Malacca Straits and Malaysia
Click here for a map of Malay Peninsula.
With about 500 miles to cover and less than 3 weeks before the arrival of Alex and Cass in Langkawi we did not have a lot of spare time to see much of mainland Malaysia. However this did not concern us too much since we had visited the country twice before: we were keener to meet our deadline. With horror stories of pirates, fishing nets, vast numbers of large and small craft to contend with plus thunder and lightning storms ringing in our ears we set off to travel during daylight, with varying degrees of trepidation. Thus it was that Jim and Barnaby changed the anchor to the Viking (which holds well in mud)..and a good job too! Our first stop at Pulau Pisang was also our first experience of a 'sumatra' which struck unexpectedly and viciously in the middle of the night with strong wind, rain, and lightning. The rolling and pitching of the boat was unbelievable: Jim took to the floor to sleep! In the morning we discovered a tern had taken shelter in one of the cockpit cubbyholes: on being disturbed it flew down below into the aft cabin, but once caught flew off quite happily. The next day required a sharp lookout to avoid tree trunks and other detritus washed out to sea by the storm. There were plenty of fishing nets to miss too - one running in a line from shore we estimated to be 2-3 miles in length, so we cut the engine and coasted between the buoys without ill effect. Our next anchorage was carefully chosen to avoid nearby fishing traps and wrecks marked on the chart. In the morning whilst eating breakfast we observed a tree trunk close to the stern, and decided it was not moving... it was a spar from a wreck. Too close for comfort. The next day's trauma was a squall just as we were approaching the Admiral Marina at Port Dickson and trying to avoid the shoals and reefs. The heavens opened and lightning was all around and very close: both Jim and Barnaby experienced strikes hitting the water close to Avalon and were amazed that the boat was not hit. It was wonderful to get safely into the marina when the storm was over and be greeted by friends we had not seen for a while. We had a very pleasant stay in the marina (hot showers and swimming pool) and went on a day's trip to Malacca.
Malacca was once a simple fishing village but the arrival of Admiral Cheng Ho from China in the 15th century initiated trading and the growth of the town. Chinese settlers followed and came to be known as the Baba and Nyonya. We visited the Baba Nyonya Heritage Museum and the saw something of the lifestyle of the Straits Chinese. On to the (nearly finished) new Cheng Ho Cultural Museum where we learnt about this amazing voyager who travelled extensively through the pacific and Indian Oceans with a fleet of up to 600 ships. Room after room was filled with interesting displays: my favourite was the puppet theatre which graphically told the tale of Cheng Ho including his early castration (eewh!). Surprisingly this was a voluntary career choice as only eunuchs could rise to certain senior positions in the hierarchy. After the museum we wandered the streets of old Malacca, admiring the architecture, (now sadly faded), and went into the Cheng Hoon Teng (Green Clouds Temple). Dating back to 1646 this is Malaysia's oldest Chinese Temple. A tasty lunch was eaten in Harpers restaurant, in an old Chinatown godown (warehouse) on the river, where we watched a dozen large water monitors scavenging amongst the rubbish. All too soon, it was time to move along towards Penang Island: Jim and Barnaby had the pleasure of getting soaked during another sumatra at night whilst simultaneously negotiating a large close packed fishing fleet. We were all very pleased to arrive at the new Tanjong City Marina just by the ferry terminal in Georgetown. The marina was not fully operational, but afforded excellent access to the town - a fascinating mix of cultures and associated temples, clan houses, street stalls, shops and foods.
We sampled as much as possible, and loved it. So many foreign sights - the huge reclining buddha (3rd largest in the world) at Wat Chaiyamangkalaran, enormous incense sticks burning outside Kuan Yin Teng (built by Hokkien & Cantonese settlers), gigantic pillar construction going on at the complex of buildings at Kek Lok Si Temple (largest buddhist temple in malaysia). But top of the list, for us, has to be the Hainan Temple dedicated to the goddess Mar Chor, patron saint of seafarers: we lit not only incense but a lotus candle as well. You can't be too careful! In several places we saw a local authority notice forbidding the burning of incense sticks more than six feet long but even the six foot ones are whoppers - about six inches in diameter!
After an uneventful overnight passage we anchored at Pulau Dayang Bunting, at the southern end of the Langkawi group of islands. This was a peaceful spot with monkeys on the beach and a sea-eagle perched on an overhead branch - so we stayed for an extra day for the three of us to relax before our influx of visitors. A little further north we visited the "Lake of the Pregnant Maiden" for a refreshing dip: but about 0930 when the tourist boats started to arrive we moved on, and tied up in Telaga Harbour Park Marina later the same day. After being devastated by the tsunami under a year ago, excellent new pontoons have been constructed with free water and electricity included in the very reasonable rates. The greatest joy to me was being able to freely access the internet from the boat using our new laptop (bought in Singapore) and the marina's wi-fi system. And so began a very enjoyable, if hectic, interlude, with Alex and Cass arriving on November 10 to stay at a local hotel for a week, friends Mohd Peter and Noni, with children Danny and Millie (their home is near Kuala Lumpur) staying at another local hotel for several days, and SailAsia social events from November 11-16. We managed to join in some of the SailAsia events, travel round the island by car looking at rubber plantations, macaques and whitefaced leaf monkeys as well as seeing the tourist sights including the "Underwater World" aquarium with magical seadragons.
We swam in the hotel pool and in the sea, went up Mount Machincang in the cable car for a magnificent view over the islands of the Langkawi archipelago and the southern Thai islands, walked to (and swam in) the Seven Wells Waterfall and got attacked by leeches in the tropcal rainforest. We had some excellent meals out with our friends, celebrating amongst other things, our 5th Anniversary of leaving UK on "Avalon". One day all the 5 boys (plus Cass) went sailing while the 3 other girls went shopping. Finally, after Peter and family departed for home all 5 Zoros had a family mini-Christmas celebration before Alex had to fly back to UK and his job. Once the excitement was over and Cass moved on board we had a bit of re-organising to do to fit 4 people where originally 2 had taken up all the space. After a few days dealing with laundry, buying provisions, charts and courtesy flags for onward destinations, and a bit more sightseeing by land we returned the car and set off to sail round the island. We picked up a mooring opposite the "Hole in the Wall" restaurant.
Through a narrow entrance between high limestone cliffs we came to an extensive area of waterways which can be explored by dinghy. Wildlife is abundant - we particularly enjoyed seeing groups of otters swimming (7 on one day very close to the boat), dusky leaf monkeys browsing in the trees by the water and families of very healthy looking wild dogs. But also there were several species of bats in the caves we explored, sea eagles, brahminy kites, waders, mudskippers, funny little crabs waving their claws.......
After a couple of days, we continued round the island, to anchor off the main town of Kuah. We had seen large hornbills in the mountainous part of the island but had a really close view of some smaller ones as we walked through the park to the Langkawi Fair shopping mall in Kuah. Here I was able to get some new prescription glasses, send off some Christmas post and stock up with duty-free booze for the foreseeable future. Whilst in the anchorage we met up with several yachties we had not seen for a while and shared a few meals and beers. We stayed on for the Saturday Night Market - well worth it as there was a good selection of fresh fruit and vegetables to be bought as well as tasty local foods to be sampled from the wealth of stalls. The next day we returned to Telaga for a last orgy on the wifi internet, a giant laundry session (fortunately it was a hot sunny day), filling up with diesel and water, so that on Monday 28 November we were able to check out of Malaysia. Only 2 months but action-packed and full of lovely times, as well as the rigours of the Malacca Straits...but we never did see (or hear of) any pirates in that time. Thank you Mar Chor!
