We are here at Santubong (Kuching stop on the rally) and will go to Miri up north next.

There is a stop in Brunei but we may not make that stop.

Hi Everyone,

The legend of MT Santubong goes like this.  Beautiful Princesses Santubong and Sejinjang were sisters and great friends.  Sejinjang was an expert rice grower and Santubong an expert weaver.  They were sent to bring peace and harmony to the warring villages of Kuning and Putih.  All would be well unless the sisters would quarrel and that would bring war back to the villages.  All was well until, you guessed it, the handsome Prince Serapi came along and fell for them both.  Being modern princesses (in spirit) they refused to be joint wives.  They chose to fight it out, (not so modern spiritwise) Anyway, so the legend goes, Sejinjang swung her rice thresher smack into Santubong’s cheek.  Falling backwards, Santubong returned the favor throwing her loom and hitting Sejinjang’s head.  Their father the king, in disgust (though what did he expect) cursed both sisters into  mountains.  Mount Santubong is supposed to resemble a woman lying on her back with a crevice at the peak where she was hit by her sister’s thresher.  At the base of Mount Santubong is the Sarawak Cultural Village Museum.  www.scv.com.my is the website.  The legend comes from a small booklet Treasured Malaysian Legends that Elizabeth from Labarque gave to me.  She had gotten an extra copy at one of the visitor centers.  Just to keep things on a light note, at the bottom of the back cover in all caps it says, “TRAFFICKING IN ILLEGAL DRUGS CARRIES THE DEATH PENALTY.)

MT. Santubong

We watched clouds roll over the top of Princess Santubong’s head.  At least I think that’s supposed to be the top of her head.

My version.

We walked into the small town of Santubong today for lunch.  They have one restaurant and a few stores and several schools with kids helloing us along the way.  We really weren’t sure where the town was and mixed it up with the Cultural Village.  But after walking one way then another and then another we found the really longest way to Santubong and took it.  Lunch was rice, greens, tofu and sprouts, curried okra and friend chicken.  Pretty good.  Then we browsed the 3 stores but didn’t buy the half gallon of ice cream since it would be totally melted by the time we got it back to the boat.  Tomorrow we are going with Jim and Jenny Jobbins from Amalthea (New Zealand) and maybe Elizabeth from Labarque to Kuching.  We go out to the road and wait for the minibus to show up.  It sort of has a schedule.  On July 3rd the rally is doing a tour of Kuching and the National Park.  I’m looking forward to that and also to maybe finding a hiking trail for Mt. Santubong.

Our 3 night, 4 day passage from Terengganu to Santubong was good.  We left Terengganu 5 am Friday morning and cruised at a very slow 4.5 knots average most of the day.  During the nights we each take 2 watches.  The watches start at 7 pm and go to 7 am.  Each watch is 3 hours.  Randal starts the 7pm watch.  He wakes me at 10pm.  I wake him at 1 am.  And he wakes me again at 4 am.  If he is lucky I don’t wake him during my watch to ask for help.  During the 3 nights of passages I had to wake him during my 4am to 7 am watch on the first and third night.  But that is great because I have in the past almost always had to wake him at least once each watch.  I don’t like standing watch because I have to make decisions about how to interpret what I see on the radar screen.  Sometimes I see lights not on the screen usually they are further away than the radar radius; but it looks like they are RIGHT THERE!!!  I have learned not to panic if the radar says boats will be within a mile of us, or even a half mile if it is an anchored squid boat with huge lights.  If I can really see it, then it’s ok.  When it rains, that’s the biggest problem for me because the rain covers up the entire area and I can’t yet pick out the boats on the screen.  Luckily I can see them with my eyes and luckily it was a very light rain my third night.  We also have an AIS Automatic Identification System now.  If a boat has AIS, and most large boats do, it tells you more accurately where they are going and how close they will come.  We crossed a shipping lane our third day and it really helped to have that.  Our fourth day we had a storm and I realized that I wasn’t so afraid of them now.  Watching the boat’s bow go down where I couldn’t see it and then back up again just became uncomfortable, not so scary.  But the waves were only about 5 feet and that apparently is no big deal to seasoned cruisers which I am not yet.

So that’s about it.  Hope all of you have a great 4th.  There is actually another American boat here so maybe we’ll get to say, “Happy 4th” to someone this year.  We haven’t yet met them because they haven’t been on any of the stops at the same time.  Not sure why.

Ru

DoraMac

Hi Guys,

Just checking in.  Tomorrow morning we set off on our 3 night passage to Kuching so will be there late afternoon of Monday.  We will try sailmail, but don’t worry if you don’t hear.  There will be about 18 boats going from here so we’ll have company.  Just getting everything shipshape before we leave.  So that’s it.

Ru

On Tuesday, June 16^th, Ruth from Icicle One and Elizabeth from Labaraque and I met at 8:30 am in the marina lobby to await our prearranged taxi. We might have taken the 3 ringgit water taxi and then the free bus, but the bus schedule is somewhat erratic and the taxi was only 8 ringgits apiece so we splurged on the taxi to save time. The complex opened at 9 am and we wanted to be there in the cool of the morning, before the crowds of tourists arrived. www.noor-arfa.com is the web address and you can see the beautiful material they make.

Most of the crafts people we saw were trained at the complex. Traditionally men do the brush painting and the block printing and women do the songket weaving. At least that’s the way it was in the Noor Complex in Terengganu. www.batikmalay.com is another wonderful web site about Malay batik. Most of the printmakers were men.

Batik tools. Some are done as a block print.

Preparing the cloth for the color. We thought the women were using water just too wet the cloth to absorb the paint.

Both women walk around the cloth adding color. They have done this enough to have an idea how to apply the color and work well together. Then the frame is tilted first one way and then the other to let the paint run. A lot like doing watercolor!

Then more color is added and allowed to run.

This was a piece that was ready to have additional design added. Unfortunately we didn’t learn what would happen next exactly though we did see a similar piece with a gold design running through the cloth. The white design was woven into the cloth prior to the painting.

Using paintbrushes this young man had painted the back of this shirt.

Songket weaving has gold and silver thread woven into it. This woman had learned the process from her mother.

I would not have the patience to do this at all.

You can see how intricate the pattern is and how time consuming it is to create this material.

According to the woman who has the batikmalay site there are some small local shops and maybe I can see some of those when we return here in about a week.

“Pulled tea” is poured from one pot to another adding air….like cappuccino only without the machine. We had a late morning snack and then went back for a late lunch.

The price was right and the fuel dock was just down the river. So Monday Randal and I went to fill up. Hashim, one of the marina supervisors came with us. We got 1500 litres @ 1.88 ringits per litre (393.3 gallons @ $2.03 US per gallon = $804.49 ) Only Hong Kong, back in July 2007, was cheaper. The most we have ever paid at one time was in Subic Bay. We took on 1,321 gallons and paid a total of $3,579.91. The most we paid per gallon was in Makassar in August of 2008 where we paid $3.26 per gallon. Divide the amount of fuel we had bought prior to our Terengganu purchase over the time cruising so far and it equals about $182 US per month. Randal says that’s not really the way to do it, but it does give you an idea after I write that we just put $804 of diesel into the boat. I wouldn’t want anyone to think we do it very often. We burn about 1 and 2/3 gallons per hour. We also burn fuel when we run the genset at anchor to charge the batteries.

Maybe this spreadsheet will make things clearer.

There were other boats at the fuel dock so we pulled alongside and tied ourselves to one. Hashim is in the red hat. The fuel worker in the white hat came aboard DoraMac for a tour.

I don’t know his name, but he was 22 and not married. He said he needed to earn money first. Smart young man! He was polite and helpful too. Randal made a flag bandana hat for him.

The fuel intake has a red cover so there is no mistaking it with something else. You can see our bow line leading from DoraMac to the one we are tied to. I had to throw the line and hope I didn’t mess up because we really didn’t have time for a second try. There are no brakes on a boat.

We’re the boat on the left!!!!

I really had a hard time interpreting this photo, but the real green and brown fishing boat is the one on the right. The image of the boat on the left is all reflected from our boat. Even the blue and white fender on the left is a reflection. The green paint on DoraMac is reflecting back all of that color…pretty amazing to me.

The bank of the Terengannu River.

A fishing boat going by.

See all of the lights? They are used for night fishing to attract the fish to come to the surface. When we make night passages you can see the lights from miles away even. With our radar set for 3 miles, you don’t see the boats on the radar but you see their lights. Makes me nervous though I am getting better at trusting the radar. The bridge at the top of the photo is the one we ride over to get to town. On the other side of the bridge is the Crystal Mosque.

Part of the heritage tour was to visit this Islamic Entertainment Park. There are replicas of major mosques around the world, a convention center and the famous Crystal Mosque. www.tti.com.my is the website.

A map showing the entire complex. It was really hot and the entire group was supposed to stay together….”herding cruisers is like herding cats,” as Patrick from Labarque said during the welcome speech he gave representing the cruisers at the welcome dinner back at Kuantan….so it was hard to take your time and read all of the info or watch all of the informational movies at some of the mosques. And there were varying levels of interests…mine was somewhere in the middle of the group.

Shaykh Lutfallah in Iran on the left. Scale is 1:4 It was built in the 17^th century and once used as a royal mosque. On the right one of the more unique, Samarra in Iraq. Scale 1:5.7 The original was built in the 9^th century of bricks and clay. It is located just north of Baghdad.

Replica of the Taj Mahal in India. Scale 1:10. We watched a short movie about the building of the Taj Mahal which included the little factlet that a hand of many of the craftsmen was cut off so no other building could rival the Taj Mahal.

We next were taken to see the Crystal Mosque built with steel and “crystal effect glass.” I think I read on the Park’s web site www.tti.com.my that it is the only mosques built with steel and glass. It is actually a working mosque, though my guess it’s for more special occasions.

The Crystal Mosque is also called the Floating Mosque. From the bridge crossing the river you see it from the back and it looks to be floating on the river.

Tourist robes and headgear are provided. Another cruiser being helped into the robe and scarf.

A local woman in her prayer robes, praying and watching over her son. She was off in sort of a separate area and I peaked in and couldn’t resist her white robes.

When I came out, I couldn’t remember exactly where I’d left my sandals… But I did find them.

Then it was off for lunch in Chinatown and finally an overcrowded public ferry ride back to the marina. Normally the water taxi doesn’t go to the marina, but it did because there were so many of us; too many for the small marina water taxi.

“The traditional boat builders of Terengganu are famous for their skills that have withstood the test of time. These craftsmen do not require plans or blueprints. They build boats from memory passed from generations and yet produce intricate designs with great precision and details. Built with the touch of modern technology and traditional precision, the boat is sought after by sailors from all over the world due to its sea-worthiness. “from the Terengganu travel guide. www.tourism.terrengganu.gov.my

I really can’t tell you much about the boats or the building process. I spent more time talking to the other cruisers or taking photos of the flowers in front of the workers’ homes.

Reminds me of the guys who built our boat!

Boats under construction

Most of the cruisers have sailboat and were interested in this one being built.

Computer screens, classroom area, and technology.

Walking from one boat building workshop to another I saw this scene, a mix or old and new from the cycle on the left to the bicycle on the right and the clothing of the men in the middle.

A young boy and his sister posed for a photo.

I liked all of the colors here.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia

Wednesday night was the welcome dinner for Sail Malaysia here in Terengannu (apparently pronounced Trehgahnu.) Tables were set out on the lawn in front of the marina and we were served a buffet of local dishes. Many of them were quite good, but since it was quite dark when we ate and the tables weren’t lit, it was hard to tell what you were eating. Even the buffet line was fairly dark so I just took some of everything that wasn’t fish and tried it all. I don’t take the fish because it always seems to be boney and I end up with a mouthful trying to figure out what to do since by then the fish and bones are all mashed together in my mouth. There were speeches and dances and a tiny ballet of sorts when the dancers acted out a story of fishermen who become possessed but then are saved by “the princess.” I didn’t quite hear the whole story. We took some short video pieces and I hope to be able to send some but so far my connection has been too slow.

There is always a local dignitary to welcome us and give a speech promoting the wonders of the area. One of the rally members usually gives a speech also. So far it seems as if they choose men from among the cruisers. I’ll have to investigate that; not that I want to get up in front of everyone…..

So how did this happen? I can’t even explain it to myself; Muslim events have no alcohol. After the formal dancing, cruisers are invited to join the dancers on stage. At the dinner in Kuantan one of the dancers invited me to dance with them and I said no and she looked hurt. So this time I said yes. No more front row seats for me! But I wasn’t the only one up there.

Some cruisers seem to really enjoy it. The man in the center is a retired dance instructor so he has no problems joining in!

Each cruiser was given a batik wrap.

My favorite part of the meal was the dessert! This is the Malaysian version of the Philippine Halo Halo! Crushed ice, condensed milk, and jelly bean and syrup toppings! Yum.

Thursday morning we boarded a bus to visit the local boat building area and next the Islamic Civilization Park. http://www.tti.com.my/ That will be my next email.

Ruth Johnson

DoraMac

Saturday, June 6th 2009 9:50 am

Hi Everyone,

We are in Kuala Terengganu, and a bit ahead of Sail Malaysia.  We had some boat chores to catch up on and Terengganu has a marina where we can tie up, have shore power. Wednesday we had cruised from

7am to 3:30 pm; but the anchorage where we’d planned to stop wasn’t good enough so we cruised on until 8 pm and anchored at Pulau Kapas.  Not only did we have to anchor in the dark, but the last hour we were surrounded by rain squalls and lightening.  Luckily the heavy rain missed us and the anchorage was good.  We slept well that night.  Thursday we made the 90 minutes passage from Pulau Kapas to Kuala Terengganu.  Our friends Ruth and Cliff on Icicle One were our travel companions and are here at Heritage Bay Marina too.  Friday we all went off to see the sights just a quick water taxi ride across the harbor.

Just so you know where we are…  Came across this street sign in KT and thought it was pointing to different restaurants named for famous places.  Only when I was looking at the photos later did I see it was really a signpost telling a traveler where he was.

“As the capital of Malaysia’s oil producing region, KT has money and has used it to tastefully redecorate.  Large brick sidewalks and elegant mosque-like shopping complexes have gussied up the place yet the soul of the former fishing village has been maintained.”  Lonely Planet.  My first impression is of a smaller Kota Kinabalu where we had spent a month last year.  The first local person who asked where we were from had a daughter who studied English at a University in Tennessee and now taught at Malaysian university.

We took a marina water taxi for the 5 minute ride over to the city.   We can take our own dingy when we refill the gas tank.  It might be possible to bike also.  The round trip water taxi is about $2 US per person.

The waterfront area.  We climbed the stairs up tree covered Bukit Puteri ( 650 FT Princess Hill ) to see the remains of a fort, a sultan’s palace and a view of the city.

The cannons are aimed across at the marina and DoraMac!  Notice the big cannon and little canon.

These cannon are named Meriam Beranak or “The Cannon that give birth” due to their positions that are close to each other and of different sizes.  The cannon of bigger size is said to be the mother of the smaller size cannon.

“This throne was made by His Majesty Sultan Umar for His Majesty to sit when having discussions on various strategies with high ranking officials.”  Or as Chad Mitchell Trio recited, ” No matter how high or great the throne, what sits on it is the same as your own!”  as Randal is proving….. You know you are far away from home when you are in a place ruled by Sultans.

The world is the same all over.  A “typical” scene of women in the dress shop and the husband being bored.

And “in the world is the same all over category,”  this dad and his daughter were in line ahead of us at KFC.  We went from chicken rice in Chinatown to ice cream at KFC.

After a walk around the part of town near the waterfront, we went to the wet market and bought some fruit and veggies.  We were hot, tired and hot.  So about 3 pm we water taxied back to the marina to rest up for the Night Market; a 10 minute (really 30 minute) walk away towards town.  It was a hot walk and the Night Market was mostly food.  Since we had planned to have dinner on Icicle One, we will wait until next Friday to sample the food.  Back on the boat we found our electricity off.  Some cruisers going off to the Night Market told me to find Steve on Wind Swift who seemed to know the most about electrical issues, the marina office being closed….  Luckily it was our friend Steve Calpin whom we had met in KK and whose wife, Valerie and I had gone exploring together.  Actually, Steve had been to the boat the prior evening.  Between Steve and Randal our electricity was back working, whew!!!

Randal and Steve working on the power cable that hooks us to shore power.  This picture actually tells a great deal about cruising.  Things are always going wrong.  Cruisers have to know how to fix almost everything on the boats themselves.  Cruisers will always help each other.

Today is boat chore day.  Randal is changing oil filters and I’m doing laundry, blog mail, and then will clean the heads….  Also the cruising life.

Next email some Night Market photos…

Ruth Johnson DoraMac

Yesterday we spent a frustrating morning trying to get Internet access on our 3LG phone to use with our laptops.  We had checked things out the day we’d arrived and thought we’d opt for the prepaid plan.  But when we returned yesterday to the DiGi store we found that the monthly plan would be better.  There was a bit of confusion: yes we could pay cash, but yes we had to also have a credit card, but yes we could cancel the credit card service part and pay with the cash….hmmm.  So we finally decided to go with just the credit card option and then found we needed our passports.  We carry photocopies, but that wasn’t good enough…..  So no luck there.   Then we checked on bus service back to Kota Tinggi near Sungai Rengit to pick up Randal’s new glasses but that turned out not to be a possibility with the bus schedule.  And it would take almost 8 hours of travel for the round trip.  A taxi round trip would have been about $150 US.  Randal called the Optik shop in Kota Tinggi and the owner said he would have them shipped when we had our next long stop.  We’ll see how that all works out.  Our so simple life of retirement can be oh so complicated at times.  (Today we went back to town with the passports and set up the service.  The young man who helped us, Eddy Soffian, was as patient and helpful he could be given the DiGi rules about the credit card and passport were problematic for us.  We have to wait 2 days for it to be activated and then hope for the best. Then, depending on the speed of the service maybe I can send some photos!)

Yesterday afternoon Sail Malaysia had organized a bus trip to a tin mine museum about 45 minutes away in Sungai Lembing.    I’m afraid that I was too tired and hot to give it the attention it deserved.  But as I did wander around the rooms, I did notice this one sign.

Sounds like the Tennessee Ernie Ford song about owing your sole to the “company store” to me.  Actually the whole place reminded me of visiting the Cass Railroad in West Virginia.  Snacks were served on the lawn; noodles, fried banana, a solid kind of jell-o, and some hot sweet tea.  Our tour guide Albert said that Sungai Lembing was famous for its coconut biscuits, roast pork, tofu, and one more thing I can’t remember.  We stopped at the Duty Free shop on the way out of town but, alas, the biscuits were sold out.

We returned to Kuantan, population about 400,000, around 7:15 pm and enjoyed a walk along the jetty while we waited for dinner to be organized

There were lots of bats in the trees chirping away as though they were birds.  We had encountered the same sight on Tioman Island, our prior stop.  Apparently the bats had been displaced from their homes by construction along the river.  We were told they were fruit bats or fox bats.  Sharon, what do you think?  (Sharon is my friend and former library colleague who know tons about bats.)

Tioman Island bats hanging there “chirpping” during the hot afternoon.  People strolling about didn’t seem to bother them one bit.

About 8ish pm we went in to dinner of local foods, more American pop music and then an amazing performance of traditional dance.  Not only were the performers great, but the number of costume changes they managed to pull off in no time flat was amazing.  Two of the cruisers are former dance instructors and they were totally impressed so you can imagine how good the performers were.

Malaysian Riverdance!   Costume 1

The ladies were all very lovely, smiled throughout the entire performance and had incredible stamina to keep it up for several numbers.

More running and jumping and a whole new costume…

There were maybe a dozen men and women, though at times it seemed like hundreds as they twirled around the stage and changed from costume to costume.

The two “pop” singers and Jack.  Jack belongs to Leanne and Greg on Keshi.  Jack is about 3, I think, since we met him last year during Sail Indonesia and he was 2 ½ then.  Actually, Greg, Leanne and Jack were the very first people we met when we joined the Sail Indonesia.  Jack takes part in most of the performances.  He even did a solo of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and wasn’t half bad.   Many of the cruisers on Sail Malaysia also took part in Sail Indonesia, our first rally.  Jack is definitely the youngest cruiser on the rally.

Ruth Johnson

DoraMac

Hi Everyone,

We have officially joined up with Sail Malaysia.  We left Tioman Island 2:45 AM May 30^th and arrived here in Kuantan May 31^st 2:45 PM after a passage of about 75 miles.  We passed through one storm that dropped our visibility but didn’t generate waves so it wasn’t too bad (read that scary.)  We were the 2nd boat to arrive; usually we are one of the last since we always seem to be playing catch up at these rallies.  Because it’s better to arrive at an anchorage in daylight we plan our passages to arrive before dusk at 6:30 pm.  We are still near the Equator so have 12 hours of daylight and dark.  Leaving an anchorage at night isn’t so problematic because you are familiar with it and have laid down a track on the chart plotter to follow out from the anchorage.  New anchorages are unknown so better to enter in the light of day.

Yesterday we took a taxi into the city to the Megamall.  We found a DiGi store where we can buy minutes for our 3LG phone which will provide Internet access on the boat.  We used it in the Philippines with lots of success and in Indonesia with little success (read that as good at times and terrible most of the time.)  Service runs from the 1^st to last day of the month so we didn’t buy the service yesterday since it was May 31^st and the DiGi guy was afraid that it wouldn’t carry over if we bought it yesterday so we will return this morning.  It costs about $45 US for unlimited service; we’ll try it for a month.  As long as we have cell towers nearby, it should work.

Our anchorage, officially called Teluk Chempedak, is a bit rolly but quite nice.  There is a lovely beach and several small eating places along with a Hyatt resort hotel.  It is a 10 minute taxi ride to Kuantan, which is the capital city of Pahang, the largest state on Peninsula Malaysia (East Malaysia) .  (West Malaysia is located on the island of Borneo and we will go there too.)

Yesterday evening we met on the beach for a welcoming reception.

Any time you go to shore you take your dinghy and most of the time you just leave them on the beach.  If your anchor holds they will be there when you return.  No one bothers them.

On the beach we found cruising friends  Craig and Lynne from Solan, Margaret and Doug from Tonic, Elizabeth and Patrick from Labarque,  Greg, Leanne and small Jack from Keshi.  The welcoming event began almost immediately.  We were given Pahang hats.  There were short speeches from local officials and from Sail Malaysia organizers.  There was a great band playing wonderful American popular songs, and a buffet of local dishes.  A group in black T shirts with Marshall written in white letters seemed to be helping out and joined in the meal.  I told someone that they reminded me of a motorcycle “gang.”   She pointed to the motorcycles parked on the plaza and said they were a motorcycle “group.”  Randal thinks the group’s name is Marshall.

The Marshalls….

Young men led off the festivities with a martial arts demonstration.

They were accompanied by a group of musicians playing traditional instruments.

We were invited up to the plaza area and given coconut milk; I’m getting used to it.

Our new hats, coconut drinks and bottled water.  We are all at the buffet table loading up our plates!

Chicken on skewers, rice, fish, leaf-wrapped meat, cucumber salad and a rolled piece of bread.

All quite good.

While we ate the band played, Country Roads, Hotel California, some Credence Clearwater music… and they were very good.

And cruisers danced….

And checked out the Marshalls’ motorcycles.

It was a lovely evening.  Today we’ll return to the Mall and take care of the phone/computer set up.  At 3 pm we will join with the other cruisers for today’s rally event.  We will meet on the beach at 3pm.  Buses will take us to a local museum and then to a dinner.   The sun is shining and all seems well.

Ruth Johnson

Doramac

Two little girls in pink.  The one on the left is the 5 year old daughter of Sazli, one of our Sail Malaysia organizers.

This anchorage is a beach and resort area so there were lots of people around all day Sunday, enjoying the beach and food stands.  Many of them came over to watch our festivities too which is always nice.