Langkawi

The wind is blowing, and the ‘long white beach’ we anchored off last night is not long, and not accessible by dinghy as there is a rocky reef along the edge of it. At high tide no beach at all. So an opportunity to catch up with emails, and when the afternoon sea breeze comes in, in the opposite direction, we’ll move on.

We are in Langkawi. An area of islands just on the Malaysian side of the border with Thailand. Lots of sheltered anchorages and very pretty. Much cleaner water than we have been in recently but still not clear, have to get to Phuket for that probably.

For the last 4 days we have been in Penang, old British settlement, and now a world heritage site. It has a very Chinese feel about it, though there are Indian areas too. Penang is the name of the island, the city is called Georgetown, with a twin city, Butterworth on the mainland. The island is now connected by a long bridge, with another, even longer in construction. Lots of ferries too.

We managed to arrive for a long weekend celebrating the Hindu festival of Thaipusan. One of the best known parts of which is when devotees pierce themselves with hooks and spears – apparantly painlessly after a few days of mental preparation. There are also parades and celebrations (piles of coconuts waiting to be thrown which seems a bit dangerous!). Of course all this meant that the roads were so full of traffic they were gridlocked, and having sat on a bus for quite a while getting nowhere, we decided to walk. Suddenly we seemed to be through the congestion so hopped on another bus to the old part of the city.

Here beautiful colonial buildings sit in spacious shady lawns looking over the sea front. So different from the seething masses and tiny Chinese run shops selling everything under the sun that we had been walking past. No pavements, and motor b ikes weaving through the traffic make gutter walking quite difficult. There is fort Cornwallis, built in the early 1800’s with convict labour. That still looks in good solid condition which is more than can be said for the marina.

The marina is modern, and was planned by a group of people who thought it would be a good upmarket addition to the city, but didn’t know much about the practicalities. It was built with a low and not very strong sea wall, and is right next to the very busy ferry terminal. Constant wash from the ferries has destroyed a large chunk of wall, and sediment has washed in. Many of the pontoons are completely broken. In fact there is only safe space for half a dozen boats, and at spring tides they are all sitting on mud. There is wash from each ferry coming and going so lots of fenders and mooring lines are required. But these 6 boats have a classy marina building with a restaurant, and a lot more than six staff; and are in a prime position for the city. Other marinas, and all the good anchorages, are a 45 min bus ride outside. A bit of investment and this could be such a successful venture.

What I haven’t mentioned is the heat. It is hot and humid, and saps the energy very quickly. So at this stage we found a very pleasant water side restaurant, and sat under a fan for a long lunch before catching the bus back.

During our cruising years we have met a lot of 'characters'. Tony definitely comes into that category. He lives with his Dutch wife, who has been completely deaf from the age of 9 after meningitis. They have a bright yellow boat which is very full of projects in progress so not much room to move. We were pointed in their direction when trying to find somewhere safe to leave the dinghy (they were in a small marina near our anchorage), and were immediately invited on board for a gin and tonic. Tony is well spoken and well read, and according to him was once a millionaire several times over then became bankrupt. He has had four wives and innumerable children but for the last 20 years or so has lived on his boat, has no bank account, and as far as we could tell lives on the proceeds of the sale of his wife’s Amsterdam house. In Panama he was mugged, and being a martial arts expert he killed one of the muggers. Managed to get bail, jumped bail, and sailed away. Somewhere in SE Asia they were caught in a typhoon, and are still in the process of repairing the damage. Not a dull life!