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It’s all been rather wonderful so far.  I was expecting crippling heat and humidity but although it’s hot (31 degrees) there is enough of a breeze to temper it. Paul says it’s decidedly chilly compared to how it was when he was here last.

For most of the journey here we were in air conditioned environments, so it wasn’t until we arrived at Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday evening that I felt the temperature for any length of time. The hotel we stayed in that night was to be a treat after a 24 hour journey with only sporadic periods of sleep.  For no apparent reason, other than he ‘must have liked the look of us’ according to Paul, the receptionist upgraded us to an open plan suite at no extra cost. Five star splendour indeed.

We only had a few hours before we needed to leave for our flight to Langkawi, so after making the most of the wide range of fabulous-looking dishes on offer for breakfast (six different flavours of porridge, dim sung, sushi and miso soup to name but a few), we headed out into the city.  Kuala Lumpur is a bustling, noisy and traffic-choked capital city.  It was quite a feat to cross the busy main road outside the hotel, even with the aid of a crossing – and the petrol fumes were overpowering in the heat.  We set off for Chinatown, about 20 minutes’ walk away in the old part of the city, being careful to avoid the deep chasms next to the pavements which act as drainage gutters. No one seems to worry about health and safety here.  On the way, we paid a visit to the Hindu Temple below. Inside the peaceful courtyard, incense was burning and people were praying – a welcome ambience after the crowded streets.

From here we walked to Petaling Street in the heart of Chinatown.  It was late morning by then but Paul said it was nowhere near as busy as it would get later on.  Still it was a feast for the eyes, ears and nose. Vendors were selling food of all descriptions. I saw the frog porridge Paul had put on an earlier blog entry, as well as other unusual (to our eyes) fare.  It’s common practice here for pet cats to be kept in cages.  The two we saw had signs on them informing people that they were not for sale – they were pets!  Later we discovered that this is done to keep them safe from predators and to stop them running away. I guess the signs were to stop people getting the wrong idea.  The pic below shows the narrow, chaotic and wonderful street that I would loved to have had longer to explore.

At about 1pm, a taxi took us to the airport for the hour long flight to the island of Langkawi. On arrival, laden with a trolley full of heavy luggage (we’d had to pay £8 excess baggage for being just 1kg overweight), we looked for a taxi to take us to the marina.  The way this works here is that you go to the taxi stand within the airport, tell them where you want to go, pay for the journey up front and receive a piece of paper with the driver’s registration number on it. Outside, you wait in a line while a member of staff offers help to anyone who might be bemused by the operation. It was quite amusing to see everyone clutching their little pieces of paper and bobbing up and down to see approaching cars’ number plates.

We arrived at the marina at about 6 30 and made the most of the daylight (it gets dark at 7 30 all year round here) to get our stuff on to the boat.  Sister Midnight, our home for the next four months is wonderful. She’s a lot more spacious than Lady Stardust and Paul has worked so hard to make it clean, inviting and comfortable.  I was delighted to go down in to the air conditioned cabin and check out the facilities, the galley and all the extra cupboards and lockers – mentally planning where to put things. This is an ongoing job but luckily there’s no great rush at the moment. After a quick trip to a nearby supermarket for basic provisions, and a light snack as it was getting late, we did just enough sorting for the night’s needs before a much-needed sleep. Below is a picture of some monkeys I was thrilled to see on our way out this evening. There were several more following them and Paul managed to get them on video.

 

Well we are back at the boat now, Kathy seems to like it, the journey was fine. I was very relieved to have got everything through the customs without issue, it was all supposed to be free of duty, but they can be difficult with boat parts sometimes. I also had bags of wholemeal flour which looked well dodgy in their clear plastic freezer bags. The boat was just as I left it, AirCon running, no smells, and no sign of life. By the time we had unpacked and picked up some basic stuff from the local supermarket it was nearly midnight, so off to bed.

This morning we collected the new anchor from the marina office and I fitted it, now I have made two new problems, where to put the old 60lb CQR, and how to make the new Spade anchor not rub on the whisker stays.

Getting the old anchor off and the new one on was hard work on my poor broken shoulder, either I’m becoming an old man quickly or 60lb is a lot of weight to dangle on a chain.

I will leave the details of the trip so far to Kathy who is writing her blog entry as I speak.
Paul C.

Early start tomorrow, it’s always a bit nerve wracking leaving the boat to fly home, there’s the awful realisation when you’re on the plane, that you didn’t turn the gas off, or the seacocks are open, or the bananas you left hanging in the main cabin are going to turn into a million maggots by the time you return.
I have spent all evening trying to cover all these angles. I never do though, if only I had a way to remember what to do 😉

So today I varnished the oven handle, didn’t want to take on anything too hard. I also cleared the decks, literally, and tidied up. I sent some money off to the marina in Penang, which I owed them, and bought some juice for when we return in August.
Im travelling out of Kuala Lumpa on the first day of Eid, when fasting for Ramadan ends. It’s a major national holiday, so probably not a great day to travel on, tomorrow everyone returns home to be with family and friends, so travel is likely to be very busy, I just have to get to my hotel in KL, so it shouldn’t be too bad.

Saw this chappy this morning on the way back from the post office, he was about a foot long!

My final sunset here until our return

This is the Yacht club and hotel

I might make a last entry from KL tomorrow, otherwise see you in August, when Kathy will probably take over the blog, so it might get a bit more entertaining, certainly it will be more legible and grammatically correct (She’s a proper proofreader )

Paul C.

I had a nice restful morning, eggs and toast before I started on the varnishing. Today I was doing the coachroof trim, however by 11 am the wood was so hot, I could have cooked my eggs on it, so there was no way I could put varnish down and expect it not to bubble. So I sanded the wood down ready for later when the sun went down a bit. I did a bit of tidying up and some boaty chores.

Every morning I wake up and forget to check my todo list until the end of the day, today was no exception, but at 5 pm I remembered today was really my last chance to bake bread using Tim’s recipe and his special ‘starter’ before I head home. So the first instruction was to bring the starter to room temperature for an hour. this meant the mixing and stretching business was going to seriously clash with my pool time. So I ended up rushing  parts of the process, also the lack of scales to weigh the flour had me flummoxed. Finally while the bread cooked I investigated the lack of working water gauges.
it seems the port tank is the only one wired to the display, the starboard sensor just has some wires arriving at the meter but aren’t connected, I need to think this through.
However the port tank seems to be reading 50%, on removing the sensor from the tank, it appears the float that goes up and down the tube, doesn’t float anymore. once I moved it from it’s midway position, it dropped to the bottom and wont float back. Pretty rubbish for a float I thought, perhaps they fitted a sink by mistake.
So I wired up the Starboard tank and it was reading Empty, instead of Full. The sensor seemed to be shot, but on removing it the reading changed to Full, so a bad connection was suspected. The bad connection (Actually a short caused by a bad installation) was fixed and now I have one tank reading correctly.

So for the next ocean crossing, we shall use the Port tank with gay abandon until it runs out, then switch to the starboard tank and keep our eyes glued to the gauge.

By now the bread was burning underneath, and anaemic on top, I gave it another 15 minutes to burn then hunger took over my logic and out it came to cool down.

 

And onto Sanook, this is my neighbour here in the marina

Sanook is a Tayana 37, however her hull has lost its planking effect and she’s in a rather neglected state. She is on my port side and over to starboard is a westsail32

Now the westsail is one of the first double ender, Colin Archer inspired boats that took off in America. It was very successful and was one of the early cruising boats that got middle class folks out onto the water, previously the reserve of the rich or the home building types. Bob perry was commissioned to design a bigger and better westsail, he came up with the Tayana 37, which was one of the most successful blue water cruisers ever mass produced. From the Tayana 37, Bob went on to design the Baba 30, (Lady Stardust) and then the Baba 35 and Baba 40/Tashiba 40

Sister Midnight is a Tashiba 40, and one of the last and most refined double ender (Canoe Stern) boats that Bob Perry designed. So within a few feet of my berth, I sort of have the whole Bob Perry history there to see.

Now if you search around a bit you will find that Sanook was sailed here by an English man who won quite a few trophies in her, racing in various regattas here. He went on to build up a little empire of Asian chandlers in Phuket and Bankok

Tomorrow is my last full day here, so a quick varnish, then a big tidy up, need to make sure there’s nothing for the bugs to live on.

Paul C

I was working hard at the poolside earlier, my solataire score is very poor and I’m putting the hours in to improve it, when I heard a knocking sound above me. I looked up to see some kind of duck on the balcony above trying to get through the glass windows.

I have no idea what this is, I’m pretty sure it’s not an eagle, but it is quite big. I haven’t seen the monkeys for a few days, but I could hear them today, which was nice as I’ve been pondering on the banana peeling issue. I’m still not sure why the monkeys seem to have a better way to peel them than most of us humans. If you have no idea what Im talking about, then checkout this video on youtube. Are we able to evolve into beings that can traverse the solar system, split atoms and understand gravity (nearly), yet we missed out on how to peel a banana properly. What else have we missed!

I know what I missed, the dates I travel home, because I arrive on a Wednesday, I presumed at some point that I left on a Tuesday, but no, I leave on a Wednesday, thanks to the rotating earth thing, I leave Wednesday morning at 11AM and 19 hours later I arrive at 11PM, wish I had realised that when I booked my flight and hotel to KL from here. I was able to move the hotel back a day but had to book a second flight, still a flight to KL from here only costs £18, so not a disaster, and I get another day by the pool to work on my solataire tactics.

The anchor was “out for delivery” today, but it didn’t arrive, and the UPS site has just changed it to  “Scheduled for delivery Monday” on it’s totally useless tracking site. Still I will at least be here on Monday now, varnishing away.

The two boats to my port side have been bothering me, the first boat ‘sanook’ has a familiar look, and the boat beyond it is a rather sad rusty affair. I decided to check out the first one today and found a slightly interesting story, I will tell more tomorrow when I take a picture to explain. However suffice it to say, that as Malaysia has a very small indigenous yachting community/history, most of the boats here have travelled some way to get here. For many it’s the end of the line, as the next stop would normally be a passage to the Red Sea and onto the Med, but the Somalian pirates put an end to that for many people. I think it’s only slightly cranky people that have the kind of boats you see here, I guess I must be one of those people, I feel a bit like someone doing ‘the way’, also know as the ‘Camino de Santiago’, however I’m starting at the wrong end, and meeting everyone who has finished and is about to fly home. I wonder if Sister Midnight will end up being sold in some place like this a few years down the line and if anyone will bother to type the name into google and find out what happened.

So tomorrow isn’t about packing anymore, but more varnish. Will have a lie in and some eggs for breakfast, seen as it’s Sunday.

Just got a buzz on the phone to say Djokovic is out of Wimbledon, does that mean Andy Murray has a chance again?
What with the Brexit, the state of the Tory party, poor old Jeremy, and the sad news of Caroline Aherne, I think we must be going through some strange time/space vortex thing and everything is getting jumbled up.

Paul C.

 

 

I really need to learn how to paint, perhaps there is a night course I could do. I have painted a large chunk of boat and a large part of my leg, hand and neck. I have also painted parts of the boat that shouldn’t be painted, a bit of the pontoon, quite a bit of the Andaman sea, but that’s hard to be accurate about, and lots of clothes. Still Im very happy with the result, the port side is looking great, It’s the ultramarine blue strip I painted. I will get stuck into the starboard side in August.

Because of the high humidity here, I have to wait for a couple of very hot days to dry the varnish to a hard finish, otherwise I can’t sand it down ready for the next coat. also there’s the chance of trapping moisture in the varnish.

I took this picture of the cockpit from the pontoon, it’s a big cockpit, and full of junk including the life ring Tim and I picked up when out sailing.

I have pretty much decided to keep the boat here for the rest of July while I travel home, this means I don’t need to worry about the trip back to Penang now, also I don’t get to use my new anchor lights or the cardboard anchor ball I made.

Tomorrow I’m hoping to get a final decent coat of varnish on the cap rail to protect it while I’m away, hopefully it will be dry enough by then. Also I’m expecting the anchor to be delivered, other than that, I will be starting to put the boat to bed and worrying about humidity, insect, cockroaches and leaks etc.

Paul C.

It rained through the night, and when I woke up the new varnish was covered in rain drops, spoiling the surface of the last coat of varnish. I dried the wood with a rag hoping the weather would improve, then stayed below and did some research on shopping and where to leave the boat when I travel home next week.

I took a trip downtown to check out all the hardware/marine suppliers I had failed to find before, I found them all, not where they are documented as being, bought paint and Epifanes varnish thinner, I had sent an email off to Epifanes the dutch manufacturer of the varnish I use, it’s quality stuff, but hard work here. I was pleased to get a reply, he confirmed that it would be difficult to varnish here, but possible, he persuaded me that I should use his thinner rather than the local turps and to let him know how I got on. He also had some other good tips. I also bought some flashing led lamps for the boat, I already had two, but these ones are good for 100 hours operation and turn off in daylight automatically. So when I next anchor, I will look like Blackpool illuminations. Needed because of the massive amount of fishing boats out here, many who drop nets in the anchoring spots.
I also found a fire extinguisher shop and bought a fire blanket for the galley, I had been looking everywhere for one of these, not something normally used here it seems. Outside the shop there was a couple of trees that seemed to be having root problems, glad I didnt lay that pavement.

So by the time I got back to the boat the sun had come out and drying had completed and varnishing could commence. I managed to get a second coat on after sanding back the first one and removing the rain spots, I also sanded back the blue paint under the cap rail, that will get painted tomorrow, followed by another coat of varnish on the wood ( 2 down, 8 more to go).
I think I have saved that cap rail, port side by replacing the rotted teak bits with new plugs. The starboard side is still untouched.
Then onto the pool to cool off, followed by the removal of the Aircon Water pump
This pump had given up the ghost, it’s 15 years old, and has been pumping salt water all its life, so fair enough, Im hoping if I can replace it the air-con will work, but there may be more problems.
Tomorrow everywhere is shut so I will do some painting and varnishing.

Paul C.

Up early to get on with the sanding, I have now sanded down the cap rail and rubbing strake on the port side, to bare wood, and laid down 1 coat of 50%varnish/50%turpentine. A very tedious job, but no more sanding, just another coat of varnish every day until I have about 8 coats on. Sadly it started raining not long after i got the last coat on, hopefully a light sand tomorrow will fix that.

The dinghy came back today, which was nice.

Went shopping for fresh salad ingredients tonight, and spotted this little chappie on the way.

The rain was evident all around the island.

Here you can see lots of boats in the bay, mostly ferries laid up as we are out of season.

It was a bit worrying to see the terrorist incident at Ataturk airport in Istanbul, as I’m changing flights there in a week on my way home! Awful affair for all involved.

Tomorrow, more varnish, pay the bill and get ready for early depart on Friday.

Paul C

That’s an Iggy pop reference…

So the anchor was delayed in customs, it’s now been released so the delivery day has slipped to Saturday, a few days after I was planning on leaving Langkawi and heading back to Penang. Also the dinghy was meant to be ready today, but that hasn’t shown up, to be fair I didn’t chase it, been very busy sanding all day. I started on the cap rail and rubbing strake, it’s going well, but the wood is much darker than I would like, also has many black stains. I’m looking into lightening it.
So eight hours sanding and a first layer of varnish on half the job, then a swim, supermarket, finally an omelette for dinner.

Tomorrow more of the same, I probably wont blog as I’m going to be busy getting the boat ready for the trip to Penang.

 

Tim cooked a loaf today, best ever, he has left me some ‘starter’ which looks like wood glue, but apparently is alive, but subdued in the fridge. Like Frankenstein, I will be bringing it back to life shortly and attempting to turn it into an edible loaf.
Tim took a taxi to the airport at lunchtime, it’s been great having him here to help with the work and to just enjoy the boat, after all thats the boats main purpose. I made a list of shops I wanted to check out, especially I was looking for anchor lights, off I marched and covered a lot of ground, despite the heat. I got some lights, not quite what I wanted, but they should work, basically all round flashing white lights I can put on the boat when at anchor. After shopping I called by the food area that is on the was home near the main shopping mall, I’m not quite sure what it’s all about, that is , is it just a Ramadan thing, I suspect not, but it was quite amazing, stall after stall of great food, snacks, meals, drinks, puddings etc. A bit like the oriental food stalls at an open air festival, but multiplied by 100. I bought a stack of food, and a massive juice drink, possibly mango, for less than £3

I will be going back soon, to stock up the fridge.

I feel a bit sorry for Kathy as it was mostly meat/fish orientated. I expect we will find a veggie option, I did spot this place on the way home, it said ‘open new moon and full moon’ which seems a strange way to run a business, but it does say “Clean-Moderate-Delicious”, who could refuse that!

Closer to the marina I watched a row of palm trees being planted, there’s lot of work going on around here to smarten the place up.

I took a shortcut through a row of Malaysian restaurants on the way back and caught this little chappie on video. I’m hoping he kept well clear of the kitchens, for his sake.

 

After a little swim at the yacht club I snapped this sunset, that’s the Rebak and Telaga area in the background. I could get to like it here.

However now Tim has gone it’s 24/7 maintenance on the boat. I need to get as many jobs sorted out before I return home next week. I have a very long lists of jobs, but the biggest is probably the varnishing of the rub rails and cap rails. Im hoping my anchor and dinghy repair will arrive in the next couple of days, as I plan to leave for Penang on Friday.

Paul C.