The saga continues

When we first accepted the quote for hauling out at Limbongan Batu Maung, Penang earlier this year, we felt it was acceptable because the time frame was 20 days. And we had a very competent visit to the boat in Langkawi with acceptable costs subsequently tendered..

Now the reality is that we have been hauled out for 41 days so far and neither the painting, nor the engineering is finished. It is likely that it will be day 49 or 50 before we are launched and we are very much less than impressed.

The main problem was that our boat was ignored for at least 10 days after we arrived and even after that the work was desultory and largely unsupervised. It is still unsupervised.

Now we are doing the supervising and kicking the appropriate ass as required.

However, the frustration has been huge and has impinged on our domestic life as well. We originally rented an apartment for 30 days thinking that would allow enough time but when it became apparent that that wasn't going to work and we asked for an extension of time, the landlord refused. He claimed to have another tenant but we frankly didn't believe him. We cannot imagine the mindset, because there is a serious glut of apartments on Penang - whether to let or to sell.

Anyway, we are now living in another 22nd. floor apartment which is owned by the boatyard owner. We are sharing it with a Moslem woman who also works for the boatyard. It's reasonably comfortable

Then there is our rental car - fortunately we have it at a very reasonable cost (NZD14 per day), but again we rented it for 30days and now here we are!

But all these costs are impinging on us and there is going to be a robust discussion when we finally leave. Watch this space!!!

We had an enjoyable Christmas Day. We visited the boatyard to check on our old girl sitting forlornly on the hard and then (slowly) rove north up the inland road of Penang to Batu Ferringhi, which is on the north coast of Pulau Penang. A very pleasant leafy drive over some rugged country, but no great distance (a bit like the Scenic Drive in Titirangi) and soon we were descending onto the coast road to Batu Ferringhi, which is probably the most sought after area on Penang for expats - and prices to match!!

We found the Magic 1 Restaurant where we had been before and where we had made our Christmas reservation. We were a little early for our repast, so we repaired across the road to the Hard Rock Café and had a delicious entrée of spinach and artichoke puree with Parmesan Cheese and a Latte and an Americano. A great way to spend an hour or so.

Then back to the Magic 1 and a wonderful 4 course meal with roast beef for Jim and Turkey for Jean. All in all with a bottle of Chilean red (excellent) and 2 beers and 2 soda waters MYR389 for both of us. This is equivalent to NZD125 - not bad for Christmas Dinner for 2 and a lovely ambience and friendly staff. We rolled out of the place!

Then we had the encore - an hour and a half drive to get a very short distance back to our apartment midway down the eastern side of the island. The traffic is insane. Of course it was a public holiday (in spite of it being a Christian celebration and the bulk of Malaysia being Muslim), but they never let anything so crass as to get in the way of a day off!   

Tomorrow (27/12) will see the resumption of work hopefully - watch this space.

Cheers and lotsaluv from us....................

Jim and Jean