Kapas to Terangganu to the Perenthians

Time flies when you are having fun!!—we seem to have a visited a number of locations since my last blog so will quickly recap recent events. Sazli, the organiser of our rally had requested a bed for himself and his 2 young children on a boat for the night preceding the final trip into Terangganu which represents the last official stop on the East Coast and a special “themed dinner” was planned. We seemed to be the only boat with a bed available—thanks to Deb’s visit in Singapore forcing us to empty the clutter from one bed and we have not had time to fill it up yet. Sazli with his two younger children came aboard, Maya aged 6 and Iman aged 7 delighted in climbing over everything and exploring their first ever sail boat. The following morning they sat on the bow as we had yet another calm motor for the 2 hours to the marina. Terangganu is a major city in this area of East Malaysia with a fine marina, a gym and even a cold “hot tub”—with constant 33C temperatures a hot ‘hot tub” would not be welcomed. I winced as the marina manager proudly told me of the sauna—we live in one!!! We quickly set up the air conditioner once again thankful for the decision we had made originally when it seemed perhaps a luxury we should forgo—NOT!!! A quick dingy ride took us across to the main part of town to the Central Market where we were overwhelmed by the hand painted and batik silk fabric made here. The lovely fine silk from various parts of the world is all individually hand decorated. It was an amazing feast for the eyes; each is 4.5 metres—enough for a long skirt and calf length tunic to go over it, the traditional costume for women here. The piece that would be the front of the tunic was often decorated with crystals and quite stunning. The cost is around C$100 and as usual my lifestyle has never lived up to the wardrobe I would like to have owned. One could have had a beautiful gown for a fancy dinner—hmm beach party?? It does mean that the women here who are amongst the most devout of Muslims are by no means dowdy and wear gorgeous colours. We have been struck in the past by the fact that no matter how subdued the outer costumes are they wear the most elegant shoes, bags and jewellery but the women here wear the most wonderful coloured clothes as well. A tour had been arranged for us and we were taken to the “mosque area”. Here they had created replicas of the world’s most famous mosques with most of these containing a museum explaining the origin and importance of each one. One of the most recognised was the Taj Mahal with its touching story. We also were taken to the Crystal Mosque where after donning head and body coverings we were allowed to enter. Our next stop was the museum where the various weavings and batik were displayed. Sonket, the weavings using real gold and silver threads worn by important men were displayed. We had seen them for sale in various parts of town but at C$2000 were well out of our range. We were taken to the batik village where we could purchase less expensive items.—Ken actually got a cotton batik shirt which was labelled XL and obviously was too small for anyone of that size reduced to $2. That night we were entertained and as requested wore batik. We wore the batik we had bought in Indonesia but anyone who did not own any was requested to buy something here fitting for the occasion. There was traditional food and entertainment attended by important local dignitaries. Sazli’s elder daughter who had missed the boat trip due to a school commitment had asked if she could sleep on board—she was a very sweet bright 11 year old so along with Maya spent the night before leaving back home to Kuala Lumpur. City life gave us our fill of good Chinese and Nonya food in Chinatown and we restocked with fresh fruit and vegs. Mangoes from Thailand, the best we have ever had, are still plentiful. I wish I knew a way of keeping them longer—I am sure you could preserve or freeze them for smoothies but we have neither the freezer space or preserving implements so will just have to gorge as many as we can till they are no more. Our camera had been having a few glitches and we were fearful that it would quit in Borneo. We anticipate this will be a trip of a lifetime and would hate not to have a photographic record so decided to be safe and purchase another one. We were lucky to find a newer version of our current camera which has served us well—the new one now has a zoom of 24X which is equivalent to 600mm so we should be ready for whatever we will encounter. Everyone took advantage of the city, air conditioning and restaurants and we were all a bit reluctant to leave—the dock being full of rally boats that we are getting to know well was an enjoyable place to be. A dock party was held and then we all started heading off on the 30 mile trip to the island of Redang. This lived up to its reputation of crystal clear water which is still a treat for us. Coastal waters are very muddy with the water line of Cop Out being quite brown to prove it!! We met a French couple in the bay who were keen divers and invited us to dive with them and refill our tanks with their compressor afterwards. We had some lovely dives and the couple both of whom were dive masters filled us with confidence as they carefully considered the sites, currents and planned each dive. As is usual with such divers they can stay underwater for a lot longer than we can so we returned when we were ready and they joined us when they were finished.. There are many turtles in the area and we snorkelled right beside a huge mating pair—they seem to mate for a long time allowing us considerable time to watch the incredible experience, Beach gatherings with the rally boats and any other boats in the anchorage were becoming the norm as we all got to know each other more and more—the large contingent of Australians seemed to spearhead most of these and it culminated in a great “cookout”. They collected onions, carrots, meat and any other appropriate items from each boat and built a fire on the beach where they placed an iron pot and made a massive delicious stew. It was finished with a damper sweetened with corn syrup for desert and was one more great evening. A walk through the rainforest to the coastal beach rewarded us with the sites of monkeys and monitor lizards and although we did not see a mouse deer several other yachties did. Reluctantly we moved yet again to the islands of the Parenthians which would be our most northerly stop up the coast. These islands are touristier than Redang and despite the hype we did not enjoy them as much. Although the water was clear the coral was disappointing and the fish numbers less than we had been used to. The skies are very grey with haze right now and we are wondering if it is due to the build up of humidity—now 82% and are we headed for more thunderstorms? Our next major objective is to put ourselves in a favourable position to cross the 350 miles across to the northwest corner of Borneo. This means a retracing our coastal route south for 4 or 5 days so we can pick up the favourable southeast monsoon winds which hopefully will aid a sail across. We will have adverse currents as we go south but as the winds are very light hopefully the seas will be calm. We will restock with food in Terangganu, and fuel in Chukai—the one place which allows us to buy more than 1 jerry can at a time which most places enforce making us pay a massive premium to the locals who offer to bring larger quantities to us. We had an issue with our computer as it shut down on its own and Martin from Mandolin Wind came to our rescue resuscitating it much to my relief. Note to self—back up more often!!!!! I almost lost 2 months of photos—I would consider that a disaster!! We are now back in Terangganu and will leave for Kapas Island tomorrow as we head south. We discovered another great Chinese restaurant serving wonderful crispy duck and a fishermen’s restaurant with a Thai chef and had Tom Yum soup filled with crab and shrimp. Ken and I had haircuts with shampoo and blow-dry and a 10 minute head massage for $8 each—we will regret these cheap luxuries when our cruising life is over!! We have restocked with mangos and other fresh items. The computer shut itself down once again and we will heed Martin’s advice and buy a new one before cleaning everything off this one and reloading it again after which hopefully we will then have 2 good working computers—maybe. I have been reflecting on the things which we notice most as we continue to travel in Malaysia. We are struck by the sounds common to most of the coast—the chanting call to prayer five times a day and in this region continues for some time. This is combined with the continuous bird song which is broadcast through loud speakers to entice the swiftlets to roost and build nests in upper floors of existing buildings—the revenue from selling the bird’s nests to the Chinese would be a huge amount more than from having your family live there. The other overpowering image is the smell of dried fish which is a favourite staple in the coasts of Malaysia. The one thing which we are constantly aware of is the friendly reception and smiles we get as we travel. We are constantly asked where we are from and if we make a mistake with the price we pay for something we will be chased down with the correct change. We can only hope that if any of these people travel to our world they will be treated with as much kindness and respect they show us.