Langkawi, politics and now Penang

Well, it's now well over 2 months since our last blog - that's got to be a record.

We are presently hauled out at the Limbongan Batu Maung Boatyard on the SE corner of Penang just south of the new Penang bridge. So much water has gone under the bridge (no pun intended) since our last blog that it's difficult to string it all together, but here goes.

Langkawi remains much as it ever did with life in the marina proceeding day by day.

We were swimming, cleaning the boat, re-waterproofing our boom tent, discussing the forthcoming haulout with LBM Penang, and generally living life as one does on Langkawi. Graham and Lorraine of "Lorrigray" arrived back from Australia and it was good to see them again. Had the bottom cleaned again prior to our imminent departure to Penang.

The US presidential campaign had become more gripping and Jim, from being ambivalent about both candidates, has now become a reluctant Trump supporter. Jean had always felt that Trump would be the better choice, although with the usual reservations!  Mainly to get rid of the crookedness of the Clintons and their Foundation whose beneficiaries appear to be mainly the Clintons! By comparison, Trump, still with foot in mouth seems to be coming across as the person who will get rid of a lot of Washington sacred cows and turf them out where they belong. Can't be all bad. And TPP is dead in the water - a lucky escape for NZ.

Then came the election and we watched the election results state by state on Charlie's Restaurant's TV at the RLYC. A nail biter and then the absolutely unbelieveable result which meant that Donald Trump was the President-elect. Nobody could believe it obviously, but it was the better result. We can now hopefully look forward to a resurgent America. Did you know that when Obama came to power 8 years ago the national debt stood at 10 trillion US dollars? Now when he's leaving office the debt has doubled and stands at 20 trillion US dollars. That is the most shocking indictment of his presidency. Hopefully Trump can turn things around but it will be a monumental task involving much sacrifice.

A further example of the absolute ineptness of Malaysian governance cropped up just a few weeks before we were due to leave Langkawi. In their wisdom they decided to limit duty free alcohol purchases to 5 bottles (wine or spirits) per person per month. And you had to present your passport when making these sinful purchases. There were to be 2 Customs officers in every shop to make sure of compliance!! In case one of them needed to answer a call of nature!! And it was all linked to the Customs computer system to make sure that no wicked expats could cheat the ludicrous system. However, since being in Penang we have heard that there has been a massive backdown and duty free sales are now back as they were. Still some doubt about this - again typical of Malaysian non communication - mainly because they don't know how to handle the situation we suspect. Typical of the Malay bureaucracy who wouldn't understand or recognize a good (or bad) business decision if it bit them on the nose. We've said it before, but without the Chinese and Indians this country would collapse. We can evidently look forward to 12NZD Scotch whisky again!! Maybe.

We had arrived back in Malaysia from the US in early August and so our 3 month visas were due to expire early November. So, it was necessary to do a visa run to Thailand and instead of just Satun, we decided to go to Hat Yai which is a city only a hour and a half from Satun by mini bus as we'd never been there before. Thai mini buses are not for the faint hearted as they hurtle along with gay abandon. We were staying at the AC Sports Centre Hotel just on the outskirts of the city. It had started life as an indoor tennis centre where national tournaments are held and then only a few months ago the hotel was built and a huge (almost Olympic size) pool was added. There is also a very upmarket gym which we used a few times. The hotel was heavily discounted to attract patronage but we were the only guests for the first days. Unfortunately they haven't a handle on how to care for large pools in the tropics and it soon started going green. This was disappointing because although we'd swum in it just after we arrived, we couldn't continue because it was starting to look more like the goldfish ponds in the Auckland Domain! However, towards the end of our stay there was a contingent of tennis players coming in from all over Thailand for a weekend tournament and so there was a huge effort and they managed to get it into a more or less acceptable condition for swimming again.

There was an absolutely gorgeous woman who served us in the dining room in spite of the lack of an English menu. This was a problem until they produced a menu written in English - written Thai is just so much gobbledegook. Anyway, Jim was sure she was no older than early 20's (tight shorts and all!) but Jean had it sussed. She had noticed some barely noticeable wrinkles on her neck (Jim was looking elsewhere!!) and decided she was in her early 40's. And so it proved. She had some reasonable English and told us her age and the fact that she had 2 daughters who were engaged in tertiary studies. Her husband had been killed in a motor accident some years before and she was literally working 24/7 to fund her daughters' education. She was lovely with such a pleasant demeanour but tragic at the same time. Life is far from easy for some. When we left we tipped her fairly generously and wished that there was far more that we could have done.

Hat Yai is a totally uninteresting city and the only attractions were shopping malls! Some reasonable restaurants but generally we'd give it a miss next time except to stay again at the AC Sports Centre and see our lovely waitress/dining room manager again. One day we went to Songklha which is a town on the east coast only about 30 kms from Hat Yai. Nothing remarkable and not the sort of place one would want to come in to by yacht. 

Of course the Thai King has just recently died and so there were shrines all over the place - on streets as well as in shopping malls. There was an edict that national mourning would last for 12 months and that all Thais had to wear black clothing. All clothing stores were stocking mostly these black boring clothes and the normal Thai bright colours were practically non existent. Many Thais couldn't afford these black clothes and so there was an industry grown up where there was mass dying of clothes and fabrics. Typical of Thailand where the royal family has around USD30 billion of assets and the elite upper class dominate economically absolutely, but the poor people who constitute the majority have to die their clothes to comply with this edict from on high.  

Then back by ferry to Langkawi and legal in Malaysia once more. We've organized the timing so that when we travel to NZ at the end of January, the next 3 month's visa will just about be up again.

Then it was just about time to get ready to leave for Penang for the boat haulout. Our plan was to go to an anchorage right at the southern point of Langkawi and then leave at first light for Penang. We wanted to get to the anchorage between Pulaus Jerejak and Penang and that's almost 70 miles. We made it to the southern Langkawi  anchorage which was quiet and peaceful. A good night's sleep and then the next morning checking fluid levels in the engine, then starting the old girl up. Imagine our consternation to find a fast fuel drip from the secondary fuel filter. We realized that we could not carry on to Penang like that so we returned to the RLYC. We rang Azrin (the Harbourmaster) to organize our berth and he also gave us the number of Kumar who is the resident mechanic of Langkawi since poor old Zainol passed away. We duly berthed and Kumar came on board and then took our Ford filter away. Next morning he was back all smiles with a Perkins filter housing because he said the Ford was hard to get. It worked a treat and then as soon as we had slack water in the marina we set sail again - not far this time; just far enough so that we could get an early start in the morning at first light.

This we duly did with no further dramas. The sail across was without incident but as usual we motorsailed so that we could arrive in daylight. The wind was on the port beam and a good strength for a time but then it became much lighter and we were once again reliant on the iron sail. As we approached the northern coast of Penang, the sky darkened considerably behind us and we also struck a northbound tidal current which must have been at least 3 knots at times because our speed at times was down to 3.5 knots over the ground. We were looking over our shoulders at the approaching inky blackness with lightning visible and hoping that we would make the Jerejak anchorage before nightfall. In the event, that wasn't possible and we rounded the southern tip of Jerejak in the dark. Now we had the tide with us and we bounded up between Penang and Jerejak at a fair clip. Once again thank goodness for GPS because there are some considerable sand banks in the channel. Anyway, we at last came to anchor more or less off the Queensbay Mall and we very thankfully consumed a couple of whiskeys and one of Sailor's cottage pies from Langkawi. Slept like the proverbial logs. 

The next day we were in contact with Jason at LBM and left the Jerejak anchorage in time to arrive off the slipway before high water. This was only about 2 miles and entailed passing south under the centre span of the new Penang bridge (9 kms long!). Then it was a matter of waiting for slack water but this doesn't occur until well after high water and by then the worry was that it might be getting too shallow for us. So, after a further conversation with the yard, we raised anchor and crept gingerly in. We had to get the boat between two parallel concrete piers that form the lifting basin where the travelift operates from. Problem was with our long keel we present quite a face to any sideways current and so, despite the best efforts of the main man, we hit the down current side of the basin with quite a thump. Fortunately they had thick collision mats in place, no doubt from previous hard won experience, so no harm done.

We soon had the straps in place and then we had to walk the plank to get off. The boat was lifted out and unusually taken straight to its hardstand without pressure washing. It was almost knock-off time by then so they were going to wash it the next morning  in place. The Northland Regional Council would have a fit!! No sumps for collecting toxic runoff from antifouling here!  By then our rental car had been delivered and we had been in contact with Eunice who had organized our apartment. Incidentally both the apartment and the car have cost us MYR1,300 each for 30 days which at the current rate of exchange equates to NZD98 per week. The car is a 2 yr old Perodua Axia and the 3 BR apartment is on the 5th. floor of a complex that has a great swimming pool. The only downside is that there was almost nothing in the kitchen so we had to bring much of the boat's galley with us. Cleanliness was another issue, and Jean being Jean - well, enough said, but we have addressed that now.

Anyway, we met Eunice at a designated point and followed her in pouring rain, darkness by then and very heavy traffic to the apartment. Then we also met the owner, Sem who showed us the workings and handed over keys etc. By then we were absolutely knackered and we couldn't wait for them to leave so that we could get something to eat (another Sailors pie!) and fall into bed.  

We have fallen into a routine of going to the boatyard by around 8.30 and meeting Jason to discuss latest progress. Nothing happens early in Malaysia. Shops for instance in shopping malls don't all open until some time between 10 and 11 am. We have now lifted the old engine off its beds (after 52 years!) and it is sitting on bearers above the engine compartment so that we can give it a good once over. We have found a very slow oil leak (after all it is an old British engine!) from the front where the crankshaft passes through the timing gear cover. At the time of writing we are trying to locate a replacement and just hoping that we don't have to source it from a specialist supplier of Fordson engine parts in England. We also intend to paint the engine and Ford Blue would have been the preference, but it is unavailable here and another blue is only available in 5 litres. That would be enough to paint at least 10 engines. So it will be black, but we don't think that will be detrimental.

The hull has been sanded above and below the waterline and yesterday we both applied underwater primer to bare areas on the hull. We have a painter lined up for all the donkey work - hope he is good. Today we sanded the forrard ends of the caprails and now have one coat of Sikkens applied. 2 more to go. We have to do these minor jobs ourselves because if we waited for the yard to do it we'd be here till Christmas 2017!

We have been driving around a fair bit to source various things  and also to see a bit more of Penang. The traffic is horrendous except that the route between our apartment at Villa Emas and the boatyard is a piece of cake - only takes 10-15 minutes. The boatyard is situated very near the SE corner of the island and we are living about halfway up the east coast opposite Jerejak Island and very close to the Queensbay Mall and an Aeon Supermarket. So, we have everything pretty much on tap, except for gluten free bread! We are enternally grateful to the internet based GPS in Jean's smart phone. We have a device that enables us to connect with the internet anywhere on the island and so we slavishly follow the verbal instructions. Sometimes they leave a bit to be desired, but generally we find our destinations. Driving here with lack of road signs and one way systems would be a nerve wracking nightmare without it. We are sold, and have decided to buy a stand alone satellite based system (just like the boat's really) which will also serve us well when we get to Colombia. There of course there is the added distraction of driving on the wrong side of the road!

We must comment on how much Penang has changed since we visited in 2010 - driving up from Melacca. The high rises (mostly apartments sparsely sold) and traffic! We noticed today an almost new block nearing completion with another still to come out of the ground right slap bang in the way of their sea view! There is a glut of unsold apartments all over the island and on the mainland as well. And there seems to be only lip service paid to any sensible planning. It's all so corrupt.

Back on the political front - we have in the last couple of days or so received the surprising news (first on the phone to Jenny Hastie - it was her birthday), and second from an immediate and quick perusal of the NZ Herald's website, that John Key, NZ's Prime Minister, will resign on December 12th. Totally unexpected and he simply says he's resigning for "family reasons". But we, ever the conspiracy theorists, don't think so. We believe he is specifically aware of serious headwinds for NZ, and no doubt other countries coming up, and he wants out on his terms before the proverbial hits the fan and the electorate turfs him out. We have disagreed with just about everything he has done and with the absolutely laissez-faire attitude to immigration with all its ramifications, so we are delighted to see him go.

We are trying to get a handle now on when we might be able to launch. A lot will depend on the engine part availability and then there are only some tides (roughly 10 days apart) that allow us to launch as well. We had intended to get back to Langkawi in time for Christmas lunch at the Fat Frog with yachtie friends but that now looks to be in doubt. We should know for sure by about the 9th. One thing for sure is that when we do get back to Langkawi there then will not be much time before we leave for NZ on Feb. 1st. And still lots to do with the boat. Hopefully she might even sell sometime soon!

Hope this finds everyone in the pink...................

Lotsaluv from us,

Jim and Jean

Villa Emas

Bayan Lepas

Pulau Penang

Malaysia