Monday 30 June 2014

1st July - MacBook Air fixed - Kudat


Tuesday 1st July

Yesterday morning Pete and I spent a few hours struggling with our computers in the mercifully cool room provided by the yacht club.  We were hunched over our machines, with furrowed brows, and I thought we looked just too miserable for words.  I unfurled my iPad, turned it to selfie mode, scooted up next to Pete and made him laugh…



In the early afternoon we rode our trusty bikes
into Kudat, about five kilometres from the marina.  It is a small town, with a new(ish) area


and an old(ish) precinct. 

Not one of my better photos...
The best discovery for me was a competent young bloke in one of the Celcom shops… I left my little MacBook Air with him for a few hours, and when I came back – voila!  All sorted; I can use it again on the internet.  Oh the joy, the relief! 

Karaoke is BIG in Borneo
Recently we were chatting to some of the other people on the rally.  They are very deeply suspicious of the people here in Borneo.  They are, apparently, just looking for ways to rip us off.  They had a few examples of this.  For example, the marina office has asked for a 800 ringgit deposit from each boat.  This is a very big sum – about $265.  But…it is fully refunded after only a few days here, and maybe, just maybe, the office will make a few ringgits in interest on the sum.  We didn’t really think this was too egregious… But our new friends are highly incensed and have refused to tie up at the marina.  Instead they are tethered to the stone walls just outside the marina, rocking and rolling next to a whole lot of other boats which may or may not crush their small yacht.  So, bearing this in mind, how much would my young computer-fixer have wanted, for saving my little MacBook from cyberspace isolation??  Well I took out my wallet and he recoiled, saying NO NO!  Not necessary!  I hardly did anything!  I really wanted to give him 50 ringgits (approx. $16 but he was horrified, and very reluctantly accepted…5 ringgits… So much for being ripped off by the locals…


The best thing for Pete, in Kudat, was finding a small, narrow shop which sells bread supplies.  We have run out of bread flour and it is a very sad and sorry state of affairs… I have been making pancakes, and trying to make fascinating breakfast with Ryvita, but we both miss the lovely sourdough loaves Pete has been producing so competently.

Mum, Dad and Mohammed Ryan
The little family in the bread shop were very earnest and helpful.  This little toddler spends his days in there, I gather, unravelling this and that, trying to get his hands in the flour bags.  His mother and father are endlessly kind and patient.  I asked his name, and it is, of course, Mohammed.  But…his middle name is: Ryan!  And that is what they call him.  A very modern boy.

It is Ramadan and no Muslims can eat or drink, not even a drop of water, between dawn and 6.30pm.  It doesn’t finish until July 27th.  I feel surges of panic on their behalf – I drink gallons of water all day long and am convinced I would be gasping on my deathbed if I didn’t have a constant supply at my fingertips.  But our cheery new friend in Immigration said it is very good, he enjoys the fast – it cleans out his system.  Mind you I think that between 630pm and midnight there is a LOT of eating and drinking, to make up for the long hot empty day.



While Pete went into Customs (yes we had to do the rounds of Customs, Immigration, Harbour Master, Quarantine, yet again.  And we will have to go back to check out in few days) I wandered over the a building where a few ladies were industriously sewing shroud-like garments at little tables under the shade.  I asked if I could take photos, and they immediately straightened up and started sewing really FAST.



A handsome young schoolboy felt the need to be included in the photo of his mother, and I noticed that just about every child just has to show two fingers, when being photographed.


A mother and her children were watching, and were very happy to be photographed as well.  And look – the little girl has her two fingers up as well…

The night before last we went to dinner at the nearby golf club with our Irish friends, Myra and Porric (SV Saol Eile)

Porric and Myra - Sailors Extraordinaires!
along with Rob (SV Jolie Brise) and the Jackster-ites, Dave and Jacqui.  It was a great evening – the Irish and the Brits are very funny, full of jokes and bonhomie.  But…the food was just awful.  I took a photo of Rob and Pete….

Not so joyful, these diners...
They had both ordered some sort of lamb, Malaysian style, and just look how much they are NOT enjoying it.  I heard Pete later telling George and Lies (SV Isis, Holland,) that they should order this meal because it would meet their vegetarian needs...

Last night we had drinks with Rob on Jolie Brise and it seemed like a good idea for me to go and prepare a meal for us all, on 2XS.  I created a delicious feast, with leftover chilli, fried onions and aubergine.  It all looked too pretty for words in our lovely new Langkawi bowls.  I put the three bowls on a stylish white plastic tray and…as soon as I had stepped out of the cabin…

Splash!
and

Slop!
Oh deary me… Pride goes before a fall…

This morning I took a photo of our new aubergines, because they are so very pretty, and they look just lovely with oranges, lemons, limes and…green mangoes… The mangoes have been exiled; they are not allowed inside the boat because they smell like durian.  Pete bought them at a fruit stall in Kudat and only realised when they were in his pack that the fruit lady had been cutting up huge durians right next to the mangoes.  


Durian smell is all-pervasive..


Saturday 28 June 2014

29th June - safe in Kudat marina - gmail not working - computer not working - much anger re hackers

Sunday 29th June

We are quite safe in the slightly rickety marina in Kudat.

The boats opposite 2XS, in the sunset
But I am full of RAGE....

My computer seems to be completely compromised.  The hacker virus, or whatever it is, has made my gmail inaccessible.  Also I can only access this blog via my ipad...better than nothing I suppose.

Any suggestions??

PM

It would seem I can do my blog on Pete's new computer...

I am going to try to download a photo, just to make sure.

Fingers crossed...


The photos have arrived intact; my rage is abating...

We had a chat to Patrick, from SV Labarque, about the gmail fiasco.  I just happened to mention that gmail had written me an urgent email asking me to update my info...date of birth, password, recently.  he said...oh dear...that he hadn't had this request.   So yes it is my own silly fault for being sucked in by the scamming hackers...I sent them my password like such an obedient little nitwitty FOOL!!

The marina café is very...shall we say...casual.  Yesterday I had a lovely glass of iced lemon tea.  I asked if I could have one today and the lovely café manager said no because...the coffee machine isn't working today....

Friday 27 June 2014

27th June - Kota Kinabalu to Pulau Gaya - around the tip of Borneo - STORM


Friday 27th June

Mt Kinabalu making a brief appearance
Yes I know it is Saturday 28th… but I wrote a blogbit for Friday 27th and will post it now; Saturday will come later in the day…

It is 7.30pm and we have just anchored, very happily, just around the northern tip of Borneo.  It is reasonably calm and sheltered and we are SO relieved…around the other side it was a maelstrom…

We left Gaya Island this morning, expecting to get to Mantonini Island by early afternoon, so that e could have a lovely Borneo Afternoon, involving snorkeling, fish, coral, maybe a soothing cup of tea, for me, and maybe a bit of reading, boatmending, and beer, for Pete.

At 1.00 I was just about to go below to heat up our leftover chicken curry when Pete glanced across at the previously peaceful horizon to see HUGE black storm clouds, heading our way very rapidly.  Action stations!  We had to pull down our poor vulnerable shade tarpaulins, furl the sail, and thrust every single moveable item off the deck and into the cabin.  Pronto!  I don’t know how long it took for the storm to pass over 2XS, but it seemed interminable, with big black waves bearing down upon us for the south west, and a fierce wind.  We looked across at our longed-for destination, with its beautiful coral reef, and shook our heads – no shelter from south west winds there… Onward!

2XS was the Hero Of The Day!  Huge waves, a significant storm, big wind…and we just bobbed along nicely…

I didn’t get photos of the big storm; couldn’t risk taking my camera outside.  But I did get some of the next, milder storm, which passed overhead. 



There are three boats in this anchorage – Out of the Blue II, Zoa, and now 2XS, while on the other side are our friends on other rally boats… I fear they will have a very uncomfortable rock & roll night…

As we left Kota Kinabalu for Pulau Gaya, only three nautical miles away, on Wednesday afternoon, I was in a mild panic.  I had just discovered (thank you for the textmessage, Tim…) that my gmail account had been hacked and that everybody on my contacts list (I collect email addresses and have HUNDREDS of contacts…) had been asked for $1500… But I did look up from my computer, where I was frantically trying to get a new gmail password, and saw – a glimpse of Gunung Kinabalu!

We had spent the morning in town, with Rob (SV Jolie Brise, Melbourne.)  He and Pete spent very happy times in Pete’s new spiritual home…



I looked at shops full of plastic flowers



while they were thrilled to bits to find a turning bolt for Rob’s boat…

HappyBoys
In the nearby big shopping centre, where Pete had to wait to pick up his new glasses from our lovely optometrist, I idly looked at the clothes shops.  Yes I do need the odd item; my sailing clothes get sadly battered and tattered…  But I did not want to dress like an Amish lady, nor like a Mormon sisterwife…


and the alternative seemed mildly skanky-ho…


and…it is MUCH too hot for me to be swathed like a Muslim lady….


But I did spend up big – a new printer/scanner/copier… Pete and I each have one , on the boat, and neither of them work… These printers are excessively cheap but…they don’t last long.  And they are a necessity – we are forever having to provide multiple photocopies of our passports, crew list, boat registration, insurance papers etc etc.  As I have said before, we are leaving a WIDE paper-trail…

I also spent up big on internet top-up in the Maxis shop.  My enthusiastic young salespeople were SO happy to be of help…


I got 100 ringgits worth of gigabytes ($34) which was apparently AWESOME!  and AMAZING!!  And there were so many variables my fillings began to throb…If I use the internet between midnight and 8am, something magic happens… and I have internet for 1 ringgit per day for 100 days but after one month something else (magic??) happens which I don’t fully I understand and there is 79 ringgits worth of something or another leftover which has to be topped up…or not….AAGGHH!  But they were so nice, so keen to help, that I stopped even trying to understand what I was buying with my 100 ringgits.

A moment to reflect upon Tilley Hats… Pete’s first hat fell apart completely and was replaced by the wonderful Tilley company.  They requested $20 for postage and a reasonable explanation of what had happened, and a shiny new hat arrived quick smart.  But Pete has held onto the remnants of the old, beloved, hat.  In his spare time he has been diligently stitching away and now…Voila! 


I am mightily impressed!  It is very hard to stitch through the many layers of tough fabric, but, with the aid of a big thimble arrangement and a ball of twine, he did it!

I think this is a lovely pic.  You can see the mended hat, the shiny new glasses, the happy man.  But Pete said, when he saw the photo…Oh no…I look thin, gaunt and old…NOTHING OF THE SORT!!

Wednesday 25 June 2014

26th June - FRAUD, so embarrassing


Thursday 26th June

NOT HAPPY…

My gmail account was infiltrated yesterday and some very nasty person has written to EVERYONE on my contacts list to ask for money…quite plausibly… I am mightily embarrassed.  It has taken me many hours to get my gmail account, and this blog, reinstated, with a new password and I just want to apologise to everyone for any worry and annoyance this has caused.

My gmail account is now, I am fascinated to see, in Arabic…I am having trouble finding the correct setting to change it back because…it is all back to front…

Some small Borneo cakes to cheer me up

Tuesday 24 June 2014

24th June - Sutera Harbour anchorage - Kota Kinabalu (Sabah) - Pete goes shopping


Tuesday 24th June

Kota Kinabalu waterfront
Mt Kinabalu is 4094 metres high.  That is VERY high!  There is sometimes snow at the top…I don’t know that we will have time or energy to climb to the top but we are very keen to have a bit of a look.  So far…it is shrouded in cloud, but locals assure us that it is right there, quite visible behind the hotels and shopping malls of Kota Kinabalu.

Sunset over Sutera Harbour marina (no photos yet of Mt Kinabalu...)
We took a bus into town at midday.  Pete spent the long hot morning struggling to remove a broken rope clutch; the one which we use just about every day because it locks the furling rope for the headsail.  We have ordered a new one from the Rutgerson agent in Brisbane; we hope they will send it to John in Hobart who will bring it to 2XS in Sandakhan, on July 17th.

So cute
I was fascinated by the fish sculptures in the streets.  Some more aesthetically pleasing to me than others…

So big
The shops in the city centre provided satisfactory experiences for both Pete and me.  I have been very annoyed with my cheap-o reading glasses, which keep breaking (or disappearing…)   As well as that I am sure the poor quality lenses are giving me more headaches than I need to have.  In the Merdekah centre, Pete pointed out an optometrist, just inside the door.  How long would it take to make me new glasses? 

So competent
Half an hour, thank you very much…

The optometrist was cheerful and competent.  He and Petwe whizzed about thirty different frames past my startled eyes and we all very quickly settled upon some strong, comfortable frames which are black and pink – what’s not to like??  They cost 260 ringgits (about $85.)

Yes i know I look slightly crazed...but I was trying to get Pete to aim the iPhone camera the right way...and he was trying to get me to show the flower side-arms of the glasses
But the happiest shopper of all was…

Happy Pete
Our Pete found several shops which just about met his every need.  (Well not a Rutgerson Rope Clutch…but a floating bilge switch, and some stretchy stuff which he can turn into occy straps, for a start.)


We went back to the marina area and sat in the enormous resort lobby (Sutera Magellan) to use the WiFi.  There are three lavish swimming pools in the complex…

One of the pools
Sabah is going all out to be a BIG player in global tourism.

We have not yet seen any of the fabled Sabah wildlife, but there are dear little pigeons, as tame as can be, around the marina.



On the way back, finally, to the boat, we stopped at the marina bar, where Pete introduced Rob to his favourite cocktail – Long Island Tea.  We stayed and had dinner, which was all very nice BUT oh dear we got so bitten…mosquitoes and sandflies, out in force, completely ignoring the coil burning bravely under the table.  We were SO silly to leave 2XS without a good supply of aerogard in my backpack.)

Rob (SV Jolie Brise); Pete (SV 2XS)