Seadrive Blog

Long Time No Hear

2008-11-21T15:25:00.001+08:00

Sorry for the long delay but we have been focusing on getting where we are going. This morning we checked out of Thursday Island and are now on the last leg down to Cairns. Thursday Island check-in was a breeze and other than the $240 AQIS checking in fee was all over bar the shouting in under 30 minutes. Customs gave the boat a once over and we were all done.

The trip so far has been strait forward. We stopped at Maumare (Sea World) in Indonesia and Dilli in Timor Leste for fuel and have been doing a lot of motoring. The nasty port engine has been eating fan belts but other than that has been behaving itself. We had the autopilot fail 500 miles out of Thursday Island and had to do five days of hand steering. For those of you that crossed the gulf (of Carpentaria)you will be pleased to know that it doesn't matter how you approach Thursday Island you can look forward to five days of washing machines to approach Australia.

Anyway the end is in sight and all are well on board. We have been eating well and the crew really managed to adapt to steering Seadrive after some practice (not that they had too much choice!) I think we are all looking forward to some land time. I certainly am!

Days 5 and 6 to Australia

2008-10-27T16:01:00.002+08:00

Well it has been very slow. We have had very little wind during the day and 20 knots plus at night time accompanied by thunderstorms and lightning. At least we get some sailing done and save our precious fuel. At 7am this morning I woke the boat with the proclaimers song 500 miles as that's the distance we have no covered since we left Singapore. We have had two days of repairs though. We tore the main at one of the batten pockets and had to jerry rig one of Askaris sail slides that I have been carrying round for a year. No sooner had we finished repairing that when it was time to change chart cartridges for the rest of Indonesia. Guess what! The only cartridge that doesn't work is the one we need. We have reverted to charts and dead reckoning supported by GPS. This was followed promptly by the failure of the Racor filter on the "evil" engine. It appears that the previous owner had broken off the drain plug and glued the hole of with something that didn't works so well! This explained why I had to bleed the engines every couple of days. Anyway some epoxy and time, both of which I have lots of it is now repaired and we are motoring along waiting for some wind. At this rate I think that we will have to stop somewhere for fuel. Possibly Maumare or Tanah Bahru. Anyway we are plodding along with the odd hiccups. Thankfully Nazile has been cooking up a storm including banana bread, pancakes, fried rice, soup etc etc and many other good dishes. So if we dont get any wind we can sit here and get fat waiting for a rescue! May not even ask for assistance until we run out of food! All jokes aside we are making good progress Just need some more wind. We have now got under 2000 miles to go!

Days 3 and 4 to Australia

2008-10-25T17:46:00.002+08:00

Day 3 was great with wind up the skirt for most of the day. We managed over 100 Nautical Miles. The only drama of the day was the Tacktick wireless wind indicator that we had repaired at great expense in Singapore plummeted from the mast in the middle of the night, never to be seen again!

Day Four has been very slow. The wind would blow for 10 minutes, just long enough for me to get to sleep and then stop requiring me to get up and get the boat back on course. I only got about 30 minutes sleep last night and I am very tired today. The wind today has been on the nose (what little there has been of it) so we sailed at 2 knots until about 2pm and relented by starting the engines. We have a fuel range of about 500 miles so we have to be very careful where and how we use it. We are trying to avoid having to stop in Indonesia to refuel.

The two crew members Mike (a friend of dads) and Nazile from a crewing website on the internet are settling in well. Nazile is a chef and has owned her own bakery and restaurant so we have been eating really well. Mike flew into Singapore from Lake Macquarie. He was very pale when he arrived but is now a shade of pink after 5 minutes out in the sun! They seem to be aclimatising well although the first 4 days has been a mix of sun, rain, lots of wind, no wind etc etc... A real pot pouri of sailing conditions.

All is well but we hope for some more wind from the right direction.

Day 1 and 2 to Australia

2008-10-23T17:51:00.002+08:00

After leaving One-15 Marina we headed out to the "Two Sisters" to clear customs. We waited almost an hour as there were several boats waiting in the queue. Finally the boat arrives to take our passports and check our papers, but there is a problem so the Captain is summoned aboard the customs vessels to explain the discrepancies in the crew papers. We had had a similar discussion when we signed the crew on earlier in the week but I guess no one really understands the black art of Singapore Customs including the customs officials. All sorted out we pack off and head for Australia.

The straits crossing was non eventful and we have a good run. We have been praying that the monsoons will come through early to improve our run to Australia and it seems our prayers have been answered at least for the first day. We arrived at the Southern end of Batam just as the sun was setting and decided to anchor and get some sleep rather than battle the tides. Our speed had fallen to .5 a knot through the water and we still had twenty miles of the Riung Straits to complete.

I awoke at midnight to feel that the tide had changed and the wind had picked up. We set off at a cracking pace and headed out into the rain. It has been raining all day today and we have two 40 knot squalls. But at least we are sailing! The crew is holding up well and we should cross the equator around 7pm tonight. We are 128 nM into the 2400 nM trip to Thursday Island. Maybe after we make an offering to Neptune as we cross the equator we will get some sun but we cant complain as we have had two days of Monsoon winds and hope we get more!

Sebana Cove Marina

2008-04-14T09:21:00.003+08:00

The girls arrived back on Friday and had a couple of days with us before they packed up and headed back to Singapore to get visas for Indonesia and boat to Surabaya - Java and then another boat to Bali. They are going to tour around Bali for a bit and then see if there are any cruising boats in the marina heading south . If not then it is a Jetstar flight from Bali to Christchurch (NZ).

Well, we have a week until we fly out. The sails are down and the tarps are up again. We have water maker to re-pickle and a few other jobs. The preliminary packing of bags is looking good. 10kg each backpack so we can still put some more into check-in luggage.

We are slowly eating out the supplies. One of the fridges is off already. We are finding it hard to keep the batteries charged to keep both of them running. It is rather cloudy here so the solar panels don't get a good charge. And now that the tarps are up two out of the four are covered anyway.

I have to say , and i know we will regret it , but we are really looking forward to some cool weather. It has been really hot and humid here so you end up soaking wet and exhausted after a couple of jobs.

Not much news I am afraid. We haven't done too much socialising. The Jesters and Muscat are due in on the weekend , so we will save up for then.

Sebana Cove Marina

2008-04-04T09:52:00.001+08:00

We have been in Sebana Cove for a few days now. It is nice being tied up again and much nicer to know we have done the Singapore Straits. The girls have reassembled their bikes and have decided to cycle to Singapore for a few days. They managed to get somewhere to stay off the Couchsurfing website which is great as there is not much cheap accomodation in Singapore. We may go over on the hi-speed ferry ( 1 hour) for a visit for old time sake. The ferry leaves next door to the marina which is really convenient. We will do a day trip into Johor Bahru at some stage. That is about an hour and a half on the bus. Faster to get to Singapore. We took the shuttle bus yesterday,into the local town - Rengitt (10km). It was fairly small but had most of the basics. It took us 10 mins in the bus just to get to the front gate of the resort. Don't think we will be walking down to the gate. The resort is pretty deserted , which is par of the course for Malaysian resorts. Lots of staff cleaning and doing what? I don't know. But there is a nice pool complex here, a fantasic gym, so we need to drag out the joggers, the restaurant is not bad, it is BBQ night on Saturday night. If you play golf there is a beautiful course here as well. They have a daily supply of veg, cheeses and breads which I will go and check out today. So you don't have to wait for the veggie run once a week. The shuttle into town goes 3 or 4 times a week so you are right foodwise and basic supplies. There are a few people on boats here and our friends from Scotia are here as well.

Pulau Pisang to Sebana Cove

2008-04-02T11:13:00.002+08:00

We had a very comfortable night at Pisang. So we were all rested for a trip through the Singapore Straits. It was pretty easy going for the first few hours as we were just on the edge of the outbound shipping lane. We made it across the tanker parking lot near the entry to Raffles Marina no problems. We started to be shadowed by a Navy boat and had three fighter jets doing circles above what seemed to be just us. We were starting to get a little paranoid. We had taken our Aussie flag pole down as it needed to be tightened up. Maybe they thought we were up to something. It turned out the Navy were doing a navigation exercise and we soon left them doing donuts behind us, but the jets kept circling for an hour. Now were in the path of a few large ships as we motored on. The sea started to get chopp from where all the different currents meet. Time to shut the hatches. Got all of them just in time except the girls cabin. We hit a patch of rough water and the boat slammed into it and sent a spray of water up to the cabin windows. Some water in but nothing that didn't dry out in an hour. As we started up the river on the Malaysian side for the marina the heaven opened up and visibility was pretty bad. We were lucky we had got through the traffic otherwise it would have been very unpleasant. The run up the river was amazingly rural and deserted. Hard to believe that 5 minutes the other way was the busiest shipping port in the world and you have the high rise and bustle of Singapore. It is like we are out in the wilderness. A bit like the Kumai river in Borneo. Bizare.

We arrived in about 4.30pm. Mike did a fantastic job getting us through Singapore waters without incident. He felt the new AIS system made it a lot easier than the last time. AIS is a system that allows you to see all the big ships and their course plotted on your navigation software. You can also see the ship name and call sign. They appear as little green triangle on the chart. A one point just about the whole chart was green.

Our friends Scotia are here in Sebana, so we will catch up with them today. We are planning a lazy day today with a quick recky trip to the local town. The ferry to Singapore is just next door so that is easy when we decide to go . Singapore is about an hour away on the ferry and Johor Bahru the nearest big town is about 1 and half hours by bus, so we will make a trip there later in the week.

Water Islands to Pulau Pisang

2008-03-31T17:22:00.002+08:00

We arrived at the Water Islands in a nice bay, thinking how calm and great it was for a swim. The girls had gone ashore to explore. Not long after they left the wind started to come up which put us on the wrong side of the island for the night. We were starting to think about moving the boat and wondering what would happen when the girls got back and saw the boat gone. We were pretty sure they;d work it out. It was just on 5pm and we saw them heading back down to the beach. Mike high tailed it ashore and once back on the boat the dinghy was hoisted and motors on and anchor up and away around the other side. Fingers crossed it would be ok or we would be on an overnighter to Singapore. Really want a good nights sleep before we tackle the Straits. We'd had a problem with the down anchor switch. Can't remember how many times Mike has replaced these. Just before we got to the island yesterday Mike had unhooked safety rope on anchor and the bloody thing started to drop. Luckily we were in deep enough water we managed to turn it off at the main switch and slow the boat down before it caught. Another job on the list. It turned out a bit of a rolly night with a great electrical storm and downpour. So doggy smell carpet in the cockpit again. We had just got it dry from the last rain. Today has been a pretty boring long day, no sailing motoring all the way. We have had a bit of a practice playing chicken for tomorrow as we had to cross some of the shipping lane today. Highlight of the day was Tabitha making pancakes. It has been a bit overcast so at least we haven't sweltered and there is a nice breeze blowing into the back of the boat. We have about an hour still to go to the anchorage. Fingers crossed for a quiet night and a good sleep.

Port Dickson to Water Islands

2008-03-30T09:49:00.001+08:00

Well, the blogger is back on her feet, feeling much better. That flu was a killer in this heat.

We have a relaxing 3 days in PD. The girls have had a good couple of days in Malacca. The highlight being the discovery of the Mock Wok. A vego restaurant which has all the local dishes but with no meat but a "mock" version of it. YUM. They mall trawled and did the many museums in town and came back bearing fruit and tofu and black printer cartridge( it had dried out). I didn't hear them arrive back last night but i knew they were here when i opened the fridge to see that the tofu fairy had visited.

Anyway we are under way to the Water Islands about 39nm today. It is pretty windless out here. Although, we did manage to put the jib up for about an hour. No traffic out here except the occasional fishing boat and the large ship in the haze on the horizon. I am convinced Mike has heat stroke as he announced this morning that is is quite looking forward to hitting the Singapore Straits. He will enjoy the metal stimulation of navigating through the shipping lanes. I am starting him on some Sudoku's now to get the brain in shape. MAD.

Big Happy Birthday to our friend Harry on Rhiannon who is currently on a 30 days passage from St Helena (off West Coast of Africa) to Barbados. It was his birthday yesterday. I think it was one of those significant milestone birthdays as well.

Kra Banks to Pangkor: Pangkor to Ketam: Ketam to Port Dickson

2008-03-27T08:35:00.002+08:00

Sorry for lack of blogs last few days, I have come down with the flu. It was all i could do sit up let alone stand and type a blog.

Well it seems the fisherman did know something. What he was trying ti tell us was he had net out. Kra Banks turned out to be a very rolly anchorage and it didn't help that the wind decided to come up as well. So all in all a pretty unpleasant nights sleep. Anyway, we know Pangkor will be a good anchorage. We arrive early at Pangkor and the girls go ashore for a look around. I take some time to rest and try and get over this flu.

We have an early morning start the next day on our trip from Pangkor to Ketam. We are up at 3.30am. It turns out to be a very long 93 nm day with short choppy seas ( time for some sea sick pills for me, the girls hold out a bit longer). Today i just don't leave the bunk. The girls did a great jobs on watch and cooking meals. We finally drop anchor at 7.20pm in a nice quiet anchorge (thank god) so good sleep and nice breeze and no rain. Perfect.

We are currently on route to Port Dickson through the parking lot of Port Klang. Not too many ships to dodge. But some practice for Singapore.

That's about as long as I can stand and type . More later

Pulau Bidan to Kra Banks (25nm S of Penang)

2008-03-24T18:24:00.003+08:00

Bidan was a nice anchorage. The water had a bit of a fishy smell to it . And as Tabitha pointed out correctly, fish do live in it. Clare was the only one that could hail her own body weight to get out of the water, so I needed the dingy lowered so we could drop the ladder. Need to do some chin up or just drown if I fall overboard. We were all pretty shattered from our first day at sea and being so hot was just exhausting. So early dinner and a movie "The Darjeeling Limited" (not bad a little quirky) and to bed with a nice cool breeze blowing in hatches. We had a bit of a sloppy night when the tide changed, which our water tanks like to keep reminding us by sloshing for awhile afterwards. We have just realised we have a stowaway on board. He appeared in the middle of our movie so we will name him Darjeeling the Gecko ( DG for short). Haven't seen him this morning, we will see if he comes out for the movie tonight.

We had a bit of a lie in this morning as we were waiting for current to change in our favour and then sails up , YES, I did say sails up. Can't remember the last time we sailed ( no engines). We managed about an hour before the wind died off. Donks on again and we headed for the main channel into Penang. Monday must be a busy day as we had cruise liners and cargo ships coming up our rear. We motored in just off the main channel so not too much drama. Penang waters were not too dirty with rubbish so we had pleasant trip down and under the bridge. We have decided to keep going past our original stop for tonight of Pulau Rimau and plan to anchor in some shallow water in the middle of the straits. This will make our trip tomorrow a lot shorter. Sail has been up again this afternoon. Just slowed down as a fishing boa as pulled alongside to tell us we are heading into shallow water. Mike has given up trying to hand gesture that we only drawn 1 metre so we follow them so we don't run up their backside. Very nice of them to show concern for us. They obviously think we navigate with a piece of string like them . Oh God here comes another one, we think with chart plotter, depth sounder and GPS we should be OK, we just hope they don't know something we don't.

Rebak to Pulau Bidan

2008-03-23T15:57:00.002+08:00

Well, the dock lines are finally untied and we wave goodbye to Rebak. Court Jester and Dream Catcher got up early to see us off. It is a really funny feeling leaving, knowing we are probably not coming back. We are sad as Rebak has been been Seadrive's home on and off for nearly 18 months. We have an uneventful morning motoring (no wind - but did we really expect any?)until Mike makes a dive for the port engine bay. We stop the engine and find it has chewed up another belt. More dramas as the nut seems to be burred. Mike, however, with his new apprentice Tabitha manage to get the water pump off and re-grease it, put on new belt and we are off again. Even with only one engine with the current with us we still managed to do 5 knots. It is hot and humid out here and we have less than an hour to our anchorage tonight...an island just north of Penang. We believe there is good swimming. Can't wait.

Rebak Marina - The Last Supper

2008-03-22T06:54:00.005+08:00

Well, the time has come to finally untie our dock lines and leave Rebak. We have had a great last week. ..BBQ on Thursday, knees up at the last cocktail party Friday. The new crew members Tabitha and Clare are settling into marina life and had a good night dancing with the old farts at the cocktail party. We hauled put successfully for a couple of hours on Wednesday to change anodes which had been eaten by the stray current in the marina. Then a fuel run to Telaga ...yes the Seadrive left the marina for two hours. Only a minor problem with the port engine overheating, which turned out to be a slipping cooling pump belt.

We have managed to get everything back into its place including washing machine which is still going and the aircon, plus two bikes(dismantled) in the forward lockers.

The girls have cycled from the UK to here.

We will be updating blog daily so everyone can keep track of us on passage. Next update from the high seas (well low seas with some wind would be nice).

Back at Rebak

2008-03-16T20:28:00.005+08:00

Well we made it back. Had good flights and a nice night at the Hotel Helang , next to Langkawi airport before hitting vegie run and ferry back to boat. We had a nice surprise when we arrived as our sailing buddies on Court Jester are here . We haven't seen them since we did our Cambodia trip last November together.

We are slowly making our way around the boat systems to check what is still working. Most things are a GO, but the toilet is not working so Mike has put in a new motor which works fine but the water doesn't seem to be going down the bowl fast enough. So, safer to not use it until we sort it out. We closed stop cock and filled with vinegar last night in case there were calcium deposits in there. But still no luck this morning. The bowl is off again and Mike is swearing down the hole again. Fingers crossed. Can't really leave without a working loo.

It is pretty hot back here. I guess we are just out of condition. We thought we might leave off the aircon and try and acclimatise. That lasted a couple of hours. Growth on the bottom of the boat was not too bad, but needed a bit of a scrape anyway. Mikes armpit is up again so Terry off Ridge Didge offered to do our bottom at the same time he was doing his, which is terrific. Our sail drive anodes are all gone from the galvanic action in the marina. So we are hauling out next Wednesday for a couple of hours to replace them.

Outboard had a bit of a problem, which Wayne of Jester sorted for Mike. So we have been really lucky to have yachty friends still around here.

I had a bit of a sad moment as I started the washing machine this morning and found the agitator was not working. Maybe it has finally thrown in the towel. It has had a good innings but at least it would be some more space on the board if it was staying. So I tried the spinner thinking it should work, it has a separate solenoid. Patient dead. A small thought crossed my synapse, did I turn it on at the power point. NO. Yeah, patient alive and kicking. I guess it stays for a few more voyages.

We are aiming for a Saturday departure. But we will keep you all posted.

Sydney, Australia

2008-03-12T12:12:00.002+08:00

Coming back to Rebak. We (both) leave Sydney Thursday 13th March and arrive back on the boat at Rebak Marina on Friday 14th March. The current plan is to get the boat ready and stocked up and head for Sebana Cove and then on to Borneo and back to Australia. That is the plan today. Job hunting in Sydney is going slowly and Mike's business idea is still alive and moving along but slowly as well. We half expect it to hot up again once we hit Rebak, typical.

We are looking forward to coming back to the boat and catching up with all our sailing friends. We have really missed the laid-back cruising lifestyle. We have had a great time back in Oz catching up with family and friends. But it is so noisy, busy and frantic back here. We will be updating the blog more regularly when we get moving so stay tuned.

Chaing Mai

2007-12-02T14:29:00.001+08:00

This is our second trip to Chiang Mai so we have done most of the touristy things. The Jesters had some dental work done. Wayne had four new crowns in 3 days for a lot less than in Australia. We ate at some really good restaurants. We caught up with Celine, our friend from couch surfing, that we met last time. We did the Night market a couple of times, the Sunday Walking Market and of course plenty of shopping .

The Jesters and half of Seadrive(Tracey) head off on overnight sleeper train to Bangkok on Monday afternoon . The other half was picked up early that morning for a 3 hour drive to the meditation centre for his 7 day mediation course.

Travel Tips

Lai-Thai GuestHouse, 111/4-5 Kotchasarn Rd., Chiang Mai 50100, THAILAND, Tel : +66 (0)5327 1725, +66 (0)5320 6438, www.laithai.com
Montrara Happy House Guesthouse – near Starbucks near the gate ( Mike saw this place and thought it would be good for next time. Near Thapae Gate – so good for Sunday Walking Market) - 11 / 1 Changmoikao Rd. T. Changmoi, A. Muang, Chiang Mai 50300, Tel : +66 53 232 800, www.montrara.com, sales@montrara.com
Mad Dog Bar and Restaurant - great for breakfast in the morning and the best Pizza, Moon Muang road, South of Thapae Gate on the city moat
Salsa Kitchen ( Mexican) ( walk from Black Canyon coffee shop at edge of Sunday walking market. Walk along the main road until you hit Siam Commericail bank on the corner and turn left. Go down a block and turn into small lane to the right. Alng a little way and turn left. There is a Reggae bar and then the Salsa Kitchen. Salsa kitchen is in a fairly recently developed plot of land on the corner of Ratwithee and Ratchaphakinai Roads. If this doesn’t ring a bell, this is where you drive past the Irish pub and then either enter the little soi on the right immediately after the Irish Pub and then left, or continue until the traffic lights and then turn right, and then right again into this area where mostly some backpacker reggae/rasta themed bamboo bars are located.
The Famous Gallery ( this guy can take a photo and create a black & white or colour sketch ), www.thefamousgallery.com , thai_famous_gallery@hotmail.com, 244 B Basement of Night, Bazaar ChangKlan Rd , A. Muang, Chaing Mai 50100, Thailand, Tel +66 (0) 53 819162, Mobile +66 (0) 8 1724 4889
Middle Way Meditation, www.meditationthai.org

Luang Prabang via Pak Beng to Huay Xai

2007-11-29T12:51:00.000+08:00

The Mekong Cruise

We are up very early this morning as we are being picked up at 6.30am at the guest house and taken down to the river to board our boat. We knew where we were going, as we had seen the dock a few days ago when we were wandering the riverside. We are the first passengers to arrive at the boat, so we stake our claim on the rear seat area of the boat. It is cold down on the water and we suspect it is going to get colder as we notice blankets have been placed on all the seats. That was an understatement. The remaining passengers boarded and our bags were stowed away, we caste off in an odd fashion bum first and pushed off the other two boats we were attached to. We realized these were the $5USD – narrow boat with hard wooden seats and then next level of comfort up, a boat slightly wider with airline seats. We were all glad we had taken the luxury option.

Once underway the wind whistled down the length of the boat. We had some protection at the back as we had kitchen and loos ahead of us. It was freezing until the sun started to burn the mist off . About an hour into the trip we pull up to a bamboo dock near some caves – Tham Thing Caves of a Thousand Buddhas. These caves over a 1,000 buddha statues inside which have been placed here over the years by the local people . Some of the older wooden images are extremely old (12th century) and are slowly being eaten by termites.

After the caves it was a leisurely day of reading, snoozing, lunching, shooting the rapids in places and chatting with the other passengers until we reached our overnight stop Luang Say Lodge at Pak Beng. We anchor off the beach and sherpa our way across the sand to the steps of the lodge. We are greeted by the staff bearing drinks and room keys.

Our rooms turn out to be individual cabins with louvre shutter windows – no glass , no fly screens, which made the mossie nets over the beds essential. We have fantastic views over the river. After a nice buffet dinner, it is an early night for an early start the next morning.

We all had a terrific nights sleep in soft beds. The first soft beds we have found on the trip. We have breakfast at the lodge and are on the boat again by 7am for the next days travel.

The one stop on today’s trip was a small village. Funny to watch children playing happily, not with PC’s or Playstations or other expensive high tech toys but simply with a tyre and stick and a brick on a rope. We watched a small girl trying to hook up a little cart to her puppy. He was extremely patient for a small dog. We were taken on a tour of the village and then back to the boat.

A lot of the villages along the river have quite lush looking veggie garden which appeared to be planted on flat areas of beach. We believe it is more likely to be a light looking silt rather than sand.

As we are approaching the landing area ( you just can’t call it a dock) we see a car ferry departing with a large truck hanging off the back. You just have to love the lack of rules and regulations in these countries. It certainly makes life more interesting.

The staff and Toua ( our guide on the cruise boat) were fantastic. They really looked after us and made the trip most enjoyable.

We finally arrive into Huay Xai about 5pm. Most of the other passengers are planning to cross the border (Laos to Thailand) before it closes at 6pm. We had decided we would stay the night on the Laos side and cross in the morning. We pile ourselves and luggage into a tuk-tuk and head to the Friendship Guest house. This one seemed the best of a basic lot. It looked reasonable from the outside. The rooms were interestingly decorated and the bathrooms were a little grim. Our toilet has the cistern lid missing and a piece of string attached to the window. You pull up to flush. The Jesters bathroom had the 44 gallon drum and ladle as their flusher was broken. You really appreciate the power of a flush toilet are ladling. Oh, and of course the ”hard as a board bed” again. The guest house does have tables and chairs set up on the roof to watch sunset over the Mekong.

Anyway, we are only here one night. We wandered out to get some dinner at a rather large open-air restaurant across the road from the guesthouse. It also had a good view of the river.

The next morning we breakfasted at a little road side stall serving rotis across the road. We pack-horsed up and walked down the road with our guide to the border crossing. Once checked out we stagger down to the waters edge and crawl ,and I do mean crawl, into a boat ( well more a canoe with an outboard) and head across the river to the Thai side. It is a 5 minute ride and we all stay reasonable dry. There is again no dock on the Thai side, the boats just beach themselves and we crawl out again. Checking in is again pretty easy and then we pile into a tuk-tuk and head to another guest house to await the rest of the bus load of people for the trip to Chiang Mai.

The bus, this time, is a Coaster so plenty of room for everyone. We snaffle the front room and passenger seat again.

The trip is fairly unremarkable with a lunch stop at a nut factory / shop. Do a taste test of all the nuts. They are all delicious.

We hit Chiang Mai about 3.30pm .

Travel Tips

Bus Chiang Khong ( Thai side) to Chiang Mai) about 4-5 hours with a lunch stop. The bus is a large Coaster bus so it is quite comfortable. 600baht
Mekong River Cruise, Asian Oasis, www.asian-oasis.com, If you book just 4 days out the trip is cheaper. Haggle
Chiang Khong Riverview Hotel ( this place looked ok and only 600baht a double) We think we would stay on the Thai side next time), 141 Moo 12, Chiang Khong, Chiang Rai Province, Tel: (053) 791 375, (053) 791 729, (081) 951 9753

Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang

2007-11-25T12:22:00.000+08:00

We had time to go for an early morning breakfast up the road to the coffee shop. Plus get them to make us some salad rolls to take with us for lunch on the bus.

Mike had booked us on a mini van for this leg after asking the guesthouse manager about the condition of the road further north. It is steep and winding. Mike thought we would be better on a smaller bus than the previous day. Good call.

We were picked up promptly at the guest house by a tuk-tuk and ferried off the central bus station, which we think was the old airport . We once again dive on the bus for the best seats. This is the long day, 7 – 8 hours, so you want good seats. The row just behind the driver in a mini-van is the best. Mike grabbed the seat next to the driver and the rest of us grabbed the next row. Great. Lots of leg room to stretch out. We did feel somewhat, for the tall guy in the back row. But it didn’t affect us enough to give up our seats. Survival of the fittest, what more can I say. The bus departs 9.10am , 10minutes late. This seems a lot better organized than Vientiane, but then we have only 10 people to organise not a large bus full.

We saw several buses broken down along the way, again. That makes a long trip even longer. We had a couple of loo stops on the way and a lunch stop for 30mins to an hour at a dusty town on the way. There are a number of food stalls and restaurants, as all the buses stop here. They can make baguettes for you (these looked good)and there are a few restaurants with food already cooked in pots. We all decided against this option except a few Germans. After finishing their meal one of them was taking photos of what was in the pots. Mike , in typical fashion, asks is he taking photos to show them what he ate at the hospital when he ends up there with food poisoning. Laughs all round .

We drag out our rolls and tuck in. There were a few young children hanging around , not begging . I gave one cute little grubby boy half my roll. By the end of the lunch stop, he had eaten a couple of rolls and had three cans of drink cradled in his arms. These villages all do it tough, I suspect. The village built on the edge of the road with a sheer cliff behind, were the poorest looking, living on a tiny strip of dirt.

The scenery on this leg of the trip is a lot more spectacular and interesting. It has the same karst formations we have seen in Thailand’s Krabi area.

We arrive at the bus station in Luang Prabang around 4pm . Do the usual, hop a tuk-tuk to the guesthouse. We arrive to find mattresses and furniture in the courtyard. They tell us not to panic they are open and they are just replacing mattresses in some of the rooms.

It s still light so we do a reconnoitre. We are just around the corner from a travel agent with internet and the best bakery JoMa is almost next door to internet place . We call in to check on prices for the Mekong cruise. After much consideration we all decide we want o take the luxury cruise at $196 USD pp for 2 days includes all meals and nights accommodation and meal at the Luang Say Lodge at Pak Beng. ( The price is usually $300USD each but if you book four days out you can get a better deal. We book it now. Then we don’t have to worry about it later and we can relax and enjoy Luang Prabang(LP) .

LP is not a high pressure tourist destination where you are rushing around to see everything. In fact, the beauty of the place is to just wander and see what you find . There are many travel agents with tours to see elephants, trekking, rafting etc, if that’s your cup of tea. The Jesters really wanted to do the elephant ride and had booked what they thought was a half day tour which turned out to be a full day – so great value. They rode the elephants plus the trip to the Tad Sae waterfall which is quite beautiful as the rocks are limestone so the pools are aquamarine blue. You can go swimming there as well. A great day had by all.

LP , the whole town, is listed with UNESCO as a world heritage site. The town has beautiful old buildings in the French colonial style. Just a lovely place to spend time winding down. Some of the sights we did see included:

Royal Palace Museum . This was the old Royal Palace for King Sisavangvong and family and then when he died for his son, Vattana. After the revolution in 1975, he and his family were exiled to northern Laos and were never seen again. It was turned into a museum after that. The royal bedrooms have enormous wardrobes. Not so much wide as tall and are otherwise quite Spartan. We had a chuckle at the gifts rooms . Here, foreign countries have presented the Royal Family with gifts from their various countries and are on display. The Burmese and the Indian gave quite lavish gold and silver bowls and tableware. We gave them a boomerang and America gave them a model of the lunar module from 1969 Moon Landing. Just what yiu want really. The grounds of the museum contain another large Wat and a lovely water lily pond. The grounds are free to enter. You only have to pay to go inside the museum building. So it is quite pleasant to come with a book and sit by the lily pond and relax for a few hours.
Wat Phou Si - 328 steps to the top where you have a panoramic view over LP and surrounds.
Wat Xieng Thong. The guide books describe this as LP’s most beautiful temple. I have to say they are right. It was built around 1560 and overlooks the Mekong River.
Morning alms precession of the monks. The monks leave their wats in the early morning and are given food by the local people. This has become more than a traditional in LP. It is now a tourist event. And the tourist can join in. Mike was up early one morning with a hacking cough with the room filling with smoke . ( we later realized that the next door neighbour lights their cooking fires in the morning and they are just over the fence from our room. We are awake at 5am. Well, we may as well go and see the procession of the monks. We are a little early but we need to get out of the room.
Cooking courses - There are cooking courses to do at various places. We had done one in Chiang Mai on our last trip and ate so much food on it that we have only just been able to eat Thai again. We were just not up to it.
Many massage and spa options. Mike and I had an hours reflexology foot massage for $5USD each. Outrageous! Sue went for the full body massage and floated back to the hotel afterwards.
Night Market – seems to happen every night. They line the main street and side street. The local women do a form of patchwork cutwork, which seems to be found only around Luang Prabang. Sue and I were amazed at the details in the work. How they managed to continue sewing under a dim light bulb on a stick while sitting at the night market was incredible. There is more weaving, both silk and cotton. You do need to know your silk. Especially when it comes to the Pashmina wraps. There was not a lot of silk in some of them .
There are a number of restaurants that look over the Mekong which are great for a cool lunchtime stop. There are far too many mosquitoes to be there at night.
The men ( and it does seem to be a mens only game) play boule ( petanque) at several spots along the same road. I was dying to have a game but thought it was obviously not a sport that included women and I might offend them. Obviously, the French influence spread further than bread making.
Le Tam Tam Garden Restaurant was one of our favourite dinner spots. It was not far from our guesthouse and it was before the nightmarket street started so we didn’t have to fight our way through.

Travel Tips

Mini Van from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang ( Seats 10) $11SD pp- for a 7-8 hour trip

Rattana Guesthouse

Koksack St, 4/2 | Ban Wat That, Luang Prabang, Laos

Tel +856 (071) 252 255

Mobile +856 (0) 20 557 0997

One block down from JoMa and around the corner. Perfect for morning breakfast and coffee

Double Room aircon, private bathroom , hot water $12-$15USD

Sayo Guesthouse ( this looked nice and I think $20USD)

Beautifully done in classic French colonial style
Luang Prabang town
Luang Prabang Province
Tel: (071) 252 614

Khun and Con Guesthouse (Mike was keen on this place but we thought it may be too far away from town. But for a few days it would have been interesting.)

Outskirts of Luang Prabang. ( We are not sure how far)

Tel +856 (0) 20 770 7665

Double room with private bathroom ( not sure about the aircon) $15USD

The Lao Spirit Lodge (Sue and Waye saw this lodge on their elephant camp day. They thought it looked amazing and would be worth a few days stay.)

One hour from Luang Prabang

Tel: ++856 (0)20 5570221
Fax: ++856 (0)71 252655

Double Room $69 - $85 USD

Tiger Trails Tours

For elephant and waterfall trip

Bakery

JoMa The best by far in town. Great décor, nice, friendly, efficient staff. They do terrific egg and bacon muff

Vientiane to Vang Vieng

2007-11-21T11:31:00.000+08:00

We are up early for breakfast before the bus trip to V V. We are back at the guest house with plenty of time to meet our transport 8.40am for a 9.00am departure. It is late. About three quarters of an hour late and is a small tuk-tuk. We pile in, with our luggage down the centre. We are not the only ones from the guest house getting picked up, plus we make a couple of stops on the way for more people. Getting squeezy now. The tuk-tuk looks like a family business with mum and the kids in the front seat as well. In fact, I am pretty sure they probably live in the van. We quickly come to the conclusion that this is not the bus that is taking us to V V.

After a short trip around the back streets, we rendezvous with a number of buses and tuk-tuks not far away. We quickly work out which is our bus and scramble for a good seat. We claim the back seat, thinking that we can spread four of us across 5 seats, should be great. Not quite, they fill ever last seat on that bus and then have a couple of stools placed in the aisle for a two American guys. I think these are “stand-by” seats. That is going to be a long trip for them. We wait and wait, not sure what for at this stage, the bus is well and truly full. We finally get moving about 10.30am.

The scenery is not terribly interesting, rather flat. We had been told that the local buses are unreliable and that they breakdown a lot. We saw three buses broken down on the way. Some with flat tyres and other with mechanical problems. We are glad we opted for the VIP bus. Anyway, if we break down we have Wayne.

We had a loo and lunch break in a small town on the way. That’s when we saw the guy with the yummy sandwich from JoMa in Vientiane. We will do that on the next leg. We picked up some snacks and then back on the bus.

We arrived into Vang Vieng about 3pm at some resort on the riverside. It is about a 10min walk to main part of town. We all agree tuk-tuk is the way to go. They are really cheap; we can’t see the point of lugging heavy backpacks. The resort looks ok and is reasonably priced. A number of people off the bus opted to stay and a number of the more serious backpackers headed off into town. We climbed into our tuk-tuk and asked for Mountain Riverview Guesthouse. It was down around and off the main road but easy walking distance to town centre. The guesthouse is in a fabulous spot with fantastic views over the river below and mountains in the background.

Mike is not feeling well at this stage. He seems to have a dose of the flu. The weather is a lot cooler than we expected. It is nice for a change, certainly none of the sweating - sticky - humid - wash - three - times - a -day weather from Langkawi. As we travel further, we are less interested in air conditioning and more in whether our rooms have a good supply of hot water.

We only have the afternoon and night here and then we are off in the morning to Luang Prabang.

It doesn’t take long wandering around town to know this is backpacker central. The main attraction is rock climbing, caves to explore, rafting, kayaking, bars with lounges playing re-runs of Friends and other TV shows continuously all day and tubing. Most of the other activities are self explanatory; however, tubing may need further explanation. You hire a large truck inner tube. You are then tuk-tuk-ed 3km out of town and dropped off into the river where you slowly float back to V V. It can take a few hours and you may get thirsty on the way. You signal one of the many riverbank bars and they boat hook you in for a drink and then when you are ready you are pushed out again to continue on your way again. They advise you not to drink too much as you may drown or go to sleep and end up all the way back in Vientiane.

We really didn’t have enough time to try it out, and besides, the water is actually cold. But next time definitely.

We set ourselves up at one of the bars on the riverbank. Small platforms like our local BBQ back in Siem Reap. Two hammocks again and a couple of pina coladas and sit and watch the river wind by with the occasional tuber landing in front. In fact, they were still landing after sunset. We hang in our hammocks until sunset and then head back across the suspension bridge to find some dinner. We had spotted a couple of places on the way out.

The guesthouse is quite new so the bathroom is in good condition. Their plumbing philosophy is a little puzzling. It is usually external to the walls and blue plastic is the favoured choice. I turned the basin tap on to wash my hands and soon found that the plumbing didn’t make it to the basin sink. Water plashed out of the drain hole onto the floor and then down the drain hole close by. Very odd. The toilet seemed to have been plumbed in the middle of the floor and looked more like a throne room than toilet. But the water is HOT.

Early to bed as another long day on the road to Luang Prabang.

We finally managed a reasonably soft bed. All hard mattresses produced must get shipped to Cambodia and Laos.

Travel Tips

Smiley’s Bar

Great to hang in a hammock and read, snooze or watch the river go by.

Mountain Riverview Guesthouse ( great view over the river, lovely spot)

Riverside, Ban Vang Vieng, Vang Vieng
Vientiane Province
Tel: +856 (023) 511 428, Mobile +856 (020) 566 6513, +856 (020) 528 6337
Double Room aircon, fan, TV, hot water , private bathroom $15USD

Siem Reap to Vientiane (Laos)

2007-11-20T07:24:00.000+08:00

We are up early and breakfasted and off to the airport with Bun again. A last chance to say goodbye. If Sue had some more room in her bag she would take him home He is such a nice young man.

The formalities at the airport are a lot faster leaving then arriving. We just need to pay departure tax $25USD pp and go through immigration and then it is morning coffee time. I don’t think we had noticed just how nice the airport was on arrival. Not what we were expecting at all. Nice coffee shops, some good shopping, good book shop and good loos. But with the level of international tourism flowing through to see the ruins it really can’t be a tin shack. We wander out along the tarmac to board

the plane when the boys point out that Sue and I should possibly be getting on the plane next door - PMT airlines. Ha ha. We all wonder where they fly to.

We have a short stop over in Pakse on route to Vientiane. The Jaramans had got off here and stayed for a few days, we had chosen not to, but in hindsight there were a few interesting sights that would be worth a visit. Next time. Vientiane here we come.

Laos immigration is much quicker with two people than Cambodia with 10. We did still have to fill out paperwork for a visa on arrival and supply passport photo again and pay $30USD pp .

The airport is rather quiet for the capital city of Laos, so getting a taxi is no problem.

Our first choice for guest house here the Mali Namphu could only give us one night and we needed two. So we had emailed another guest house and had received confirmation that we had rooms booked. So far so good. We arrive at Saysouly GH and the guy sitting outside asks are we looking for a room. We say we hope we already have one booked. The guy flashes a puzzled look. We don’t have any left, he says. We show him the email confirmation which is greeted with a shoulder shrug. Great. He says he does have a family room on the top floor. Sue and Mike go for a look. It turns out to be two rooms with a common area with shared kitchen with fridge that looks like it was last used in the 12th century and common bathroom. All for the outrageous price of $10USD each room. We take it, it is only for two nights and we will be out most of the day anyway. It is a bit basic , no TV , does have balcony complete with ashtrays that may also have been last emptied in the 12th century. We wait 10 minutes until they make up the rooms. We can only guess that they don’t rent these out very often. We get settled and then go for a wander around town. We get our first glimpse of the mighty Mekong, which looks like a big sand bank at the moment. There are lots of tables set up along the river bank with food stalls, a great place to have a drink and watch sunset over the Mekong .

Once again we all agree the place has a good feel. The town seems a little quiet but after Siem Reap it is a nice change. Vientiane is a 40 Wat town. We will not be seeing all of them, that is for sure. We pass by some of the ones that we had marked as significant and plan to hit them in the morning. One great fact about Cambodia and Laos is that they are early openers. Unlike Malaysia and Singapore and Thailand where nothing starts opening until 10am, even 11am. Here the doors open 8.30 sometimes even earlier. Museums, shops, temples are all open early.

There are a number of good bakeries for breakfast and lunch: Croissant D’or which have a few shops scattered around town .We had breakfast here both mornings. Love those croissants and baguettes.

The one in the street two over from us (on Th Francois Nginin) has an internet café and massage facilities…what more could you want. We did not eat at JoMa but saw a guy with a sandwich from there on the bus when we left for Vang Vieng…it looked terrific.

We found lots of nice clothes and silk fabric shops around town. The market area was near Pha That Luang , and it was too hot to wander around endless stalls . We decided to conserve our energy for Luang Prabang. I am sure there were bargains there but we were a bit tired of doing the market thing. We had tuk- tuked out here. Having been plagued by tuk-tuk drivers in Siem Reap, now when we actually want a tuk-tuk rather than a taxi we can’t find one. Apparently, we are told that they are banned from this area because of the big French conference in town for two days. As we walk off , we are chased down by the a driver. Yes , he has a tuk-tuk and yes he will take us to That Luang. We no sooner hit the end of the street and the policeman, on point duty for the conference, pulls us over. The driver disappears across the road with the policeman. He is handing over pieces of paper, money is changing hands. He comes back and we are off. He drives us around for an hour. We realize that most of the locals are up the top end of town towards That Luang and that the area down near the river must be more of a tourist locale.

Some of our tourist stops the next days included:

Haw Pha Kaew –great old temple set in a lovely garden and was King Setthathirat’s former royal temple. It used to house the emerald Buddha which is now in Bangkok’s Wat Phra Kaew.
Wat Si Saket is just across the road from Pha Kaew . It is oldest standing temple in Vientiane. Within the cloister walls niches house hundreds of Buddha images.
Pha That Luang is the national symbol and the most important religious monument of the country The current version dates back to 1566. It is very big and very gold.
Patuaxi (The Victory Gate) which we couldn’t get close to in our tuk-tuk due to the French conference that was in town. The guide books suggest it looks better from afar. It is a monster of concrete up close.
National Library is an old French colonial building in need of some repair. There was a sign out front for an exhibition of old photos of Laos. Sue and I were keen, the boys less so. Sue and I squeezed our way through narrow corridors, up the stairs to a small room with the exhibition photos. What was more fascinating was the age of the books on the shelves behind the exhibition. It was like being allowed into the archives room of the State Library in NSW. We wandered along a corridor and found another room with some interesting looking scrolls. The Laos gentleman working inside beckoned us in. He was translating old Buddhist scrolls into common Laos language for publication. The scrolls were made of hundreds of dried palm leaves engraved with the teachings from various temples. They were like a foot long Venetian blind that had been folded up. He showed us how they write on the palm leaves with a sharp engraving tool and then sprinkle with a powder which is rubbed into the grooves. A very slow process. We looked around the room and the glass cabinets were full of these scrolls, very, very old scrolls. These scrolls contain are history. The history of their old laws, religious teachings, herbal medicine etc.

Both nights we had dinner at the small restaurant in the next street over from our hotel. They make a pretty good pizza. They were very accommodating and even went to the local store to get us mossie coils to put under the table. The manager reassured us that there are no mossie born diseases in Vientiane, but we thought it was better to be safe.

We spent a few hours at the Internet café trying to find a guesthouse for Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang. The place the Jaramans stayed at in LP had gone from $20USD to $30 USD in a couple of months. It must be the high season now. We did find guesthouses and called ahead. We are hoping we have better luck with bookings this time.

The bus trip to Veng Vieng has been booked and we will be picked up the next morning from the guesthouse. Terrific, just too easy.

We are not sure whether we would recommend the Saysouly. The photos and reviews on the web looked good. I am sure the other rooms were OK. But it seemed difficult to be able to book a room and know you have it. Our suggestion is always have a couple of backup places worked out before you arrive, just in case. Don’t unpack the taxi until you know you have the room.

Travel Tips

The silk in Vientiane is a lot finer quality than what you will find in Luang Prabang and Chiang Mai. Mai Chan Boutique (near the Phimphone Mini Market shop ) has some lovely silks at reasonable prices.
Buy a Laos SIM for mobile phone. It makes calling ahead to arrange accommodation a lot easier. Email responses are too slow when you are only booking a couple of days ahead.
Local currency is used in Laos. The ATM’s only give the equivalent of $70 USD in Kip ( so your bank’s overseas withdrawal fees will be expensive ). So better to come with more USD and change at the money exchange.
VIP BUS Trip Vientiane to Vang Vieng 60,000 kip ($6USD) for 4 – 5 hour trip.
All the guesthouses can arrange transport and tours for you which makes life easier. The prices seem to be consistent.

Bakeries

JoMa Bakery
Croissant d’Or
Scandinavian Bakery near the Namphu fountain

Cambodia - Travel Trips

2007-11-18T16:01:00.000+08:00

Travel Tips

If arriving at LCCT (Air Asia) look for green shuttle bus to KLIA terminal ( 2 Rm ??) Then there is a free shuttle bus to Concorde Inn . The KLIA Express train runs from KLIA terminal. It is a 28 minute trip to centre of KL for 35Rm pp each way
Take some spare passport photos with you for visa on arrival paperwork for Cambodia and Laos
Cambodian Visa on Arrival $20USD pp
Cambodia Departure Tax $25USD pp
Currency in Cambodia is USD. You will get change in local currency Riels. But nobody really wants the Riels. The ATM's dispense USD. Stock up in USD for Laos, as ATM's dispense local currency but only the equivalent of $70 USD so withdrawal fees will kill you. You can change USD for local Laos Kip for good rate in Vientiane.
The guide book , Ancient Angkor by Michael Freeman and Claude Jacques should cost about $6USD. However, at Banteay Srei the touts were selling for $1USD. Competition, eh?
Angkor Archeological Park 3 Day Pass $40USD. They also have 1 day pass and 7 day passes
Car + driver hire is $25 per day ( within the Angkor Zone ) . The trip to Beng Melea was $75USD for the day but well worth the trip. We thought , anyway.

Hotels

Concorde Inn Kuala Lumpur International Airport

Jalan KLIA 1/60, KLIA,

43900 Sepang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, MALAYSIA

Tel: 603-8783 3118 Fax: 603-8783 1211

Price Double Room , Air-con +Private Bathroom 190 RM

Mandalay Guesthouse
Psar Kroung Street, Svaydankum Commune, Siem Reap - Cambodia. ( Near Old Market)

Mobile: (855) 63 761 662, 92 865 356, 11 402 161

E-mail: reservation@mandalayinn.com

Website: www.mandalayinn.com

Price Double Room , Air-con +Private Bathroom $16USD

Useful website for planning , accommodation and reviews

Angkor Wat and Other Wats - Day 3-4

2007-11-18T14:42:00.000+08:00

Day 3

Our last day with the car and Bun, so it is off to the newly opened National Museum. The grand opening for the museum was 4 days ago. They have only filled about half the museum so far( the entrance fee was only half price, which was great). We paid for Bun to come in, as well. He had not been in to see the exhibits as yet. They are slowly moving pieces from the Conservatory in Siem Reap and some pieces from the National Museum in Phnom Penh. Most of the Buddha heads and other easily removable items had been taken to either the Conservatory or Phnom Penh to prevent theft and sale to private collectors. A lot has been loss already. It takes a couple of hours to do the museum, well for Sue and I , anyway. The boys are done in half the time and are hanging out in the coffee shop across the road. We take Bun for his first Mexican meal, lunch and frozen margarita at Vive in Pub Street.

Even though we are a little wat-ted out, I decide we should do one more with Preah Khan built by the great monument builder Jayavarman VII who also built Ta Prohm ( Tomb Raider temple) which we really loved. What a fantastic surprise, no people. It is quite close to town, so where is everyone. It is another amazing site, you could spend hours wandering in and out of colonnades and doorways and courtyards. So much to see. Nature is once again trying to reclaim the site with fig trees sprouting out of the ruins again. We are so glad we decided to do one more wat.

Day 4

Today is a lazy day to wander around the street and the old market, have a coffee do some Internet and take it easy for the next stop, Vientiane in Laos.

One highlight of the day was a coffee and snack at the The Blue Pumpkin . Go upstairs and hang out on the huge white lounges that are like sitting up in bed, complete with tray tables. Check the photos. Mike is right at home. If he has his laptop with him the scene would be complete.

In the afternoon the heavens opened up and it turns to the wet season. We are trapped in the Red Piano Bar for a few hours until it eases up enough to get back to the hotel. The Red Piano Bar is where Angelina Jolie and the cast and crew of Tomb Raider would hang out during the making of the movie. The cocktail menu has the Tomb Raider drink named after her favourite cocktail of tequila, lime juice and soda.

We are creatures of habit and are back to the guesthouse for an early dinner and bed.

Angkor Wat and Other Wats - Day 2

2007-11-16T13:44:00.000+08:00

We decide to branch out of the immediate Angkor area, today, with the first stop to be Banteay Srei which is 38km out of Siem Reap. We can already tell that we are not going to be alone out here. There are far too many buses and tuk - tuks heading in the same directions.

Banteay Srei was built in the 10th century a small complex with beautiful delicate stone carvings. Unfortunately, it was over run by two bus loads of Japanese tourists, who insist on draping themselves on everything for a photo. There are even more desperate local souvenir sellers here. However, the main colour guide book is a lot cheaper here. We bought ours at $6USD, the guys wanted $1USD. Almost too cheap.

After the Japanese invasion at Banteay Srei, we need to go somewhere more deserted so we head to Beng Melea (63km ftom Siem Reap) along a bumpy dirt road. We are closer by this road then heading back into town to take the bitumen road and it is a pleasant drive out through small villages and fields. It is looks very promising as we pull up out the front - couple of cars only.

As this site is outside the main park it is an extra $5USD entry fee. There is a sign posted on the path into the site stating that it had been cleared of land mines in Aug 2007. We wander down a long tree lined pathway until we hit the main temple complex. It has stated to collapse and the figs have started to engulf it like Ta Prohm. We skirt around the ledge of the main temple, peering in through doorways. The are a lot of large blocks piled up inside, where they have collapse. We go to move onto the next doorway, when the two guides for the area beckon us inside.

With their help, we climb up and down over these huge rocks until we are at the bottom of the inside of the temple, in a long colonnade.

From there, it is squeeze out through some columns and over more huge blocks and into an internal courtyard. Now this is a real Tomb Raider exploration. It was such a magical site and if the guides hadn't been there to lead us around we would have probably walked the perimeter and missed the internal gems. We tipped our guides and Sue and I headed off to do a circumnavigation of the site while the boys headed back to the car and a cold drink with Bun.

We are starting to get hungry so Bun has somewhere he wants to take us for lunch so we head back to town with a quick stop at the Roluos Group and Bakong. This was another deserted spot, which was great, and dates back to 9th century.

Lunch is on the outskirts of Siem Reap. There are several of these raised platforms with grass mat flooring and two hammocks scattered around the site. We climb up into one of them with Mike and Sue diving into the hammocks. Bowls of raw vegetables arrive and a plate of meat. We are not sure what to expect. Then the BBQ arrives. The dish is called “Cow runs down the hill” and is similar to the BBQ hotpots you get in Thailand and Korea. The meat is placed on the sides to cook and the moat is full of stock where the veggies and simmered. Too hard to explain. Have a look at the photos. It was a wonderful lunch and chill out in the hammocks (for some).

At this stage it is temping to head back to the hotel for an afternoon siesta but it is time, time to tackle the enormous and overwhelming Angkor Wat. It is after 2pm, perfect viewing time.

There is no avoiding the crowds this time. Just get in the flow and go with it. Angkor Wat dates back to mid 12th Century and is truly impressive. The sheer size and number of carvings around the various levels is amazing. They are in the process of lighting the site which will be switched on in a few days. There is also renovation works in process with some areas off limits. There are still plenty of colonnades and other corners to explore. After a couple of hours, it is time to head home, exhausted, another great day. Once again we are too tied to go out, so an early dinner at the hotel and bed by 7pm again. Not sure how anyone has enough energy to go partying to 4am( which is when most of the places in Pub Street close).

Angkor Wat and Other Wats - Day 1

2007-11-15T09:01:00.000+08:00

Time to hit the temples. We organized a car and driver for 3 days to take us around. Bun, our driver, is a lovely young guy. First stop is the ticket booths at the entrance to the Angkor Archaeological Park. We are photographed and our passes for the three days are issued. Do not lose them.

The guide books tell us that Angkor Wat is best seen on the first visit after 2pm when the light is not directly behind it. So, the first temple complex is Angkor Thom, of which Bayon, and the huge stone faces, is the most famous. Then later to Ta Prohm, known as The Tomb Raider Temple, from the movie of the same name. We arrive at the South Gate of Angkor Thom , along with hordes of other tourists, Bun drops us off to take photos and walk through the gate. We give up trying to take a shot without people in it. This is what it is really like: lots of tourists. Bun meets us on the other side, where there are even more people and numerous local people selling books of Angkor, souvenirs, drinks , postcards , hats etc. etc. etc. I must admit our first impression was, oh my god, too many people, this is going to spoil the whole atmosphere. It was a zoo, complete with the elephant rides. However, we pressed on. Our next stop in the Angkor Thom complex is Bayon. The large stone faces are amazing. Once inside you just wander around and find areas that are not too crowded.

We stopped for lunch at the restaurant opposite Angkor Wat. They do great meals and the dishes in young coconut look terrific. The speciality of the region is Amok, which can be chicken, fish or meat in Khmer spices, often served in the coconut shell. Very exotique.

Other parts of the Angkor Thom complex are : Baphuon, Terraces of Elephants, Terrace of Leper King, Phimeanakas, Preah Pithu group, North Kleang.

Ta Prohm - also known as the Tomb Raider Temple for those movie buffs. Nature slowly reclaim the temple. The giant fig trees grow spectacularly out of parts of the temple. Parts of the temple have collapsed so it makes it all the more mysterious and exciting to explore. We were truly lucky as there were only a few tourist there. Magic. The photos speak for themselves.

Banteay Kdei a quick stop on the way to luck.

Phnom Bakheng - which s a temple on the hill overlooking Angkor Wat. There is a pilgrimage up here each afternoon to see the sunset over Angkor Wat. Mike is barefoot at this point a as his shoes have broken. We climb the hill and then have to literally climb up the face of the temple to see Angkor Wat. The steps are so steep you feel like you are going to fall backwards. The top terrace is littered with those tourist telescopes all around the edge. It looked quite strange seeing these ancient ruins with telescopes(covered in plastic , until required) mounted on the them.

It is another hour or so until sunset, too tired to wait so we call stumps for our first day of tomb raiding and head back down the hill and back to the hotel for an early dinner and into bed by 7pm.

Kuala Lumpur and Siem Reap

2007-11-14T15:07:00.000+08:00

Our bags are packed we're ready to go....yawn...on the 7.30am ferry from Rebak to the airport. Everything is on time for a change and we arrive in Kuala Lumpur mid morning. We dump bags at our hotel near the airport where we are staying the night and head back to the airport to pick up a shuttle bus or train for a quick visit to the city centre. We were not really planning a trip to city but had a couple of errands to run for a friend back in Rebak.

We had never caught he fast train from the airport to the city before and we believed it was about the same price as the bus and faster. Well, whoever, we got that information from was wrong, the bus into town is 9 RM each and the train is 35 RM. After telling the ticket lady it was far too expensive, we hurried back upstairs to catch the bus. Not another one for an hour. Damn. OK let's catch the train. So back downstairs and eat humble pie and buy two tickets. It is only $12 AUD anyway. A much better, faster trip than the bus, so I think it was worth the extra.

Jesters arrived in the afternoon, so it was early to dinner and bed for a 4am start the next morning.

Even bigger yawn than the previous day. We depart LCCT on Air Asia at 7am for Siem Reap. We arrived 8am (having put our clocks back one hour).

The airport was more modern than expected. However, the arrival processing was not. It was not immediately clear what the process was until we spotted some visa forms and decided we would fill these out as it seemed the logical next step. So, there is a plane load of passengers all jockeying for a corner of the counters to fill out their forms. A passport photo is required. We had taken spares with us but I am not sure what happened to those passengers without a photo.

We are encouraged by the 10 officials sitting behind the bench ready to process our arrival documentation. We should be out of here in no time with so many queues. After watching the first couple of passengers go through, we realized that there was only one queue. You hand in your paperwork and it passes along the chain of 10 officials who stamp and re-stamp, check the money paid, enter it into the receipt book, staple photo to paperwork, stick visa into passport, fill in the visa details, use 5 date stamps and other miscellaneous stamps and finally call your name to collect passport at the end of the chain. What a bizarre process, which took an hour.

We finally get out of the terminal and find a car waiting for us from the guest house. It is a 20minute trip into main town of Siem Reap.

The Mandalay Inn Guest house is great. It is clean, tidy, new bathroom, cable TV, small restaurant downstairs, they can do your laundry, they have Internet, the staff are very friendly and helpful. They can also organize tours and cars for you. What more could you want.

It is basically still breakfast time when we check in so we should try baguettes and eggs for breakie before setting out to explore. The French certainly know how to make bread.

After breakfast, we decide to hop a tuk-tuk and do a reconnoitre around town and out to Lake Tonle Sap. It is the largest freshwater lake in Asia - 12,000sq km. During the dry season the lake shrinks to 2500 sq km. The tuk-tuk can't make it to the very edge of the lake and of course there are a number of touts selling cruises on the lake. As we live on a boat the last thing we were interested in was getting on another boat. We had also done the floating fishing village experience in Sulawesi.

So we head back to town for lunch and a cool drink. We head for the famous “Pub Street”, so named, as it is full of pubs and eateries. There are so many restaurants doing western food. We have had little choice in Langkawi , so it is pizza for lunch.

If you sit out on the pavement you are a target for the children selling postcards, bracelets, cheap books and other souvenirs. There was one quick witted, funny boy, who asked where we were from and then proceeded to tell us the capital, who was Prime Minister ( but maybe not for long he said),maybe he knew. He challenged Sue to several games of noughts and crosses. If he won, she had to pay an extra dollar for the cards she was buying. He won.

After lunch we wandered around town and the market area to get a feel for the place, picked out the evenings dining spot, then headed back to guest house for an afternoon siesta.

Dinner at the Dead Fish Tower. A very strange place. The place is like a warehouse with platforms at various levels throughout the place. So you need to pay attention so you don't fall off. The food and drinks are sent up via a dumb waiter system. The service was a little slow and the food average. I think it is more of a gimmick place. However, the crocodiles that lurk in a pool under the back floor boards are very real.

We wander down to the Night Market, which is very quiet. We realize that this is not the same a most night markets, it is an organized business concern and most of the local people frequent and set up at the old market area. Still it doesn't discourage us from doing some shopping.

General Updates

2007-11-12T10:42:00.000+08:00

Happy 60th Birthday Audrey from SV Envy

Happy Ummmmth Birthday Tina (my very good friend from high school) 13th Nov 2007

Well we fly out for KL this morning and then off to Siem Reap (Cambodia and Angkor Wat) the following day. So we would like to wish Audrey a very Happy 60th , sorry we couldn't be there to celebrate.

And a very big hug for Tina's birthday. Hope you enjoy the trip to Paris to celebrate. I am definitely there in spirit , so have a champers for me.

We will be back from our trip the first week of December. I will try and update the blog on the way so you can all see where we are and how it is going.

The Magic Has Gone

2007-11-09T10:33:00.000+08:00

Well, end of an era. Our friends and neighbours for most of our stay at Rebak has been Daun and Chris from Magic. They have just sold their boat in the hope of upgrading to a bigger boat, soon. They sailed out of the marina today for handover at Telaga. Coincidently playing on Mike's Ipod was Olivia Newton John ..."You have to believe we are magic". There is a belief that we set on random play the Ipod can sense what you need to hear. Spooky.

Next week we are off on our trip to Cambodia and Laos with the Court Jesters. Chris and Daun are going to boat sit for us now that they are boatless.

Malaysia, Langkawi - Rebak Marina, Magic Farewell

Melbourne Cup Celebration - Rebak Marina

2007-11-06T09:56:00.000+08:00

The Aussies couldn't let Melbourne Cup Day go by without a
celebration. It was too difficult to try and tape the cup at 11am our
time, so we just had to listen to it on the radio. The celebration
took place at 6pm at the hard dock cafe. Bring drinks , nibbles and
hats for the women. It is amazing how a few fake flowers and some
ribbon can transform your everyday sun hat.

Winner of the hat competition was Jill from Alpha Centauri II with a
Chinese coolie-esque number complete with local fernage and some
plastic snakes and lizards. The sweeps were well subscribed with
Seadrive winning first and third place in one sweep.

It has been a busy couple of weeks - socially. We had a fantastic
turnout the the weekly BBQ with over 50 people and then the monthly
cocktail party the next night with slightly more in attendance.
Nothing lie free drinks and food to drag them out for the night.

The weather has been very depressing of late. With a number of boats
still trying to finish paint jobs on the hard stand and the others
trying to leave the marina to go north. Not terribly motivating to
head off in the pouring rain. Reports from Thailand are that the
weather is not better up there.

Local weather forecasts are predicting the rainy season to continue
until end of January. Not happy, Jan.

Malaysia, Langkwai - Rebak Marina, Melbourne Cup

1 Year Anniversary of Rebak Marina

2007-10-21T13:33:00.000+08:00

Well, we are back in Rebak after a quick trip back to Oz. We had a great time being back and catching up with family and friends. We were running out of time to see everyone , so apologies to those we missed. We have been back for almost 3 weeks and are still finding it difficult to acclimatise to the heat again. But a few people have returned to their boats so the marina is getting busy. The resort is empty at the moment so the yachties are the only people around. Thursday was the one year anniversary of the marina. A year ago there were 18 boats in the marina now there are 83 boats. We thought we may have been one of the 18, but checking our logs our first visit to Rebak was 6th Nov 2006, so close but no cigar.

To celebrate, the marina put on a huge buffet/ BBQ dinner and free drinks for most of the night. The dress code for the evening was "National Costume" . As everyone knows, Australia doesn't really have a national costume so it was a free for all for the Aussies. Mike came as Paul Hogan pre Crocodile Dundee, I sewed a bunch of souvenir koalas and fabric leaves to an old T-shirt, doused myself in eucalyptus oil and came as a gum tree. Other notable costumes were Chris and Daun from Magic. She had bill pinned to her and carried a converted water bottle (looked like a bong) . Can you guess what she was. A Billabong. Chris had the Paul Hogan "yob on the hill" ensemble complete with pot belly. Have a look at the photo album of the night.

It was a terrific night, with Fu and Sheila ( the regular band) joined by Johnny and Shelley from Utiekah III, providing music non stop until 1.30am. Bea from Rampant and I probably danced the entire night. So a few calories were burnt off. Everyone managed to get back to their boats without falling into the water.

The marina was rather quiet the next morning with only those heading on the weekly veggie pilgrimage up early.

The Wet Season Arrives

2007-08-18T23:16:00.000+08:00

Someone stupidly commented that the wet season was over. Of course, we now need to find that person and sacrifice them to the great rain god, so it will stop raining. Wow. Talk about rain. My rain gauge at present is my 40 litre tub I use for the laundry and it was full this morning after 4 days of solid rain. Along with the rain came the odd squall and thunder and lightening show. Really felt sorry for the resort guest. Come to a tropical island at $300 US a night and watch the rain. Catching the ferry to the town would have been a nightmare.

We had told Samir last week about the concept of the Starlight Cinema in Australia where you sit outside and watch the movies. Within a couple of hours he was back to tell us that he has worked out how we can have our own Rebak Starlight Cinema on the beach next movie night. Unfortunately, he was rained out. Fingers crossed for next week.

So we all have a bit of cabin fever as no-one has left their boat is 4 days. With all the hatches and windows closed to keep out the rain Seadrive is starting to smell like a guinea pig hutch.

It briefly cleared last night for Trevor and Joan from Been a Long to come over for drinks and tell us of their travels in Vietnam and Cambodia. They had arrived back the day before in one of the downpours. Not long after them making it to Seadrive, the heavens open up again with another squall blowing through.

No more rain last night and the sun is out this morning. Quick hit the washing machine. But where are my pink thongs. Finally, after sitting on the dock all this time , through rain and squalls they have been blown off the dock, both of them . They have now become one of those mysteries that you see by the side of the road or floating in the water or washed onto a beach....the mystery of the single shoe , unless of course they can manage to stay together. That's how they started life with me Daun off Magic found them on a beach. Being too big for her she gave them to me. Maybe they are decided to head off for a beach holiday , sick of marina life. They were from Thailand , maybe they have gone home.

Couch Surfers

2007-08-14T21:26:00.000+08:00

We have been a rather social bunch the last couple of weeks with drinks on Jaraman, drinks on Seadrive, Rampant over for dinner on Seadrive, a BBQ night around the pool. We didn't have enough yachties to make up the numbers so we were invited to join the BBQ for the resort guests. The resort has been doing well with full occupancy for the last month. Congratulations to Samir and his team.

The highlight of the last few weeks was a visit from two Austrian guys travelling around Malaysia for 5 weeks. They belong to the couch surfing fraternity . For anyone interested , go have a look www.couchsurfing.com a great way to meet and stay with people in locations you are travelling to. We used it when travelling to Chiang Mai and met up with a great French girl Celine when we were there. She wrote a great review about us ( which is good , we don't look like psycho axe murders).

Jurgen and Florian arrived on Saturday 11th from Penang. They are both from Vienna. Jurgen is studying Industrial Engineering and Flo is doing Industrial Design. They stayed with us until 14th and then headed off to Cameron Highlands and over to East Coast Malaysia. They had been staying with couch surfing contacts all the way. It was their first time on a boat and first time in a five star resort. They even got to go out of the marina for the day. Bea and Carl on Rampant were taking their catamaran out for the day to one of the islands and invited all of us along. It was strange heading out in someone else's boat, strange heading out on a yacht....we have been here in the marina for 5 months. We are certainly going to have to get psych-ed up to sail out of here.

Malibu Night

2007-08-03T13:32:00.000+08:00

Well , we are still at Rebak, surprise surprise!! It is just so nice here and we don't have to worry about squalls and wet weather .Another month as rolled around and it is cocktail party again. For change of scenery the management has decided to make this party a beach party . Everything has been moved down to the grassy area behind the beach. Including the band. As the theme is Malibu Night all the cocktails are based on Malibu rum. Malibu sour, Malibu Sunrise, Malibu Pina Colada. Our favourite bartender Beng is manning the bar as usual, flipping his shakers and tossing ice cubes. He is getting quite good now.

As the Malaysian National Day (Merdeka Day) is due 31st August, it was decided that a Merdeka Day quiz should be included for the cocktail party. Five questions with five breakfasts for two at the restaurant for prizes. We just weren't quick enough. No problem, it was hoot anyway.

The resort has become a lot busier. They seem to have the advertising working. At the moment we have about 100 guests and the resort is full. They go out on day trips most days so it is not too overwhelming. Sometimes the pool in the afternoons gets busy but nothing like Thailand around Xmas time.

The resort is looking great, the grounds and gardens have been tended to, the staff are even more friendly, the facilities have improved with games area around near us and also a new flat screen TV with all the cable stations. Mike and I have been addicted to the History Channel. We really miss the good documentaries.

Visit

2007-07-27T09:23:00.001+08:00

We will be coming to Australia for a visit. We would like to catch up with you when we are home. Can you drop us and email so we can set up a time. We will be in Sydney from the 29th of August until the 5th September. Then we are off to the Gold Coast for a week and then back to Sydney on the 12th of September until we leave on the 2nd of October

Our Itinerary is as follows: Arrive Sydney 6:50pm on the 29th August 2007 (Qantas QF 032) Return to Malaysia 4:55pm on the 2nd October 2007 (Qantas QF 031)
Mike and Tracey (SV Seadrive) Website : Seadrive Blog, Photo Albums

Rat-atouille

2007-07-24T21:05:00.000+08:00

Well boule has been off the last few days. It has rained solidly for two days and it almost felt as cool as Autumn. Well we have good imaginations anyway.

We had crawled into bed last night to watch a movie when a strange rustling sound came from the aft cabin ( pantry). Mike thinks it is the boat creaking in the wind. No way. The noise is too loud to be a cockroach, so out of bed and dive into the locker for the rat trap. Apparently, peanut butter is a good choice for the trap. The rodent has to stay and eat it , unlike a piece of cheese that he can take away. So large dollop of PB on the flap and then cock it. It has been such a long time since we have used a trap. Normally , just drop the pellets and the they wander off and die. But you don't want that on a boat. One you want to see the body and two if it dies in a locker somewhere it will heat up and smell.

After a couple of attempts at amputating his fingers, Mike's finally got the spring to load and stay loaded. It goes into position and then off we go to bed. It is probably a good half hour and then SNAP!!!. Torch out , let's see if it worked. Well the blob of PB went catapulting through the air and landed on a bag of Twisties. But success, we had him. He was still wriggling. So just to be sure we upturned a bucket on top and anchored it down.

He was well and truly dead this morning, thank god. He was a quite large brown bush rat. Hopefully he was alone. We are pretty sure he had only just got in. Can't imagine he has been hiding in there and I just haven't seen or heard him. He had started to gnaw a hole in the plastic lid on a can of Californian walnuts. Luckily, it was almost empty. It had managed to take out a piece of plastic the size of a fingernail.

We are hoping for an early, uneventful night tonight. I still have one more trap left. So look out rats.

We do feel like nature is taking over....cockroaches, the odd ant, rats and the ever present monkeys, the miner birds have given up trying to nest on the boat, hooray. Monitor lizards, archer fish and an occasional sighting of the otters.
But you know what they say about boating.... Nature you're floating in it.

The French Quarter of Malaysia

2007-07-22T20:31:00.000+08:00

Scotia and Silver Heels II have both discovered they have boule (petanque) sets buried on their boats and they dragged them out and the Rebak Boule Association has been formed. For those of you who are not aware of the game. It is a French game played with metal balls . Throw out the jack, you have two balls, the closest to the jack at the finish is the winner.

Game starts 10am on the sandy volley ball court. As you can see it has a fabulous view out over the bay.

Mike has perfected what we have dubbed "The Penang" shot. A shot so strong it almost lands in Penang.

While we were playing last time we noticed a group of the gardening staff huddled around the bottom of one of the trees.

Talk about a tight jam. It is one of the monitor lizards from around the marina and he has managed to wedge himself into the bottom of the tree.

As you can see we have all our new tarps up. We look a bit like an army demountable hut. But very effective in dropping cabin temperatures.

Birds and Birthdays

2007-07-06T23:07:00.000+08:00

More birthday greetings to my good friend in Oz, Carmen (6th July). Congratulations to my friend in Vienna, Peter and Jasmin on the birth of their son Joshua ( Happy Birthday Joshua - age zero born 5th July).

Now that the new tarps are finished it is time to check out what is happening in the boom cover where the miner birds have built a nest. There has been an unpleasant smell emanating from there over the last couple of days.

Even as I write this my smell buds are activating that wonderful aroma again. What a mess. Leaves, twigs, bits of plastic, two dead birds and maggots. Yuck, yuck, yuck.

I thought Mike was going to vomit. He has such a delicate sense of smell. He managed to hose all the rubbish out and I had to scrub boom bag and take down mainsail for a good scrub as well. We have certainly learnt a lesson. No more birds.

The tarps went up into position and are working well.

We did finish the night off on a good note at the Thursday night BBQ. We had enough people to have one this week.

We decided to have an early night and pace ourselves as the cocktail party was Friday night and that is always a good do.

The turn out for the cocktail party was impressive. I think we saw two guests from the resort and about 50 yachties. We have become quite addicted to this game called Jenga. Layers of 3 wooden blocks. Each turn you are required to pull one block out from the stack and place it on top. They always have a couple of sets lying around the bar area.

Sheila and Foo, the band, were in fine form as usual. A good night had by all.

Rebak Birthday Party

2007-07-04T22:02:00.000+08:00

Big Happy Birthday to Mike and Happy Independence Day to all our American friends. We had a pretty low key day, saving up for the cocktail party on Friday. We have a movie day planned for town on Thursday (with Bea and Carl from Rampant)...Die Hard 4.0. Can Bruce pull another one out of the bag. He is getting on.

Bea and Carl turned up mid morning with a chocolate birthday cake for Mike. He was really surprised and pleased. Maybe my candle in the Vegemite toast for breakfast just didn't do it for him. It is far too hot to cook a cake on the boat. Bea has a microwave and turned out the delicious cake in 7 minutes. Not bad.

Rebak Island Resort

2007-06-30T16:41:00.000+08:00

Not a lot happening in the last month . The wet season is starting to settle in, with a whole week of rain and a few 40-50 knot squalls through the marina. We blew out the last remaining corners of the tarp over the cockpit. It was a made scramble to grab it before it blew off the boat.

We have had a new tarp made in town and it is holding up well in the last few squalls. Most of the yachties that were going home for the wet season headed out this month : Court Jester, Envy, Plane Sailing, Utiekah III, Jaraman ( they will be back end of July) but the rest are not due back until October or November. So it is getting pretty quiet here. We had a couple of pot luck dinners at the end of our dock before they all left as fridges and cupboards were being emptied in preparation to depart.

We have had the last of our Thursday night BBQ buffets. Just not enough people here to make the numbers. We still have the monthly cocktail party to look forward to , which is always a good night. Johnny and Shelly from Utiekah finished their two week singing engagement here which was a great night. Foo and Sheila (the
regular band) are back but we have been remiss in attending. The band has moved over to the new restaurant area instead of being just a the edge of the marina area. They start singing at 9pm which is when we are all starting to wind down for the night.

The staff have been busy getting the resort up to 5 star standard. The new activities manager has done a great job supplying pool table , ping-pong table, darts and backgammon, jenga and other games in the old marina lounge area on our side of the resort. We have noticed they have employed an Italian restaurant consultant and we suspect the menu is being revamped.

They have renamed the resort from Rebak Marina Resort to Rebak Island Resort. A small change but an important one. Can't think thee are a lot of people wanting to come to a marina for a holiday, especially at the rates they charge.

We have had a few visits to town and have been to the new cineplex twice. Unlike Thailand where you have a good half an hour of shorts and advertisements not to mention standing for the King's song, Langkawi must start the film dead on the session time. We have not managed to see the start of a film yet. Trying to judge when the cinema opens is a little tricky also the different session signs posted are a little confusing.

All part of the charm.

The last week has been extremely hot and humid. So we have been barricaded in the boat with the air con. It had a hard time keeping up today. We have been attempting to do some maintenance jobs while things are quiet. We are slowly resealing the windows again. They have started to leak as the sealant has degraded in the sun, even though it is UV tolerant. We have managed to replace 2 of the 7 windows. So far we have had no more leaking on the 2 completed windows. So we have purchased more sealant and are trying to get the rest done.

Our anchor chain is all nicely re-galvinised and back in the chain locker. We just need to re-lead the anchor itself before it goes back in place. The extra weight at the front of the boat certainly makes a difference. Now our engine exhausts are back out of the water. We were a bit bum heavy without the chain and anchor on.

Bangkok

2007-05-24T13:57:00.000+08:00

But the trip was the ride from hell. Dark roads, the bus must have been doing over 100kms and it was double-decker so we were swaying from side to side. Of course we had the prime viewing seats for our impending demise should it happen. I decided the best course of stress management was to go to sleep . With my airline eye mask and earplugs it was just like sitting in economy on a plane. We kept stopping at these police road checks. I think they were looking for illegal immigrants ( Burmese), apparently. We got into Bangkok at 5.30am ( the train would have had us in at a respectable 11am. Half asleep we piled out of the bus in god knows where in Bangkok. But luckily, there were a couple of taxis waiting so we jump in and head to the hotel hoping it is open.

We are staying at a fairly average hotel this time ( beware of anything that has Mansion in its name in Asia) but it is cheap and closer to BTS (National Stadium) and big shopping complex with food, shopping, cinemas and IMAX.

This time in Bangkok was mostly taken up with trips back and forward each day to the hospital to have Mike's dressings changed after having a couple of cysts and abscesses removed from his back. Finishing off with a dentist visit for some fillings (5 in less than an hour for about $200AUD) for Mike and clean and polish for me.

The Bumrungrad Hospital is fantastic. It runs like a Swiss watch, as they say. There were people from all nationalities there. We were very impressed. There are lots of international patients who make a point of coming here because the work is great and it is a fraction of the cost of the US and Europe. The only really touristy place we went this time was to Jim Thompson's House. A lovely peaceful oasis in the middle of the hustle and bustle of Bangkok.

Wal and Robyn left on Thursday and we had another week there until the doctor took out Mike's stitches and the other wounds no longer needed constant dressing.

We managed to see every English movie playing in Bangkok including a couple of documentaries at IMAX. We spent nearly a whole day at the IT mall at Phanthip Plaza. 5 or 6 floors of everything to do with computers, software, music and DVD's.

We did have some excitement. Our Thai friend(Suvicha) had a spot booked on a Thai cable station to promote his water product and talk about how it helped his diabetes. He felt it would add some credibility if he had a farang (westerner) nutritionist on as well. The whole show was in Thai so I had no idea where they were up to in the script or what everyone was saying. When i did talk i had to try and not talk too long so that Suvicha could translate for me. Quite surreal. The really scary part is that the show goes all over the world.

We finally get the all clear to leave , so we book flights back rather than buses trains and ferries. Didn't want Mike's wounds to open up carrying heavy backpacks. We have another ride from hell in the taxi to the airport. There was some misunderstanding and the taxi driver wanted to take us to the old airport which is quite close. He was not happy having to drive us all the way to the new international airport and we insisted he use the metre. No happy, Jan! So we drove at 140km on the expressway. Too fast and too close to the other cars. There is obviously no other speed other than flat out.

When we finally get to check in we find two other couple we know from Rebak on their way back from their travels. Brice and Martha from Silver Fern returning from 4 weeks in Laos and Garry and Libby from Aquarius coming back from a month in India. It was great to see them again and here their tales. We all agreed we were looking forward to getting home ... Rebak of course. We needed a holiday from the holiday.

Muang Phol Mansions

Soi Kasem San 1

Near National Stadium BTS.

Chiang Mai

2007-05-14T22:18:00.000+08:00

The courtesy bus from the Thanaburi resort drives us into New Sukhothai ( about 7km) to catch to bus to Chiang Mai. This is a lot easier than trying to get back to Phitsanulok to catch the train which we know gets later the further up the line it goes. We just caught the local bus which was air conditioned - although we had to stuff tissues up in the vents as they were too cold. It was cheaper than the train but can't remember how much - maybe $10 AUD. It was about a four hour trip to Chiang Mai. The hotel Mike had chosen was in a good location just around the corner from the night market ( which happens every night). There are a couple of shops that do laundry across the road from the hotel at about 60baht a kg ( $2 AUD - bargain) . There is also a coffee shop with Internet that does great iced mocha latte what more could we want. The hotel seems to be a popular hotel with tour groups. They also have breakfast included which was a huge buffet with everything. The only place with didn't get breakfast included was Jim's Lodge in Bangkok. So we have done pretty well.

We go out for an early reconnaissance and decide we feel like western food after all the Thai meals we had at Sukhothai so we head from an Irish pub around the back corner from the hotel. By the time we get out the night market is in full swing. There is just so much stuff for sale, bags, t-shirts, shawls, silk everything, clothes, shoes, jewellery - and all the same. The dried food stall are terrific. Any type of fruit is available dried as well as a range of worms and beetle and grasshopper thingies. Any takers?

Thursday we walk up to Tha Pae gate. The city was surrounded by a wall and moat. The wall has since rumbled but there are still recognisable parts of it left and off course at gate on each side. By the time we get there we are all a bit hot and tired. The heat really takes it out of you. The Office for the Thai Cooking School is up here so we go in to book a course later in the week. But it turns out today is the beginners course and they are about to drive the students off the the school. We have time to join. As there is not going to be another beginners course while we are still in Chiang Mai we decide to go and do it. Wal decides to opt out and wander back to hotel for a quiet read and he will book us a car for tomorrow for our excursions further afield. The other vans are full so we pile into a bigger tuk tuk which has been to the market to collect ingredients for the course. The trip out to the school is a good 30-40 minutes. It looks like it is part of a big house set in one of those gated estates.

The rest of the class is already there and apron-ed up. So we get organised and take our seats in the class room for demonstration first before we hit the woks. The day disappeared quickly our stomachs enlarged even more quickly after we had downed Tom Yum Soup, Thai Fish cakes, Green Chicken and rice, Curry, Pad Thai, Spicy Thai salad and Red water chestnuts in coconut milk. Burp! We ate so much food that the even the mere thought of a Thai dish after today was enough to send you into a spin. We had a great day. It was well worth it.

Wal had organised our van and English speaking driver for the day. The first stop is the railway station to buy our overnight sleeper tickets to Bangkok on Monday. Then we are off to the handicrafts villages and shops on the way out of town. the Thai Silk Village Shop on the Chiangmai-Sankampaeng Rd. They have fabric, off the rack shirts, skirts, evening wear, men and women plus purses, key rings , scarves. If you find something you kike but they don't have it in the right colour they will measure and make it up for you in your size and choice of fabric and deliver it to the hotel. Robyn bought a gorgeous skirt but could not find a top to match so they made one and delivered by the next afternoon.

Next stop is the lacquer ware factory which was interesting watching the step by step process. but we did not feel the urge to buy anything. Next stop some jewellery place and the finally the umbrella village and shop where they make paper and cloth umbrellas from bamboo. I had already planned to buy one before left Bangkok. Perfect for sun and rain back at Rebak.

We are heading out of town now, next stop the Orchid Farm. The photos speak for themselves. We declined the snake farm and the crocodile farm, not particularly interested in those. Finally to the Maesa Elephant Camp. You really forget how large they and close up they are quite intimidating. We fed them, watch them frolic in the river, watch them play soccer and stack logs. Check out the video of the soccer in the photos section.

Next stop was the Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep temple complex on the top of the hill. We took the cable car to the top rather than taking the 306 steps. We would have been there until the next day. Great view over Chiang Mai. There are temples, cafes, monk's residences, bookshop, souvenir shop and more at the top. After the temple it is time to head back to the hotel. It has been a long day and it will take an hour to get back to downtown. We found a fantastic pizza place for dinner Dukes, just around from the hotel. It has been so long between good pizzas.

Saturday we left the boys close to the hotel ( they were all wat-ed out) and Robyn and I did a few more wats: Wat Phra Singh, Wat Chedi Luang , the Chiang Mai Arts and Cultural Centre a few shopping detours, coffee and back to the hotel. Mike and I had a date with a french girl living in Chiang Mai, we had met on the latest trend in social networking and travel... www.couchsurfing.com. Her name is Celine and she teaches French here. We met for coffee at the Tha Pae gate the she took us off the a terrific Vietnamese restaurant Suan Doi House off Huay Kaew Rd. Great food and the taste is so different from Thai. We had a great night she is lots of fun.

The wet season has hit up here. A couple of times we had to wade through ankle deep water to get out of hotel and down the main road. One afternoon the hotel was surrounded by water on all sides. We had heard on the news about mudslides in the Chiang Mai province due to the rainstorms. Luckily, we had not been near any areas likely to turn into mudslides.
Sunday we went to buy some backpacks that were on sale at the sports store. We had borrowed a couple for the trip from Mal and Lindy off Mr Bean. We went to check out one of the major malls near the airport Central Airport Plaza. Good shopping and great food hall plus cinema. Back to the hotel early as Wal wants to catch the Formula One race. Robyn and I found a hotel having a Formula One BBQ so Wal was set. Sunday is also the famous walking market which we thought we might check out later as we were planning to meet Celine and her husband for a drink later that night. Well, what a market. Well worth a visit it was similar to the night market but much bigger and lots of food. Wow, just went on for miles. We didn't make it to the end as we had run out of time. We met up with Celine and Thai hubbie and they took us down to the Riverside bar for a drink and some live music and then onto another bar and a terrific band and then home.

The last day was a bit low key. We are booked on the 18.15 train to Bangkok so we were just going to wander around close to the hotel but nothing is open yet. Monday seems to be a slow day and it is too hot to wander around the street so we hop a taxi and go back Airport Central Plaza for a movie and a late lunch and then back to the hotel to check out and head to the airport. We are all nicely tucked up on the train waiting for our porter to come and make up our beds when we are told the train is finished. What? Cancelled today. Just for today. Not sure . Water . Water where . water on tracks. In fact we think the track were washed away. Good planning that we didn't take the two early trains that day or we may have been stranded further down the line. Pack up everything again and pile off the train. Mike hops a tuk tuk to the bus station to get us tickets on a bus that night ( hopefully) and the rest of us queue up to get refund on the train tickets and then taxi over to the bus station to meet Mike. Success! We are booked on the 20.00 bus to Bangkok. The buses look good: reclining seats, double-decker, toilets.

Downtown Inn Hotel
172/1-11 Loy Kroh Road, Anusam
Night Market,
Chiang Mai 50100
+66 (0) 5327 0662
Email to downtown@loxinfo.co.th

Sukhothai (the original capital of the first Thai Kingdom)

2007-05-08T16:09:00.000+08:00

Our car arrives for us at the hotel about 8am so we can get on the road before the traffic. It is about a 5-6 hour drive anyway. Our car is a new Honda with air con , very comfy. Of course, we had no idea what we were in for at this stage. We have been so used to being in taxis that sit in traffic and only ever get to a max speed of 60km. It didn't seem a problem beetling along at 130km in the dry , but once it started to rain 140km was scary. Robyn and I were starting to freak out in the back as we could feel the car starting to aquaplane. We were trying to communicate with the driver to slow down to 80km in the wet. He would do it for about 5 minutes and then the speed would creep up again. Of course it didn't help have a such a good view of the speedo. I think i like travelling in traffic better it is a lot less frightening. By this stage we only had about 15 km more heart pumping, sweating palms to go. Could things get any more frightening. Way not, let's starting SMS-ing while we are travelling at 130km in the wet in traffic in front....arghhhhhhh. He thought we might like to detour off for a look at Phitsanulok...the chorus from the back was . NO, No No... let's just get to our hotel and get out of the car. We came to the conclusion that he had another fare at the Sukhothai and was running late. I think he was annoyed with us for slowing him down.

We finally made it to our hotel...a lovely little sanctuary in the countryside and we were the only guests except for a couple of designers who were planning the interior for the new extension to the resort. It is starting to rain again so we settle in for lunch and a lazy afternoon read and snooze.

The resort is gorgeous with lots of charm and ambiance. The staff are wonderfully friendly and helpful. it was truly a delightful place to unwind. At first, we we wondering how were going to fill in four nights here, maybe we had miscalculated on how much there was to do and see. We just paced ourselves and had time to relax and not be a frantically running around trying to see as much as you can. It did rain on and off so our sightseeing was governed by the colour of the sky. The resort had a restaurant which was quite cheap so it meant we didn't have to go searching in town for dinner. We hired bikes the the time we were there so we could ride around the 45sq kms of historical park. Certainly, travelling by bike gave the place a special feel. You were more attached to the surrounding than viewing the scenes in a more detached way from the car. The Historical park was a short 10 minute bike ride from the hotel on the flat. There was a little bit of traffic to dodge in the village but really easy peasey.

We cycled all around inside the old city walls ( now in ruins) which are beautifully landscaped. The you can cycle out the various old gates and around the outer ruin sites. We were puffing along, what a healthy lot with Mike and Wal puffing on cigarettes while cycling - what a picture of health - when we see a little stand at the side of the road offering cold drinks and coffee. Perfect, it was about time for a morning caffeine fix. The stand was run by a dutch guy who had retired to Thailand and had married a local and has a couple of kids now. His house was out the back. After a rest and a chat it was time to get cycling to complete the loop before the afternoon rain storm. A lot of the ruins outside the city walls are in grazing land so it was not unusual to see cattle and goats and chickens wandering around in amongst the ruins.

There is another historical site (Si Satchanalai) about 50km north of Sukhothai which we decided we should see while we are here. Who knows if we will come past here again. The resort organised a van for the day.

We have to make a quick stop in New Sukhothai to pick up some blood pressure medication for Wal, he has run out and Mike gets some antibiotics for his abscesses. New Sukhothai is a very busy little village and we are glad we are staying in the old town. Lot more relaxing.

Finally, we are on our way to Si Satchanalai - this site is a lot more spread out and would take a long time to get to see by bicycle. There is only basic accommodation and most people do it as a day trip. We must admit it was hard to get your bearings and at every turn there was another set of ruins - anything from a pile of bricks to a more substantial site. We had the feeling that not as many tourist bother to do these ruins compared to Sukhothai . this meant the locals selling handicrafts were are lot more "desperate" to sell you something. They make this soap carvings of flowers in little lacquer boxes. Amazing work, but how many can you buy.

We stopped for lunch at a lovely restaurant overlooking the river. Once again , we are the only customers. It is heading into the wet season when there are less tourists , so hate to think what it is like in August September. We are starting to get a little Wat-ed out. We even started to just look from the car and not get out. We lost track on how many we had seen.

We made another couple of quick stops at a funny little building which housed an excavation site and some historical information on the dig site. It looked like it hadn't been dusted or maintain for years. Very Odd. Quick stop at the Sawankhalok Kilns Museum . This area was big for pottery so they have excavated a number of kiln.

One more stop at Sawankhalok Kilns Museum . Which was much better maintained but didn't have anything in English .

Time to head home, we are beat and it will take about an hour to get back.

Tharaburi Resort Hotel

11/3 Srisomboon Road, Thani

Muang, Sukhothai

(old Sukhothai)

Approx $22 AUD

Ayutthaya

2007-05-04T12:13:00.000+08:00

The local train is a lot like the old red rattlers in Sydney. The train had no air con but did have fans fitted on the roof to keep the air moving and the windows did open. Once again, at every stop the train was invaded by food and drink sellers. We were fascinated by the family opposite who seemed to buy everything that came through. We thought maybe they were going all the way to Chiang Mai and were just stocking up but no, they got off at Ayutthaya with us.

We arrived just before 17.00. The train was about 20 minutes late - so not too bad this time. Our hotel was just a short walk across the street and down a half block. We had to battle our way through all the tuk-tuk drivers wanting to drive us to our hotel.

Central Ayutthaya is surrounded by rivers. Our hotel was the other side of the river, which meant to get to the historical sites it meant a ferry ride or car /tuk-tuk down and over the nearest bridge.

We did have some water views from our hotel room. This hotel was little more upmarket than Jim's Lodge. The skies were blackening so there seemed little point heading out now. The hotel had a floating restaurant down on the waterfront so this was the choice for dinner tonight.

We had only planned one full day in Ayutthaya so we needed to get around everything the next day. The easiest way to do this was to hire a car (or mini van as it turned out) for the day and have the driver takes us to all the major Wat attractions. Much quicker and more efficient use of time than by tuk-tuks or bicycle.

In fact, we said very little to our driver, initially he was on automatic pilot. This suited us because we didn't feel like making any major decisions today. We had to do that for 2 days in Bangkok. So it was extremely pleasant just arriving at the next stop. Snap a few shots on the camera back in the van and next stop please.

Most of the Wat ruins are in the town area. They were all quite spectacular and had a very peaceful feeling to them even though some were on major roads. We unaminously agree that we like the old ruin sites better than the modern "active" Thai temples. These are a little too gold and glitzy. The wat visited were :

Wat Mahathat ( which has the famous Buddha head being engulfed by a the roots of a giant fig tree. Wat Ratburana, Wat Na Phra Mane ( still an active temple is one of the gold glitzy ones), Wat Phra Si Samphet, Wat Lokaya Sutha which has a large reclining Buddha lying in front of the ruins, Wat Chai Wattanaram which sits on the west banks of the Chao Phraya River.

We had some time to spare so we convinced the driver to take us back to Bang Pa-In ( we had passed it one station back on the train). This is the royal palace compound. It is about 20km from Ayutthaya. We grabbed a quick pad thai for lunch across the roadside at a local restaurant before heading in. Just as we buy our tickets and step inside the gates the heavens open up. It takes about 15 minutes for the storm to pass and then brilliant blue , sunny skies again.

The grounds are quite extensive and we are all feeling lazy and don't have hours to spend here, so we hire a drive yourself golf cart and off we go. A great way to travel. After an hour zipping around it is time to find our driver and van and get them back to the hotel.

Afternoon snooze time for a couple of hours and then wander up the street to the local stalls for dinner. A quick stop at the railway station to get train details and prices for our trip to Sukhothai tomorrow. It appears that the train is never on time leaving Ayutthaya. It can be up to 3 or 4 hours late which does not leave us enough time to get to Phitsanulok to then catch the last bus to New Sukhothai and then taxi to old Sukhothai. So we arrange a car to take us the next morning.

Ayothaya Riverside Hotel

91 Moo 10, Tambol

Kamang, Amphur Pranakomsriayutthaya

Ayutthaya 13000

Ayutthaya

Approx $36 AUD

Bangkok

2007-05-03T14:28:00.000+08:00

We arrive at the main railway station in Bangkok which we have loving referred to as Humffalong because we can't seem to be able to pronounce it correctly. our Thai friends think it is extremely funny.

It is easier to get a taxi than to go by train - MRT and then change to monorail - BTS system to get to the hotel. It is hot and we just want to get there. Our accommodation this time in Bangkok is Jim's Lodge, it is in the centre of town and a short walk to the nearest BTS station - Ploenchit Station. We dump the bags and head out to explore. We are only a couple of stations from Siam station which has three large malls. The most upmarket is Paragon. So swanky it has a Ferrari and Lamborghini dealerships. Not quite sure how they get the cars out of the showroom for a test drive from the top floor. There is a fantastic food hall and supermarket at the bottom of the mall as well as Kinokuniya bookshop ( big, big bookshop with lots of books in English), and cinema complex including IMAX.

It is really hot, steamy and raining in Bangkok so a few hours of mall trawling, bookshop and coffee shop seem to be the plan for the afternoon. We will do the touristy sightseeing tomorrow.

The hotel is quite nice, basic but clean, hot water and some cable TV with English stations. We manage to stumble onto a version of the ABC with Lateline. Nice to catch up on some news , although it did feel like nothing new had happened. Same , same but same. (There is a phrase you see a lot in Thailand on t-shirts and advertising for restaurants etc "Same Same , but Different". I think they are trying to emphasis that they may look the same as the "other guy" but there is really a difference. But we have re coined the phrase as "same, same , but same" because we just can't spot the difference.)

Next morning we are off on a river cruise - just for something different. River Cruise Chao Phraya Tourist Boat 100 baht each . You can get on and off at any of the wharves on the river. Catch BTS to Saphan Taksin Station and make your way to the waterfront. Mind all the touts offering trips for an hour up the river for 900 baht.

Our first stop was Royal Barges Museum. We disembarked at Pier No 10 and then had a fairly convoluted walk through the hospital grounds out the back lane and through the car park of an old temple and that was the easy bit. Once we left the main streets we were like rats in a maze winding our way through tiny footpaths with strange little houses and shops tucked away. It was a mini suburb buried in around the dirty little canals. There were people fishing in them... yuck. Luckily, the museum was signposted, not obviously, but we did manage to spot the signs on each turn and ferret our way through the maze to the Museum, which was located on a large canal, surprise surprise. The barges were quite interesting and would be spectacular on the river for royal ceremonies. We did manage to successfully re-trace our steps out again and back onto the ferry to our next stop.

Next stop was Wat Pho. So, off at Pier 8. Some lunch at the restaurant on the jetty, which had a fantastic view of Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn), an older style Wat. We didn't get over to see it close up, maybe next time. Ayutthaya and Sukhothai have lots of wats and we didn't want to wat ourselves out so early in the trip. Mike and Wal decided they wanted to sit and read their books at restaurant while Robyn and I walked over to Wat Pho. This is the oldest and largest Wat in Bangkok built in the 16th century and features the largest reclining Buddha and largest collection of Buddha images in Thailand. Even though I had been here before, you still can't help but be amazed at the size of the Buddha. He has enormous feet which are inlaid with mother of pearl pictures. Just beautiful. A number of the building were closed as renovation work was being carried out so it didn't take very long to do the main attractions and then head back to pick up the men.

Everyone is a bit weary ( just no staying power - but then the heat does make you tired faster) so we head back to Paragon mall and to see Spiderman at IMAX. We love our movies and we haven't been to the cinema since Phuket in January so something in IMAX is a real treat.

Another sweep around Kinokuniya bookshop and coffee shop some dinner at a noodle bar and home.

The next morning Mike has a meeting with one of the Thai banks so he gets all done up in shirt , tie and jacket and oh my god, proper shoes and heads off. He will meet us at the train station later on. Wal is going to have a quiet morning at the hotel reading his new Formula One magazine and Robyn and I head off for The Jim Thompson Silk shop near Saladaeng BTS station for a little retail therapy. What a fabulous shop complete with the requisite coffee shop.

After a relaxing morning shopping and coffee-ing, with no men giving you the hurry up, we head back to the hotel ( on time - see the girls can shop and keep a schedule - amazing!) to collect our luggage and Wal and make tracks for the train station.

I have been practising Humffalong.....and have finally got the correct pronunciation Hualamphong (Who a lam pong) . Mike joins us in time for the 14.00 local train to Ayutthaya. It is such a short ride, only 90 minutes, so not worth the money on first class air conditioned train. It cost us 20baht ( $1.50AUD) each.

Rebak to Bangkok

2007-05-01T13:05:00.000+08:00

The journey begins from Rebak on the local ferry to the jetty at Langasuka , taxi ride to town and the main international ferry terminal. A 90 minute ferry trip to the mainland Kuala Kedah. a 20 minute Taxi ride to the train station at Alor Setah. Pick up our tickets to Bangkok. Leave our luggage with the station master at 1Rm per piece (35cents Aussie). Walk into main town to grab some lunch before our train leaves at 15.30.

The skies are blackening and we wonder whether we can get to town and back before being dumped on. Fortunately, the storm seems to bypass us. Alor Setah is a like a bigger version of Kuah ( Langkawi). We have lunch and wander back to the station to wait.

The train is pretty much on time which surprised us. We found our carriage and seats and settled in with munchies and books and sudoku. The aircon on the train is freezing and we didn't think to bring cardigans so I dragged out the sarongs and we huddle under those.

Nothing much happening really until we hit the border between Malaysia and Thailand. We all get off the train and file into the Malaysian immigration side. Robyn , Mike and I end up in one queue and Wal is in the other. We all breeze through, no problems, and are now around on the Thai side to check in. No sign of Wal. When I go back to check there he is in the "OFFICE". Oh dear. Mike goes back to investigate and it turns out that Wal and Robyn had been checked out of Malaysia weeks ago when they had called into the harbour master in Kuah to inform them they were heading to Penang for a few days. This is usually just a courtesy procedure. But this time they somehow ended up in Immigration and were stamped out of the country and were in fact illegally still in Malaysia. The girl processing us obviously missed this fact when she did Robyn passport. Maybe Wal just looked like a suspicious character on his own. You really have to love how the officialdom works here. No drama, they just stamped them in again and then out again with a few forms , no problem. Australia , somehow , I think would have involved a lot more grief.

Thailand on the other hand are a lot more strict. The officials study our passports adding up our various visits in and out of Thailand over the last months to see that we have not used up our allotted 90 days in a 6 month period rule. While we are standing there waiting to be checked in I notice a sign on the wall explaining how the officials can recognise a hippy. They obviously don't want unkempt, inappropriately dressed people lurking in Thailand and and official sign has been posted to assist staff in recognising said people - "hippies". I managed to get a photo without being too obvious. I really didn't want to try and explain to the officials why on earth I thought it was necessary to take a picture of the sign.

Finally, we are back on the train and on our way again. It seems the storm we managed to dodge back in Alor Setah has caught up with us and it starts bucketing down. Not too bad as we are all nicely tucked up in our couch seats. However, a visit to the toilet reveals that it also doubles as a shower when it rains and the windows are left open.

Train toilets are always rather grim and I thought it was difficult to stay balanced on a boat while you used the loo. Even more difficult on the train as you are really really trying hard not to touch any of the walls.

Each train station we stop at a stream of food sellers get on with drinks ( at exorbitant prices) and all manner of food most of it we could not identify. The train does have a kitchen car and you can order cheap meals and drinks , which are good.

Finally, the porter arrives to make up the beds. Bits fold in other bits fold out, the top bunk drops down. Nice, crisp white hotel sheets go on and a snugly warm waffle blanket to finish off. Mike gets the bottom bunk which is wider and has the window which is great. The only disadvantage with the top bunk apart from being narrower is that the fluro lights in the carriage are left on at night so it is quite bright, even with your curtains pulled. Luckily , I had packed eye mask and ear plugs just in case.

We had breakfast in bed with eggs, toast and sausages and HAM. Mike was already alerted to the fact that we were back in the land of pig...bacon, pork, ham , salami, as he had spotted some pigs grazing in a field.

We are scooted out of our beds and they are reassembled back into seats and all the bed makings are tied into a bundle and dropped at the end of each set of seats for counting and collection.

A few more hours and we pull into Bangkok. Got to love the trains in Thailand. Our train was scheduled to arrive Bangkok 7.30am. But apparently it is always late and usually arrives at around 11am. One would think the logical outcome would be to change the timetable to reflect the real arrival time. But no, why would you do that.

Off to Chiang Mai Tomorrow

2007-04-29T17:15:00.000+08:00

Not a lot happening in the last week other than getting organised to leave the boat for two weeks. Mike has been under the weather again with another one of his cysts in the armpit again. So the jobs have been banking up a little. Some of them can wait until we get back. The plan was to redo the leaky windows but that was to big a job with only one good arm. We think we can keep the boat dry until we get back.

We have had a couple of trips to town for last minute shopping before we go. The fridge has been eaten out and has been defrosted today. I had planned some washing machine therapy but the weather has been drizzly all day so far, so i now have a washer full of wet clothes. Waiting for a break in the rain to at least finish washing and spinning the first load so someone can hang it out for me, if we see no sun today.

Amanda and Mark from Balvenie are back from New Zealand and have brought us a couple of jars of Emergel. A fantastic product only available from NZ fro removing rust stains in fibreglass. No elbow grease required. Amanda is one of the more enthusiastic net controllers on our rally net each morning. So we are all glad she is back.

We are off on the 7.30am ferry from Rebak to the Langkawi tomorrow April 30 and then taxi into Kuah Ferry terminal for 9.30am ferry trip to Alor Setah on the mainland and then overnight sleeper to Bangkok. We will try and update the blog on our travels.

Planning for Chaing Mai Train Trip

2007-04-28T11:39:00.000+08:00

We have been discussing for quite a while now the possibility of travelling from London to Malaysia by train. We found a fabulous website (named Seat61) that provided us with quite a bit of information to get started. We discovered that we could book our trains heading north with the Malaysian Railways (using email callcenter@ktmb.com.my)Site but have been unable to make any arrangements for the Thai trains although we did manage to find timetables and seat availability.

If you require a sleeper the only real option that you have is 2nd Class. The fares we RM 97.30 (for an upper berth) and RM 105.30 (for the lower). If you book via email you have to pick the tickets up by 13:00 on the day you are travelling from the station. If you are (as is our case) catching the ferry over from Langkawi you will have to catch the 9:30am ferry at the latest. Looks like an early start for us as we are at least an hour from the Kuah Ferry Jetty. There is no requirement to book the ferry.

We also did quite a bit of research for accommodation. We looked at quite a few Hostel Sites (the best being HostelWorld) but found that most of these places charge per person and with two of us it was just as cheap to book a regular hotel. The best prices we found for the area was AsiaRooms. Through this excellent site we have managed to book our accommodation for the trip.

More lazy days at Rebak

2007-04-20T17:20:00.000+08:00

We are still here. Bruce has given Rebak a nickname "RRV". Rebak Retirement Village. Not a bad place to retire to. It has been a quiet week. Mike abscess has been playing up again. This time we have decided to administer some antibiotics. I think we are making progress. As he has been taking it easy, he has used the time to plan and book the rest of the Chiang Mai trip. So we are ready to go 30th April 7.30am ferry out of Rebak.

The anchor and anchor chain has been sent off to be re-galvanised as it is was starting to rust. It should be back in a couple of weeks. A couple of other boats have sent theirs off as well.

The Minke II's are back- Mike and Faye. They are leaving their boat at Telaga and heading home to Australia in about 2 weeks. Harry and the Minke's and us sailed all the way from Singapore to Langkawi together. We haven't seen them for a few months as they had headed off to the Andaman Islands (off India) for a month and have only just come back from a month in Thailand. They hired a car on Wednesday and were going to town so picked us up at the ferry wharf on the way through. We had a great day together in town. They are likely to come over to Rebak for a day or two on Sunday. Their computer is coming to visit Mike for some work.

We have had another Thursday BBQ which was a great night. The resort set the tables out on the boardwalk this time. It was a fantastic setting. We managed to just finish dinner before the spots of rain started.

Bob and Deidre on Plane Sailing arrived back on Friday morning. So nice to see them again. It has been a month since they went up to Thailand with their guests.

Big Happy Birthday to my Mum (Tracey's) and Happy 50h Wedding Anniversary also to my Mum and Dad.

Drinks on Court Jester

2007-04-13T17:18:00.000+08:00

We had been invited over to the Jesters for drinks with Claire and Tony from Hai Mei Gui. You can never plan how the night will turn out. However, you know you maybe in trouble when the liqueur bottles come out. The music went on and we found we are all up dancing around the saloon table (not a large dance floor). Claire , not wanting to be constrained to dancing on the floor decided to do a pole dance, using the mast. Mike was stone cold sober (only drinking coke), oh hang on he did have two Kahlua's. I had had two glasses of red wine. So we were not quite as vigorous as Claire and the Jesters. We decided we should close down the disco at midnight before we all turn into pumpkins. We find out the next day, poor Wayne , had a bout of vertigo and had to get off the boat and had fallen asleep naked on the dock. Sorry, we missed that photo. But we do have good coverage of the rest of the night.

The Fun Never Stops

2007-04-12T13:57:00.000+08:00

We had a few hours sleep after the cocktail party and then remembered we had promised to share a car with Bruce (Muscat) for a trip to town. We decided maybe a half day would be enough time to get the errands done. We really didn't need to go on the early ferry. Nothing in town opens until 10am or sometimes even 11am. So we head for the Golden Arches for an egg and sausage McMuffin and coffee to start the day. There was not too much t do in town today so we planned to be back on 2pm ferry .

As we were heading through town I noticed a sign on the shopping mall "cineplex" . Could it finally be so. A movie theatre in Langkawi. Yes indeed. We decide to go and check it out. It was a bit like an orienteering course to find it in the complex. The elevator door open onto a crowd of elegantly dressed people. We thought we had stumbled onto a wedding. We soon realised that it was in fact the grand opening of the cineplex. So the place was decked out with the appropriate officials , police and the mayor of the region. Oops, we smile and slowly back out and hope no-one has noticed us.

We make the 2pm ferry, so have time enough for a swim and to get ready for buffet night. Yes another night out.

Lisa from Nahanni has organised it for Easter and as a farewell as they were heading back to Canada on Tuesday. It was a quiet night. Nice food but everyone retired early. No one had enough energy to get up and dance after the previous night. Even Sue and Annie couldn't summoned up the party spirits. The band was looking tired as well and managed to do 3 songs and then we told them they could have a rest too. They looked pleased.

The Jesters headed out for a quick circumnavigation of the island with Annie and Sue. They arrived back Wednesday for a final farewell swim and dinner at Rebak.
Thursday morning champagne breakfast on the balcony of the resort restaurant. The girls are heading home today so we thought it would be appropriate to send them off in style. Good time to open that bottle of Veuve that Wendy brought over from Oz.

The Thursday night BBQ is on tonight . This is the first one the marina resort has put on for the yachties ,so we are all curious to see how it will go. For 40Rm (about $12 AUD) you can't go wrong. There were bugs, steaks, fish, chicken, satay skewers, salads, soup, bread, pasta, vegetables, desserts. Big storm, lightening and rain. More We are all a bit partied out so it was dinner and then an early night. Just a well it was an early night as a terrific thunderstorm came through the area - rain and sheet lightning.

Chaing Mai Trip

2007-04-12T12:14:00.000+08:00

We are planning to head up to Thailand for some land travel at the end of this month. We are getting a little bit of marina fever and it seemed time to visit some of Thailand's splendor that wasn't located on the coast. We plan to go by ferry to the mainland and hop on a train to Bangkok. We will stay in Bangkok a couple of days and then head up to Ayutthaya, Phitsanulok, Sukhothai and on to Chiang Mai. We will stay a couple of days at each of these places and then a week at Chiang Mai where amongst other things we will do a Thai cooking course. Stay tuned for more information.

The itinerary can be viewed at : Travel Calendar

The notebook can be viewed at : Travel Notebook

You can also view the route at : Chiang Mai Trip Route

Good Friday Cocktail Party

2007-04-06T11:56:00.000+08:00

The big job for Wednesday, apart from some computer fixes for other yachties, was to pickle the watermaker. At the moment you need to use it or flush it every 5 days to keep the membrane working. We have not been using the watermaker as we are on shore power and water and are not making water when we are out sailing around here anyway. By pickling it, we have 6 - 12 months before we need to use it again.

Thursday was another run to town. Just us this time as we had haircuts and doctors to visit. I went to see the local doctor about the vertigo. I really just wanted to rule out an ear infection. The good news is no ear or nose infection but I did have low blood pressure. After three readings I managed to get to 98/70. This could be the reason for the vertigo. He gave me some pharmaceuticals - basically stemetil and said see how it goes.

Mike decided he didn't want to be left out medically and decided to grow another abscess in his armpit ( the same place where he had one cut out before). We were getting worried that we might have to do the same with this one but it did burst the day before. His visit was to the local homeopath and acupuncturist. I had a foot reflexology massage while he was acupunctured. He has some detoxing to do. It turned to be a relaxing day with haircut and head massage and then foot massage.

Well, it Good Friday so Happy Easter to everyone. Really doesn't seem like Easter as the stores are not full of hot cross buns and rabbits and chocolate eggs. Easter is not something they celebrate in a Muslim country. We had started eating our hot cross buns days ago but finished off the last of them today.

Tonight is the night of the second cocktail party that the marina is putting on for the yachties. We all get glam-ed up. Everyone look terrific. Almost unrecognisable . Gee we scrub up well. The management have really outdone themselves with the finger food this time. The alcohol is flowing - the bar staff are madly making pina coladas, margaritas, daiquiris. The band starts playing about 8pm and then it is a mad house.

We are all up dancing.

We finally dragged ourselves home about 1am. What a fantastic night.

Shop til you drop from heat exhaustion

2007-04-03T11:34:00.000+08:00

Court Jester have visitors from OZ Annie and Sue (Sue has already been for a visit previously on the Darwin to Bali part of the rally), we decided we should have a girls day out. As none of the others had really been to Langkawi, I volunteered to drive, although I have not been behind the wheel for over a year. We shopped, we coffeed, we strolled, we lunched, shopped some more and finally arrived back on the 6.15pm ferry. Sue and Annie decided they have not been so intensively shopped out in a long time.

We stopped for lunch at the Asia Hotel, which most of the yachties rave about. It is on the main street in Kuah. We ordered too much food but the butter prawns and black pepper chicken were to die for. The whole meal with drinks was $8 AUD a head. Unbelievable.

As if one day of shopping wasn't enough the Jesters decided that they really should do some food shopping as well. So we head into town again the next day with two teams of shoppers. The girls together again in the what has been termed the "pink" car and the boys with Mike , Wayne (from Court Jester) and Bruce (from Muscat) in the "blue" car. The plan was for the men to go off and do their "blue" jobs (chandlery, hardware, paint etc) and the girls would go and do what we do best - shop. We would meet later at the Asia Hotel (give me some more of those butter prawns) for lunch about 1pm. The girls ended up with the best car. In fact, the best car we have ever hired anywhere in Malaysia or Thailand. It was automatic, had central locking, arctically cold air conditioning.The guy had run out of cars and had to get ours from the airport. Lucky us. We had a repeat performance for lunch at the Asia Hotel again. It was almost a vegetarian lunch as it was half moon (whatever that means) but we told the guy we had 13 people coming for lunch expecting seafood. A quick conference with his wife and seafood lunch it was. The Jaramans, the Envy's and Tweed's joined us. We had seriously over ordered, yet it cost us less than the day before. The pink and blue cars became purple cars as we mixed groups for the final shopping run and then back to the ferry terminal. We did a quick pit stop at McPhee's for some hot cross buns. McPhee's is run by an Australian women. She imports Aussie products to Langkawi. Those desperate for vegemite, Big Ben pies, yogurt mix, jams, pickles, Aussie meat, vegetables, cheeses, wines, plum puddings at Xmas, hot cross buns at Easter. The buns turned out to be from Woolworths. A little taste of home. We thought it was far too hot for the Easter eggs, so gave them a miss.

We made the 4.30pm ferry and headed straight for the pool to cool off. The others had more shopping to do and were on the 6.15pm ferry. We all slept well that night.

The guys came to finish off the windows today . They look really good and more importantly are watertight and a lot cooler. There are always more jobs to do on a boat. The list is onto its second A4 page (30 items) . so there is always something you can be doing. Although, in the heat, you really are not too motivated to get going.

Langkawi - Rebak Marina

2007-04-01T08:46:00.000+08:00

27/03/2007 - 31st March 2007

We really feel like we are settling in here. Even nature seems to have embraced us. The Indian miner birds have built a nest (by the amount of foliage disappearing into the boom, it is more like an apartment block) in our mainsail cover. We need to check if the eggs have been laid yet. Either way I would feel guilty knocking it down as they have been working on it for 3 weeks now. The marina fish are also used to our presence, in fact they are hanging around in the mornings for food (someone on another boat has been feeding them). I was giving one of them a dressing down about begging for food and to show his thoughts on the subject he spat at me. Good shot. Luckily, I had sunglasses on, but he got me in the mouth as well. Yuck, fish spit and marina water. Apparently, they are called archer fish and they spit to catch their prey. I guess I was little too big for him.

A busy few days with a few more boats arriving. Our friends Sue and Wayne on Court Jester arrived. They have guests arriving for a couple of weeks. Sue 2, whom we met in Darwin and Kupang. She has returned (without hubbie Gary, who drew the short straw and had to stay at work) and another friend Annie. We are going to travel around Langkawi with them for 10 days. We need to get out of the marina and it will be nice to just chill out with old cruising friend that we haven't seen since Xmas. The new arrivals are settling in well to life in the marina and have spent the afternoon in the pool at the bar drinking cocktails. A good way to ease into the holiday.

The Marina has been taking an interest in what the yachties think and how they can improve facilities for us. They held a meeting with 10 representatives from the yachts to discuss issues. It went well and they took lots of notes. So I guess we wait and see. Mike ended up with an upset stomach from sonethig he ate at the meeting. We are off to a good start with them trying to poison us. The same day I had a severe case of vertigo. I woke up convinced the boat was rolling over and capsizing and with arms braced on the cabin walls I opened my eyes to find i was still lying on my back in bed. Borrowed some stemetil from Court Jester and took those for a couple of days. The world has stopped spinning, thank god.

It is still hot and muggy here. The rainy season seems to be settling in with its afternoon storms. At least the boat is getting a good wash down. The window fill in job is still a work in progress. I think Michelangelo could have finished the Sistine Chapel in less time.

We have not had too many dinners aboard Seadrive lately. Ley, from Crytal Blues is the queen of bread making, and made us a loaf of multigrain bread. It was so yummy we had bread butter and jam, bread butter and vegemite, bread butter and scrambled eggs, bread butter and bread, bread bread bread bread and bread. Unfortunately , it is now finished. I have the recipe and may attempt a loaf myself. The night before last we were invited to Rampant for dinner with Carl and Bea. Carl is from the old Rhodesia and Bea is Swiss. The food was rich and delicious chicken mushroom and spetzel(a Swiss dish) and to die for custard milk tart. After "seconds" of everything we managed to waddle home.

Tonight we caught the ferry over to the little local restaurant at the ferry terminal. We went with th Court Jesters. The meal for 6 of us with beers and ice cream at the end was 120RM ($40AUD). We had squid, BBQ garlic prawns, fried rice, chicken satays. So cheap we felt embarrassed that for such a delicious meal we were paying so little.

Lazy Langkawi Days at Rebak Marina

2007-03-27T11:49:00.000+08:00

13/03/2007 to 26/03/2007

As you can see we are still at Rebak Marina. The work is progressing slowly on the hatch fibre glassing. They have been grinding and epoxy-ing and there is tiny fibreglass grit everywhere, even in bed. So you are constantly scratching the prickles.

Entertainment wise we have been doing rather well with a birthday celebration on the hardstand for Clayton off "The Silent Knight". Clayton and Berniece have been travelling on their boat for 15years ( that's from Australia to here) We figure they are not in a hurry. We have had two more buffet dinners since the last blog entry. One even managed to coincide with my birthday, which I was trying to keep quiet, so 30 of us had a great night with yummy food and great live music. Even Mike and I got up and danced, of course all pictures have been confiscated and destroyed. The restaurant management presented me with a bottle of wine (Australian even) and a birthday greetings letter signed by the staff, which was terrific.

We celebrated St Patrick's Day with morning tea and green sponge cream roll. Looks weird but tastes yummy. The green colour comes from the pandan leaves.

We have got to know a few more people of a few more boats. We are planning to put up a rogues gallery of the people we have met so when we talk about them you can see who they are.

The Court Jesters, with Sue and Wayne, have arrived back. We haven't seen them since December when they went home for a month. They then headed off to the Andaman Islands about 3 days sail from Phuket. The islands belong to India so lots of red tape and you have to report in all the time so they know where you are.

So it was drinkies on Seadrive last night with Jesters, Bruce from Muscat (Alison is back in OZ for a visit) , Martha and Brice from Silver Fern, Neil and Lee from Crystal Blues.

Seadrive Afloat Again

2007-03-12T12:35:00.000+08:00

Sorry the blog and news has been thin. Time seems to disappear while you are on the hard. I think we have been up for almost 3 weeks. The boat looks fantastic after its hull respray and new stripe and new signage. We had another brilliant idea which was to fibreglass in the two large fixed windows in the main cabins. We still have not been able to stop them leaking and we have them covered with curtains to cut down the heat most of the time. Once the holes are covered in we will then cut a couple of small holes for opening hatches so we can get some air flow. We will probably get Hamid to do this when we get back into the water it is cheaper than being on the hard. We need to get back in the water to coll the boat down and to stop the anti fouling deteriorating in the sun. We were re floated on Friday, the breeze was up a little and we were being really careful not to scratch the new paint work. Alf from Do Be Do came back to the berth with us and helped us tie up. Talk about nervous. I expect will be this way until the first scratch happens.

We will soon have wheels. Plane Sailing gave us their 2 fold up bikes which they don't want anymore. Mike is replacing tyres and repairing the broken rusty bits. So it will be a lot faster getting around Rebak with wheels rather than on shanks pony. Shanks' pony is getting too tired in this heat. As we are heading into the wet and humid season we thought it would make life more bearable if we had air conditioning . We scouted around town to check out new prices but managed to buy a second hand air conditioner at Nautical bits ( second hand boat parts shop). The unit is only 3 months old and is a free standing rather than the through the window model and is about waist high. But if we are staying here in the wet season we will need it, apparently. It was only 750 Rm about $250 AUD so not bad. Sounds like we are settling in , doesn't it. It gets worse though. Karen and Alf from Do Be Do know of a car they want us to go half's in. We think we will do it and then rent it out to yachties on the days we don't need it. Our share will be about 1,250Rm not much at all. The aircon is going well, it is nice to pull up a blanket at night now instead of feeling like a pancake on the hotplate. It has been really hot the last few days and the air con can only manage to keep one hull cool during the day.

For those interested in Harry and Dick and Nancy's travels. Harry is on route (1400 nm) to Seycelles. He left on Thursday so still has a ways to go. He enjoyed Male in the Maldives but being a Muslim town there was no alcohol so he is desperate fro a cold beer. Dick and Nancy are two thirds up the Red Sea at Port Ghalib waiting for a weather window to proceed further. A few boats left early and had strong winds and bad seas and one boat was dismasted - ouch. So they were glad they waited.

That's it from air con heaven. Hugs and kisses to everyone back home and a big Happy Birthday to Margaret Claridge who according to her grandson Alexander is 39 years old.

Seadrive Blog Updates

2007-03-10T12:12:00.000+08:00

We have reinstated the photo section. It is now accessible via this link or from the Photo Albums menu on the right hand side of the blog main screen. The first three albums are about life at Rebak Marina. Hope you enjoy them. We will now be able to update the photos on a regular basis. It is also possible to batch download the albums by installing Picassa onto your computer.

Farewell Mr Bean and the Fleet Scatters

2007-03-05T12:32:00.000+08:00

3/3/2007 to 5/03/2007

We are really being spoilt this month with another night out at the resort restaurant. Malcolm off Mr Bean had convinced the management to put on a buffet dinner for about 30 of us . The cost was about 30Rm (approximately $10 AUD). The food was fantastic. After eating at the hard stand cafe for the last couple of weeks even our sail covers would taste good. The drinks were served at happy hour prices all night what more could a bunch of yachties want. Malcolm and Lindy from Mr Bean are heading back to the UK for 8 months and some of the fleet are heading back to Australia (Maggie and Rob from Gambori) to New Zealand ( Brian, Sarah and Taylor from Anon), some are off to Chagos (Doug, Kyle and the kids from Estrela), some are on their first trip to Thailand (Helen and Joe from Dream Catcher and Gary and Maria from Merlin V) . It was another great night and we may have convinced the management to hold a buffet once a week or at least once a month for the yachties. At least the staff will have something to do. It is rather sad hearing the band playing to two guests.

Rebak Marina Hardstand and Cocktail Party

2007-03-02T11:30:00.000+08:00

27/02/2007 - 2/3/2007

Well we are still on the hardstand. It has been just over a week since we were hauled out. We have decided to paint the hulls from the stripe down. After the guys repaired the first third of each hull it looked so nice it would be difficult to match it back to the old, faded, yellow paint of the rest of the boat. I guess we will be out of the water for a bit longer. We are having a good time though, with lots of socialising at the hard stand cafe and the afternoon swim. It is a lot easier having the guys do all the hard work for you, especially in this hot weather. So all in all , not too bad. I dragged out the sewing machine today to do some batik cushion covers for another friend so that was fun for a change. Also had to repair our Thailand flag that has frayed off at the end. It is just slightly shorter, now. When it gets to the size of a postage stamp then I will make a new one.

The big event this blog is the Cocktail Party put on by the new management of the resort the Taj Group. They have finally decided to woo the yachties for a change. There are 70 boats in the marina and 2 people staying at the resort. Not too difficult to do the maths on that one. So we dug out our glad rags and spruced up for a great night of free drinks and free food and free live music. It was a terrific night. Plane Sailing's guests had arrived that day so i am sure they thought that we have these events all the time.

Cocktail Party - Photo Album

Rebak Marina - Haul Out

2007-02-22T11:22:00.000+08:00

14/2/2007 - 19/2/2007

So nice to be back at Rebak. I managed to get some chores done while Mike was away in Bangkok - washing, vacuuming, scrubbing bathroom.Now that the washing machine is back on the dock I think I washed everything that wasn't glued or nailed down. It was also time to do to the scummy locker under the fridge again. Luckily, I got to it in time before it started to grow every type of mould species. We used the locker as the booze storage. But it is tiring having to wash every bottle down each time the locker is cleaned. Time to move the alcohol to somewhere dry instead. The resort has started to fill up. They have had enormous buffet tables out for dinner. The most we had seen here previously was about 5 guests.

Monday we hauled out. Plane Sailing hauled out after us and are on the stand next door. The guys here do a great job. We didn't break anything off this time. More than I can say for the slipways in Australia. The growth on the bottom is amazing. The propellers are encrusted with barnacles, it is amazing they still turn. The pressure wash took off most of the anti-foul from last time. Pretty expensive water run-off.

It is not as bad as we had anticipated up on the hard stand. We are facing back toward the marina entrance channel so we get a nice breeze and lovely water views. It is really hot up here during the day. We are glad we are not the ones sanding down the boat. This slipway is probably one of the nicest yards we've been in. It is paved so you are not walking through dust and dirt and mud.

20/2/2007 - 22/2/2007

We have been up here three days now and the guys are still grinding old coats of anti-fouling off the bottom. The guys have re-fiber glassed the couple of surface cracks on the bow. I have been around all the rust spots with this amazing NZ product called Emergel. Dab it on and leave it 15 mins and then rinse off. Goodbye rust stains. Mike had managed to clean up the props so they look brand new again. Hopefully, the sanding will finish today and they can then start to polish the hulls.

Haul Out - Photo Album

Ko Muk, Ko Phetra, Telaga Harbour to Rebak Marina

2007-02-13T14:54:00.000+08:00

8/2/07 to 13/2/07

We had a great trip back . We actually had wind and could turn off the engine for most of the trip except for the trip from Ko Muk to Ko Phetra. Wind disappeared and we did not want to motor all day so we stopped at Phetra again. We stayed the western coast this time and it was calm , nice swimming and the next morning we had a pod of dolphins swim by. The dolphins put on a little show and did some whirling around on their tails and a few tail flaps. This is the first time we have seen dolphins do tricks outside of a show. The wind was so good from Phetra to Langkawi that we sailed all day and arrived into Telaga harbour about 16.30 by the time we had put clocks on an hour. We had an overnight here and then check in with authorities the next morning a quick roti chanai for brunch and then off to Rebak. It is so nice to be back in Malaysia. The port and immigration authorities are so laid back and easy to deal with. You don't have to be anxious about being hit up for a dodgey payment for some "infringement", it is quiet, no toiurist boats and longtails whizzing past.

It is so nice to be back at Rebak. It is a very relaxing spot to chill out and recharge the batteries. Water and electricity abound and of course out comes the washing machine. There are a few other boats we know in here as well. Peter from Cool Change and his wife are here. We got to know him in Darwin and then lost him from Kupang on. He just didn't ever catch up to us. It has been 7 months since we saw him last. We spent the next few nights doing the rounds of drinks on various boats including Seadrive. Last night B dock had a party put on by Do Be Do with Karen and Alf catering for all of us. The table was a unturned dinghy with batik tablecloth. Swdish meatballs, potato salad, marinated cucumbers, coleslaw and fresh bread. May not sound like gournet delights to you but when don't see good bread or potatoes very often. I think these were imported from OZ. WE had a great night but were pretty tired as we had done the dash to town that day with Bob and Deidre off Plane Sailing .

We are getting stocked up for our haul out next week. It is also Chinese New Year so lots of the shops will be closed for a week. We are booked to come out of the water on Monday and hopefully we will be back in by the weekend.

Mike is off to Bangkok this afternoon, for a couple of days. He is presenting to the the reserve bank of Thailand. Maybe some work and we can top up the cruising kitty. Bob from Plane Sailing has kindly lent Mike a jacket and pair of work shoes. We had tie and new business shirt from Singapore just didn't buy the shoes and turning up in Teva reefwalkers may not be that impressive.

It is still pretty warm here but now we are back on mains power we can leave all fans going and plug in the 240volt fan as well.

Nai Harn to Ko Lanta to Ko Muk

2007-02-08T11:32:00.000+08:00

04/02/07 to 07/02/07

We had a big farewell for Wendy on Seadrive last night with Gambori, Alpha Centauri II and Plane Sailing and then had an early dinghy ride (6am) to shore to drop her off the next morning. Thank god the wind was down so she didn't start the journey by being drenched. She was off to Chang Mai for two days and then Bangkok and then home. Apart from being eaten alive by sea lice , I think she had a good time. The wind is still howling in Nai Harn bay . It hasn't stopped for a week. It is time to get moving again and head south back to Langkawi to haul out and get rid of the marine park that we have accumulated on the bottom of the boat. We set off in company with Gambori and Plane Sailing for Ko Lanta. We have become quite complacent sailing in the calm waters up here and so when we rounded the headland we went straight into the wind and swell and chop. I was madly running around closing hatches and securing stuff. We blew out one of the trampolines again. It broke 5 slugs. Who would have thought it would happen up here. Not a big job to fix it. Just undoing the rope and re-threading with new slugs.

Gambori wanted to do Phi Phi Don, but the rest of us cats thought it was too difficult to beat into the wind so we headed for Ko Lanta. We anchored in the southern bay and it was great. The last time we were here we got about 5 mins of sleep as we bumped up and down in the swell all night. Totally different this time as the wind has changed direction. We ended up staying 2 days , just laziness and we did fix the trampoline. Next stop was Ko Muk. Different anchorage this time . It was a gorgeous anchorage with a little palm fringed beach. Mr Bean was already in there . So it was morning tea on Seadrive and drinkies on Mr Bean that night.

Ko Dam Khwan to Ko Yao Yai to Nai Harn

2007-02-04T07:21:00.000+08:00

27/1/07 - 3/2/07

On our last day in the Chicken island we formed an exploratory party of three dinghy to check out the other side of the island. We are pretty sure there is a nice beach there as all the longtails come from that direction. Sure enough a lovely beach with clear water and good snorkeling. We head further round the next point to just complete the circumnavigation of the island. The wind is blowing from the other side so we are keen to get back around to the beach for a swim and snorkel. Wendy is pleased as there are no sea lice here. She has been savaged by the aquatic no see-ums and the bites are coming up in big red welts. The snorkeling is not bad with some reef still intact and some colourful fish. The rest of the day is pretty much a lazy, catch up on our reading session.

The next day we head off for Ko Yao Yai (one of the larger islands in Phang Nga Bay just to the east of Phuket. We had stayed here before at it was very calm. Unfortunately, this time we had bullets of wind shooting down the bay. We have Gambori and Mr Bean in the anchorage as well. We had sun-downers on Seadrive one night and then on Gambori the next. No-one was feeling too motivated to move so we stayed a couple of days hoping the wind would die down as we were intending to head north again to Yacht Haven to drop off Wendy. In the end we decided it was easier to go with the wind than against it and head south to our old favourite of Nai Harn Bay. We had a fantastic sail at 8-10 knots , no engine.

Nai Harn has been very windy the whole time. There have been a few breaks each day for a couple of hours and then off it goes again. We have been shopping to Central Festival Mall with the Gambori's . We went off the other night to one of the caberet shows which are all boy girls as they call them. Men, that have had the chop and hormone therapy to turn them into women. Quite interesting but the miming and dance co-ordination were certainly not Riverdance. But fun all the same. As we had rented a car to go to the show, (it was cheaper than taking a taxi each way) we headed further into Patong to see if we could find one of the famous "ping -pong shows" Once we had stopped looking for one we were approached on teh street and taken off to a very loud little bar with the pole dancing girls. I don't think i can go into too much detail, suffice it to say it was an interesting experience involving ping pong balls, fish, strings of flowers and blow guns and balloons. We finally got back to Nai Harn about midnight, exhausted. We had the car the next day until 5pm so another trip to Central Festival, check out at Ao Chalong ( we will leave for Langkawi on Sunday after Wendy goes) and a stop at Carrefour for some gourmet delights and French baguettes. We caught up for drinks with Muscat before they left to battle wind and tide to head north. We are lucky we are heading south tomorrow, hopefully with the wind.

Ko Yang to Ko Roi to Ko Dam Kwan (the Chickens)

2007-01-27T21:18:00.000+08:00

22/01/07 to 26/01/07 - We left out gorgeous anchorage off from James Bond island about 10.30 to head further east to a small island called Ko Roi . A few of the other rally boats have already been through here and have touted it as the prettiest spot they have seen in Thailand so far. As we pull into the bay there is only one other yacht and no-one we knew. We pulled in about midday and they pulled out about 2pm so we had the entire little bay to ourselves. What a magic spot. Two small beaches, a few palm trees sprinkled around to give that tropical feel and a medium sized monitor lizard wandering along just surveying its territory. We can see a small cave with a turquoise glow to it on the left hand beach. It is a hong and enough water to take the dinghy through. We pile in and head off to explore. We can squeeze the dinghy through and we are amazed at how beautiful it is inside. There are the usual steep cliffs which enclose the hong, a sandy beach to the left as you enter and mangroves growing along the waterway. The water does not look stagnant and muddy and the place has a turquoise glow from the water. We paddle around as far as we can get in the dinghy. It is quite large. I think the most impressive aspect is the fact that there is NOT a constant parade of tour boats and longtails . Could we have found a little piece of paradise that is off the beaten track? We do the usual lazy day affair. Wendy goes for an afternoon swim back to the hong. The tide is going out so you can just walk in through the hole.

The next morning our friends on Anon wander into the bay. I guess we don't mind sharing. We also notice two kayaks come around the corner. We look at each other and panic. Binoculars up, looking for the rest of them and the support boat. That is usually how the kayak tour work. We are lucky there are just the two of them. They paddle over and we get chatting. Danielle and Matt are from New Zealand and have paddled all the way from Ko Hong. They have run out of water. We fill up bottles for them and invite them aboard for morning tea. As usual the brochure of the trip doesn't quite live up to reality and it has been a hard slog for them paddling all day and then trying to find a camp site - a beach that still exists at high tide - at night. They decide to stay at Ko Roi for the night so we invite them for dinner along with Anon. If they think the beach doesn't measure up for camping they can always sleep on Seadrive, which they do. We all have a great night. The next morning the kids (gee do we sound old calling 25 year olds the kids) need to make a decision whether they want to continue to there pick up point or come with us to the Chicken Islands which just across from where they started from. Difficult decision - paddle for another day and a half in hot sun or spend the day on a yacht. As soon as we had phone coverage they called the tour company and confirmed they were ok to be picked up from Rai Le and more importantly they would get some money back. They are chuffed, so off we head for the Chickens. We lost count of how many SMS's went out to their family and friends to tell them they were on a yacht. They were so excited. We motored most of the way again. The consensus from most of our yachtie friends is that no matter what direction you are traveling the wind is always on the nose. We have a fun trip over anyway listening to an album Sara off Anon gave us of cruising songs by Eileen Quinn. We were all in stitches with the anchor dance, pot luck dinner, and my personal favourite - "would anyone notice if i nudged the captain overboard". We will try and put a couple up on the website the next time we hit an internet cafe. We are amazed at how far the kids had kayaked. We decide to fire up the barbie for dinner tonight. We thought seeing the kids didn't make it to James Bond Island that we would flick through "Man with the Golden Gun " and show them. We had a Bond, James Bond night and hit the sack about 10.
There are a couple of other rally boats in the bay Annwn and Gambori and Anon will be in later. As it is Australia Day we decide that we should maybe go ashore to the little restaurant and ask them to stay open for dinner tonight. They are usually only open for the tour boats and longtails as the place is deserted at night. The kids need to be back in Rai le by 2pm so they head off about 11am. We wave them goodbye out of the bay. We had a great couple of days with them. they are heading off to Nepal and then Danielle is off to the UK after that. So we hope they will drop us an email and let us know how they are going.

We head ashore about 5.30pm , the wind is up and the water is choppy coming over the sand spit. WE arrive on the beach to be greeted by two geese honking us ashore. The family that runs the little restaurant, well really a beach shack, also live on the island. We had a great Australia Day celebration even the token kiwi's off Anon would agree. This seems to be our celebration spot. We were here for New Year as well. We will probably stay a couple more days as it is also our bottom cleaning spot. So Mike will be over the side to scrape off barnacles again. I've done my waterline bits in Ko Roi. We had an email from Harry lst night to say that he was really to go on 26th but them realised it was Friday. There is some sailing superstition about leaving on a passage on Friday being bad luck . So he is off on the 27th for Sri Lanka. Bye Harry, good sailing.

Ko Phanak , Ko Hong , James Bond 21/01/07 to 22/01/07

2007-01-25T08:58:00.000+08:00

Phang Nga Bay is just the most visually stunning landscape. The whole bay is tall weathered islands. We leisurely wandered a whole 3 miles to Ko Phanak. It is an island that looked at lot like Ko Phetra. Tall, sheer cliff face with no horizontal land surfaces. We anchored off from a small cave entrance which we suspected was the entrance to the internal hong. This island is on the tourist route so we decided to wait until a few boats arrived to confirm the entrance. We didn't have to wait long. The boats arrive, kayaks come tumbling out the back and load up with tourist and in they go. Each kayak had a Thai paddler so really all they had to do was lie back and enjoy the ride. We see a break in the action and get organised to dingy over but missed the window of opportunity as three more boats arrived. We wait. Finally, we saddle up and head over as the last of the kayaks are exiting. The current is fairly strong coming out of the hole and it is too shallow to use the outboard so we are all paddling and fending off rocks with the oars. We finally get inside to a muddy lake, no beach like Ko Muk. Interesting but not as pretty as Ko Muk. We turn around and let the current slowly dribble us out to the bay again. We have a pleasant night anchored here and then off mid morning to Ko Hong about 3 miles further north up the bay.

The wind seems to be up first thing in the morning with small choppy seas. The wind is never in the direction you want it. We motor over to Ko Hong, a small group of islands with a fairly fast current running through it. We had to re-anchor three times before the captain was satisfied. We ended up in the middle of the islands which was a little shallower and calmer. The water is not very inviting here and is a weak latte colour with lots of rubbish floating. We decide to go and check out the open hong and then move on to somewhere nicer where we can swim. The dinghy ride through the hong is spectacular. We do a quick loop around and head back as the tour boats are approaching at speed. Time to go. Up anchor and off to James Bond Island. The movie "Man with the Golden Gun" was filmed in Phang Nga bay and was Saramanga'a hideout (even though the movie portrays it as China. When we arrive and anchor off the backside of the island it is already a zoo with longtails and tour boats everywhere. We sit off the entrance trying to work out where to leave the dinghy. The guys on shore wave us in and we land on the concrete dock and they indicate to us to lift the dinghy up. So we all heave the dinghy and outboard up out of the water onto the concrete dock and leave it there. We have to pay a park entrance fee of 200 baht each and then fight our way through the stalls selling pearls and souvenirs and the hoards of people. We quickly weave our way to the back of the island where James Bond lands in his plane in the movie. It is a beautiful location if you could only get rid of the people. Time to get out of the zoo. Back to the boat and back around to the anchorage we had checked out on the way around. Beautiful little bay with no-one there, high sandstone cliffs around us and a palm tree lined beach. Fantastic. The water is good for swimming so in we go. Just magic. I think Wendy's expression was "Heaven on a stick". It is such a nice calm bay , i decide to have a dinghy lesson now that we have the new outboard that I can actually start. I still need some work on reverse but I did manage a few circuits around the bay without chopping Wendy up. We had a few boats invade our bay late afternoon. They are all charter boats. We are really just traveling on our own at present and haven't managed to catch up with anyone we know. Wendy is enjoying herself. I have to say this part of Thailand is truly magic. The water may not be as clear as further south but is a spectacular landscape and all the island are so close.

Shopping Day to Phuket to Ko Wai Yai ( West) 19/01/07 to 20/01/07

2007-01-21T12:20:00.000+08:00

Today we still had our car and took Wendy down the island to the main shopping district as well as a cruise through Patong Beach. The consensus was overwhelming, too many people, too many locals trying to sell you things. So we were out of there pretty quickly. We did a provisioning run to Central Festival Mall. Mike went internet cafe while Wendy and I trolled the supermarket. She could not believe what interesting things you could buy there, as well as how cheap the pork and beef fillets were. A third the price of Sydney. Of course, Mike couldn't work out why we were taking so long to do the shopping. Half the fun of a new country is doing the supermarket and local food markets. The day flew by and we were all fading fast and had an hours drive back up to the marina. We decided we didn't need the car for the next day and that we would get organised to leave on the slack tide about lunchtime the next day. We had a lazy morning getting ready and then lunch at the little marina cafe and then cast off about 2pm. We were heading for a small island just at the mouth of the waterway between Phuket island and the mainland - Ko Wai Yai. Apparently, this is the last stop for the sea canoe tours on their way back for their days outing. It was only 8nm to the island so an easy trip and of course motored as we had wind on the nose again. There were a few tour boats and about 20 sea canoes getting ready to leave when we arrived. We were all dying to get in the water to cool off. It has become quite muggy again and Wendy is still adjusting to being permanently soggy. The best you feel is 2 minutes after a shower and then you are soggy and sweaty again. We had a lovely swim and caught up with Bryan, Sara and Taylor off Anon ( A Trimaran from NZ). Sara was dragging Taylor around with the dinghy while he was trying to perfect his 360 degree turns on his boogie board.

Ao Chalong Checkin to Yacht Haven 16/1/07 - 18/1/07

2007-01-19T19:38:00.001+08:00

We anchored off in Ao Chalong and dinghied ashore to check into Thailand. We were a long way out and it was a little choppy so we got slightly soggy. Check in went smoothly and we are officially in the country. We didn't waste any extra time ashore and were back in the dinghy and back out to the boat and on our way to some island near Yacht Haven to wait tide to come into marina. we had such a good run ( motoring - not enough wind to keep the sails full) with the tide that we decided to keep going and anchored in the bay off the marina and go in the next day. We approached what appeared like channel markers but it was difficult to judge the colour as the sun was reflecting off them. The charts told us there is a sandbank in the middle of the channel so Mike decided to follow the outer channel that looked deeper. Very confusing and nerves were fraying rapidly as we depth sounder was indicating we are in 30cm of water and the boat draws 90cm. It didn't feel like we had run aground. Fingers crossed we slowly proceeded around the channel and into deeper water eventually. Bloody confusing chart. We anchored off the marina and had a really quiet night. Our friends Minke II were anchored off as well. They apparently had ignored the chart and come straight between what they thought was the marker buoys. The next day we radioed the marina and were allocated a berth on "F" finger and we could come in and people would be there to help us tie off. We saw another boat pull up his anchor by hand ( he had his winch fixed the day before and it was supposed to have been working - obviously not) and was heading into the marina. We waited and then started to follow him. We had to back off at the entrance as something large was heading out and there was not enough room for both of us. Just then we see a little Thai man zooming up to us waving from his dinghy. We are going the wrong way. Apparently there are two entrances to the marina and to get to "F" finger you need to come from the other side. We turn around and as we are powering to the entrance i look back and see a fender bobbing in the water behind us. Of the course, the first thought was "oh look someone has lost a fender". For some reason i decide to check our three and sure enough it is ours and it has dropped off the end of the rope. So we turnaround to go and retrieve it only to see the guy in the dinghy come back around the corner wondering where we have gone. He must have been thinking "dopey westerners". He picks up the fender and off we go again. We come around the corner and look at the space we are supposed to fit into and both yell "we can't get in there". No problem comes the reply. So Mike does a fantastic job of reverse parking the boat. The guys are not paying attention and the stern corner hits the dock ( no damage, luckily). The guys look at us and say " See, prenty of room" . Sure, there is when you are in , it is just getting in that was the problem. Most of the boats on this finger are enormous, we had a bad case of boat envy. All of them we so highly polished it was incredible. You could see your reflection in the varnished surfaces as well.

We had lunch with the Jaramans and the Minke II's . Nice to catch up with them. Jaramans are hiring a car the next day which Mike volunteers to chauffeur for them and then we will go and pick Wendy up at the airport later that night. We had a fast paced day with them and then back to boat for an hour and then off to the airport. Of course, the rain arrives as soon as Wendy arrives so by the time we get back to the marina it is pouring and we have to walk almost to Bangkok to get to the end of "F " finger. So we are a little soggy. Nice hot cup of tea and a chat and then fall exhausted into bed about 1am. And it was a mossie free night. Mike has been doing battle with the little buggers for the last 2 days since arriving here. Not to mention the cockies that have appeared. The one disadvantage of marina life. The crawlies.

Ko Bitsi to Ko Rok Nok to Ko Phi Phi Le

2007-01-16T10:50:00.000+08:00

We had a lovely calm night in Ko Bitsi in the Butang Group then it was off on a longish day to Koh Rok Nok, which is part of a Marine Park and therefore, park fee apply. We never seem to be able to talk our way out of having to pay even though we are only staying overnight. It cost more to stay one night here than 2 nights at Rebak Marina. it is always a little rolly as we pick up a mooring ball in the channel between the two islands. it is really the only place to stop on the fast route to Phuket. We did notice a yacht anchored around the western of the north island when we were leaving the next day. Not sure if the park rangers finds them around there. Pretty uneventful trip to Rok Nok and Phi Phi Le which is another longest trip. We were planning to go further up to Phi Phi Don on the NW anchorage but as we went past Maya Bay on Phi Phi Le we noticed the anchorage only had one other yacht there. That is not counting the 15 tour boats and longtails on the beach. We decided we may as well pay the park fees and stay here rather than motor for another hour and not really be that much closed for the run to Phuket the next day. As it turned out the ranger never appeared so did not have to pay any fees. We were rolled around for a few hours as the speed boats roared past us into the beach. They all disappeared around 3.30 as the storm clouds started to appear. We had a reasonable shower of rain. In fact, it rained here last time. Another place with its own weather system. We are off early again tomorrow for Phuket and Ao Chalong Bay where we will check in at the Port Authority. Then we get to avoid "that roundabout" again.

Telaga Harbour to Ko Bitsi 13/01/2007

2007-01-15T07:08:00.000+08:00

We fueled up at Telaga fuel dock for a change. Usually we dinghy jerry cans back and forth. But as the fuel dock was free we decided it was a lot easier. As i headed over to the service station to pay i notice two monkeys slowly walking down the gang plank of the fuel dock. I yell out to Mike to keep an eye out for stowaways. He seemed pretty interested in the detergent squeezy bottle next to the bowsers. The monkey that is not Mike. We have become pretty jaded about seeing them as they are everywhere. They are a problem on the hard stand at Rebak. Our friends Dick and Pam off Aliesha are on the hard stand doing work and had left the boat for 3 hours while the varnish was drying and came back to a trail of half eaten potatoes, onions and garlic and a monkey calling card on the carpet. We are really looking forward to our haul out in February.

We set off about 8am (Malaysian time for a reasonably short trip 26 miles NNW to the Butang Group this time to an itsi bitsi island called Ko Bitsi. We had a fantastic sail all day ( engines off- unbelievable) with the screecher up in about 12 knots of NE breeze. FInally, I think the NE Monsoon season has started. We only started the engine once mid passage when we thought we had nicely avoided 2 sets of fishing boats with nets between them. We had changed course to go well behind them and then saw they had doubled back and then realised that they had dropped the net (obviously part of the procedure) and were coming back to scoop it up. Except we were heading straight into it. Engines went on and we went hard about and managed to avoid the net. Something else to store away in the memory banks of fishing modus operandi.

We arrive at Ko Bitsi about lunchtime. We put our clocks back an hour ( Thailand is an hour behind Malaysia) and lower the Malaysian courtesy flag and hoist the Thai flag. The little bay is mostly coral and sand bottom like Ko Lipe on our last trip except we are the only ones here. The water is magically clear and over the side we go for a skinny snorkel and check the anchor of course. Maybe a challenge again tomorrow to get it up and and some coral damage will be inevitable. It is a beautiful spot and no one has been past. no fishing boats, longtails, tourist boats. Just us. Although it is a little strange not seeing Harry anchored with us. This is the first time since we set out last January that we have left on passage without company. It is a strange feeling.

Rebak and tearful goodbyes 07/01/2007 - 12/01/2007

2007-01-14T07:44:00.000+08:00

We checked in at Telaga Harbour on Friday. Everyone was there except the Harbour master. No problem we were told. We has some drizzle that afternoon. Telaga just seems to have its own weather system being surrounded by mountains. We have been waiting for a good rain to wash off the hooka gear from our bottom cleaning in the Chicken Islands. We took off at first light Sunday to get to Rebak to start on our chores. I had forgotten to check the ferry timetable before leaving and we met the two of them flying around the headland lining up the channel into the marina. We decided to forget the usual rules of power boats must give way to sail boats. Mike throttled back and we let them threw the channel first. No one putters along, the name of the game is go as fast as the engine will go. We are pleased to see our favourite berth at end of "B" finger is still free so we pull in. Karen and Alf on Do Be Do, in the berth opposite us, see us coming and come to take lines to tie up. Once we are in it is pull up a bucket and have a coffee and a catch up. Our friends Shelly and John on Utiekah III are still here. Utiekah is a beautiful old gaff rigged wooden boat built in 1925. It is New Year hugs all round. Not long after Harry ties up do the heavens open up and stay open all day. Very unusual. Normally we get a brief downpour for a couple of hours and that's it. But there was definitely a strange coolness in the air. It reminded me of a summer to autumn season change in Australia. maybe this is finally the shift from SW to NE monsoon season. The washing machine that was chaffing at the bit to get on the dock and get washing after a month of being locked up had to wait another couple of days until the rain stopped. Some of the cleaning chores got done in this time while it was still cool.

MOst of the time spend here was washing, cleaning, repair work in preparation for run up to Thailand to meet Mike's mum Wendy on the 18th.
We hired a car Thursday to head into Kuah and provision up and check out. You really have to love officialdom here. We go to check out with the Harbour master in Kuah and of course he wants to see our arrival paperwork. No have, is my response, as we explain that the Harbour master was not there last Saturday when we checked in at Telaga. Was this going to be a problem. He purses his lips, puts aside the Departure form and give us the Arrival form to complete. He stamps it gives us a copy which we then hand back to him and then he hands us the Departure form. Obviously, no big deal. The departure paperwork is the most important, as we need this to check into Thailand. It was a pretty exhausting day running from shop to shop. We had lunch at 3pm on the way back to catch the 4.30pm ferry back to Rebak. I am not sure if i mentioned previously, but Rebak is an island, so the only way on and off is by ferry. So you don't want to miss it.
Friday morning was a quick ferry ride to do the veggie scrum. It is a lot more orderly with only about 10 of us there. We didn't need the elbow pads today. It was so exciting to see fruit and vegetables. We ran out at New Year so have been slowly reducing the cannery in the forward lockers. Finally it is time to go, only a short hop to Telaga to fuel up and then head off the next morning on our way back to Thailand. It was a very sad departure. Harry and I were both crying and hugging our good byes. Mike was a bit more stoic. I kept waving until i couldn't see that little blue boat anymore and we were out the channel.
This feels like the end of an era for us. We have been traveling with Harry on Rhiannon since February last year. He has been a great cruising buddy and we have got so used to seeing that blue boat anchored with us. He is heading off to resume his plans of sailing to Africa and Brazil with the first stop the Maldives. Of course, if we decide to go up the to the Mediterranean we would go the Red Sea. So, we are not sure that we will see Harry for a long long time. It was bad enough saying goodbye to Dick and Nancy on Askari in December, but Harry is the last of our traveling buddies to go. I can feel the tears welling up as I am writing this now. I had better sign off before I flood the keyboard.

Ko Phetra to Ko Tarutao then Telaga 5/1/07 - 6/1/07

2007-01-06T10:48:00.000+08:00

Amazingly still night considering we are really just parked against a rock, be it a very large rock, in the middle of the sea. Early start heading for Ko Tarutao. It is a national and marine park with no inhabitants except park rangers. It used to be a penal island back in 1938 for about 500 political prisoners. It was at the time remote and crocodile infested. Apparently, all the crocodiles have gone. The prisoners were running their own show and were often referred to as pirates. The British were asked to come and clean up the island in 1946 and the penal colony was disbanded. It became a national park in 1972. There are walks, waterfalls , caves and deserted beaches. We don't have time to check them out this time but on the next time by we plan to stop an explore.

We are off to Langkawi today, should arrive about 11.30 Malaysian time We will check in with appropriate authorities in Telaga Harbour. Fuel up at the petrol station and pop over to the el cheapo Indian restaurant for lunch . Mike is hanging out fro a roti chanai. And of course a stop at the bakery for some decent bread and some French pastries. Will be interesting to see who is anchored there. We have lost track of a few from the fleet. We will head over to Rebak the next day for some serious boat cleaning and repair jobs.

Ko Muk to Ko Phetra 4/1/07

2007-01-06T06:59:00.000+08:00

We had an unbelievably calm night last night. The boat did not move an inch. We had a full moon out so the moonlight shimmering on the still water was magical. In the morning, we looked like we had been set into the top of a very large, light blue jelly, Nothing was moving in the bay, just slightly wobbling. We were tossing up whether to stay another day just to chill out and enjoy the calm but decided to push on. With the NW swell persisting it was getting difficult to find a good anchorage for tonight. The morning was tiring keeping a look out for fish traps without flags - small Styrofoam cubes that are hard to see in early morning light. I can report we are now back in flagged trap waters again. The thought of a 7 hour trip watching for flags was not a thrilling thought. We were originally heading to the Bulan Channel but we decided to go around and check out an island called Ko Phetra about half the distance. It is a stunning, tall sheer rock of an island rising vertically out of the sea. We had been warned off coming here back in Singapore. This apparently is where the birds nest that go into bird nest soup are collected. They are very highly prized and hence, very highly priced. We had been told that they had been chased off by guys with guns who are guarding the place and implied they had been shot at. Some of the other information supplied has been a little out of date and incorrect so we decided it was worth a look. There are so many tourists in Thailand that it was unlikely that people would be shooting and it not being reported and dealt with. So around we go to check out the eastern anchorage. No sign of anyone, although there are signs of habitation - some fish traps and a small platform and a very small house or shrine on the other side of the island wedged into the crack of some rocks. It is a lovely calm spot. Small beach and lots of little caves which are where the birds nest, I guess. What was turning into a long slow day turned into a short trip after all with an interesting anchorage. Sometimes , you just have to check information for yourself. The late afternoon was spent watching the larger Thai fishing boats come in and anchor up from us. It started with two rafting up to each other, then another would come around the point, then another until we had five in total. It will be like a small city when the lights go on tonight. Then they all started to separate and go off leaving two again. As I have been writing this they are up to four again. Just a note about birds nest soup. It is the saliva from from the nest that goes into the soup. I guess bird saliva soup sounds too unappetizing .

Ko Lanta to Ko Muk 3/1/07

2007-01-05T08:01:00.000+08:00

We had an absolutely awful night in the bay at the NW side of Ko Lanta. The swell caused us to hobby horse all night. Not sure either one of us got any sleep. It is supposed to be the NE Monsoon season. Thus named because the wind blows from the north east not the north west. So all the anchorages we would normally head for in this season we have had to change and anchor on the eastern side of most islands. So there was no arguments when we decided to head off early from Ko Lanta. Although , Harry thought he might like another night of rocking back and forth. i think he was being sar-castic! We motored again today (at least we have picked up a couple of extra knots of speed since we cleaned the barnacles off the bottom ) to Ko Muk. It is what they call a Hong. An island with a hole in the center. Hong means "room' in Thai. We were expecting a really touristy place like Phi Phi Le but were surprised to see only a few boats on mooring buoys out the front of the 'swim-through cave'. We pick up a mooring ball and get ready to go swimming into the cave. It is rolling on this side of the island so we decide to do a quick swim through and then find somewhere else calmer to spend the night. There was nowhere to moor the dinghy near the cave entrance so it was just swim there. Didn't look that far. Mike tells me it was about 200m. With the swell it was a bit of a slog. You really get a small taste of what it would be like to have to ditch into the sea and wait to be rescued, and these are calm seas. Best not to think about it. We follow the other people off one of the tour groups into the cave. A few luminous signs would be a good idea as there are a lot of offshoots and you could get lost. We have torch and it is a short pitch dark 80m swim through to the inside of the island. It is quite magical inside and I could imagine how much more spectacular it would look on a sunny day. A bit of a laze and paddle in the water and then back to boat. I almost took a wrong turn on the way out (lousy sense of direction). Another long paddle back to the boat which still doesn't look very far away and managed to back paddle over a jelly fish which gave off a mild sting for about 20 minutes and left no marks. The boat is bobbing around on the mooring ball and it is time to find calmer waters. There is another anchorage around the bottom of the island which should give us good protection from the NW swell. We, of course, have to navigate through more fish traps with flags to get into the big bay. It is quite shallow a long way out from shore so we anchor off in 3m. It is so calm, like the proverbial mill pond. It is a much more picturesque bay than Ko Lanta which is supposed to be part of a marine park. Lazy afternoon and rest up after the big swim.

Koh Dam Khwan to Ko Lanta (Northern Anchorage) 02/01/07

2007-01-03T09:33:00.000+08:00

Most of the boats are leaving the anchorage for different destinations today. Another couple of boats are getting over hangovers from New Year or a dose of the flu.

I think the whole flet should have had it by now. Just goes to show it doesn't need to be winter to get the flu. We up anchor about 8am and do a lap of good byes around the bay and head off to Ko Lanta. We managed to get onto to Dick and Nancy before they set off this morning for Sri Lanka. It will take them about 9 days not stop to get to next landfall. Nancy was feeling a bit anxious, totally understandable. We are hoping we can pick them up on HF radio for a bit longer. We motored to Ko Lanta about 3.5 hours. The anchorage is pretty unremarkable. Big wide bay with unremarkable geography and a bit rolly. We anchored a fair way out as it is shallow and decided to just hang around on boat and not go ashore. There are a number of resorts , the population of the island is 18,000 (according to Lonely Planet guide). Not sure we need to come back here again. We are anticipating fantastic scenery at the next stop Ko Muk. More on that when we get there. We decided to run the water maker again today and there is a drop off in pressure. Obviously something wrong and we need to get the manual out. On a boat there is always another piece of equipment breaking down and needing attention. Just a part of day to day cruising life.

Koh Dam Khwan (The Chicken Islands). Happy New Year .

2007-01-02T07:14:00.000+08:00

Out comes the compressor and hooka today to do the bottom. Nice sunny day and plenty of viability to see what you are doing. Mike concentrates on the deeper sail drives and props and i do the waterline. It is amazing at the growth in 3 weeks as we had most of the hulls scraped in Rebak before we left for Thailand. Admittedly, they scraped off most of the anti-foul in places but still the growth is amazing. The small barnacles are like scraping off cement. We also have a lowly electric green weed fringing the hulls as well. The boat looks like it is are wearing a giant green grass skirts. I found about 10 crabs in various sizes living in the growth. They seemed to be content to stay with us as they danced around where i was scraping to secure another position. The through hull fittings for toilet intake and sink outlet were almost encrusted closed with the tiny barnacles.

The rest of the day was lazing around enjoying the bay.

New Years Eve is here and a couple more boats arrive that we know. Muscat who we haven't seen for a long time and Minke II who finally decided that Rai Le Beach was too hectic and they needed a good nights sleep. We discovered that the small building on one of the islands is in fact a small restaurant so of course a shore party is conveyed to go and check it out. Today has probably been the quietest for tourist traffic to the islands. We think everyone is resting up for a big New Year party. Lindy and Malcolm off Mr Bean invite us for pasta dinner before we are all to head ashore for drinks and flares on the beach. We had a great time on Mr Bean. We decide that it will be too late to stay up until midnight Thailand Time as a few of the boats have small children or have family visiting with small children so we decide to do fireworks at Aussie midnight - 9pm. The landing party heads ashore and luckily there is still enough beach left at high tide to accommodate us. Everyone has brought their out of date flares to let off. There were smoke flares, parachute flares, collision flares and Mike wanted to test his new "very pistol" (looks like an old musket). Pretty impressive with a bit of a kick. We could see fireworks going off at Rail Le Beach across the bay so that was a treat. It was a really terrific night. The children have all run out of power by about 10.30 so it is back to the boats.
New Year's Day was pretty low key. I now have the flu that was going around , Mike is just about over it so there was not a lot of activity today. We will probably head off on the 2nd for the next stop. Undecided as yet.

Hope you all had a HAPPY NEW YEAR where ever you spend it.

Rai Le Beach to Ko Dam Khwan (Chicken Islands) 29/12/06- 30/12/06

2006-12-31T07:54:00.000+08:00

The morning is pleasant as none of the tourist long tail and tour boats have arrived yet. We head ashore about 10.30am and decide to check out the next bay. Unfortunately, it is only accessible by dinghy at high tide as coral surrounds the beach. Maybe we will just stay on the main Rai Le Beach for lunch. We stop at the restaurant we went to yesterday to find out there is some problem in the kitchen and they can only do drinks and toast. Everyone seems to have been told a different explanation; the chef is not there, the kitchen had a fire, the chef set the kitchen on fire, who knows. Ok drinks it is and then we will do lunch somewhere else. Faye and Mike of Minke II had three attempts to order ice coffee. It started as iced tea, then arrived as two hot coffees and then finally an English speaking waiter translated and two great looking iced coffees arrived.

The other restaurants on this beach are a bit expensive so we walk around to the other bay over the rocks which makes it accessible at low tide. Bit of a slow passage for me ( still nursing a tender lower back). This bay has a more backpacker feel to it than the main beach. But we find a restaurant and settle in. However, it is a quick lunch as the tide starts coming in which means our passage to the other beach will be cut off . Any later and it would have been a longtail back to collect dinghies . Mike and I decide to have a massage for half an hour. Harry goes to check out the second hand bookshop (a new addition from our time here) and have a beer. Our favourite after lunch treat is still available here - the banana rotee stand. It's rotees and then back to boat for a rest and then drinks on Seadrive later. About half an hour back on the boat is all we can stand with the noise of longtails and swell. We decide to up anchor and head to the Chicken Islands hoping it will be quieter. It is already 3.30pm and it should only take us an hour to get there. There are a few other boats we recognize here already but the tour boats have left for the day so it is quieter. The water is clear so we decide to stay a extra day and scrape the weed and barnacles off the hulls. I think we have lost a coupe of knots of speed already as the hulls are slowly being cemented with barnacles. So that is tomorrow's job.

Ko Yao Yai to Rai Le Beach (Krabi) 28/12/06 - 29/12/06

2006-12-30T10:35:00.000+08:00

We head off early for Rai Le in Krabi Province about 1 mile form Ao Nang. We are really looking forward to getting there as this was our favourite hangout when we lived in Singapore. We would probably come here 4 or 5 times a year. We motored most of the way again. Not sure where these NE monsoon winds are supposed to be but they are not around here when you want to travel. It is alarmingly busy as we pull into the bay. There are longtail boats zipping back and forth , the beach is packed. I guess our little hideaway is not as remote anymore. We drop anchor and head ashore for a "reccy". There are so many people and the service is indifferent. Prices have escalated as well. The house we used to stay in as part of the Rai Le Beach Club was $70 per night about 5 years ago, it is now $300 per night. Rai Le is a rock climbing Mecca so that adds to the numbers. The sky is starting to blacken so we head back to batten down for the storm. The deluge is strong enough to break out soap and shampoo for a wash on deck. The afternoon is a lazy one with the rain continuing until late afternoon. The boat traffic and resulting roll is unpleasant. The plan of hanging around here until New Year may have to be revised. Our friends off Minke II arrive in the afternoon so we plan to meet them for an early brunch the next day. The boom of the music goes until about 4am. Not what you'd call a quiet little getaway.

Nai Harn to Koh Yao Yai 27/12/06 - 28/12/06

2006-12-29T07:46:00.000+08:00

Boxing Day we had ordered a car to go and check out in Ao Chalong. We come ashore early to pick up car only to find out cars are finished-la. What do you mean finished-la. No more cars available. All those damn yachties crowding the bay. What to do? Nancy and I were pretty adamant that we did not want to go back to the boat to do chores now that we were primed to go to town. Mike wanted to sail the boat to Ao Chaolong. Too far, too much hassle to get ashore as it's shallow and you have to anchor out. We explore the options of getting to Ao Chalong by taxi, walking around to catch the local bus. The guy at the restaurant tells us his friend has a tuk tuk and would come and pick us up and take us to Ao Chalong. Fantastic. When he arrives we decide to negotiate a price for 5 hours and he can run us around town to do our jobs. Even better. No hassles at navigating and getting lost, don't have to stress about "the roundabout" at Ao Chalong with the cops, don't have to worry about parking. What a great outcome, even better than having the car. We realise we have done even better by the time we get to "the roundabout". A cop on every road in and out. There is noway we would have got through here without at least one maybe two fines and we got to smile and make eye contact on the way through and commiserate with the poor westerner on a motorcycle handing over money. We were a bit early for the Ports Authority so we stop off at Jimmy's Lighthouse Bar/Cafe for breakfast. It is one of the famous landmarks of Phuket. We manage to get harbour master and customs done in 20 minutes but have to wait for the immigration official who slept in. Dick and Nancy wanted to stop at a local chandlery come hardware store in town. Our driver knew exactly where to go. We all leave with exciting purchases of exhaust hose, jerry cans, oil and fuel filters, nuts, washers, chux spanners. Who said you can't shop til you drop and live on a boat. We stop off at Central Festival to do internet and grocery shopping and then head back to the boat. Mike wants to have a go at pulling up the anchor to see if we are stuck and need the dive gear. It turns out we are fine and the anchor comes up like a dream. We go an re-anchor in sand over the other side of the bay near Harry and Dick and Nancy. Mike has a couple more computer problems to fix for people and then it is our last sun downers on Seadrive of the traveling buddies Dick , Nancy , Harry and us. While Mike is off i decide it would be really useful to pull a muscle or something in my back, of course, it was while doing something really strenuous like hanging clothes in the closet.

Bendz ze knees comes to mind, too late. I do manage to prop myself up for drinkies and treat medicinally with a couple of G&T's. It is tears all round when we say goodbye to Dick and Nancy. Not sure when and if we will see them again. They are heading off with Blue Water Rally on 2nd Jan for the Red Sea.

We head off next morning for Rai Le Beach in Krabi province . Mike and I used to go here 4 or 5 time a year when we lived in Singapore. We have some wind to start to trip but it doesn't last and after a couple of hours on go the engines. Yes, you guessed. That damn port engine is overheating again. We decide we might shorten trip and head for Koh Yao Yai eastern side of Phuket which is about half way. Mike starts pulling water pump off. Nothing wrong there. Out comes the service manual . One last thing to check the thermostat. Sure enough the intake hose is encrusted with salt. Mike gets that cleaned up and back on the engine and voila, it seems we have found the culprit. We Pull into Koh Yao Yai a nice muddy bay at the south end of the island. There are a few fishing boats going in and out but otherwise a quiet , CALM anchorage. We all get a great nights sleep. Mike is really bushed from being a single-hander for the day. My back is feeling better after the rest for the day.

Nai Harn Bay, Phuket 22/12/06 - 25/12/06

2006-12-28T08:50:00.000+08:00

Had a busy day running around town on Saturday with Harry and another English couple. They have had comprehensive health checks done here and he has been diagnosed with blocked coronary arteries and may need by-pass. He was off to cardiologist on Saturday so Mike offered to drive. He also needed some computer equipment which MIke also offered to assist with. So we all got to come along for the ride and do some of our jobs as well. We decided to go in luxury and hire a car instead of a jeep. They are a lot more diligent in itemising all bumps and scratches before you leave. Unlike the jeep where they are more surprised that you actually make it back with the jeep in one piece. The car turned out to be a dual cab ute. Brand new and great suspension and padded seats except the back seat was designed for small children. We are getting a lot better on the navigation and only took one wrong turn which was a minor blip on Harry's route planning.

Apparently, Phuket specialises in Medical Tourism, hadn't really heard that term before. They heavily advertise for foreigners to come here and have their medical procedures and then recover in a tropical paradise. The major hospital on the island The Bangkok Hospital is more like a 5 star resort than an hospital. They also do dental work as well for a fraction of the price in Australia. Something to keep in mind for later when we need those hip replacements. By the time we got back from the days outing we were stuffed with a capital "s". So we were looking forward to having a rest the next day before the big Xmas Eve dinner.

Xmas Eve was the big day for the bay. It started with the sound of Deck the Halls ....fa la la la la..at 4pm with a dinghy of Christmas carolers floating by, complete with reindeer antlers and Santa hats. They managed to visit most of the boats. A bit of a different take on the traditional Christmas. We all head ashore about 6.30 for Xmas Eve dinner at the restaurant. The local people have done a fabulous job decorating the beach and the restaurant for the occasion. The buffet was well stocked with food so it was turkey, pork with cranberry sauce and spicy Thai salad and stir fry squid and more. Well, isn't that what you are all having for Xmas dinner this year. Everyone was in a festive mood with many Santa hats and gold balls hanging from ear lobes and small children running around in Santa's helper outfits, very cute. When it was time to go, trying to get the dinghy back to the water was a challenge. The beach looked like a mass stranding of whales with so many beached dinghies lined up. The band played on well into the night it sounded like it was on our back deck. There are more festivities planned for Xmas day with a gathering on the big beach at Nai Harn. We decide to have a quiet one with Harry and Dick and Nancy instead. So it was ashore for lunch at the restaurant and then drinkies at sundown on our boat later in the evening. As I am writing this, Mike has just dinghied off to help a motor boat who has just sent out a distress call, apparently they have an engine failure and are floating out of the bay.

Kata Beach to Nai Harn 19/12/06 - 21/12/06

2006-12-22T18:50:00.000+08:00

Started to drag off our anchor onto boat behind us. As we were planning to head to Nai Harn that morning anyway, we decided to go now. About half hour later and we are anchored in Nai Harn Bay again. The wind is blowing over here as well but as the bay is smaller and not as exposed we have some protection from the land. We do the usual trip ashore for lunch and laze the rest of the day. Mike does help Chris on Olive Oyl with a couple of computer problems. We have a good night's sleep . The next day was another windy day with the boat moving around on the anchor. A few more computer jobs for various boats and then a really restless windy night. We were both up at 2am as the boat is testing out the full reach of the 50m of chain we have out. We didn't actually drag but moving around so far on the chain did set off the anchor alarm. We also had a motor cruiser that had anchored a bit too close to us so we were really close as the boat swung around. The guy on the other boat was on alert as well. We could see him pacing the deck . At one point his navigation lights went on and we thought he was going to move. Obviously, the thought of having to weave through all the boats to find another spot to anchor was too intimidating, so he stayed put. We really didn't get any sleep from 2am onwards. We had a visitor on Thursday. Suvicha, who was our Thai country manager when we worked in Singapore flew in from Bangkok to see us which was great. It was windy again so we didn't feel comfortable being out of sight of the boat. It was lunch at the usual hang out on the beach again. It is a great spot with a big menu, plenty of variety and lovely people. The bay is starting to fill up with boats. It appears everyone is planning Xmas here. The little restaurant already has 120 bookings for Xmas Eve Dinner. We expect a few more will turn up in the next couple of days.

Kata Beach 16/12/2006 - 18/12/2006

2006-12-20T08:21:00.000+08:00

Lazy days in Kata Beach. Not a lot of activity the last few days except my friend Stephanie's birthday on 17th Dec . Happy Birthday, Steph. We went ashore most days for lunch. Took a tuk tuk over to Patong to check out the new Carrefour supermarket. Unfortunately it is not opening until 20th December. We had a wander around the area. It is much more busy than our neck of the woods. WE found another great DVD stall, you have to have some vices. Mike did some productive work in setting up Amanda's (from Balvenie) new laptop.

It has been difficult getting a good nights sleep the last few nights as the wind has come up. It was blowing all night at about 25 knots. We managed to maintain our position throughout the night. However, it didn't stop us getting up several times to double check that no-one else was dragging. As luck would have it, the boat started to drag at 7am just as coffee and breakfast were being served. At least we weren't re-anchoring in the middle of the night.

Hai Narn Bay to Kata Beach 14/12/06 - 15/12/06

2006-12-16T10:16:00.000+08:00

Well we spend another relaxing day in Nai Harn Bay. We were planning to head round to Kata but everyone was feeling a bit lazy. It was a beautiful day for a swim and a read. We did the usual trip ashore for lunch at the little beach restaurant. Another big rain storm again that night. We were well buttoned up so not too much gets wet.

Friday - we are definitely off to Kata Beach. It is two small bays around from Nai Harn and less than an hour to motor there. We were expecting a few more boats from the rally to be there still but it was pretty empty. A few jet ski's whizzing around. This can be a bit annoying we have heard from others that have been here before. They tend to do donuts around your boat. Maybe it is time to buy one of the sling shots we have seen. The bay is nice sandy bottom with clear water again. We do spot a few tiny jelly fish. Harry seems to be the jelly magnet. He got stung on the finger this time. We spot some friends of ours from the rally Amanda and Mark on "Balvenie" from New Zealand. She is the voice of the radio net most days, always full of lots of good information. We dinghy over for a coffee and catch up and agree to meet for sundowner's at the Reggae Bar on the south end of the beach. We decided to go ashore at the south end of the beach where the surf looked smaller but landing a dinghy through breaking surf is still challenging. You jump out when it gets shallow enough and after one wave has been through you run like hell to get moving before the next wave gets you. A waterproof bag for belongings is an essential part of the beach landing kit. Harry doesn't have an outboard so rowing in is even more challenging. We all seem to be wet at about the same level upper thigh to bum. Probably better to wear swimming costume next time. Most of the day is spend wandering around the various parts of town to see what is available and remembering how to get back. There are lots of clothes shops, shoe shops, souvenir shops, restaurants, DVD shops and coffee shops. The Andaman Coffee Company does frappucinos and gives you 15 mins free internet with a coffee. So we will be back there again. We wander back to the Reggae bar along the beach. It is a cute bar built on the rocks at the end of the beach. Of course Bob Marley is playing in the background and the pre-requisite for getting a job here is a head full of dread locks. We decide to stay for dinner at the little restaurant attached to the bar. Bad plan. The Heaven opened and it is pouring with rain now. Mark tells us that the holding is not great here and that last week for the King's Cup a number of boats dragged their anchors. In fact, a couple were well on their way to Sri Lanka and no-one on board. It was mostly the cruising boats that noticed and rescued a number of them. This made us a little nervous so we decided we should settle bill and head back. Just as we were doing the last of the bill totaling the place goes black. We immediately think, storm and blackout. No, it is Friday night fire twirling contest. Great we grope our way out including walking the plank across the little gully and back onto the beach. The rain has stopped and the surf has dropped so it shouldn't be too hard getting out. It is amazing how much further away the boat seems at night. We eventually find it and it is in the same position we left it, which is even better. Luckily, we had shut hatches before we left to go ashore so really only the cockpit got wet and soggy. It is so hot here it will dry out by the next day, but we do need to go through that interim step of l'eau de wet dog first.

Nai Harn Bay 12/12/2006 - 13/12/2006

2006-12-14T19:33:00.000+08:00

We are still in Nai Harn Bay, getting quite lazy. However, we do have the car for another day so we are off to check in at the Port Authority in Ao Chalong Bay. It is Dad's birthday today (Tracey's) so first order of the day is a call home. We decide to take a different route to town via Kata Beach to check it out for later, as we are probably moving the boats there by the end of the week. The beach has emptied out after the King's Cup Regatta which is good. Kata looks interesting and will be more accessible from the beach than facilities are in Nai Harn.

As we approach Ao Chalong we realise that we have to go through "that roundabout" again. It is a large roundabout with five roads heading off, one of which will take us to the Port Authority. The only problem is there are a couple of policemen on the side of the roundabout and they have attempted to flag us down the previous day. Of course, we didn't stop. I can hear you all gasp with horror. Mike's instruction on approach are sunglasses on, look the other way and don't make eye contact. So through we go again with the cop waving at us to stop. It is quite unnerving ignoring a cop. Well, you certainly wouldn't do it in Australia. Once through we find a cafe for breakfast to wait until opening time for Port Authority. It probably takes us an hour to get processed. Immigration and Customs were quick but we had to wait half an hour for the girlies doing Harbour control to turn up. The guy in immigration was fantastic. The girls on Harbour Control never stopped SMSing and talking on their mobiles.

Once we were done it was off to check out Rolly Taskers (biggest sail making loft in the world, then Tesco's grocery store to see what is available here. But of course we need to go through "that roundabout" again. This time the cop has run across two lanes of traffic and is blowing his whistle, but it is sunglasses on and floor it. Apparently, the cops on that roundabout pull up westerners for no particular reason and then fine them. One of the guys off another boat had been stopped so many times on his motorcycle that he went into the police station to complain. The advice from the police station was just don't stop. So we don't feel so much like criminals anymore. However, Mike has decided we will never go through "that roundabout" again. So Harry and I are left with job of trying to navigate around Phuket trying to avoid it. Not easy. The expression "all roads lead to Rome" pretty much applies here, all roads go through "that roundabout". We now discover in our haste to avoid the whistling blowing cop that we have taken the wrong road. We are currently navigating with a pretty crap compass on the top of my drink bottle. The confidence factor is pretty low. Harry's navigation skills get us around a few back roads and back in the right direction. Rolly Taskers is an amazing place. Huge cutting floor, every type and colour of sail cloth and canvas imaginable, so clean you could eat off the floor. They make a lot of their stainless steel rigging bits and pieces, so lots of large expensive machinery in the back corner. Apparently, a sail is shipped out the door every 11 minutes. After an hour or so there we head to Tesco's. It has a huge range of items both grocery and other and is a bit of a cross between a supermarket and department store. Once again the prices are cheaper than Australia. There is a little stall/shop selling compasses, time to bite the bullet and buy a better quality one. I can see that we do need it from time to time.

We are getting a little frazzled by this stage and decide to head home. The car steering is really bad by this stage and every pothole makes it more difficult to steer. Mike is gripped onto it, spinning it back and forth like the wheel of fortune. We come back via another road through Patong Beach, which is the main tourist strip. A bit overwhelming, too many people, too much traffic. We make it back to the boat just in time before the heavens open up. This is a first real rain storm since arriving in Phuket. We batten down, and put on a movie for a quiet night in.

The next day is definitely a rest day. We are all pretty tired from bouncing around in the car for two days. We laze, have a swim, read and go ashore to the little beach restaurant for lunch and that's about it for activities. Mike does fit in a bit of repair work on the split exhaust hose.

Nai Harn (Phuket) 10/12/2006 - 11/12/2006

2006-12-12T08:56:00.000+08:00

We are still anchored in Nai Harn Bay. Mike went on scouting morning with Chris from Olive Oyl. He and his Dad have motorbikes rented by the week so Chris offered to take Mike around to point out important places like the butcher where you can buy BACON. It is difficult to buy in Malaysia, being a Muslim country, and anyone that does sell it does it on the quiet. You certainly can't stand in a queue and order pork sausages or bacon or salami in a loud voice. So we now know where the sail maker is, the bacon supplier, good bakery, shopping center ( with cinema- yeah! we can get a movie fix and they have cheap Gold Class so we might splurge). We also caught up with a boat we met in Singapore, Cavalier. Mike fixed his laptop and in return David the son fixed "the washing machine". Both Bryan and David raced on boats in the King's Cup. Bryan was on a huge Kiwi boat called Intrigue and David was on the winning boat Drumsticks. We are invited over to Intrigue for a drink in the afternoon. The order of the day was cocktails. We had several orange rounds, white rounds, pinks rounds, a few more orange rounds. WE lost track how many but when we woke the next mooring we were feeling less than sparkley. But then waking up at 4 am and downing a coke and bag of twisties does set the tone for the day. Of course today we have rented a car to go and check-in at Customs and Immigration. We then find out it is a public holiday, Constitution Day. A bit ironic, actually, as our constitution is a little fragile today. So we had got all dressed up to look presentable and now we have to do it all again the next day. All is not lost we spend the day traveling around trying to find where everything is. The car was a bit of a shocker , small Jeep, with no suspension and the universal joint on the steering had gone, so Mike is fighting it to keep it on the road. The road out to our little bay is quite bizarre. We travel along a one lane road on the edge of the hill and then come down and through a one lane service entry dock at the back and under the Meridian Resort. Then in the back gate at the Meridian where the guards salute you as you pass and then out the front gate where two guards salute you as you pass. Mind you were are bobbing up and down in our "limousine" like three olives in a James Bond martini ( shaken not stirred of course). We find most of the chandlery shops which are very expensive here ( import taxes). We drive to the top of the island to check out the marina and slip ways and the catch up with Dick and Nancy who are up in Yacht Haven finishing the last of their work. A number of the Blue Water rally boats are in this marina and they have information night which we are invited to stay for. There is a terrific buffet provided which was unexpected. We have decided that the Blue Water rally has a more refined bunch of participants. They are a lot better dressed than our bunch and certainly well behaved when it comes to the buffet. Our lot hit the buffet tables like sea gulls to a chip. The information part of the night still hasn't started by 8pm so we decide we need to get back to the bay . It is a long way back. just hoping the lights work on the car.

New Mobile Number for Thailand

2006-12-11T07:59:00.000+08:00

We have a new mobile phone number for Thailand. We will be using either this one or the Malaysian one. If you need to ring us it is best to check which country we are in either by the blog or the calendar as wee need to run back and forth for visas. The number is +66 833909150.

Ko Phi Phi Le to Nai Harn Bay (Phuket) - 9th December 2006

2006-12-11T07:51:00.001+08:00

We caste off before dawn again. Harry has a few electrical problems this morning with lights and still as an autopilot problem from yesterday that Mike will have a look at sometime today when we get to Ao Chalong. There is some wind this morning so we motor sail with the jib up for most of the way. We discover a few floating fish traps which are on the surface with no flags , so we are on the lookout for more. We decide not to anchor in Ao Chalong as it is probably going to be busy there and it is the weekend so we can't check in until Monday anyway, or if we do it will cost extra money on a weekend. So we head for the small bay around the western side of Phuket. It is a really pleasant little anchorage with a number of cruising boats there. It is the last day of the King Cup Regatta boat race so we can see the fleet not far off. We motor into a cute little resort called Ao Sane with a great cheap restaurant for lunch. The water is nice and clear here so we are pleased we can swim. We decided to have an early night but mike dinghy's over to see another boat and comes back with the latest James Bond movie on DVD. So of course we have to watch it. It was a good movie but didn't have the James Bond feel.

Ko Rok Nok to Ko Phi Phi Le - 8th December 2006

2006-12-09T11:56:00.000+08:00

It is full moon at the moment so we decide we can leave before dawn. We weigh anchor at 7am and head out the channel to Phi Phi which is about 5-6 hours. Mike is pretty excited as we have enough wind to deploy the screecher sail (our light wind sail). Unfortunately not enough wind to leave the engines off. So we are motor sailing again. There are quite a few tour boats speeding across our path on the way to the various dive site and snorkeling spots around the area. We are lucky no fishing floats only the odd fishing boat so not too many dramas. We have encountered lots of small flying fish which look like little birds. We are undecided on whether to refer to them as a flock or school. I have decided "flool" of flying fish will be the designation. Try saying that after a flew gin and tonics, hic. Phi Phi Don is in sight and we should be in about 1 pm. Time to go ashore and check out town. It is a popular tourist spot with lots of hotels and resorts, expensive resorts. As we get closer we realise the bay is a chaos of tour boats, ferries, mooring balls. There are some inviting spots off to the side of the bay but too shallow and still too many boats moored. We pick our way through the buoys trying to find somewhere to anchor, a little more difficult for a catamaran as we are wider so need a bigger gap to squeeze through. One advantage with two engines is that we can turn in our own length when we need to. As we are picking our way through we are being dodged by speed boats full of day trippers coming into the beach at full throttle so we are bouncing around with teh wash as well. We all decide to hell with it this is madness and we need to find somewhere else for the night. We head back a couple of miles to Phi Phi Le , the western side, which has a gorgeous beach which was the setting for the Leonardo de Caprio movie "The Beach". The pilot guide says there are mooring balls available there so we decide to take our chances. Most of the tour boat traffic to the beach heads off about 3pm and it is now about 2.30pm so we should be ok. As we come around the headland the view of bay is spectacular despite the number of tourists. We find another huge mooring ball so we are really pleased we don't have to anchor or find another anchorage. It takes us about 2 minutes to get into the water which is just magic. The view of the bay from the beach is even more spectacular than from the boat. Just off the beach is a small refreshments hut which serves beer as well, so good to know for future reference. We head back to the boat as the thunder starts to roll and the black clouds gather. We are back on schedule for the afternoon rain storm. At least the boat gets a good wash.

Koh Lipe to Ko Rok Nok - 7th December 2006

2006-12-09T08:30:00.000+08:00

Well, we have left the land of pulau, pantai, teluk and tanjung's (island, beach, bay and cape) and are in the land of Ko, Hat, Ao, Laem.

The anchor was a bit of a challenge to get up but with a bit of back and forth we managed to get the anchor up as well as the head of a bommie tied up like a Christmas present. But no swimming required which was a relief. We motored for about and hour and then the wind came up to 16 knots from NNE so up went the sails and off went the engines. We managed to sail for most of the day but did have to resort to the engines for the last 3 hours. Not bad though, we can't remember the last time we had such a good sail. However, with wind does come swell. I had to take the first seasick pill in months and had to go and batten down a few items to stop them rolling around. The rolling only lasted a couple of hours and then the sea calmed down again. No sooner do we sit down with book to relax for a leisurely sail when we notice the ocean as far as you can see is littered with white floats. At first we thought it was a net, but soon realised they were individual fish traps. So we are back on alert and in dodge mode again. We arrive at Ko Rok Nok early afternoon and can see a number of masts in the bay. The area is part of a marine park with HQ on the next island. We cruise around the bay and channel between the islands looking for a mooring ball that is not sitting over coral bommies. The water is deep enough now to pass over but there is a 2 meter tidal range which would mean we will be high and dry when the tide changes. It is a bit like a game of snooker, looking for the coloured , numbered balls. After a couple of attempts we manage to hook up a huge yellow ball in the channel between the islands. It has been awhile since we have had to use the boat hook to pick up moorings. Once we have tied up it is time to hit the water which is crystal clear and oh so cool. Looking between the hulls we can see the gigantic yellow mooring ball which looks like the giant lotto ball. Bizarre. With time ticking on we thought we may have missed the park officials and as we would be gone early in the morning would not have to bother paying the fee. But no, unlike Australia where knock off time is 5 pm, it is 7 pm and we see a yellow inflatable pulling up at our stern with the officials asking for 400 baht per person fee. The pass last a week and it is not much really. The night was a little rolly as the tide changes and we swing around in the channel and we can hear the mooring ball banging on the hull. But at least we know we are securely attached and are not going anywhere in the middle of the night.

Telaga Harbour (Langkawi) to Ko Lipe (Butang Group Thailand)

2006-12-07T16:02:00.000+08:00

All the engine problems from the previous day seem to be sorted. Although, we didn't find out the cause of the overheating port engine. Possibly a bag was in the intake and has floated out. We will just have to keep an eye on it. However, our usual dawn start was slightly delayed as we encountered our third disaster. The anchor winch solenoid died again. Mike attempted to pull the anchor and chain up by hand but the anchor was securely stuck in the mud. Luckily,we had purchased a spare solenoid a couple of weeks ago. It took Mike about 15 minutes to install and anchors away. This is the third solenoid we have installed since we left in January. We are thinking of relocating it somewhere more friendly than the spare chain locker.

We motored most of the trip with a brief attempt at sailing but unfortunately the 12 knots of wind was on the nose and of no use. It was great to see some dolphins again. We haven't really seen any since early days in Indonesia.

We crossed the border into Thailand only to encounter a different technique for fishing: two large trawlers working in tandem with a huge net strung between them. Harry was the first to discover this as he had passed by one boat and didn't quite have enough grunt to pass the second when he realised they were towing a net between them. It was a quick about face around the first boat. We followed suit. Something else to be on the look out for while we are traveling Thai waters.

We pulled into the small bay on the south side of Koh Lipe about 12 noon and did a quick sweep of the bay before anchoring. The water was incredibly clear compared to just 30 miles away in Langkawi. However, the clear water revealed not a sandy bottom as expected but a mostly coral bottom with some sprinkles of sand. Not a lot of choice so we anchored anyway and thought we would deal with the problem of getting off the coral later. We couldn't resist a swim in this beautiful water and we needed to check out the anchor placement anyway. As expected it didn't take long for the anchor chain to start weaving in and around the coral heads. There were a few little biting jelly fish in the water but nothing major. We decide to head ashore for some lunch. The beach is popular with western tourists with a number of "resorts", bars and restaurants littered along the beach front. We may need to redefine the term resort, though. It seemed to be an all encompassing term referring to any type of accommodation, not just five star. We settle in at a small local food stall on the beach for Pad Thai noodles. After lunch we walked one end of the beach to the other to see what was available. There was a full moon beach party planned for the night. We stopped at a cute little bar at the other end of the beach for a drink and chat with the locals and a couple of Finnish tourists Ossie and Nimmo and Steve from the UK. We decide to come back and have dinner with them and maybe do the full moon party but we did need to go back to the boat to put on anchor lights and mozzie repellant. By now it is low tide and we realise just how close we have anchored to the reef. We should be fine but if we had come in a few meters closer we would have been on the rocks. Dinner and a couple of margaritas hit the spot but we are all a bit tired and it will be an early start again for the 9 hour trip to Rok Nok and we know we are probably going to have to swim on the anchor to get off. So we head back to the boats and listen to the music from the beach party until about 4am and the anchor alarm buzzing every hour as the tide and wind moved us around. yawn!!

Rebak Days and back to Telaga (5th November)

2006-12-05T19:17:00.000+08:00

We have finally pulled out of Rebak after 10 days of cleaning, repairs, laundry, provisioning, swimming and socialising.
Mike helped out a few boats with computer problem and battery problem and general mechanical problems. I got the good jobs of scrubbing and de-moulding the dodger. No matter how hard I scrubbed i don't think i will ever get the dirt off from the fires in Indonesia and Singapore. Everything has an off white/grey appearance. And my all time favourite job of scrubbing the disgusting shower grate, yuck !!!!!

WE had some repairs done to our gunnel strip which was missing in places thanks to the slip way in Darwin and the Navy yard in Makassar. We have gone for a timber finish instead of the metal strip. The guys have been oiling it for two days. WE also had them clean the growth off the bottom , but that was a less than satisfactory job. They don't swim very well, so watching them bobbing around on the life preserver and one fender and laughing like a kindergarten swim class was quite amusing. They did scrub vigorously, in fact i had to remind them that the black stuff was the anti fouling paint not gunk so please don't scrub it all off. Anyway, some growth has been removed but we will have to do the keels . They just couldn't get down that far. Harry's dinghy was launched yesterday afternoon and looks fabulous, we have lost count how many coats of paint went on it.

We headed out about lunchtime for Telaga for a fuel stop and overnighter and the off to Thailand on Wednesday. Two minutes from the channel at Telaga when the starboard engine coughed and died. And then not long after the port temp light went on. It is its first outing from its service with Mike and Wayne. We managed to get them coughing and spluttering enough to get anchored. So instead of a lazy afternoon relaxing and plotting way points to Phuket we had floor boards up and were pumping out the fuel tank . What a lot of muck. Re-filtered and reconditioned the fuel and managed to get starboard going again. MIke still has to look at port engine to see why it is overheating. Don't really want to leave here if it is not working as i think we are still going to be motoring although Mike optimistically set up screecher pole before we left.

Rebak Marina (27th- 28th November 2006)

2006-11-29T09:18:00.000+08:00

After all the activities of the last few days we all decide to have a lazy few days. Get some of the jobs done but also take time to do lunch up at the café and an afternoon swim. Harry’s dinghy is still not finished. They were almost finished fibre glassing it and it got wet and they have had to do a couple more coats. It is looking good. He also need to a leaking sea cock fixed before we leave so they came around late Tuesday to check it out. They can fix it in the water so that saves a lot of money hauling it out. We are getting our metal gunnel strip replaced which was damaged hauling out in Darwin and also a piece was crunched off against the Navy dock in Makassar.

Mike and Harry resealed our leaking windows today. We were planning to give them a test run with the regular afternoon downpour. Typical, we don’t get any rain today. Looks like it will be a hose test tomorrow. We are hoping all jobs will be finished so we can leave for Thailand around the 1^st or 2^nd of December. Dick and Nancy off Askari have already arrived in Phuket so we are keen to catch them again before they leave for the Med.

The “Galah” Dinner ( 26th November 2006)

2006-11-27T09:14:00.000+08:00

As all the engine work is done in record time, we hire a car from the ferry terminal at Langkasuka which is where the ferry from Rebak Isalnd drops you off on the mainland Langkawi island. It is a 15min ride over some pretty shallow water. You start to feel guilty having that extra piece of toast in the morning. One of the island bombs is waiting for us when we arrive , as usual, running on petrol vapours only. First stop when you hire a car here is the fuel station. It is a tricky calculation to carefully judge just how much petrol you need to put in the tank to run all your errand for the day and get back to the ferry terminal with the needle balancing on the middle of the E . Wayne decides to come for the run to Kuah, he has not been in yet and besides Sue was planning for 2 x Wayne free days . Of course we are outboard engine shopping as well. We decide on a 2 stroke 8 HP Mercury outboard this time. Easier to get part and 2 strike are a lot easier to start. The Honda we had was impossible for me to start . It was more like a back and shoulder work out 3 reps of 12 pulls and still nothing. The shop only takes cash, great, so off to speak to the hole in the wall and hope it doesn’t take 3 days to get enough cash. Success to off to Starbucks to celebrate with a icy frapuccino.

At this stage we have already been talked into going to the final dinner of the rally. Sue and Wayne have insisted on us staying on Court Jester, so we agree. Even the prospect of free beer was not enough to persuade Harry to go . We drop him back at the ferry terminal and head over to Telaga to join the others. Just as we get organised to walk around to the other side of the marina to join the others for a drink the heavens open up. We are stuck for over an hour in the marina office area. By the time it stops the others are all coming back to get showered and glammed up for the dinner tonight.

It was great catching up with some of our friends on the rally that we hadn’t seen since Kupang or Makassar. However, on mass the group are pretty overwhelming. By the time we hit the buffet after the seagulls had swooped there was rice and veggies left. Anyone that knows Mike well, knows how much he loves his veggies, NOT! So going vegetarian was a real treat for him. But then we don’t go to these events with the expectation that we are going to be well fed. If we are great, but the main reason is to catch up with friends. Not to see how much food we can stack on our plates and how much free alcohol we can consume.

We had a good night on Court Jester and then up early to get the car back to the ferry wharf and catch the ferry back to Rebak. We struggle onto the ferry with backpacks stuffed with purchases from the previous day plus the outboard as hand luggage of course.

Telaga to Rebak Marina (25th November)

2006-11-26T18:56:00.000+08:00

Mike does another quick computer repair on Jaraman before we kidnap Wayne from Court Jester and head to Rebak to work on the port We are not far out of the harbour when we notice the temperature light on the port engine, obviously the engine is getting nervous knowing Wayne is about to pull it to pieces when we get to Rebak. We can't find anything wrong, thank god we have another engine. I just finish radioing Harry to tell him we running on one engine when the starboard engine dies. Well i guess we can stop worrying we have our hat trick of three disasters. But things could have been worse, at least there is some wind so we can sail 3.5knots which is not too bad at least we are moving. Mike and Wayne have heads down and tails up trying to get at least the starboard engine working. It appears it has had sludge in the fuel filter again. The last one was changed in the last 10 days so not sure what is going on. Harry is circling around the entrance to the marina waiting to see if we need a tow in. But thankfully we limped in on one engine and managed to manoeuvre into our berth without too much trouble although the poor old starboard engine was not happy. It is great having two engine but it is difficult to run on only one for any length of time.

As I am writing this Mike and Wayne are finishing up (it is now 7.30pm) after a long hot day down in the engine bays. Of course the boat has stuff spread from one end to the other and I still need to get into the spare cabin to Mike up the bed for Wayne tonight. We still have some of that disgusting pinky mauve front runner on the ceiling we may be able to velcro him there for the night. But both engine are running and sound terrific, so we are really pleased and so appreciative of Wayne coming over to help us out. We owe him one .

Hole in the Wall to Telaga (22nd -24th November 2006)

2006-11-25T18:54:00.000+08:00

Early departure at sun up as we head back to Telaga. This will be thelongest trip we have done in a month since arriving in Langkawi. It will takes us over 5 hours to get back. Of course no wind, even though the wind was blowing from that direction when we were heading the other way. Typical. I think we are going to have to stop referring to ourselves as the sailing vessel Seadrive and start calling us the motorboat Seadrive.

We arrive back in Telaga to a few more boats and our French friends Archibald are still here. They are anchored in a different spot so we assume they have been out somewhere and have returned, which turns out to be the case. They had been partying at Rebak Marina. They had the band playing until 3am.
We are glad we came back today as the bay starts filling up with rally boats, the radio chatter is increasing and there are more on the way. The marina was full to start with but they have managed to squeeze more boats in as well as boats on display for LIBEX - Langkawi International Boat Expo. You wouldn't guess the show is 2 days off opening. There is still a lot of work to be done. We have an easy day with lunch at the cheapie Indian restaurant. A visit to the delicious bakery the Langkawi Loaf for some pastries and bread.

There are even more boats arriving the next day. Our friends on Court Jester and Jaraman arrive so we plan to do lunch at the Indian with them and then drinks on Seadrive later. Great to catch up again. We haven't seen them since Makassar.

We decide to stay another day in Telaga to go to the boat show and then head over to Rebak. We were planning to do the dinner and drinks thing with the rally that night but the outboard decided to shat itself. Is it still under warranty , no way, is there a Honda dealer anywhere this side of Japan, no way. So we got to listen to the band from the boat and had an early night instead. Little did we realise this was only the beginning of the problems. The little bugger hunt in threes.

Trip to the Hole in the Wall (18th - 21st November 2006)

2006-11-22T07:01:00.000+08:00

Datai Bay (18th November)
We head off for an easy 2 hour motor (again - still no wind) to Datai Bay just round on the north side of the island. It is a pretty little bay with two resorts; the Anadaman Resort and the most expesnive resort on Langkawi - "The Datai". I guess that gets naming rights for the bay. We anchor to the Andaman end of the bay as we are told they have an unsecured wireless network which you can pick up in the boat. Very weak signal and not practical. But we are near a cute little beach on the small island in the bay. As soon as the anchor is down so is the dinghy and the steps and we are down into the water. We enjoy a lazy relaxing afternoon for a change and watch all the guests being ferried out to the small island for a beach picnic. It took the staff about an hour to pack up all the gear and the cute little picnic baskets. Quite funny watching the dinghy hooning back to the resort loaded with baskets. We are all pretty lazy tonight and there are no sundowners tonight. We are in company still with Askari, Rhiannon and Minke II.

Tanjung Rhu (19th November)

Another easy two hour motor to the next stop. We decide to run the watermaker for a few hours. The salinity of the water for filling tanks should be about 380 - 400. The water outside of Datai bay is 470. We think we will leave it run and the salinity will go down. Not so after half an hour we are up to 800+. The decision is made to just flush the watermaker and not bother too produce any water. Not a real problem as we had filled the tanks when we left Rebak Marina. In fact we had all noticed when swimming how much more salty the water tasted here than at the south of the island. Tanjung Rhu is another beautiful bay with shades of Thailand landscape - high island cliffs. Of course we are not far from Thailand, in fact we can see some of the lower island just a few nautical miles away. The bay is supposed to be quite shallow in towards the beach with a large sandbar which almost connect the beach to one of the little islands. It is high tide when we arrive so it is not evident. We anchor off the high cliff face not too far into the bay . It gives off a weird noise when the fishing boats come and go skirting the base of the cliff. Mike decides to do an "African Queen" and headoff in the dinghy up the creek to see whether he can see where it connects into the "Hole in the Wall" river system. After an hour he returns, it is a fairly large system of tributaries and there are too many to explore and he didn't have a GPS or enough fuel to keep going. The water looks inviting but there are far too many enormous jelly fish to go swimming and Nancy had been stung by one in Datai Bay which left a nasty burn looking welt. By the time Mike gets back Dick, Nancy and Harry have decided to do their own "African Queen" and explore the resort in the ba in search of food and beer. They turn out to be more successful than Mike. The resort is most welcoming to us grotty yachties, which makes a change from usual. After a nice lunch and drinlks we decide we should very quickly head back to the boats as the afternoon rain storm looks imminent. There is a mad scrabble for the dinghies as we suddenly see the bay being erased by the rain. We can now see the sandbar which looks quite bizarre as peopel appear to be walking on water. Of course the route baclk to the boast is not quite so direct as we have to now go all the way around the sandbar. We don't make it in time and wish we had shampoo and soap on the dinghy so we could have a complete shower on the way. Luckily, and i do mean luckily, I had shut the hatches before going ashore so there was only a little bit of rain in the cockpit. Well, not much to do but settle in and watch a couple of movies. It rains pretty much most of the night. But a lovely bay to sit and watch it rain.

Hole in the Wall (20-21st November)

Once again, an easy few hours to the famous hole in the wall. Heading out of Tanjung Rhu we pass through the scum current which seems to collect all many of garbage. It is a very pretty trip around the headland of Tanjung Rhu past seven little beaches and into the small passage way which opens up into the Hole in The Wall. There are a few boats anchored in here already which make a lovely scene. We are all anxious to drop anchores and get exploring. There is supposed to be dinghy through caves, bat caves, eagle feeding and a restaurant. Of course we seem to be in the middle of nowhere but in fact we are closer to Kuah ( the main town) only 11km than we were in Telaga. In fact, we do realise this when we see so many tourist boats going up and down the river. They bus them in to the jetty just around the next bend. Mike , Harry and I decide to go exploring and after 2 hours and a complete loop we are back where we started . We did not manage to find the either of the caves. Oh well, look for it next time, I think it is time for lunch and a beer. The fish restaurant is great. We don't end up leaving until after 3pm. We were all planning to venture in again for dinner but the rain started about 5.30pm and the restaurant shuts at 8pm so not much point. We decide to do another long lunch tomorrow. It is a very peaceful spot with lots of eagles circling and calling out.

It is a lazy start to the day and then off for lunch again. Another long luch and then back from drinks on Seadrive with Dick and Nancy and Harry. We are all feeling sad and emotional as this maybe the last time we are all together. We are hoping to catch Dick and Nancy again in Phuket before the Blue Water Rally claims them and they head off to the Mediterranean. The afternnon shower begins so of we all have an excuse to keep drinking and talking.

We are all up early for a sunup departure Harry and us back to Telaga. Dick and nany off to Thailand.

Rebak Marina to Telaga

2006-11-17T17:23:00.000+08:00

An hour motoring gets us back to Telaga Harbour again. Dick and Nancy need to fill up with fuel andthe furl station is conveniently located at the marina. We hire a car for the day and squeeze the five of us in and head for Kuah so Dick and Nancy can check in with the authorities and we can do grocery and alcohol shopping. We are on a mission to find this great bulk warehouse type of supermarket somewhere on the way to Kuah. One of the other yachts told us about it. Success. They have some great provisioning items that are hard to find in other supermarkets so we are all pleased. We of course have to stop at Starbucks for iced lattes and frappucinos while we are the ferry terminal in Kuah.

We find a great little Indian restuarant on the way back for dinner. They do roti canai which Mike loves. A large silver platter with several little puddles of curry sauces and a mountain of hot pancakey rotis. I decide to try a something starting witha "t" that is similar , i get the same little curry puddles but an enormous pancake that is barely conatined by the platter, yum. Fresh iced watermelon juices all round. They do fantastic fresh juices in Malaysia. Watermelon, pineapple, melon, guava, orange, lime. We try not to think about the golden rule of travelling which is "no ice" . We have decided to live dangerous and be cool instead.

We have the car until midday the next day so another trip back to PL Soon Huat warehouse and then back to the boat for am afternoon rest.

We caught up with Minke II , who arrived in Telaga on Wednesday. We left them round in Kuah last week. So it was nice to catch up.

We were heading in to the restaurant for dinner but the heavens opened up and it poured all evening. So we decided to have Dick and Nancy and Harry over for drinks on Seadrive until the rain stopped at least.
A good night had by all as usual and slightly wet trip back in the dinghy.

We are attempting the restaurant for dinner tonight again. Dick is shouting us all as a thankyou for Mike fixing their computer.

We head off tomorrow ( Saturday) for the top of the island for some swimming, we hope.

Rebak Marina

2006-11-15T17:21:00.000+08:00

We are still at Rebak enjoying pool facilities and the washing machine. Our friends Dick and Nancy from Askari have finally caught up with us from Singapore so the gin and red wine are flowing tonight to celebrate. We make enquiries about repair work so we can compare prices when we get up to Thailand. We will wait til the off season (end of May til Oct) to do any work.

Telaga Horbour and Rebak Marina (2nd Visit)

2006-11-14T13:06:00.000+08:00

Telaga Harbour

We anchor in the bay outside the marina and do our usual dinghy reconnoitre of the marina. Marina looks pretty full. The marina office confirms this. When we tell them about 80 plus boats heading here for the next event on the 23rd, he just shrugs and says "first in". Mike and Harry have dinghied in to fill up with fuel which is cheap here. They are both in our dinghy to towing Harry's dinghy which is loaded up with all the fuel jerry cans - the fuel barge. We hire a car for the day. You have to love the lack of red tape. We sign no paperwork, we show no driver's licence and they want no money. Of course the car has no fuel in it so we have to fill up somewhat before we leave. A quick drive around the bay to the cable car station and then up the mountain. Of course, I keep forgetting that Mike is not fussed on heights so Harry and I are told to glue our butts to the seat and not move. It was probably the steepest cable car we have been on.

I was a great view from the top and we could make our all our boats in the bay. On a clear day you can see Thailand.

We managed to circumnavigate the island in a couple of hours. We call it speed tourism. We passed through the main town Kuah again, so we took the opportunity to stock up on some more drinks and beer for Harry. Beetling back the the harbour we stumbled on a shop that imports Australian meat, cheese and salami. So Mike was so happy to see salami again.

We had another lazy day just sitting in the bay and decided to head back to Rebak Marina the next day.

Rebak Marina

It took an hour to motor down from Telaga to Rebak Marina. It is set in bush surrounding with pool , cafe, Internet access and slipway. There are a few mosquitoes but nothing like we were led to believe would be the case. We are staying for 3 or 4 days here and will wait for our friends off Askari to catch up. We have located them at the bottom bay on Langkawi. It will be great to catch up with them , it seems like they have been gone for so long.

It is also time to unpack THE WASHING MACHINE again. Of course , it works like a dream. Who would think you could be so attached to your appliances.

Rebak Marina, Kuah and Telaga

2006-11-10T11:58:00.000+08:00

Rebak Marina
We motored over to the breakwater outside the marina and went for a reconnoitre in the dinghies. Nice marina in a tropical resort setting. Pool, tennis courts, restaurant, showers , internet. What more can a yachtie want. After a couple of drinks and lunch we head back to boats and head off for Bass Harbour which is the anchorage outside the main town of Kuah. We are getting quite used to the storm drill, and get the boat closed up in 5 minutes for the downpour. Just make sit a little hard to navigate when we are still under way. We dropped the anchor in good holding mud. We like mud. It means the boat is not going drifting in the middle of the night. The town looks interesting, although we are surprised to see what looks like Disneyland at the far end of the bay. It is a strange castle looking building with blue turrets. It turns out to be an apartment block. It is supposed to be waterfront but it is surrounded by a swamp. Mossie territory.

Kuah
We had a great couple of days exploring Kuah. Langkawi is a duty free port so there are many duty free shops . Alcohol and cigarettes are finally cheap. The ferry terminal is a modern building at lot like an airport terminal . Shopping is good and yes another Starbucks. We all decide we can't be bothered to bring laptops back in the dinghies to make use of their internet hot spot. But we did indulge in an iced latte.

We did some food provisioning minus fruit and vegetables. The supermarket greens were disgusting. If these pathetic specimens were in my fridge I would throw them out. There is, apparently, a local market but it was later at night and we were heading back to the boats to beat the afternoon rain storms.

We did make a trip to the harbour master and immigration to check in. Although,, we had already checked into Malaysia in Port Dickson , we felt it was important to check in here as well as we would be checking out from here when we head to Thailand. Makes the process easier.
We will be back to Kuah again to provision later and check out so we can do some more exploring then.

Kuah to Telaga Harbour
After a quick garbage and chandlery run ashore we head off to the west of the island to Telaga Harbour Marina. Pierre from Archibald is due back from Laos today and Veronique and the kids are meeting him there. It is only 15 miles so another easy trip. We anchored in a small bay off the marina and once again dinghied in for a look. The bay is surrounded by a beach and high peaks. There is cable car which is strung between two of the peaks. We will go exploring over the next few days. The marina has an internet hotspot so we join up for the day. Mike has reloaded the photos to the website again if anyone is interested in checking them.

Langkawi

2006-11-06T07:30:00.000+08:00

We have finally arrived at Langkawi. It was a slow motor up from Pinang and we arrived late afternoon. This islands are beautiful. It was so inviting that the first thing that we we did when we arrived was jump in for a swim.

Harry, Veronique and the kids (off Archibald) came over for a barb-e-que on the back deck.

Today we did some exploring. We visited a freshwater lake that is believed locally to be good for fertility. I had been here before but it was nice to share it again with Tracey. We swam in the lake.

We have headed a little further North as we explore Langkawi. We will visit the marinas today to get an idea what services they offer.

Penang Day 2

2006-11-03T14:33:00.003+08:00

Washing morning. I will never under-appreciate my white goods again. I am too lazy to get the washing machine out of the back cabin so decide to just hand wash and beat with a stick instead. Chores done. It is time to hit the streets again. I have convinced Harry and Mike we need to check out the two major Buddhist temples in Penang. We were planning to really rough it and go by public bus. But after standing for 10 minutes in the sun at what looked like the bus depot scratching out head trying to work out which bus we were supposed to catch we decide to just get a cab instead. Mike negotiated a deal for him to drive us to all the temples and wait for us at each stop. It worked out to be much better and faster. We call it speed tourism. The first temple is Wat Charmacallitwiththellongthainame just kidding. it is Wat Chaiyamangkalaran . It has the third largest reclining Buddha in the world. It was a little kitsch with lots of gold paint on everything. Words cannot describe it , you will all need to check out the photos on the website when they are uploaded next. The next temple is Kek Lok Si Temple at the bottom of Penang Hill. It is one f the largest and grandest Buddha temples in SE Asia. It is situated on three levels on the hill and has a seven story pagoda and carp pool and waterfall. It is very impressive and quiet a peaceful place to spend some time. It has a great view over Penang. Apparently, the large bronze Buddha statue at the top has been struck by lightening 3 times.

We drive around the outer suburbs and back into the city and get dropped off at the mall again for some aircon and lunch.

We hop a couple of rickshaws back to the marina, which is a riot. We stop in the middle of a busy street while the driver takes photos of us squeezed into the rickshaws. And I do mean squeezed.

We head out later after the rain stops to find the night market which Mike had on good authority from the dockmaster was in Campbell St. The dockmaster is pretty difficult to understand and not terribly reliable , but we optimistically head off anyway. After walking the entire length of Campbell St we finally ask someone. There is no night market , there never was a night market. Mike threatens to kill the dockmaster tomorrow. We do find a great Indian restaurant ( no food stall, for a change) and have a great Indian meal.