Danga Bay, Johor Bahru to Penang.
30 November 2012
Photo: Murugan statue, Batu Caves, Kuala Lumpur
Time to move on. We left Danga Bay at high tide on 7th November and motored 33nm to Pulau Pisang Island passing the myriad of ships anchored off Singapore and Malaysia and motoring up and down the shipping channel. The shipping channel is like State Highway 1 for shipping, with a continuous line of ships of all shapes and sizes. Alongside the shipping channel is another for the tugs and barges, again not as many but enough to keep you vigilant. After a quiet afternoon and evening we left at 05:30 the following morning, in the dark, and motored or motor sailed, avoiding fishing nets, alongside the shipping lane, 68nm to Pulau Besar, anchoring at 15:30. Up early the next day and a motor sail to Port Dickson Marina, the next stop on the rally of West Malaysia.
Port Dickson Marina was a big step up from Danga Bay. Part of a resort complex, there was a hotel, dining room, great swimming pool, toilets, shower, laundry service, bar and a uniformed security guard who opened and closed the gate at the end of the pier for you. The complex has been built in colonial English style and is 14 years old, unfortunately the initial berth we were allocated was on one of the newer piers and did not have power, we spoke to the manager re our 240v freezer system and our reluctance to run the generator in a marina and he allocated us another berth with power. From Port Dickson we did two organised tours with Sail Malaysia. The first was to Malaka, an old port town founded in the 14th century and occupied by the Portuguese, Dutch, Chinese and English. Malaysia has 14 states and Malaka is one of them. We enjoyed browsing the old shops along Jonkers Walk, many of them art and craft stores selling ceramic pictures, leather goods, hand woven cloth, rugs, bags etc. One of the shops makes shoes for the Chinese bound feet, a practice that is now banned in China, and when you see the size of the tiny shoes and pictures of the deformed feet of women, you can understand why. After lunch we looked at the remains of the fort, and walked around the renovated Portuguese district. We did not know what to expect of Malaka, but it is a town rich in history and fascinating to walk around.
Our next trip was to Kuala Lumpur in Selangor state. Kuala Lumpur or as it is known, KL, means "muddy estuary" and a muddy river runs through the city. Our first stop was at the Batu Caves, limestone caves that also have a strong religious significance to the local Hindu population as evidenced by the temples and shrines within the caves. At the entrance to the caves is the tallest Murugan statue, 43m high, in the world, it certainly looked impressive being 'gold' in colour, to enter the caves you walk up 272 steep steps, a challenge for some. Next stop was the Petronas twin towers, every bit as impressive in real life as the pictures. We had lunch in the mall and then walked to KL Tower, taller than the Petronas but not as impressive. Then it was onto the War Memorial, Sultans Palace and Independent Square; Malaysia raised its own flag in Independence Square on 31st August 1957. Some of the older architecture in KL is wonderful, but the emphasis seems to be on bigger and newer buildings. From Independent Square we went to China Town for a walk around and dinner. As we were sitting having dinner at a local food stall, suddenly all the market traders started taking down their covers, removing tables and standing around. We thought it was due to rain, but then a police van drove past, apparently the market traders were encroaching over the boundaries of their leases, as soon as the van passed, the covers, tables etc were put back out again.
After a final swim in the pool, drinks for Happy Hour and dinner, it was time to leave on Friday motor sailing 42nm to Port Klang, anchoring in the river just before the main port entrance. The following morning, woken by a large ship entering the river, we left with the current behind us and a few thunder storms and sailed or motor sailed 59nm to a roadstead anchorage. Unusually for the west coast of Malaysia at this time of year, there was a moderated westerly swell which made for a very uncomfortable night. Therefore early next morning, making the most of the northerly current, we motor sailed 34nm and anchored on the east coast of Pankor Island, opposite the yacht club. Listening on the radio we heard that getting into the marina at Pangkor required a half or high tide for any vessel with more than 1.5m keel depth, we decided to contact the marina and see if we could go in the following morning on high tide at 07:20am, no problem. The following morning found us securely in the marina and ready to explore Pangkor. We spent the remainder of the week provisioning and visiting the various cafes and restaurants, it is cheaper to eat out than cook a meal on the boat. On Thursday the boys decided to have a hardware shop morning, so they took the ferry across to Pangkor Island where they knew there we several, the girls had a morning in the local mall. Friday evening was the welcome dinner, a wonderful Chinese/Malay meal where the beer flowed freely and the food was plentiful. We tried several new fruits; mangosteen, dragons' eyes and rambuttan, all were lovely; the rambuttan and devils eyes are similar to lichees. The evening ended with us, Steve and Anne, Recluse, Juanita and Mike, Keris and Ruth, Island Sonata, walking along the waterfront to a coffee stall. A lovely evening; James, the Operations Director at Pangkor Marina is a wonderful host, nothing is too much trouble for him, he has ensured all issues are resolved and anyone wanting assistance to fix items has been put into contact with the appropriate trades' people.
Sunday was a long day, an organised tour to the Cameron Highlands; we left the marina at 07:00 arriving back at 23:00. The Cameron Highlands form the backbone between west and east Malaysia and are a welcome respite to the heat and humidity in the lower regions, with temperatures ranging from 10 - 20 degrees. The Cameron Highlands is lush, thick jungle which in the depths of the jungle has elephants and tigers. It is very popular with tourists and locals and unfortunately it was school holidays and a weekend, the traffic was log jammed in the main villages, of which there are 4. We visited a Rose Garden followed by a tea plantation and watched the process for taking the leaves from the bushes, crushing, sorting, drying and fermenting them. The tea plantation hillsides were almost manicured in appearance, very neat. For the drive up to the plantation we had to change from the coach to two smaller school buses as the coach could not drive the winding hillside track, the school buses had enough problems. Lunch was in Tanah Rata followed by a visit to a Butterfly and insect garden, then onto a market garden for fruit and vege shopping. The Cameron Highlands is a big market garden area with acres of market gardens, most in covered, almost green house type structures to protect the fruit, mainly strawberries, from the daily tropical rainstorms. After that we visited a local Orangun Asti (jungle people) village and a waterfall before dinner and the trip back to the marina.
Monday we toured Pangkor Island, visiting temples, one with a mini Great Wall of China built by the locals, a ship building yard and fish factory. Fishing is one of the main occupations; there are 3 main types of commercial fishing boats, a trawler, (does not have the viewing tower) anchovy and tuna boat. We had noticed the boats were all yellow in colour whereas ones we had seen further south were red. James told us the colour denotes the area the boats can fish in, therefore we should not see any red fishing boats in the Pangkor area. The tour ended with another great meal and some shopping. We arrived back at the marina, paid the bill and left to anchor outside as we planned to leave early Tuesday 27th November and the high tide was during the early morning. However, once the anchor was down and we went to switch the engine off, the engine stop would not work and we couldn't turn it off. So back into the marina, the electrician came down to the boat and after half an hour discovered that when they had been on the boat a couple of days previously to look at a charging problem with the generator, they must have inadvertently trodden on a wire and pulled it apart, the wire that went to the engine stop. An easy fix and we were back up and running although we decided to stay the night in the marina and leave early on Tuesday. We did leave early Tuesday 04:15 to ensure we had enough water; we anchored again outside the marina and left for Palau Talang at 07:30, making the most of the current for the 12nm trip.
28th November an early start 05:40 for the motor sail to Penang: anchoring at 13:50. At one point we saw 40+ trawlers all around us, and by the look of them they were all bringing in reasonable sized catches. We will spend a few days here before moving on to our final stop in the rally, Langkawi.