The retiring President--much more accessible than in Indonesia!!

 

Once parked it is shopping, shopping, shopping!!

 

scratching parking coupons

 

Oriental Pied Hornbills--common on Rebak

 

 

Veg run

 

Rebak Island, Langkawi

We finally had wind to sail our last leg up the Malaysian coast to Pulau (Island) Langkawi and reached the beautiful island of Rebak. This area is the start of the karst topography of limestone cliffs which extend north along the coast of Northern Malaysia and Thailand. The rugged peaks covered in lush green vegetation arise dramatically from the ocean and are quite spectacular. The Sultan of this region has been ruling Malaysia for the last 5 years. He has declared it a duty free port and it has become a huge tourist attraction for Malays. His rule was finishing our first week here and some other regency will reap the benefits of having “their Sultan” rule for the next 5 years. We have reserved a berth alongside for two months in Rebak Marina which is in a lagoon within the island. It is owned and part of the Taj Resort which along with fancy condos has a lovely pool, restaurants, tennis court and a gym. Daily yoga and pilates classes will hopefully get my body back into shape as we live in air conditioned comfort—essential in these hot marinas. There are frequent small ferries to cross the 15 minutes to Langkawi. Fridays is the “veg man”. He brings his van to the Rebak ferry terminal on Langkawi and unloads the cases of vegs, fruit, meat, cheese and yoghurt which the cruisers quickly snap up. This is the first place since leaving Australia where “western food” is readily available. As the Caribbean is for North Americans many Australian cruisers use Langkawi as a seasonal base and alternate their year between Australia and sailing this beautiful area. It is near the Thai border and the sailing north from here is reputed to be wonderful. With the piracy in the Suez region spreading wider and wider many cruisers are faced with either shipping their boat to the Med--$50,000 for our boat—or sailing around South Africa so more and more boats are staying in this region. Unfortunately it is increasing the prices of boat work and decreasing the prices of used boats. Upon arrival we went to the final dinner for the Malaysia rally at a nearby resort. They had put on a lavish spread but unfortunately a seasonal monsoon literally put a damper on the festivities and it became an “eat and run” occasion. The next day was an open day at Rebak and we were able to bid a final farewell to many friends who had left Darwin with us and are readying to travel in divergent directions. Ken was in seventh heaven as there is a huge military air and marine show held every two years which was starting as we arrived. This meant that there was a constant flow of fighter planes flying in formation and doing loops right above us at the marina. Mr Din runs the car rental where for between $13 and $20 you can rent a car for the day. He meets our ferries and you hand him the cash and he hands you the keys and instructs you to leave it unlocked with the key under the mat when you return. We had reserved a car to pick up Ken and Tracy Calderwood (from Calgary) who were arriving on the ferry from Penang. We lucked out and got a great minivan which we drove as instructed directly to the service station to purchase the $5 of fuel we would need for our day!! We drove the 20 minutes to the ferry terminal where we purchased one of the scratch cards used as a parking ticket all over town. The system allows you to scratch either, 20 minutes for 6 cents, or 1 hour for 20 cents. If you want to park for a long time you scratch as many as you need. We met Tracy and Ken and realised the duty free attraction of Langkawi. We were excited to find a chocolate shop with all kinds of imported chocolates and liquor at amazingly low prices. As we walked the area we realized that there are dozens of similar shops with the same prices. The next few days were filled with a combination of enjoying the pool and gym at Rebak alternating with shopping trips. A huge craft exhibition was being held where we found some wonderful hand painted wall hangings. Tracy found some great jewellery and Ken found yet another knife—not hard to guess which “Ken” that was!!! Mr Din’s cars did not all live up to the standard we had lucked out with our first vehicle and it was a dash from the small ferry taking us to Langkawi to try and pick the “best car”. Ken spent a great day at the air show where you could purchase anything from fighter planes to missiles—luckily his visa card does not go to the billions required for such purchases. Tracy and I had fun finding $17 dresses and I will now be able to throw away some of my well worn “boat dresses”. This area is very Muslim and alcohol is not served in many restauarants but with perseverance we found one of the few restaurants which sold beer with food—a must for Ken C. We wanted to take Tracy and Ken for a few days sailing amongst the many beautiful islands. Our first stop was at Telaga Marina for fuel—marina fuel here is 90 cents a litre rather than the 65 cents we have been used to so will have to find a better way in future---The outer harbour was windy enough for pleasant anchorage and we went ashore to choose from the string of different ethnic restaurants—this is a yachtie strip so all restaurants serve beer. We opted for a Russian restaurant—odd choice in this part of the world but the food was good and a pleasant change from Asian. The next day after a bakery stop we set off with windy conditions to another pretty anchorage. The following day we sailed to an island which apparently has the best snorkelling in the area. We had great sailing conditions and were doing 8 knots for the 20 miles out there. Unfortunately great sailing conditions do not translate into great snorkelling conditions so we turned and had an equally fast 20 mile sail back. We hiked to the Lake of the Pregnant Maiden which is frequented by tourists who trek in to swim in the lake. We had a quick swim being sure that we did not swallow any of the questionable water and returned to the boat and sailed back to Rebak. One last shopping day and one more day hanging around the pool and it was time to take Tracy and Ken to the ferry for their return to Penang. We enjoyed having them with us and sharing our lifestyle—they were great company and left us with a huge amount of alcohol—we will have to lie our way through customs for the next few years—or drink quickly!!! We are settling into “marina life”, several musical evenings entertained by cruisers more talented than ourselves and we are adding more lights to celebrate the festive season. Dave and family will arrive later this week and we look forward to a “real family” Xmas.

Georgetown and the causeway connecting Penang to the mainland--will we fit under?---whew made it!!

 

 

Cultural Georgetown

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Streets of Georgetown

 

 

 

 

Baba Nonya mansion--including opium bed

 

 

 

 

 

British Colonialism

 

 

Little India--- Bollywood

 

 

 

fruit bats and fruit shopping, chestnuts, won ton wrappers and cleaning up--no electric dishwasher here!!

 

 

 

 

 

Jerejak anchorage

 

 

 

 

Penang

We left Pankor with a rebuilt windlass motor to travel the 15 miles to the first anchorage which would then allow an easy day sail the next day to the island of Penang. We dropped the anchor to find that it would not drop properly or pull up again—aaagh!!! We made the most difficult but only sensible decision to motor back early the following morning and have the mechanic look at it again. After adjusting the height of the spline which he had not tested adequately we were ready to head off once again. We wanted to make the rally tour and dinner so motored overnight to arrive at Jerejak Island anchorage at dawn. We actually had a few hours of sailing which was a rare treat. The tour turned out to be a visit to a shipyard—not a great attraction to cruisers but they were the sponsors so were promoting their yard as a place we may have work done in the future on our boats. The outdoor War Museum was next on the agenda and this was as one may expect a sobering experience. The Japanese bombed Penang in December 1941 and with 30,000 invading troupes the British surrendered their 100,000 in a day. No Japanese lives were lost and it is hard for us to conceive this easy defeat—I suspect the Japanese may have wondered why there was no resistance. The British forces and the local people were then subjected to horrific torture by the cruel Japanese forces until the atom bombs were dropped in Japan and they surrendered. Many Japanese generals were held accountable and were put on trial and found guilty of war crimes. The day ended with a dinner at a local Malay restaurant which although was not a memorable meal it was nice to connect once again to the rally crews who at this time are spreading further apart. Over the next two days we wandered the streets of Georgetown. As in most of Malaysia the history and culture are evident in the streets. Once again we see the magnificent colonial buildings alongside narrow streets where the different ethnic cultures live to this day. The unique Baba Nonya culture developed when Chinese migrants intermarried with the Malay women and formed a distinct language and food. Many of these people appeared to be extremely wealthy and we visited a mansion which displayed the magnificent art and crafted furniture of the time. Now they are becoming more aligned with their Chinese heritage and appear ambitious and well educated. Malaysia prides itself on their multicultural and tolerant society but we getting the feeling that all is not well under the façade. The country was formed by joining twelve regencies each with its own Sultan who agreed to form the country of Malaysia. Each Sultan has a 5 year term and it then transfers to another Sultan. It is a hereditary position only a Malay Muslim can hold power. This means that the industrious Chinese and Indians feel they work very hard but have no power and we heard stories of resentment from both of these races. Recently 300,000 educated migrants left to find opportunities in the western world and 95% of these are Chinese. We heard comments saying that even though the government purports to hold the teaching of English in math and science they important they “talk the talk” but do not “walk the walk”. English was the official language before the British gave independence but with the concern that their own language would be lost a generation of young people had almost no English language skills. Realising that this would be an international disadvantage the government has promised to change this. It appears it is not being followed through and many people are resorting to private education for their children. Both the education system and the health system seem to surpass any other country we have visited other than our “western world” it would be sad if they continue to lose their brightest and best. We did enjoy our short stay in Penang and will spend more time as we retrace our steps on our return voyage next April. Our last stop on our northern journey will be at Rebak Marina in Langkawi near the Thai border and we will be happy to finally stop a while and smell the roses—well frangipanis anyway!!! There we will be joined by Ken and Tracy from Calgary and Dave and family will be coming from Hong Kong for Xmas.