4th May - last day in Kuah - dinner in Wonderland - Langkawi to Penang (Straits Quay marina)

Sunday 4^th May

We are now in Penang, safely ensconced in cosy little Straits Quay marina, in the middle of a not-so-cosy swanky big shopping centre.

All went well along the way; the tide and currents were with us, there were very few fishing nets to trap unwary sailors, the sun shone (mercilessly…) and we set a spanking pace.

We went through a whole lot of fish attractors and fishing boats, all congregated in the one area, and then within another hour or so we were cruising into Penang.

Last night we went to Wonderland Seafood, in downtown Kuah, for a big birthday dinner – Phil the Sailor was celebrating a birthday.  Pete and I had envisaged a very quiet early night, with maybe an early snack on the cool, quiet, Yacht Club verandah but no!  It was a noisy, busy dinner, with ten of us* reunited and very happy to be so.  Our taxi driver dropped us off and said, “This is Wonderland.  It is not so wonderful,” in gloomy tones.  But in fact it was great!  Cheryl and I had steamed fish with nyonya sauce and it was just fabulous!  We sat next to each other and hugged our fake-Prada bags and I felt rich beyond my wildest imaginings because I had NOT lost my money, my visacard, my iPhone, my modem… (And because I was with Cheryl who is so very wonderful…)

Pete, BirthdayPhil, Marguerite

When we were in Billion supermarket yesterday I filled the counter with foof food FOOD.  Lots of cans, bottles (soursop** cordial - how delicious!!) cheese, apples etc etc.  Billion is reasonably modern but it is still very labour intensive, and the counter isn’t automated so the poor shop assistant has to push and lug the groceries towards the packing boy.  I filled the space as best I could until she said, slightly agitated, STOP!  Apparently I had put my baked beans in front of the scanner…

Would you have recognised this as a scanner??

We had a taxi, with a very cheery driver, to take us hither and yon.  Traffic leading away front the marina was speedy and easy; coming back the other way it was a nightmare.  It would have taken at least thirty minutes to cover the three or four kilometers.  We could have walked…but it was HOT.  Our driver had a solution – a back road!  He was an older man, luckily for us, and he told us that this narrow, winding, overgrown little road had been the main Kuah highway until 1955.  The younger drivers don’t know about it, apparently.  We were totally enchanted – old houses!  Authentic dwellings!  Right behind Billion, for heaven’s sake!

This was our very last day in Kuah; how sad if we had never seen this charming back road!

Back in Cremorne (Tasmania, Australia,) my darling Wakefield family members are playing Oh Hell…and getting ready to go back to school (all four of them!) tomorrow…I miss them so much but…I don’t think this trip down the coast of Malaysia would provide them with as many opportunities for fun and waterplay as beautiful Langkawi…

Penang is wonderful but…crowded, polluted, just a bit dirty… Straits Quay marina is clean, shiny, efficient but…no pool, no hornbills, no jungle trail…

* Adagio, Sylvia May, Kularoo, Allikat, 2XS – all five from the original Indonesian rally which left Darwin last year on July 27th

** custard apple – but isn’t soursop a wonderful word??