The big OE - Day 1 Langkawi to Kuala Lumpur.

Hi to everyone,
The start of this blog is being written as we sit in Starbucks at Langkawi Airport waiting for our Air Asia flight to Kuala Lumpur. We still have two and a half hours to take-off time. This morning we were up early before dawn which isn't hard here with the ridiculous defacto daylight saving that exists in NW Malaysia. Finished last minute chores for leaving the boat - lowering the front awning to try and prevent rain water entering our 2 small round ports, turning off 4 seacocks which are laboriously accessed from the engine bilge and by delving into the storage spaces under the V-berth. All these jobs must be done at the last minute because once the seacocks are turned off you can't use the galley sink or the head.
Last night Lee and Richard of "Before" very kindly drove us to Mangoes for dinner as the boat was by then devoid of food. We had the usual gastronomic meal and we had a very pleasant and cordial time in the company of Richard and Lee.
Yesterday we made the annoying discovery that the pump (now 9 years old) which pumps the shower waste water overboard had started leaking directly into the bilge which at least has solved one issue for us. It explains the buildup of bilge water which had been worrying us because we couldn't find the cause. Hopefully we can get the necessary parts to fix the pump in Miami.
We've asked Paul Brennan who looks after boats in the RLYC marina during their owners' absences to also look after our old girl. Main thing is to flush the watermaker membrane with fresh water twice a week so we've left a list of instructions!
So much to do with leaving a boat for any length of time - emptying the fridge and freezer for one - and Jean always insists on spring cleaning which is good because it lessens the risk of mould growth. And we have sent our aircon away for servicing so we are relying on fans only to move air around. And it's the start of the wet season here now so dampness is definitely an issue. However, fortunately it's much cooler.
It rained heavily all last night which made for a damp start but at least the rain has stopped for now so we have been able to get off the boat and get a taxi to the airport in a relatively dry state.
We must make mention of the Moslem women in full black Burkhas. They are generally tourists from the Middle East (Saudi Arabia in particular) because the local Moslem women usually only wear headscarves, some of which are definite fashion statements and often they go with tight jeans and tops. So much for Moslem modesty! The other day when we were in Starbucks at the Jeti, there was a Moslem couple who it turned out were visiting from Saudi. He had shorts and a T-shirt while she was in a full Burkha. She had the most gorgeous eyelashes which indeed was the only part of her which was visible. While her husband was getting their coffee, Jean engaged her in conversation (as she does!) and said she was admiring her eyelashes! Were they real? Yes she said they were and we suppose that as that is the only feminine attribute she is allowed to show, she lavished some attention on them. She certainly wouldn't have talked to Jim and when her husband approached she withdrew from any contact with Jean as well. Still, she seemed cheerful enough and spoke excellent educated English. We simply cannot understand how otherwise intelligent women could allow themselves to be treated as second class persons and be virtually nonentities - as invisible as possible in their black Burkhas.
And we particularly notice young girls as young as 7 or so who are already wearing headscarves. It seems such an infringement of personal freedom but of course when they get them so young by the time they are young adults they are completely brainwashed and accept all this nonsense without question. One of the office staff in the marina was quite proud of the fact that her young daughter had just started wearing the headscarve as some sort of ritualistic religious passage.
Anyway, we had an uneventful flight to Kuala Lumpur. We landed at the Air Asia terminal and Jean was amazed at just how much had changed since she was last there a year ago on her way to Miami via Heathrow. Shops everywhere and many restaurants. Bought a new knee support at a Guardian pharmacy as Jean had left hers on the boat! Eventually found the Tune Hotel which is the only hotel within walking distance - it is owned by Air Asia. It's a budget hotel, very new and clean and comfortable. There was a reasonable restaurant so that's where we ate as we couldn't face searching out anything better. We'd packed 3 x 100ml. plastic bottles of Famous Grouse and finished those off in short order - then collapsed into bed after a very long day.
Day 2 - up early as we wanted to get to the Turkish Airlines checkin counter to get good seats. The flight was leaving at 1150. Mediocre breakfast at 0600 at the Tune Hotel restaurant (the Malaysians simply can't cook and routinely ruin good food in our opinion! And Malaysian eggs are tasteless - don't know what they feed or don't feed the chickens). Then we eventually found the train to the international terminal (KLIA). Getting directions in Malaysia anywhere together with confusing or non existent signage soon manages to alter one's mood for the worse. Then after all our efforts, we arrived at the checkin desks at 0800 only to find that they didn't open until an hour later! Managed to cool our heels and took it in turns to wander around. We changed most of the Ringgits we had left for 300 Turkish Lira. Then the counters opened but we couldn't get bulkhead or exit row seats as they are reserved for mothers with young children or very tall people. Still, as it turned out on the aircraft the legroom was not too bad. Had 2 very good fruit smoothies after we'd checked through immigration and security which was worryingly lax. We didn't have anything contentious but Jean contrasted it with Heathrow where they insisted on physically checking the bag contents. Malaysia really is a worry in that respect; terrorists would find it so easy to mount an attack there and the Malaysians wouldn't know what had hit them.
We took off on time and headed off on a NW heading. Before we left the ground we were given a Turkish Delight which was a nice touch. Saw Pangkor as we cleared the coast. The meal we were served (chicken for Jim and vegetarian Lasagna for Jean) was easily the best airline meal we'd had in many a long year. So far Turkish Airlines are very impressive.
This part of the blog is being written as we traverse the Arabian Sea just south of the Pakistani coast. Jean has found an empty 4 seat row so has pulled up the armrests and had a much needed sleep. Jim meanwhile has been staring out the window but unfortunately for most of the way across the Bay of Bengal and indeed as we crossed the Indian coast north of Chennai there was very thick cloud. We detoured to the south of the Nicobar Islands - not sure whether that was due to weather or Indian security - maybe a military exercise going on. India prohibits yachts from going there whereas the Andamans further north and also Indian owned are often visited. After a fitful sleep woke to find us over western India just south east of Pune and later Mumbai. Visibility had returned and it was possible to see how dry and arid the country looked. Earlier we had passed just south of Hyderabad and the country looked terrible. Unremitting aridity and brown as far as you could see. Made one feel very sad for the people living in that climate in which by recent accounts temperatures have exceeded 50 degrees C. For instance we noticed a smallish lake with an outlet to a substantially wide riverbed. The water from the outlet, such as it was, had dried to nothing in a very short distance. New Zealanders with their seemingly endless water supply should stop and reflect just how lucky they are. Didn't actually see Mumbai as we were too far south but what was noticeable (especially to those of a nautical frame of mind!) was quite a heavy surf on the west coast - but of course the SW monsoon is now in the beginning stage. One can only hope that eventually it will bring much needed rain to all those parched areas.
We have now just crossed the Pakistani coast west of Karachi and it is also parched beyond belief. No doubt it's "normal" in this part of the world but one can see many completely dried up rivers. Nowhere near as much evidence of habitation as was visible passing over India. Just looked out the window at where a substantial river has carved a gorge through a small range of hills and it is completely dry. How it is possible to exist there we cannot imagine.
It looks like we soon pass over Iran and Iraq (south of Afghanistan) so hopefully there aren't any trigger happy characters down there armed with anti aircraft missiles a la Ukraine. All being well, this blog and this stage of our journey will be finished from Istanbul.
Well, we safely arrived at Istanbul (Constantinople) half an hour late. This was due to us having to maintain a holding pattern over and around the city due to heavy traffic in and out of Ataturk Airport. It gave us great views of the city and the shores of the Black Sea and the Bosphorus which separates Asia from Europe, and on whose shores Gallipoli is situated. We had flown over Iran and then skirted the northern boundary of Iraq - no doubt due to security concerns. There must be much greater awareness of flying over war zones since the Malaysian airliner was shot down over Ukraine. Interesting to see the high altitude country in eastern Turkey with many snow capped mountains even now in early summer. There are many lakes in this region too, a couple of which are soda lakes with very high salinity and alkalinity.
Ataturk Airport was unremarkable except that there appear to be no foreign airlines operating there. All the aircraft are either the Turkish Government owned Turkish Airlines or its domestic subsidiaries. By the time we landed at 1800 local time after an almost 12 hour flight it was already midnight as far as our body clocks were concerned so we were feeling somewhat jaded! We had arranged a pickup from the airport which is on the European side of the Bosphorus and it was a half hour trip to the hotel (Golden Crown) on the Asian side. Very glad to get there and the room is a bit old and jaded (like us!!) but clean and comfortable. We walked a short distance up the road to have a meal at a local restaurant which was excellent and then came back to the hotel about 2100 when we fell into bed exhausted. Slept like logs.
Lotsaluv from us..........
Jim and Jean
Istanbul
Turkey

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