sailing2xs: 10th March - Rebak marina days

Monday 10^th March

Something happened to yesterday.

Maybe my brain melted??

Rhinoceros hornbill - how fabulous!

I managed to achieve a lovely line of washing, seen here through the cabin windows. Why is a line of washing, gently flapping in the sun, so very satisfying? At least six people walked past me while I was scrubbing away in my big black tub, on the pontoon, and they all seemed to share in my joy at this very mundane task. Marina life is very communal...

Other than that, Pete and I went to the mainland on the 11am ferry. We managed to get the last Mr Din car in captivity on the other shore, thwarting several other yachties who hadn’t thought to ring Mr Din on the way. Proof of my melting brain- I didn’t; get a photo, to add to my Mr DinCar collection! Suffice it to say it was very small, reddish, and worked perfectly well except for a loud squeal in the fanbelt area. It also seemed very scared of carjackers and locked all doors every time Pete turned the key. I think this is a MUCH better strategy than Pete’s own Tasmanian car, his beautiful WRX, which is also terrified of carjackers but which responds to any threat* by…shutting down all systems.

I am now looking at every aspect of Langkawi with anxious eyes – soon, in just over a month (April 19^th – hurry on down!!), four of my very loved Tasmanian family members** will be here. So I keep saying to Pete, Do you think those buildings look authentic? Or, Please drive up over that hill and let’s see if there are any monkeys. I SO want them to have THE BEST holiday…

Hamish Nicky Gavin

We didn’t need to do very many chores in Kuah. First on the list was – get our phone and modem (me) and dongle (Pete) up and running for Malaysia, after all those weeks in Thailand. Pete made a brilliant policy decision and went to a small shop on the outskirts, instead of to the ferry terminal centre, which is where I always do these tasks. Bliss! A lovely young Chinese man who knew his stuff. He was methodical, polite, knowledgeable… I think I have a whole collection of similar young chaps, over the past many many months… I am so grateful to them all for steering Pete and me through the shoals of cyberspace.

My other need was for stamps, and postcards. Fortuitously there was a shop right next door to Mr Cyberspace which sold both. The young checkout chick was just delightful, and she was highly amused to give me my docket… Her cash register*** was not able to multiply 70 ringgits by 21 (postcards) or 50 ringgits by 21 (stamps.) I took a photo of it, next to – oh dear – Pete’s Tilley hat after a gentle soak in soapy water… He still prefers to wear this hat; doesn’t want to make the new one festy… But deary me I think the old one has completely had it; my fingers went right through the fabric before I had even though of scrubbing at the stains…

At the ferry terminal I talked to a girl we had noticed at the resort the night before. Pete was fascinated by her legs. He thought she had copious tattoos:**** I thought it was henna. And yes indeed – she had henna designs all over her arms and legs, so beautiful! She and her husband were on honeymoon, from Delhi.

*A threat can be as simple as the driver getting out at Hill Street Grocer to buy some cheese and some cherries and then…getting back in the car…SCARY!! Lockdown immediately!!

** Nicky, Gavin, Hamish, Angus