2nd September - last morning in Kudat - off to Palawan (Philippines) with a bit of luck and a fair wind

Tuesday 2^nd September

Blue swimmer crabs at the fish market

LAST day in Kudat…for the moment…

We should be leaving today for Palawan.  We had the good fortune of meeting a French family, up on the hard stand and doing their internet stuff at the yacht club.  Two dear little kiddiewinks fishing on the dock… The little girl, five years old, gazed into my eyes and said, “On our way here we were boarded by pirates!  I didn’t feel a thing!  (Je n’ai rien senti)”

Peaceful mother and tiny baby having a nap behind their veggie stall

AAGGHH!  I rushed upstairs to check with mummy (Marie.)  She was very amused – no not pirates – they ran into a PIROGUE (a boat, not a pirate!),in Philippine waters.  Five MONTHS ago… And all is well. Marie had lots of useful info for us – eg there is no ATM on Palawan other than in Puerto Princesa.  So we had better go there FIRST!  Marie and Mr Marie (name yet to be ascertained) have been living on their boat for ten years…both children were born on the journey…Sometimes - not often enough - it is v useful that I can speak French.)

At lunchtime we made our way along the narrow country road to the restaurant Pete thought would be nice, but which was TUTUP (closed) yesterday.  An indeed it was probably the cleanest, shiniest restaurant in Malaysia!  (SK Restaurant, near the taxation offshoot office – go there!)  We were so happy not to be served nasi goring from a Maggi packetmix… Pete had seamed rice with duck and pork, which he declared to be declivous, and I had delicately poached chicken with my big mound of white rice (with chilli sauce and cucumber.  Delicious!) 

Gleaming surfaces!

There was a whole gang of giggling gerties just finishing their lunch – I think they are the CleanTeam at the restaurant.  They so wanted opt be photographed and they shriked and waved as we left.  One of them was very like the girl in the Chinese restaurant in Kudat town, who would go into paroxysms of excitement whenever Captain Pete hove into view. She was about eighteen…and she would bring Pete his beer, saying, Here you are, my love!

Pete has another admirer in Kudat town.  A few days ago we were looking for a courier service, to send a gas fitting we had inadvertently stolen from Out of the Blue II back to its rightful owner.  In one of he Chinese shops we had a whole lot of helpers, including a tiny little local woman, who was mightily impressed with Pete.  “Your face is SO red!” she said.  “It is very good!”  Yesterday there she was, at the fish market.  She was delighted that we recognised her, and that we wanted a photo of her.  She spoke good English, and said, “I will look very small in the photo.”  She looked up a Pete and said, “You have, I think, a VERY big body!”  And Pete does indeed look like a giant next to our diminutive friend.

(It is still early, not yet 8am, and we can’t leave yet for the next stage of the 2XS Adventure, because the office is still unattended.  We also have to go into town to get some money changed into pesos, just in case we have to buy anything before we get to Puerto Princesa.)

Random toddler at the market - parents VERY keen for me to take a photo