Langkawi onwards and preparing for the big OE

Hi to all,
We hope that this finds everyone well and enjoying life.
Another blog is coming on; we feel it in our bones. Well, maybe that's not quite right; it's Jim's bones that feel it most!
Life in Langkawi carries on much as before - even to the extent that life is fairly mundane of late. The only newsworthy item is that we almost killed a motorcyclist, or rather he almost killed himself! It was dusk near Matsirat when he appeared on our left with no lights on a multi lane highway when we were doing close to 80 kph and then he drove right in front of us. We stood on the brakes in our little pedal car (a Malaysian built Proton) and fortunately the road was dry so we skidded more or less in a straight line. How we missed him we don't know but he then continued in front of us across the median strip, came off his bike and then stood up again. He was probably on P which is at least as much a serious problem here as it is in NZ. So, lucky that nothing was coming the other way otherwise he would have been dead. Anyway, when we saw that he had survived, we continued on our merry way because if you stop in these circumstances you get involved in endless arguments with the Police. As a foreigner you are automatically at fault and are subject to fines and repairs to the other vehicle. If you are a foreigner this is what happens, so it's far better to leave them if there's no obvious serious injury and get on with it, especially if they are blatantly at fault as in this case.
The acupuncture has stopped meantime as the doctor is in NZ at an acupuncture conference in Auckland. But Jean's knee is largely cured although she needs to maintain her exercise regime, which as anyone who knows her will atest, that's exactly what she's doing!
On the foodie front, we discovered a fish and chip restaurant (Scarborough's) the other day out at Tanjung Rhu. Excellent, right on the beach and a very good Chilean chardonnay to go with it. We met a very pleasant Malaysian couple there (Angela is of Chinese/Malay - Nyonya - descent and Leonard's ancestry is Indian). Angela is marketing manager for Bodyshop and based in Kuala Lumpur. Leonard is in the IT business. We had a great chat and hope to see them in KL in the future.
Mangoes with its ex yachtie owners (Michelle and Lutz) remains a firm favourite as well. Undoubtedly Mangoes is the best restaurant on Langkawi that we have been to. Mangoes would be the dearest but definitely worth every ringgit. Wine, entrees and excellent mains plus Michelle's incomparable Pavlova work out to around 140 ringgits for 2 and that's the equivalent of NZD51. In spite of that and needless to say, we don't go there every day. It's at least a 30 minute drive from the marina.
With Michelle being an Aussie, there has also been an on-going discussion about the origins of the Pavlova. However, we haven't got onto Phar Lap yet and we definitely won't mention underarm bowling!! But the All Blacks and the Black Caps of late - that's another matter.
We have been to a seafood restaurant, the Wonderland Food Store in Kuah several times now but of late it has disappointed. Especially the last 2 visits when Jean had definite signs of MSG poisoning in spite of reminding them every time we go there NOT to put MSG in the food! They get extremely busy and we think the communication between waiters and kitchen breaks down. We'll probably have to stand over them in the kitchen next time we go! If there's a next time. The Red Tomato in Cenang Beach is a bit pricey being on the tourist strip but for the most part has very good food. The mushrooms in warm olive oil with loads of fresh garlic and lots of bread to soak up the olive oil is to die for. The Goulash soup is pretty good too. These other restaurants are around 60 ringgits max. and that's equivalent to NZD18 for 2!! You wouldn't even get an entree for that in Auckland.
Yesterday we had the fun job of cleaning the bilge. This boat, being a long keel type, has a very deep bilge at the after end which means that you have to reach down quite a way and it is difficult to support one's upper body at times. On top of that we had to have the aircon off as the unit sits on top of one of the bilge hatches and of course it had to be moved out of the way. We were thankful when it was finished. It's not all beer and skittles and chardonnay in the cockpit - this cruising life!!
As this blog is being written, Jean is cleaning the galley. This involves a bottle brush down the sides of the stove and thorough cleaning of all the fiddly bits all around. She is hard to please (must be due to her earlier life as a nurse) so the operation is not a quick one.
Apart from all that, we are cleaning and generally preparing the boat for when we leave for 2 months at the end of this month. We have had a fairly long list but it is gradually getting whittled down. Not many sleeps now. Then it's off to Istanbul on May 30th. for 3 days, Miami until 6th. July then Medellin until 25th. July. We finally leave Miami on 2nd. August after a final 9 days in Miami. We go via Istanbul because that's the way Turkish Airlines goes to Miami where Jean will be joyously reunited with Perry, Tracie, Carter and Nash. And will be good to catch up with Tracie's Mum Lorraine and her stepfather, Alan. And she is looking forward to seeing the boys' Mexican nanny, Rosa again. Hola Rosa! Com esta? Medellin (City of the Eternal Spring) is on our list of possible places to settle and live in the future, so as it is only a 3 hour flight from Miami, we couldn't not go there. Our main criteria are good healthy climate (which rules out hot tropical places), affordable cost of living, and quality and affordable healthcare. Medellin is very near the Equator but being at 5,000 feet, it has a constant temperature in the mid 20's C all year round. There will be lots in future blogs about all this we can promise you!
Speaking of affordable health care, we were horrified at the cost of travel insurance to visit the USA. So far we have only visited countries with good but affordable health care and so have carried our own insurance. But a triple heart by-pass (not that we are planning one of those!)in the States is at least USD140,000, whereas in NZ it's USD70,000 and here in Malaysia USD11,000. No doubt even cheaper in India with arguably far better professional care than any of the other countries mentioned. But when visiting the States you cannot take the risk of having no insurance because the costs would be ruinous. So, we have it at an approximate cost of NZD29 per day. Even this is averaged down by the time we will be spending out of the States. Next year when we are 70 we will be economically uninsurable so this will be our last trip to Uncle Sam's place. Perry has suggested that we will have to meet in some half way house which is affordable such as Turkey, Portugal, Colombia, Ecuador, Malaysia, Thailand or Nicaragua! And when the boat is sold we will then be semi settled for approximately 3-6 month periods before deciding on a permanent home.
Life at the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club remains good. Apart from the odd annoying roll that sets up whenever one of the Penang or Satun (Thailand) or Perlis ferries goes past at 20 knots!! It is a great pity about the restaurant here (Charlie's) but as we've said before it is overpriced and the food at best only very mediocre. Anyway, we hire a car twice a week and then we can satisfy all our culinary expectations! Apart from that we cook on the boat and Malaysian smoked duck, NZ lamb loin chops and lamb shanks feature on the menu quite often. We save eating fish, squid and prawns for when we eat out as a rule. Veges are not the greatest. There is a daily market that we go to whenever we have the car but, although cheaper than Whangarei, it is nowhere near as good. And we can't give cheek to our favourite Kumara grower! Here there are some green fresh veges but they are local and don't appeal to Jim much! However, there are Chinese carrots, brocolli and garlic and a selection of frozen veges from Pok Bros. (our frozen food supplier). Brussels sprouts and leaf spinach from Belgium in the main - not to mention made in Italy pizzas at just under 14 ringgits (NZD5.10). Local sweet potatoes and the ordinary variety from Holland. Onions from China. Strawberries from the Cameron Highlands here in Malaysia and sometimes Korea. Much sweeter than the NZ equivalent. Fruit is reasonable, but nowhere near as plentiful, varied and with the quality of Thailand. There are Chilean grapes, Egyptian and Aussie oranges and Pakistani mandarins. No NZ apples or Kiwifruit that we've seen yet but some from France and a few Aussie apples. Anchor brand butter though but that's all in the way of dairy from downunder. Danish and Aussie cheeses and Swiss yoghurt. What is the matter with Fonterra??
We originally arrived up here in May 2014 when we hauled out with Popeye Marine at Krabi Boat Lagoon, so we've been here for 2 years. During that time we've been to Phuket and Phang Nga Bay. The only area around here that we still haven't seen is the west coast of southern Thailand as far as the Burmese border. All being well, we may do that early next year. Apart from that we have voyaged between Langkawi and Thailand (Krabi or Phuket) 4 times now so have got to know it tolerably well. But thoughts of long distance passage making are definitely very far from our minds now. Hence putting the old girl on the market. Having said that, if we do ship her from Phuket to Turkey next year, we will at some stage need to cover shortish distances in the Mediterranean that will necessarily involve some overnight sailing. Still, we can psyche ourselves into that when the time comes.
We are still trying to evaluate hauling out options for November but the yard here, although managed by a very knowledgeable and personable Aussie, simply doesn't give us any information. They promise but nothing happens. Doesn't bode well for future confidence. When we return we will be going to Penang to evaluate a yard there that we have reasonable hopes of. But at this stage we still cannot get into Straits Quay Marina because they still haven't dredged so we would either have to fly or go by ferry. Anyway, it's only 60 miles so no great hardship.
The problem with Langkawi seems to be that everyone has gone troppo and no-one wants to bestir themselves. We've already experienced this same problem at Rebak last year so we must be tigers for punishment. Maybe in Thailand they're a bit troppo as well because we have been having on-going issues with our fridge and freezer since they were both totally rebuilt in Phuket and then re-fitted back in Krabi. Nobody wants to take responsibility. Probably some banging of heads together could be in order. We can't haulout again at Krabi because of the still unresolved personnel issues around their engineering services so it looks like Satun in Thailand again or maybe Penang. Again, watch this space.
Well, that's it for now - thank goodness we hear you say!!
With lots of love and all best wishes from us..........
Jim and Jean
RLYC
Langkawi
Malaysia.

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