Rebak Marina,
20 February 2007 | Langkawi, Malaysia
Malc

Saturday 24th February 2007
Back in our own lovely cabin, John and Pat had it for their visit,.
We had a very easy day, moved the boat to its long term dock, as I don't think we shall be doing any more sailing this season.
We shall do some land travel in Malaysia, and also look for some interesting ways to get home over land, maybe by train trough China, Mongolia, Russia .and Europe.
Had lunch on board, and will now start finishing the jobs to do list, and start getting the boat ready for at least a nine month lay up, in the water, which we both feel reasonably happy with..
We both went for a swim, late afternoon, followed by a snack dinner.
Sunday 25th February 2007
We heard from John today that Lindys Mum has been in hospital for the last two weeks, after taking a fall in her flat. She has been fully checked over, and is psychically fine, but she is no longer capably of looking after her self.
She have now decided to go home early, and not do the land travel at this time.
Monday 26th February 2007
Hired a car with Mike and Tracy, Seadrive, we are buying a new computer , and Mike said he would set it up with all the goodies, including the new Maxsea 11, plus the new updated charts. He also said he would get every thing from the old computer on to the new one.
We got the new computer for 3000 ringitt's, £430, this was with increasing the memory Ram by double, we also increased the memory in the old computer.
We brought every thing we needed, for the boat lay up, checking the list carefully, as being on an Island, we need to get the ferry to the main land , the hirer a car to get to town.
We got everything, including wire mesh to fit over the saloon hatch, as it will be left open, so we can run the air conditioning, whilst we are away.
Had lunch out at the restaurant at the Paddy field, then got the1600 hour ferry back to Rebak Island.
Tuesday 27th February 2007
Started to get the boat ready for laying up, Mike is busy setting up the new computer, so haven had any time to even touch it.
Mike booked our flights for us via the internet, and also hotels in KL, where we shall stay for two nights, one in the city centre, and the other by the airport.
We leave Langkawi on the 6th, and leave KL on the Thursday the 8th.
Wednesday 28th February 2007
Still busy getting boat ready for laying up, we where getting the long tern dock lines ready, when the hard stand manager can by, and indicated that there may be a chance of going on the hard stand. Although we were quite happy to leave it in the water, we both said, if we had the chance to go on the hard, we would prefer it, so will pursue this further.
Thursday 1st March 2007
Still laying up the boat, went to see the hard stand manager, Hamid, and asked him if he was serious about us going on the hard, because they have not been taking long term boats up as they are having some work done in the area.
He said he has had a word with the Marina manager, Resel, and said he could find space of us, but Ressal had disagreed, and suggested that I should go and see him.
So tomorrow evening, the management are throwing a party for the yachty, so that will be my chance to see them.
Friday 2nd March 2007
Still in the process of laying the boat up, that evening at 1900 hours, we went to the cocktail party at the marina lounge, and was able to talk with Russel, and after lengthy discussions, the final decision seemed to rest with Hamid, who I knew wanted us to be on the hard.
Left it there, and said I would meet Ressel at the office tomorrow At 0900 hours.
Saturday 3rd March 2007
Met Mike up at the hard stand café at 0800 hours, he had been working on my computer from 0500 hours, he has re-set all the Ipod music and photo's, this guy is amazing. We are setting up a new email provider, Yarhoo, which we did, new address is yachtmrbean@yahoo.co.uk and he also got my Zap email working again, so we can now email again.
Rezel arrived at 0900 hours, and it seemed he was reluctant to give the word, and Hamid had not arrived, another issue was that the tyre's on the travel lift are being changed today, so the lift wil be out of commission till after we have left, so this is the last chance.
Mike and I were giving Rezel and bit of barracking, whilst he was having coffee with his men, when suddenly he said, can you be ready by 0930 hours, it was now 0915 hours, I said yes , and shot back to the boat.
On the way, I booked us into the resort of the three remaining nights, then once back on the boat, left all are going home luggage on the dock, so they could take it to our room.
Had to take all the bow cover down to give us room to throw lines, and some of the stern, removed all the heavy duty lines, and was at the lift up dock by 0945 hours.
Lift out was professionally managed, we were a little concerned that at one tyre was very, very worn, but these tyres are the same as used by Boring 747's, so they can take some stick.
All went well, and Mr Bean is now in her new home, which is very nice, right at the end of the hard stand, away from were all the work is done, so should be quite clean.
After settling Mr Bean, we came back to are room at about 1400 hours, had a bath, first for a long time, always a treat.
Sunday 4th March 2007
I got up at 0500 hours, and took the long walk to the boat, I painted the two metal diesel tank support bars, that had badly rusted. For the last two days, I had strayed them with rust converter, after wire brushing all the loose rust away, this stuff is amazing, after 24 hours it turns the rust into a black solid, ready for painting.
I then did some more laying up, before meeting Lindy for the lovely resort buffet breakfast at 0930 hours, after that, went back to the boat, repositioned the air conditioning, set the timer to turn that and the fan on at 1700 to 2000 hours each day, this will hopefully take the moisture from the boat, and stop mold.
Went back to the room at 1500 hours, had a rest, then I went back to the boat at 1700 hours, to check if the air conditioning had come on, which it had. I painted the metal bars again, and now every thing is has done, tomorrow we are having a skirt put around the top sides to stop the paint fading.
Monday 5th March 2007
Got up and had breakfast, Lindy went over to the mainland by the ferry, with Tracy and Maggie, whilst I arranged a special buffet dinner, for our going away party. I got Roni, the manager to give us a discounted price of 30 Ringgit, under £5 per head, and drinks at happy hour prices all night.
I had to get a minimum of 30 people, so I had to got around the marina to get a few more people, apart from the hard core rally yachties that I knew would come, with inviting, at our own expense, Hamid, the hand stand manager, Rizzle, the marina manager and his deputy Mozel and Alf and Karen, the guys that are keeping an eye on our boat we were up to over 30, so were able to give the go ahead to the restaurant.
In between organising the party, I had spoken to Alf and Karen, off Do Be Do, they do boat watches, and I have arranged them to run the engine once a month, check the air conditioning and timer is working , oil the teak decks, and check every thing after heavy rain and wind. We have left a 1000 ringet, £145, for them to pay them selves as they do the work, they charge 90 ringet per hour, £13.
Lindy got back at 1400 hours, and I had just got back from the boat, and had a rest of a couple of hours. Later I went back to the boat, it takes a while, it's a fair old walk, to take the bino's and some books as we seemed to have far to much luggage weight.
After I had left, Hamid had hung the netting hung around the top sides.
At 1800 hours, we went to the bar, and had some drinks, and around 1930 hours, we moved over to the restaurant, and the buffet was magnificent, very well received by all, and I was thanked by all for organising the bash, it ended up with over 40 people turning up.
Rob, from Gambori, got up later and made a lovely speech, pointing out that this was the parting of the ways for all of us, us we are all going our separate ways.
And to our surprise, Hamid got up and thanked us for the invite, he is normally very quiet, and I responded, in the my normally awkward way, not wanting to be in the spot light, as I had that afternoon, ran the beard trimmer over my head, and made a complete mess of it, but it gave a few people a laugh.
Tuesday 6th March 2006
Went over to the boat at 0730 hours, to give a last check, which was just as well as the electric cable had been pulled out of the socket by Hamid's men, when putting up the netting, so I secured the cable better.
We had had breakfast, checked out, and was on the 0900 hour ferry with Mike and Tracy, who are taking us to the airport, we have really got on very well with these guys, and we made a rough plan with them to England, and us all, getting the train back to Langkawi in October, we will see!
We got into Kuala Lumper airport at 1345 hours, left our luggage at the airport, and took a taxi to the city, about 30 miles away, it cost 120 ringet, £18.
We checked in to the Marriot Hotel, right in the centre of the shopping district, then went exploring, I brought some prescription glasses, 2000 ringit, £280, quite expense, but I think very good quality, and would be a lot dearer in England.
After a rest and a bath, we went and had a meal at a Chinese meal, which was OK, had a little walk outside, but had to cut it short, as Lindy's high heels where hurting her.
Wednesday 7th March 2007
Went to the sixth floor for breakfast around the pool area, it was a first class meal, with freshly baked bread and croissants, as well as all the normal stuff.
From there, we checked out, leaving our luggage at the hotel, and then going to the malls to find some computer gear.
We checked out a DVD internal disk burner, and found one that would fit into the lap top, for 210 ringit, £30, but on reflection it might be better to keep it separate and get an external one, so that it can be used for all are computers, costing 240 ringit, £35, we will think about that, and buy later.
From there, we went to another mall, and bought a docking bay for the Ipod, and we will be able to play it through the home sound system.
From there, we went back to the hotel, and I stayed in the lobby playing with the computer, whilst Lindy went off shopping, in the Hotel mall.
Met up again at 1400 hours, phoned our taxi, so pick us up at 1530 hours, then went and had a delicious meal at Shoods, a restaurant in the hotel complex
The taxi took us to the Hotel airport, The Pan Pacific, which was not a patch on the other one, but very convenient for the flight in the morning, as we need to check in at 0815 hours, and with the traffic from the City, it would have meant leaving very early in the morning.
Had dinner in one of the hotels restaurants, then to bed, ordering a 0630 hour alarm call.
Thursday 8th March 2007
We were both up by 0700 hours, and was leaving the hotel by 0800 hours, it was just a free 5 minute buggy ride to the airport, found level 5, rang to have our luggage bought to us, and to both our amazements, it appeared.
Checking in was quick and easy, due to flying business class, our luggage weighed 80 kilo's, we where allowed 30 each, but they never said a word, just like the one from Langkawi.
As they were over weight, the luggage had to be sent to another area, a us to escort them, which was fine, but some where during that period, Lindy lost her passport.
It was not until we had got to the first control point, that Lindy realized that it was missing, so we had to go back to the check in , and ask if it had been left there, it wasn't there, we really did not know what to do, when over the speakers, can an announcement, asking Lindy to go to a check in, we did and they handed her, her passport, we were very relieved, and proceeded to head for the business class lounge.
We had breakfast with champagne, there, Lindy did some shopping, whilst I stayed I the lounge, and used my computer to send emails.
25 minutes before take off, it was announced that we board the plane, and we went straight on, with no waiting at all.
The business class area was very push, with seats that allow one to lay completely flat , it even massaged your back for 10 minutes, at a push of a button.
The flight to Heathrow took 13 hours, and was delightful, good French Champagne , excellent wines, and good food, and movies on demand, all making a very pleasant flight.
We arrived at 0415 hours, local time, where out of the plane , through passport control, the luggage was waiting for us, straight thought customs, all taking about 15 minutes, Darren and Ben were waiting for us with our GTI, brilliant