Pankor Marina

We anchored across the bay and awaited high tide with 5 other boats to be led into the marina. Pankor Marina is in the process of being built, apparently 3 months ago there were no boats here and they have been working extremely hard to be ready for the 50 rally boats to arrive. The new owner, James, has gone to great lengths to convince us that this is an option where we can leave our boats while travelling home. They have a travel lift which will haul catamarans and are setting up trades to work on your boat. Many cruisers are taking advantage of this and leaving their boats here for several months. Others including us had minor boat repairs done. Our anchor windlass motor had seized and as our 90 metres of heavy anchor chain need to be hauled up every time we anchor it is a vital part of our sailing equipment. A local mechanic agreed to have it rebuilt for $500 in a week. To replace just the motor is not possible and would necessitate us buying a whole new windlass at several thousand dollars and a long delay to get in into Malaysia from England. We actually welcomed the forced stay as we have not had more than a couple of nights in any one place since leaving NZ in May. We would take the time in air-conditioned comfort to wash all of the curtains and upholstery on the boat. We would have time to seriously attack the ever growing mould which attacks in this climate. James made sure we felt very welcome and hosted a nice dinner the first evening. When he found that both Steve from Patamba and Brian from Further were both going to turn 6o the next day he offered to let us have the party in the marina facility and would let us use the DJ at no cost. The theme for this party was the 60’s and many very aging hippies arrived in flowing skirts, mini dresses or psychedelic shirts. We had downloaded lots of rock and roll and a great dance party resulted. Sometimes the greatest parties are unplanned and this certainly was one of them. James also organised a tour of Pulau Pankor, the island opposite the marina. It is a beautiful island with a colourful past. It was a pirate hideout when piracy was rampant in the Straits of Malaka and also a centre for tin mining. We visited the remnants of a Dutch fort which was built to control the mining in the 18th Century before the British negotiated their ownership. Now the island has a mix of fishing and fish drying and tourism. We caught the ferry across to the small village which has a distinct odour of dried fish. Many stores had baskets of dried fish of all kinds which mainlanders come especially to purchase. We visited the fish drying factory and despite the nauseous smell—to me, although others were not bothered by it—I quickly looked around at the young women who were packaging the dried fish and the store which sell all things dry before making a quick exit. Many kinds of dried fish were available to sample by the hardiest of us and I did sample the dried mangos which I thought may supplement my muesli but as many items in Asia they were so heavily sugared the original taste was gone. As we circumnavigated the island we saw a boat being built using huge planks of wood harvested from Sumatra. The other side of the island is the tourist side with lovely beaches and apparently good snorkelling around pretty coral. We were then treated to a wonderful eleven course Chinese banquet for lunch which had a great variety of tastes and flavours. We all warmly applauded the family who had hosted this great meal as they looked on with pride. The following day we started on our boat chores but were persuaded by Ann and Barry to take the next day off and along with Will and Margaret went to Ipoh. The countryside is green and lush, a testament to the warmth and humidity which pervades. Palm oil plantations now dominate the area and economy but tin mining and rubber plantations are still in production. Ipoh is an historical town which was the centre for the tin and rubber producing areas. We wandered around the magnificent old colonial buildings which are interspersed with the seedier concubine alley. The memorial for the “Death Railway” is here commemorating the almost 100,000 people who died building it in the Second World War. We combined the locally produced Old Town White Coffee, a very sweet milky mild coffee with dim sum for our morning tea. We enjoyed the delightful mix of stores where Ann and Margaret both found tops in an Indian store for very little money. We came across a specialty store selling Birds Nests and the cheapest package was $600 with the fancy ones far more. The best bean sprouts are also produced in the area and a specialty flat noodle is also made here. The restaurant which is most famous for the kwae teow, which uses the flat noodles in a soup with prawns and chicken, was closed—as seems to be the way when one is travelling—we always seem to arrive on the wrong day whatever that may be!!! After asking a lovely young woman she took us to another restaurant which was serving it and we enjoyed these world famous noodles for lunch. After lunch we got a cab to the one of the caves housing Buddhist temples. These are huge limestone caves and similar to the Hindu caves we had visited in Batu, Kuala Lumpur. We enjoyed wandering around the lovely landscaped gardens before heading back to catch the bus back to Pankor. Revitalised after our break we continued our scrubbing and cleaning and now when our friends Tracy and Ken from Canada come in a week we will not be embarrassed. A lot of the boats stayed to take advantage of the marina with the restaurants nearby and we have enjoyed the relaxed social atmosphere. Our motor is expected back shortly and we hope that we will not live to regret putting off buying a whole new windlass in the near future. Our next stop will be a 12 hour sail from here in Penang which promises to be exciting.