The best of the snorkelling

 

 

 

Ko Muk cave and conga line

 

 

 

How do you get home?

 

 

 

Arrival in Thailand

After one last shop with fresh produce we checked out of Malaysia from Telaga Harbour and were ready to set sail for Thailand. We had been told that as long as we took no longer than two weeks we could island hop our way to Phuket and enjoy the 120 mile cruise on our way north. We set sail along with Splashdown for Ko Tarutoa where we would make our first stop passing impossibly high karst formations arising from the sea. Most were small uninhabited islands but occasionally we would spot a cottage on the precipitous cliff side and wonder how on earth they could access it. The next anchorage was in a lovely bay on Ko Muk and we went ashore where several resorts were established. We had a delicious dinner at one of the resorts and found that many of the tourists coming to this area were from Sweden. One of the attractions of Ko Muk is a cave which you swim into and through a dark passage coming out to a lovely beach surrounded by high cliffs. This had been used for centuries past for pirates and other unsavoury types as a hide out. We had gone there with Bev, Alex and Colin and spent some time enjoying the beach with the few other tourists who had made the early start. As we were exiting a tour boat arrived with more than 100 Japanese tourists all of whom were wearing life jackets—we are realising that Japanese tourists cannot swim—forming a conga line and were moving en masse into the cave. We were thankful that we had already experienced it in relative peace and were not trying to exit as they entered!! We took our dingy over to Ko Kradon where the snorkelling is meant to be great. We were disappointed and are concluding that we have been spoiled having snorkelled in some of the most spectacular place in the world—Thailand is not one of them. We were quickly becoming aware of the huge tourist trade in these Phuket Islands. Once again we were thankful that we have been able to get to places and have the solitude which most people can only dream about. It was also a culture shock to discover that very little English is spoken and the Thai language is very Asian and more foreign to our ears than the Malay language had been. The written language is all symbols so we are not able to even attempt a translation. In this area there are many Muslims—as it is so close to Malaysia it is not surprising, apparently as you go nearer to Phuket Buddhism is the predominate religion. The locals all seemed pleasant but unlike the Indonesians were unimpressed by our presence and not particularly welcoming. We hiked a small way along the road on the island which was busy with motor cycles, the favoured transportation. As we walked we passed producing rubber plantations. Each tree has a small bucket attached to the trunk beneath a scored area into which rubber is dripping. It always seemed quite gelatinous and I am not sure if it is more liquid at different times of the day. We watched one family mixing it in an old washing machine like apparatus, running it through a hand wringer and laying the resulting mats over a line to dry. We were told that it is mixed with acid to solidify it. Our next stop was on the east coast of Ko Lanta, a long narrow island with beautiful white sandy beaches on the eastern side. We rented a motor cycle for the day and toured the island. Old Town on the west was quiet and quaint but the east was one resort after another. We were glad that we had picked a southern anchorage as the north was touristier. Once again Europeans made up the bulk of the tourists and the Swedish flag was flown along with numerous Swedish restaurants. We did succumb to a French Patisserie for our coffee and croissant fix on our way back to the boat. We both enjoyed a Thai massage for $12—might as well enjoy what is offered where we are!! Definite highlights in Thailand are the food and massages. We still find that many items offered on the menu are “finish” as opposed to “no have” in Malaysia. Our next stop was to Phi Phi Le which we had been warned was one of the most touristy of all but we felt the need to see for ourselves. The warnings were true but we managed to find a mooring buoy later in the afternoon—cruiser wisdom is to arrive later in the afternoon as the tour boats leave and leave in the morning before they all arrive again. The lagoon was the one famed by the Leon De Caprio movie of The Beach—we have not seen it but it is certainly a stunning backdrop for any movie. We had yet one more happy hour on the boat with Just Magic and early the next morning did a tour in the dingy around the bay enjoying the spectacular karst formations all around. We left as the tour boats arrived and motored around the coast to another inlet which is featured on the brochures. We were able to take a buoy there and go into the spectacular lagoon before most of the boats arrived. This area must have been wonderful 20 years ago!! Further up the coast are the men who harvest the birds nests from the cliffs—they have not discovered the advantage of building “bird hotels” as in Kumai. Our next anchorage was once again only done so we could say we have “been there done that” on the busy island of Phi Phi Don. This is backpacker central and we went ashore to find rows of tourist shops offering dive trips, food, drink, massages and trinkets. Queues of tourists were going on tourist snorkel boats into the harbour—one came out every couple of hours close to where we were anchored for an hour of snorkelling with a hundred or more snorkellers at a time. We did jump in to see if it was worth it but the most rewarding part was cooling off in the sea—which I am sure if you were staying on the island you would be thankful for!! I did have a manicure and pedicure and Ken yet one more massage before heading back to the sanctuary of Cop Out. We are now headed into Ao Chalong which is where we will check into Thailand and spend a few days stocking up and orienting ourselves for the rest of our Thailand cruising season. We have been warned that this town is one of many “girly” bars where old white men come to pick up young Thai girls for a night—or week—so will not stay long. I do not want to make this sound all bad as we understand we will be able to find anchorages where the tourists do not go and it is spectacularly beautiful. On the east coast up toward the Myanmar border the diving is meant to be great so we will go there also. We hope to get some interior woodwork done on the boat here as prices and quality are good and will look into having new sails made as well.

special friends

 

 

Haka or soccer?

 

 

Family and Chinese New year dragon

 

 

 

 

 

cricket Wellington style--the sofa thing would be tempting in a Firebirds game!!!

 

 

 

Wellington once again--a favorite city

 

 

 

 

 

Wellington once again

We experienced our first Air Asia flights to Kuala Lumpur and then on to Christchurch. The flights are cheap but you are nickel and dimed to death after the booking so need to be sure how much baggage you want to carry and if you would like to eat or drink ANYTHING on the way—even water is charged for. Despite that we managed to get to Christchurch without issue and then on to Wellington unaffected by earthquakes. We were met by Kristen and the kids and it was lovely to see them all again. We stayed at Lynda, my sister’s as they were away in Europe—unlike us they like to find cold weather on their holidays!! Sven, my nephew generously had a car available for us so life was easy. We spent the next few weeks visiting my mom and the rest of my family. My mom other than her mobility, which continues to slowly decline, is mentally alert and happy. She has mastered the kindle I had bought her so I was able to load on a pile of new books that I had bought for her. We had dinner with Anne and Harvey several times and it was good to catch up with them. We also enjoyed a visit from Devala and Mike from Sea Rover who came over from the Sounds to visit us while we were there. We had a great day touring the wineries of the Wairarapa after having introduced them to our favourite meat pie shop. Kristen and Kyle took the opportunity to take a few days in Queenstown and we made the most of being Nana and Papa again. It is definitely what we miss most with our lifestyle and will be the biggest factor in deciding to finish our cruising. We enjoyed typical Wellington activities, the cable car, botanic gardens and the waterfront which continues to impress us with the energy it offers. Ken went to another cricket game with Kyle and Grayson to see yet another woeful display by the Wellington Firebirds. It was overshadowed by Grayson along with the other kids who were all encouraged to go onto the field at half time to develop a new generation of cricketers; hopefully they will have more talent than the present team. We were impressed with Adleyn and Grayson when we took them for Chinese New Year for Dim Sum as they ate well although the dragons seemed to scare Adelyn a little. Grayson has worked on his haka since watching the impressive display during the world cup and it was hard not to laugh when he seriously would perform for anyone interested—he would instruct us not to laugh which made it even more difficult not too. He is sports crazy and needed to change his clothing regularly in order to look the part in whatever sport he was playing at the time. We had taken several “Rooney” shirts which added to his soccer wardrobe. Adelyn is amazing to have a conversation with and once you are finished with the negotiating is very mature and bright. All too soon it was time to leave again and return to Cop Out in Malaysia and ready to sail to Thailand where we will spend the next several months.

High in the sky

 

 

 

 

Birds and snakes and other animals

 

 

 

 

 

Fun in the sun

 

 

 

 

Carols and the tree

 

 

Xmas at Rebak Marina, Langkawi

We were happy to greet Dave, Maya, Arianne, Alex and Chris at Lankawi airport and bring them on to Rebak Island and find space for everyone. Despite the room we have on Cop Out seven of us made for a crowded boat!! We had waited for them to help decorate the tree which we hung high off the back of the boat anticipating damage control from18 month old Christopher. Cop Out looked very festive as along with many of the other boats in the marina we had hung lights along the boom. The marina is renowned for the Xmas season and despite being in the centre of a very Muslim world festivities abound. Even the stores play Xmas music as Muslim women complete with head coverings bag your purchases. Many cruisers make a point of being at this marina for the celebrations and many are joined by their families here. Carol singing, story telling and poems from talented cruisers was the lovely Xmas Eve tradition where all of the families joined together. This was followed by a pot luck which in true cruiser fashion surpassed expectations. It was a magical place to share with our family. Xmas morning was fun with Arianne and Alex opening the many little gifts we had collected and it was followed by a great lunch put on by the resort. The lovely pool area became the focus of the next week here and Arianne made a great friend with 9 year old Nina from Mojoombo—Australian, if the name does not give it away!! The two of them swam and played together for hours. We had worried about Alex—now 4—but he has a very easy going personality and was a delight happy to spend all day floating around the pool. Poor Maya spent a lot of her time off the boat with Chris as our boat is not childproofed for an 18month old!! He could see all kinds of knobs, buttons and many other things at his level which he could destroy. Unfortunately Dave was in the midst of launching a new Nike product which had been delayed so spent a lot of time on the computer and phone trying to manage the 15 engineers he has working for him in China and the US. He was able to spend some family time with the kids each day with the pool being everyone’s salvation. It was time to explore some of Langkawi so we rented two cars from Mr Din—these were $13 each for the day and as the best were already taken we got the worst!! We had Arianne in our red one—she chose it because of the great colour—note for future—NEVER choose a car by colour alone!! The rule is that you get one of his cars, no questions asked he hands you the key when you give him the money and then you drive to the gas station to put your $3 or $4 of fuel in which will last you the day. This time a previous cruiser had judged how much to put in perfectly and ours was out of fuel by the end of the drive way!! Mr Din had left so now we waited 30 minutes in 33C temperatures for him to return with a litre of fuel. Meanwhile Chris being a typical little boy practiced his driving skills. Once again we were on our way with the inside panel of Ariannes door almost on her lap as we drove to the Oriental Village and cable car. The village was set up for kids with a petting zoo, little cars, pony rides and huge pythons which they would wrap around your neck. We took the cable car which has one of the steepest pitches of any cable cars in the world which was quite spectacular. We returned to the cars at the end of the day to find that Chris had managed to turn on the headlights which we hadn’t noticed and a flat battery added to our “hire car” entertainment!! Another few days were spent around the pool until it was time for another “off island trip” for my birthday—oh no not one more birthday! This time we opted to drive to the mangrove area where we did a boat tour to the bat caves, fish farm and eagle feeding. The kids loved the dark caves with hundreds of bats and monkeys walking around. Arianne fed the stingrays and Alex loved the spitting archer fish. They can spit 3 metres to knock food from trees and will spit at your finger if they perceive it to be a possible food source. As we travelled on they put food in the water and the beautiful eagles swooped to feed. Next stop was Bird Paradise which also is set up for families where they sell you bags of food for the birds and animals as you visit them which the kids loved. After Alex had innocently mentioned that he could not wait for Nana’s party and cake we—realised that we needed to buy a cake. We stopped at a bakery where only individual cheesecakes were available so everyone was able to choose their flavour. They came with candles and as the lady was trying to sort out six, one for each cheesecake Ken suggested we bought the package of 10. In true Malay fashion we were told “no can do” as apparently you get a free one with each cake and if you want more you have to go to the candle shop. We no longer question the entrepreneurial spirit of the Malays so settled for the 6 as I no longer want to count the real number I need anyway!! The last few days of their visit was spent once again at the marina pool with Arianne asking us why we would ever want to leave here!!---as we look around at the palm trees and beach I can see her point. On New Years Eve sadly it was time for them to return home and we dropped them at the airport hopefully with the memories of a special Xmas. We treasured sharing Xmas with some of our wonderful grandchildren, something which our lifestyle has not allowed. When we return to “normal life” it will be a compensating factor. The marina put on a cruiser dinner for New Years Eve which was fun. They had the tradition a little confused with one of the highlights along with the strings of huge noisy banger fireworks was the “cake cutting” at midnight????? They do not drink and although encouraged us to bring our own liquor seemed to think they should do more and somehow thought a cake would suffice. One of the European cruisers wanted everyone to waltz to Strauss also so we bravely waltzed to Strauss and banging fireworks!!!—such are the making of memories!! We have now recovered from the busy season and most of the other cruisers are heading north to Thailand. We are readying ourselves for our New Zealand trip to visit my mom and Kristen and her family next week and will head to Thailand after our return.