at least 3 people in the front driver’s seats and 4 or 5 per row and some on makeshift seats facing backwards. It wasn’t so terrible unless someone started smoking. There was a tiny No Smoking sign but it was ignored. There was usually no AC but luckily the windows let in air while we moved. But we did only pay 4 ringits for the 40 minute ride. The public minibus and the private resort minibuses were all about the same. Our definition of, “the van is full,” and the driver’s version of “the van is full,” were about 3 or 4 people. But everyone was always polite and friendly and the children well behaved.
Taking a Minibus
Randal and I went to Kuching one day; just to go for lunch. We spent 45 minutes waiting for a minibus that never came. There were 8 cruisers waiting so cars couldn’t offer us a lift. Finally a “resort” minibus stopped but was charging 10 ringits instead of the public minibus fare of 4 ringits. Two cruisers got in; the rest of us opted to wait for the public minibus which would be coming by anytime soon. We waited and waited and waited. Early in the morning several go by and even private minivans charge 4 ringits. About midday the first school shift ends and the second one begins so school kids apparently are taking the minibuses around Santubong so fewer make the trip to Kuching. Finally a cruiser in a hired taxi went by and Randal and I got in because Cliff and Ruth and Jennie and Eddie were going together to the motorbike rental store and not all of us wouldn’t fit into the taxi anyway.
Jeanette in the blue hat, Ruth sitting next to her, Randal, Eddie and Cliff. Jeanette and Eddie are from New Zealand though he is Dutch by birth. Te Wai Paunamu is the name of their boat. It means something in native New Zelandese that is quite nice but I can’t remember. I think Paunamu is a bay there.
While we were waiting I walked up to take a photo of this which is just near the “bus stop.”
It’s the tomb of a past Sultan who was the Sultan of Brunei, I think. Apparently his family has a home near Santubong, I think.
We heard later that our friends had waited another 45 minutes and then it took 40 minutes to get to town. I’m sure they were starving by the time they got to Kuching. Our taxi driver told us about life in Kuching. I’m not sure how much education he’d had; but his first job in the early 80s was as a PR guy for the Kuching Government. He was paid 250 ringits per month; less than $100 US. He had to travel a great deal too. After 3 years he quit to work in a hotel, stay put and make more money. He owns his own taxi and will pay off the 7 year loan next year. He married at age 30 and waited 4 years to have his first child. He has 4 and tells them to wait to marry so that they “won’t have to share.” He explained that when you marry and you have 1 ringit; you get only 50 cents and your spouse gets 50 cents. If you are not married then you get to keep the whole ringit for yourself. You get to do as you wish and not have to do as someone else wishes. This is the advice he gave to his almost 20 year old daughter. He told her to work and wait to marry. At dinner time when the whole family sits to eat together he teaches his children by telling them his thoughts about life. Jarfar is in his early 50s. Very, very reasonable. We arrived in Kuching about 12:30, ate lunch, bought new hose for our water catchers, some paint brushes for Randal to repaint the dings in the hull we got in Terengganu, and then went to catch the public minibus back to Santubong.
As I’m writing this about 10 days later, I can’t actually remember the point of the story…. But I’ll end with a description of a typical minibus ride back to Santubong. If there are only 2 or 3 cruisers in the van, then it is filled with at least 10 or 12 local people going back to Santubong. (One time we had 18 though 3 of them were small children.) Each person is dropped at his or her door! It reminded me of taking the airport shuttle when I’d visit my parents in Florida. We’d leave the airport and then stop at 2 or 3 condo complexes along the way to drop off passengers. I seemed to always be the last one off on the way to my parents and the first one on returning to the airport. Santubong actually resembles Florida with the foliage. We drove down small lanes to small villages to small homes and a passenger or 2 would get off the van. One time, it was so neat to see, we dropped off one man whose kids just looked so happy to see him. There was a small home at the end of a double board path along the river. A small boy and his smaller brother in diapers were waiting at the door. The baby was jumping up and down with joy seeing his dad. Another boy came from where he had been swimming with his buddies and followed his dad down the path. The dad had groceries and also a new bicycle wheel rim which seemed to be for the older boy. Then the van turned around and retraced its way back down the lane to another lane to drop off another passenger. By the end of the trio the van felt very roomy and comfortable!
Passage
Date: Sat, 11 Jul 2009 19:10:55 -0400
It is now 7:00 AM Sunday morning the 12th. As soon as we get the boat ready, about two hours, we will leave the anchorage in the river and head out to and up the coast to Miri. This will be about a 48 hour passage depending on the current so we should arrive there mid morning on Tuesday. Since we won’t be too far off the coast it is possible we will retain a cell signal and be able to maintain internet access but because of the remoteness of some areas there might not be towers all along the coast.
We have enjoyed Santubong and yesterday we attended the rainforest music festival but when the music started at 7:00 PM, we decided a good night’s sleep was more important. There were thousands of people from all over the world there though and it was a major event for some I’m sure. There were handmade crafts everywhere you looked.
Ruth had her camera so she will write up her thoughts after we have settled into the dock at Miri.
Randal
Santubong 1
Hi Everyone,
We leave Sunday for our 2 night passage up to Miri. Saturday we will attend the Rainforest Music Festival and the Crafts fair at the Cultural Village. Musical groups from around the world perform. Hopefully it won’t rain! It rained again last night which is good for our water tanks.
Ru
Get Going Sox!!!!
Santubong
We are anchored about a mile from the mouth of the Santubong River in Sarawak, the largest state in Malaysia. Kuching is the capital and the small more historic waterfront area is quite charming. We make the 40 minute trip about every other day. We’re usually hot and tired enough from the trip to town that we spend the next day on the boat being lazy or doing a few chores. Tomorrow morning when we run the genset I’ll do some laundry. It rained last night helping refill our water tank. Our side awnings on the pilot house have hoses that drain the water into our tanks. Since we have been very conservative with our water, our 250 gallon water tank was still half full so now we have a tank that is almost 3/4th full; enough to do a laundry. Many cruisers don’t have washing machines so take their laundry to town. Funny when the highlight of your stay is finally getting to do a laundry. Lovely as Kuching is, it’s not so different from Kota Kinabalu or Terengganu; so the urge to explore isn’t so strong; that and the bus back and forth. We don’t need to buy souvenirs; no place to put them. We stocked up on food and drink in Terengganu and because we eat a fairly large (for us) lunch, we only eat light snacks for dinner. I make a meal of cabbage/carrot/onion salad most days. Add a bit of cheese and that’s it.
On our “stay on the boat days,” about 11:30 am we take the dinghy to the jetty and walk into Santubong for lunch. It takes about 15 minutes or so walking steadily. There are about 3 small restaurants; but we always go to the same one. Randal likes it because the food is quite good and quite cheap. I like it because it is the furthest into the small village giving us more exercise. Most days there’s a buffet of about 6 dishes as well as lots of steamed white rice. We load up our plates, each get a drink and it comes to about $4 US. Usually there are 2 or 3 tables filled with local men eating lunch. On their “weekend” days some families are there too.
Each one of the serving trays has something different, fish, meat, chicken, veggies; most in some kind of spicy sauce. We ask what each is and then help ourselves usually avoiding the fish which have too many bones. Randal’s only regret is that they don’t serve beer. The place is run by women in shorts and t-shirts so it doesn’t seem to be a Muslim restaurant. But no beer. I have iced-lemon tea and Randal
100 Plus.
The view across the street includes Mount Santubong.
The best part of Santubong are the incredibly friendly welcoming people. Everyone says hello with a smile! They seem quite glad we are here. All of the children shout hello, ask where we are from and where we’re going. Our answers are USA and for a walk.
I’m guessing they were on the way back to school. Many of the children had on white, tops, head coverings or sneakers and they were all very white and crisp and clean. All of the school kids looked crisp and clean.
There seem to be two schools in the village or this wasn’t a school. Not sure. This was at the far end of the village and there was a school in the middle of the village near the restaurant.
This house was built on the beach at the end of town. It was larger and more modern than any other that we saw; not typical of the village homes.
Santubong seems to be upbeat and active. I have no idea about the level of income, but there is a tiny library and people seem to be enjoying life. And the children look happy what has to mean a lot.
Santubong and Kuching
|
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. Ru
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. |
Santubong
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.
Ru
DoraMac
Terengganu
Hi Guys,
Just checking in. Tomorrow morning we set off on our 3 night passage to Kuching so will be there late afternoon of Monday. We will try sailmail, but don’t worry if you don’t hear. There will be about 18 boats going from here so we’ll have company. Just getting everything shipshape before we leave. So that’s it.
Ru
Fueling the Boat
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.
Ru
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.
