PENANG–a return visit

27th Oct – 10th Nov
Our first visit to Penang was on our way to Langkawi almost a year ago and it was a very quick visit. We decided to make a return trip there while we had time on our hands  and spend a couple of weeks there as Jerry had to get his suit made  and we thought we could  enjoy Penang properly while we waited.

We checked into Straits Quay Marina rather than anchor at the junk anchorage which is in the middle of Georgetown and all the action. Being at the marina meant we had to take a bus into Georgetown but we could explore the island all day without worrying about the boat dragging which happens quite often at the junk anchorage. I am not quite sure why it is called so other than at change of tide the rubbish that passes the boat is quite sad, or maybe it’s because of what people actually hook up on their anchors from the bottom?

 

 

We soon settled into Straits Quay. Its a great marina, very well run by a retired Scottish Naval Officer, John, who stands no nonsense from anyone and runs a very tight ship. This means that the marina is clean and tidy, the water is scooped each morning to remove any rubbish lurking and believe me in Malaysia there is always plenty of rubbish in the water.  The showers, toilets and laundry are pristine clean and a pleasure to use. Its location is not so convenient as the junk anchorage but Tesco's is 5 mins walk as is the 101 bus into Komtar, the centre of Georgetown. The marina itself has some very nice shops and restaurants and locals and expats often walk the boardwalk admiring all the boats in the marina. So we are asked by management to keep our boats looking tidy at all times!

Our first task here was to get Jerry measured up for his suit. We looked at a few tailors and prices varied from MYR 2800 down to as little as MYR 200 ($1000 – $71) ! We settled on using the DeePee Tailors at Straits Quay as he was highly recommended and close by for fittings. Jerry started at the bottom and worked up. I think this was the least painful way for him ($$$ wise!) His first purchase was socks, something he has not worn since leaving Australia then the shoes. Next we chose the suit and shirt material, decided on style and was measured up by Mr DeePee who we relied heavily on for advise as Jerry has never owned a suit.  Last was the tie.

The suit fits and looks perfect and as much as Jerry has whinged and moaned about a) having to wear a suit, and, b) the expense of something he may only wear once, I can quietly let you all know that he secretly enjoyed all the fuss and bother and was no way going to buy the cheaper version at $70! After all it is his son’s wedding and he wants to look the part. Look at the smile in the second photo.
I also bought my shoes to go with the outfit I bought while home so I am happy too. Penang is really a shoppers paradise with huge shopping malls that mingle in with tiny shops and street stalls selling just about anything you may want or feel the need to have. Being good yachties though we have not filled the boat with designer clothes and shoes or handy bits and pieces that we never end up using, just lots of nice food from Tesco and Cold Storage and a few DVD’s to watch when there is nothing else to do.
 
So many streets to wander and so many things to see  This is just a small selection of things that caught our eye. It all gets very exhausting in the heat and humidity and we soon find ourselves in one of the many large shopping malls seeking a cool drink and a rest in the air-conditioning.

Next on the to do list was a visit to the dentist and that all went very well.  We were very impressed with the surgery the equipment and the efficiency of the staff. We both had our teeth cleaned in no time at all with one dentist and 2 nurses working at the same time. They used equipment I have never seen before and it was all over very quickly. The cost was very good too $35 each, much more affordable than home. Jerry returned the next day for a filling and that was $50!
So while we were doing medical stuff Jerry decided he would get his hearing checked out (just to prove me wrong, I think). I know he is deaf, its called selective deafness, he says its industrial deafness! We were advised to go  to the Loh Guan Lye Specialist hospital not just one of the may hearing clinics around as at the hospital Jerry’s ears would get a thorough check. I thought we would have to make an appointment for another day, but no we were seen straight away by an ENT specialist who had completed his cochlear implant training in Melbourne. He thoroughly examined the ears and a hearing test was done. We chatted away to the Dr who was interested in our travels and he said that he understood exactly why we chose to attend to medical matters while in Penang after working in Melbourne. In Melbourne he only saw 15 patients a day and was orced to take lengthy morning and afternoon tea breaks. Whereas in Penang he sees 100 a day! and he said you don’t have to wait 3 months for an appointment! The whole exercise took about an hour and a half and cost $91.50. Yes, it’s confirmed Jerry has industrial deafness and also finds it harder to hear a women's voice. Apparently it’s to do with pitch? Is this another word for selective? I saw this ad and was rather hoping the Dr would advise he made a purchase as I could do with a new phone. Alas, it’s not to be, I guess I shall just have smile sweetly as I repeat myself yet again!

 

Everyday we took a bus to another part of Penang to see something different or find a particular restaurant. Around Georgetown there is a lot of street art on the walls that tell a story or the history of the area you are in. The buildings are interesting mixing old shophouses with new mega malls. There is an abundance of coffee shops, food stalls, food halls, restaurants serving any kind of food you would like.


We had heard about the duck & rice man who serves the best duck in town and went in search of him. You have to be there early, 12.30, as he sells out quickly. The ducks, rice and sauce are all cooked at home then loaded onto his scooter and brought into town.



Locals start queuing at 12.15 for their lunch or for takeaway. We were first to arrive and enjoyed a cool drink while we waited then we sat back and watched while the “performance” unrolled. How he manages to transport all this on a motorbike I don’t know and the sauce was hot and not a drop spilt. The duck was delicious the sauce even better  and the wait was well worth it.



There are many temples to visit in Penang but we chose only to go to the big one on the hill this time, called Kek Lok Si Temple. It is said to be the largest Buddhist temple in SE Asia, the temple of “supreme bliss”. It sits high on the hill overlooking Penang and is quite impressive. The walk to the top takes you through various smaller temples along the way. Unfortunately my picture does not really show just how big the Big Buddha is. Perched high on the hill overlooking Penang, made of solid bronze, it was quite spectacular.

One day we took the bus to Batu Ferrenghi on the north coast. This is the tourist beach area and where all the big hotels are. Unfortunately we were there in the morning and nothing was open in the street apart from the one coffee bar. There were plenty of food markets and clothes stalls around but I guess they do not open until late afternoon early evening. Tourists here probably enjoy the hotel pool or beach during the day and only venture out at night when its a little cooler.

From there we went onto the butterfly farm which was different and quite pretty, if you like butterflies. I think if I were a tourist looking for somewhere to stay I would choose Georgetown for 4 days and Batu Ferringhi for 3 at the most.

 

It was Halloween while we were there and we were so surprised when we arrived back at Straits Quay one night to find hundreds of excited, noisy children all in Halloween costumes racing around in groups led by a person with a flag and a whistle. They visited every shop in the complex and the poor shop owners had to give each and everyone a treat. Not only must it cost the shop owners a small fortune in lollies but I can only imagine how sick these poor children are in the car on the way home! We didn’t hang around too long, it was total madness but I did get a couple of pictures.



Penang is a great place to visit. It’s full of life from early morning markets to late night shops and bars. It’s all about food, shopping, history and culture.



We had a nice sail back to Langkawi, (the new sails are great), stopping off at Bunting Island overnight. Just as we dropped anchor yet another thunderstorm rolled in but we were nice and snug where we were. We are anchored at Kuah and tomorrow we are off to do a lap of Langkawi and visit the anchorages we haven’t yet been too. Weather permitting of course!

Ship Shape & Bristol Fashion….. Again

22nd Oct
Jerry says  "Again" should read “Nearly” which means there’s always a job list.
We are back in the water and planning to leave the security and comfort of Rebak tomorrow. We have been working hard through Jerry’s never ending job list and are now at the point where the Captain is satisfied we have completed enough jobs and its time for him to take the Admiral for a sail before there is mutiny onboard!
Of course we are coming to the end of the SW monsoon. It’s hot and humid and every afternoon big black clouds roll in above us and we have a huge downpour reducing visability to almost zero. The good thing is it cools us down and fills the water tanks. But its not the best thing to be caught in when trying to sail somewhere.
The old girl, (Tigress Too) is looking pretty smart and itching to be released from the marina and get some wind into her new sails. However, the chance of that happening is very doubtful as wind is very rare up here at the moment except for the hour or so before a thunderstorm.
We have changed the colour of the antifoul from black to blue as Jerry always found it hard to see what was going on underneath with the black antifoul. I rather like the new blue look. We managed to get hold of some propspeed to put onto the propeller, we find it very good at keeping the prop clean.

We painted the bimini top after a year of looking at it and doing nothing about it. It’s a challenge in the heat and humidity to get any sort of maintenance done, a) you sweat buckets as soon as you move and b) epoxy paint goes off very quickly once mixed. But I must say the bimini looks rather smart now all repaired, sanded and painted white.
Once back in the pen we opened our present to ourselves and put on the new mainsail and genoa. They look amazing and we can’t believe how bad our old ones must have looked. Still they were 25yrs old! The workmanship on the new sails is excellent. All we have to do now is go for a sail and test them. We went to put up the old staysail and as we did the luff tape fell apart. Why ever did we think this sail would not need renewing ? So that is now with the sailmaker and we will pick up the new one when we return at Christmas.

I think I mentioned in the last blog I have a bad knee, the result of too much ladder climbing while home only made worse by another 2 weeks  of ladder climbing while on the hardstand. I have been doing yoga and swimming laps on alternate days but the knee was not getting better and the swelling was not going down. So a friend here, Jan, took me off to see the very nice Professor Dr Shamsudeen or Mr Din for short, not to be confused with  Mr Din we use for car hire.
I refer to Dr Din as the pin doctor, yes he is an acupuncture doctor as well as many other doctors I am sure and is a lovely gentleman with a good sense of humour. Now as I have a slight aversion to needles and anything that may inflict even the slightest of pain I was a little apprehensive about this visit but I’ll give anything a go to help heel the knee. What my friend Jan didn’t tell me was that not only does Dr Din stick pins in you he then wires you up and plugs you in asking you how much he can turn his dial on the little machine that sends electric pulses racing from pin to pin. I was very brave but when a thunderstorm started up together with lightening I did wonder about being plugged into 240v! But all was well, I have had 2 sessions now and while my knee is not heeled all the swelling and inflammation has gone down and its a lot easier to get around. Both Dr Din and yachtie Dr Sue who also examined my knee assure me there are no tears, ruptures, breakages, just an overstretched ligament that needs resting and some very tight muscles that need stretching and massaging. So rest it is, massages (lovely) and fortunately no more ladders to climb. A session with Dr Din is very affordable at MYR 40.00 which is about $14.00! When I pluck up the courage I am off to see Dr Chew. Yes you guessed right, the tooth Dr.

23rd Oct
We reluctantly returned the airconditioner this morning and left Rebak. It was we thought an extravagance we could afford ourselves whilst we worked on the boat and did a great job of keeping the boat cool inside so at night we slept like babies. In fact sometimes we were a little chilly and pulled a sheet over us!
It has been 153 days since we last sailed. I guess that’s why I was a bit wobbly around the deck on the way out of Rebak. We are now anchored at Kuah, no wind to blow us here so the sails stayed packed away. Found a spot to drop the pick and within half an hour the heavens opened with a really good monsoon downpour. We are now chasing a leak in the head lining which is making its way down the wiring that feeds down the mast into the boat. This will be a tricky one to fix and will keep Jerry amused for hours no doubt. He is not a happy chappy
While out and about in town the other day we came across a cake decorating competition. Wow! what bright colours! Not sure I would like to eat any of these, Jerry was convinced they used plasticine to make the decorations. I think the theme was the ocean & weddings. here are a few snap shots that I thought I should share.

When/if it stops raining we will dinghy ashore to but some internet then I can post this blog. Internet is always a challenge and has been very frustrating with its near non existence while we were at Rebak.
Next stop Penang, weather permitting, over the weekend.

We’re back onboard

 

Who would have guessed that a planned 3 month trip home would stretch to 4.5 months? That’s how long we were away for and the time just flew past. We were kept very busy and in fact we were both very tired & bodily weary by the time we left.

Firstly we had a house to tidy up in preparation to rent it out. A paint job on the outside, renovations to the kitchen and new cooker installed, garden weeded, uneven pavers re-laid, garage divided, and so the list goes on. Fortunately friends were around to give us a hand when needed. Then there was the more pleasant things, wedding dress shopping, catch up coffees, lunches, dinners, dog walks, yoga classes. We enjoyed some lovely evenings catching up over dinner with our friends. We especially enjoyed the cooler change of weather and for once we found winter in Perth quite pleasant.

Ben & Kate had just moved into their house and had a job list waiting for Jerry. Together Jerry & Ben built a front fence from materials salvaged by our friend Clive. This now keeps the 3 dogs in and means the front garden can  be used to grow vegetables which Kate & Ben will be planting soon. Kate has got her “Sproutly” business set up down the side of the house. Growing sunflowers sprouts and the like and selling to restaurants. They have just installed solar panels and the list has begun for jobs when we return in February!

As most of you know Jerry loves a project and when we were last home he had promised Chris and Michelle he would build them some wine racks for their new house, a bigger job than Jerry first thought. But the wait was well worthwhile. All Chris has to do now is to fill the racks with 998 bottles!

Meanwhile back in Langkawi TToo sat patiently waiting for our return at Rebak Marina. I had dreams of returning to find the inside of the boat covered in mould, birds nesting in the sail cover, maybe a rat set up home or wild monkeys taking things from the deck. All these stories of boats left for long periods of time haunted me in my sleep at night. But whatever we did to prepare the boat for leaving worked well as when we returned she was just as we left her. Well the outside canvas had a bit of mould on it and the decks were a nice colour of green where the rain had gathered but nothing that didn’t disappear after a good scrub down. Inside was perfect, maybe it was the weak solution of vinegar we used to wash everything with or maybe the moth balls we left around the boat helped, or the fan we left running (not running when we got back). Whatever it was it worked and all we did was air her out for a day and she was back to normal.

We are now busy painting the bottom of the boat with antifoul and hope to return to the water next week. Living onboard while on the hardstand is not pleasant at the best of times and up here where it is very hot and humid it is definitely not pleasant. You can only work for a couple of hours in the morning then a couple of hours at the end of the day as the outside of the boat gets too hot to apply any paint and the inside heats up like a furnace. We have softened and hired an airconditioner. It sits above our front cabin blowing cool air through the boat. It makes sleeping at night so much easier and I am not sure what we will do when we leave the marina and have to give it back! Hopefully by then we will be a little more acclimatised and also it may not be so humid. Rebak has to be one of the best marinas by far to slip your boat as when it all gets too much we just go to the pool for a cool off and recharge the batteries and if I don’t feel like cooking at the end of a days work we just go up to the Hard Dock Cafe which is for the yachties only and enjoy a nice meal and a cold beer at very reasonable prices.

I am joining a few ladies every morning for an hour of yoga which is very pleasant. I seem to have injured my knee while home and my lower back is not too good, so I am hoping the yoga everyday will help with the healing. It’s also a very pleasant way to start the day.

Once we are in the water we shall take delivery of our brand new mainsail and genoa that have been made for us by Taskers in Thailand while we were in Perth. That is something to look forward to as the old ones are now 25yrs old and well past their use by date. Once they are up and we are happy with them then our sailing will begin again.

Yesterday was my birthday and so we had a day off work. A trip into town for some shopping followed by a relaxing massage for the 2 of us to ease away the aches and pains,then it was back to Rebak in time for a cocktail at the pool bar with Chrissie & Phil. A quick shower and back to the beach bar for happy hour with a few cruising buddies and then dinner at the hard dock cafe. I had a wonderful day and was made to feel very special with several renditions of Happy Birthday, cards and presents from friends, some of who we have only met in the last couple of weeks and messages from friends at home. Phil made me a Jimmy Buffet birthday cake (laced with rum, of course) and it was the perfect way to end a perfect day.

I maybe another year older but this cruising life makes me feel younger every day!