Hi Everyone,

  Hanukah has passed and many of you are getting ready for Christmas.  Even here at Rebak Marina that’s true!  Many of the boats have put up lights from mast to bow.   There’s a marina Christmas buffet and the following day a celidh which should be quite entertaining from what we’ve heard coming from some of the boats.  Kuah Town had a few decorations, but not many.  This area seems a bit more traditional Muslim than George Town or Miri, but we’re too far from the mainland to here the prayers during the night and day.  Lots of cruisers come here for Christmas time on their way to Thailand and that’s still our plan for January.  Langkawi is “duty free” so boat parts and things can be shipped here duty free and booze, chocolate and other imports are cheaper.  This is the story of our second shopping trip to Kuah Town.  Our first one was even more whirlwind so there was no time for pictures and when I got back to the boat it was all a blur.  I’m now starting to get it. 

Ru

DoraMac

Kuah Town with Liz and Julia 12-21-2009

This past Monday, Randal and I went on a shopping expedition to Kuah Town with Liz (Blue Tango) and Julia (Papillon.) And it does feel like a major expedition. You have to make advance plans for the transportation. You have to take luggage in the form of carrying bags and coolers. You need money, comfortable clothes, good walking shoes and hats for the sun. Cold drinking water is good too. It’s really good to have a driver and a navigator. And friends: it’s good to go with friends.

Obviously this isn’t your trip to Kroger, Sams Club or COSCO; or even JUSCO for that matter. It’s actually like going on a scavenger hunt. You take your list of needed items and you try to match it up with one of the 96 shops or services listed on the six page handout helpfully compiled by past cruisers. Two of the pages are wonderful hand-drawn maps of both Kuah Town and also Matsirat, the small town not far from the ferry landing on the mainland.

Randal and I met Liz and Julia on our dock at 8:30 am and then ambled over to the ferry dock to board the 8:45 ferry with about 20 other cruisers which filled the ferry to capacity. Everyone is required to wear one of the ferry life preservers and everyone does. The ride is short, fast and free. When you get to the mainland, there are no buses to catch so most cruisers “borrow” (don’t ask) a car from Mr. Din. To “borrow a car,” you pay between 40 and 60 ringgits depending on whether the AC works or the windows roll down. The car will have just enough gas to get you a mile down the road to the Petronas station where most cruisers add about 20 ringgits (11.76 liters) of gas to get through the day and return the car with as little fuel left as possible. Our car cost 60 ringgits but came with a half tank of gas, AC that worked and windows that rolled down and up. The trunk was iffy so we never locked it fearing we’d not be able to unlock it.

Our first stop Chin Ho Trading.

Everyone says, ‘Look for the multicolored building on the left going into town.” When we came out we discovered the trunk problem which even Randal couldn’t fix. Julia was our willing driver and we all appreciated that she could drive the standard, powerless-steering car on the wrong side of the road and even parallel park. Liz was our navigator since she knows Kuah Town and where to buy what at the better price.

In Kuah Town there is no “one stop shopping;” and, to quote Shakespeare, “there’s the rub;” rub being Shakespearean for difficulty or obstacle. “Twelve stop shopping” was more like it, and that’s because on Monday we needed to take the 2:30 ferry home or it might have become “20 stop shopping. “ Want meat, go here for frozen or there for fresh and depending if you want fish, pork or chicken, somewhere else; fruit and veggies, depends on time; bread here or there, depending if you want baguettes; beverages, a few choices if you want wine or soda; marine hardware more choices. See what I mean. It’s amazing what you can get done if you don’t dawdle, dither, or stay long in the local bargain tents along the sidewalk: just stick to your list! I had no list which is why I could dawdle, dither, and go to the local bargain tents and come home with a giant jar of capers, whole grain mustard, lime pickles, a big, comfy, soft 8 ringgit used man’s shirt like I got in George Town (which I still haven’t shown you yet.) Liz, Julia, and Randal had lists. Along the way I did pick out our 4 bottles and 1 box of wine and one of the scotch drinking glasses, all bought at different stops!

But I’m getting ahead of myself. After Chin Ho Trading we drove into downtown Kuah Town for breakfast.

My back is to the Maybank which was everyone’s next stop.

You can see the “Roanoke like” mountains in the distance where you can take a cable car up to the top and Randal and I are hoping to do that one day.

The main roads are kind of busy and you really don’t see many bicycles here. The marina restricts when you can take a bicycle onto the ferry, but if we stay long enough, who knows though it wouldn’t do for real shopping. The terrain into town is flat enough so my rear wheel , now being brakeless, won’t be a problem. A broken cable is the problem; no way to get it to a bike shop, another problem, if there is even a shop in town. We’ll see about that too, maybe.

Out of the bank and off to find breakfast! Liz and Julia.

Julia reminds me of the actress Laura Linney. Liz is my newest painting buddy. Julia loves to cook: Liz does lovely watercolor paintings and knows about everyone at the marina and lots of shopkeepers in Kuah Town. Both have done lots of interesting things in their pre-cruising lives. We meet most morning for our walks.

Cleaning the sidewalks for the day.

Thosai or Dosa depending on whom you ask….

My Topi Thosai shaped like a tent! Crispy! Light! Totally gone by the end of breakfast.

My topi thosai is trumped by Liz’ “paper thosai” which is supposedly over 2 ft. long. The two types of thosai tasted different, mine was a bit more fried. We had curried cabbage and some spicy chicken. Too early for me to do spicy so I stuck to my plain thosai and skipped the dipping sauce.

This shop sold all kinds of things for one’s home, but only sets of glasses and I need just one to replace “Randal’s glass that he drinks scotch from.” Since we have more glasses (wrong shape and size for scotch) than we need, I left with only a photo.

Help from big sister!

Crossing a drainage ditch with short legs, slim skirt, and sandals is hard without help from her big sister.

Pak Brothers meats, cheese, yogurt and other stuff.

We bought two 2¼ lb Australian “beef” roasts. I just asked Randal what cut it was and he said he didn’t know. It looked good. Randal cooked one today and it smelled good. Randal was disappointed; it didn’t taste good. We had paid 20.5 ringgits per kilo which when all the conversion is done came to $2.7 per pound. Hmmm maybe that’s why. It just needed way more garlic. The other one will be cooked into a stew. Always an adventure.

This is only some of our stuff. We entirely filled the trunk of the car.

That’s my big George Town JUSCO bag. One day each week JUSCO won’t bag your groceries for free. You have to supply your own bags or pay for your plastic bags. Not a bad idea.

Heading home.

I almost lost my hat! The ferries travel between 25-30 knots (Randal’s guess.) You have to hold on to your hat and not worry about your hair. Liz asked the ferry captain if he would stop at our dock so we could unload and he was kind enough to do it. That made a big difference in getting our trunk-load of provisions back onto the boats.

That was our second visit to Kuah Town and now I look at the map and actually have an idea what it all means. It’s probably a once per week trip we will take and maybe even be brave enough to take a turn driving.