Saturday 30 November 2013

1st December #2 - Pangkor Marina dinner

Sunday 1st December - #2 Pangkor Marina dinner



We will probably leave today and do a short-ish hop along the way to Penang.  We can then leave at 6.30 twelve nautical miles into the journey and catch the tide - much easier than doing the 70-odd miles in one straight run from the marina.  

Last night at dusk there was a wedding party on the edge of the water.  I haven’t seen a Muslim wedding before; they do look wonderful, in their matching silver-grey outfits, don’t they?



How is the dinghy – a burning question… Not good.  It is deflated again, even after its new fancy-schmancy glue.  But if you want to know how is the bilge pump – great!  All fixed!  And the new fan is a wonderful addition.  Pete, although he is still coughing and snuffling a bit, is much less tired, more relaxed, than he has been for a long time.  We have both very much enjoyed our Pangkor Time.

We both have shorter hair - Pete finally got the all-over clipper treatment from me yesterday morning
Dinner was great fun.  A few marquees were erected right at the top of our gangway – this made it very easy to slip back to the boat whenever necessary.  It had been raining so the ground was all sandy and sodden.  I haven’t managed to get to the massage place above the marina offices; I got one last night, dancing in the gritty wet sand!

Chantal and Fredy - Micromegas left early this morning; next time we see them,
they are making a Swiss cheese fondue for us!
There was red wine, beer, rice, pasta and a few saucey dishes.  And…much dancing and laughter.

Peter and Kathy (SV Kittani) were at the next table
I did the Macarena with Etienette, newly arrived from France.  I also danced with Paul, Brian, Denis and the lovely young bloke who works in security at the edge of the marina and who gave me a ride on his motorbike the other day because he thought I would get too hot walking back the 200metres from the office.

Denis and Etienette
Pete danced with Chantal, with me, with Irina, with beautiful Kristina from the office.

Pete and Chantal, Cecilie and John
We always enjoy being with John and Irina (SV Footloose).

John, Irina, Chantal
John didn’t realise we are from Tasmania.  His face lit up and he said that he decided he wanted to buy a boat and go cruising at the very moment he looked down at glorious Wineglass Bay after walking up to The Saddle.  He saw two yachts anchored in the sparkling turquoise water, with two little tenders making their way to the curving white beach, and thought – that is for me!!

Jason and Karen (SV Yolo, USA) dancing in the dark
And the whole proceedings were supervised by our lovely friend John the MarinaCat.  He kept as close as possible to Chantal…she doesn’t like cats; they always know, don’t they?


1st December - shopping in Sitiawan


Sunday 1st December



Yesterday James Khoo and Sazli organised two buses to take all interested yachties to go on a Shopping Spree around the streets of Sitiawan (aka BirdsVille).*

The bus, as usual, was very comfortable and fitted out with much drapery



We went to not one



or two



but three



hardware shops.

Sheer blissikins for the men.  Pete came back from each shop, beaming joyfully and clutching little bags of this and that.  Nuts and bolts, plumbing connections, bits of electrical this & that.  And a nice little white light for the dinghy.  The dingy needs a consolation present…



It is up on the pontoon and Pete has lovingly pumped it full of air.  But…it is very sadly deflating as we watch… He won’t give up; on our shopping excursion he bought all manner of products designed to patch the leaks.  But I fear the leaks are many…

In amongst the hardware shops was a dear little shrine in some dear little bushes

Apart from hardware shops we also went to one big shopping mall and another big supermarket.  I bought fruit, veg, shampoo, bleach, cheese and two lovely fluffy new pillows. Our poor pillows are getting decidedly festy, what with all the moisture coming out of our heads at night.  They need a bit of a rest!

On Friday night Chantal and Fredy came for dinner.  The boat is looking extra nice, now the galley cupboards re purified, and the couch beautified with cushions.  Chantal gave me a few small ones from Micromegas, white with blue patterns, so it is all looking very schmick.  They brought nice red wine, from New Caledonia, and Pete chilled a bottle of pinot grigio, so that was all fine.  As for the food…well I managed to contrive a meal entirely from tins and packets… We were all very happy so never mind that there wasn’t one single fresh ingredients on the table…

Saturday night was our Pangkor Marina dinner – more re this later.

LegoLand Muslim mother and son

* Just as a matter of interest, our entry fee for the Malaysia Rally was something like $130.  I think that our fabulous dinner in Danga Bay, and the tour of Johor Baru, would have cost at least that much.  And since then we have had a tour of Pangkor Island in little pink buses, a wonderful seafood lunch, dinner at Port Dickson, sausages and beer for lunch here (Friday) and…as they say, MUCH MUCH MORE. 

Thursday 28 November 2013

30th November - day of domesticity at Pangkor Marina - birds nests


Saturday 30th November

Lego Land octopus
Friday was not a Day Of Rest, but it was a day of Productivity and Domesticity.

More Singapore orchids - and there are still more to come!
Pete worked away, as usual, fixing this and that, occasionally uttering cries of despair, followed, after a long silence, by sighs of relief as he battled with the soldering iron and other such tools of trade.

Pete concentrating,  as always
He achieved great things for our level of comfort aboard – for example, a new little 12 volt fan!!  Wee hee!!

Please note placement of newly-covered cushion...

strategically placed at the corner of the couches to maximize the air circulation.  Bliss!  The air even reaches down into the galley, at a pinch and a stretch of the imagination.  Most of the boats have aircon, or at least a full contingent of fans.  One of our friends told me they have NINE fans, and that she wouldn’t be able to survive without them.  We are tickled pink with our two, thus far.
Beautiful little island in Coral Bay, Pangkor Island -I  thought of this today while scrubbing cupboards...
So what did I to, to improve the shining hour?  Well …we had noticed, whenever we have people onboard for a drink, that our number of beer holders has dwindled.  Usually I am scratching to find one, let alone three or four.  I decided to have a little hunt, in the galley.  This turned into a massive spring clean of the shelves.  How satisfying!  One of the advantages of letting one’s cupboards get into a mess is that it is so very gratifying when they are all cleaned out and re-organised.  People who are always neat and tidy have my full admiration, but I also feel a bit sorry for them because they will never get this thrill of achievement…

Product placement - top right shelf, front row - Food2U relish - delicious!  Go to Hobart and buy some!
It was even more fun for me because I made some new friends… 



One of the very nice design features of 2XS is a hatch, built into the steps down to the galley.  I spend more time that you would think, gazing through the open hatch, enjoying the different colour of the water, and watching for fishy friends.  



Nearby there is a big Best Western hotel, where we are encouraged to swim in the pool, and to have a beer in the beach bar at sundowner time.


 Nobody swims from this beach, but they do play soccer.



Of course!  All over the world, wherever there is a bit of flat ground, there are boys – and in this instance, to my delight, girls – kicking a ball, very enthusiastically.

I haven’t shown any of the photos of our Team Building Games at Port Dickson yet.  Here is a sample:


You can see my contribution…standing in the background, uttering words of encouragement… I had already gone through the spider’s web of ropes, crawling swiftly through one of he lower holes…I was very keen NOT to volunteer for one of the upper gaps… I would have hated to think how many big strong men it would have taken to heave me up and through!

At lunchtime we had a few local business which sell boaty items displaying their wares over at the hard stand.  James Khoo, our kindly host, had beer, lemonade, and a sausage sizzle.  The sausages were just delicious – made locally in Lumut, by Mike, pictured here:

And very delicious they were, these sausages!  Go to Lumut and buy some!
James had brought some birds nests, for Pete to examine…


I took a number of photos.  In none of them did Pete look as if he wanted to dissolve a nest in broth and drink it...

29th November - Pangkor Marina Day


Friday 29th November

Today's Singapore Orchid
On Wednesday night Pete and I had a visit from James Khoo, the handsome and dynamic manager marina/owner, closely followed by Sazli, our Malaysian Rally Organiser par excellence. 

Pete, James Khoo, Sazli
We all sat happily enough in the dark; lights only heat up the area, and attract mosquitoes, after all.  They both very kindly said they read this blog, and that they approve of it.  I had to leave the cockpit and go downstairs to do a little happydance… Some blogs, apparently, are rather more gloomy than mine…no I won’t go into details but trust me.  Gloomy is not a good look.

The view from 2XS at night
Yesterday morning was a very happy time, once again, for me.  Well not immediately happy… First of all I had to haul buckets full of bilge water up from the bilge area under the starboard aft bunk (yes I am learning; I still do think of it as the back right bunk but…correct terminology makes Captain Pete pleased and proud!) while Pete strained away pumping up aforementioned bilgewater, with many a groan of deep misery.  The bilge pump has stopped working… Yet another thing to be fixed.  He has a bit of a sniffy coughy cold and this was not a good start to his day.

Pangkor Marina by day - 2XS is visible but only if you know where to look
After many MANY buckets had been hauled from the bilge (Pete),  lugged and tipped into the sea (me), I set to on my happy task of making cushion covers for the formerly horrid festy cushions.  They are transformed!  Chantal’s ex-sewing machine is now my shiny new toy!  I mended a few ripped items of clothing and am, as we speak, looking for more sewing projects on board.



At 10.30 I reluctantly left the machine and Pete disconsolately studying broken bits of boat and went to the next arm of the marina, where I had an appointment with kindly Gail, on SV Kularoo (Australia.)  She had offered to cut my hair, which had grown like a weed, as usual, in this hot weather.

Next adventure – an excursion with James Khoo, who was on a mission to find all of the items Pete needs to fix all of the broken things on 2XS.  I got back from Kularoo just in time to hop into the back of the car; I do like an excursion.  Even if it involves lots of this:



We went to more little shops of this type than I can remember, all around the streets of Sitiawan, and Lumut.  James was great company.  He was born on Pangkor Island and knows the area very well.  He is also a most accomplished raconteur and kept Pete and me amused, entertained and informed for many hours. 



At lunchtime he took us to a local Chinese place, cheap and cheerful, where he selected three most delicious dishes, served with big glasses of warm Chinese tea.  The very nicest thing was Chinese cabbage, steamed, with lots of garlic.  We don’t seem to need to eat dinner at all, after these large, delicious local lunches.

Pete and I were totally fascinated by what goes on in the top stories of these buildings:



Apparently until recently most of the buildings in this little town were single storey.  They now rise two, three, four storeys high, and…the windows are all sealed up, there are holes for ventilation, and small, inviting tunnels so that the most lucrative tenants of all can move in…swallows!  No worries with complaints re maintenance, or arrears in rent!


LegoLand wolves - why not??
These dear little birds fly in and industriously build their nests.  The building owners have automatic sprinklers in case it gets too dry, and fans to reduce the heat.  And all the birds have to do is build their nests, lay their eggs and look after their fledglings.  As soon as they have flown off, the nests are collected, dusted off*, and sold for a LOT of money, for birds nest soup.  Even the big imposing bank buildings only have offices on the ground floor.  All of the rest of the space is devoted to the nest enterprise.

Pete had never heard of this delicacy.  He was fascinated and appalled!


The view from my hammock on Pangkor Island...
* Bonus – the poo which is dusted off is then swept off the floor, mixed with sawdust, and sold as fertiliser.