Category Archives: Circumnavigation
We’re on our way to Malaysian Borneo
Puteri marina from the Traders hotel
Monday morning 16th June we were up early because there were lots of last minute things to do. Turned the instruments on – no depth! Can’t go without a depth sounder; no speed either. Bill had to get the transducer interface box out from behind the panel again to investigate. It turned out to be a locking collar on the cable had come lose because Yap hadn’t tightened it properly – naughty Yap. Bill got it sorted and we continued with our jobs. Bill wanted to do an oil change as we anticipate lots of motoring on the next part of our adventure. That involves moving the stairs and lots of swearing at inanimate objects to curse them into submission! I beat a hasty retreat to the gym with Jackie for one last time. At 11am they came to collect us in the marina golf buggy to take us all of 300metres to immigration to check out. I don’t think they realise that we are able to walk but it helps them to justify the charge of £10 for doing the check out paperwork that consists of writing out the port clearance and stamping the passports.
Goodbye Bill, Zdenka, Jack, Jackie and Jake
At 2pm we said a final sad goodbye to Hokele’a, Soltice and Kite then left Puteri harbour, it was almost exactly 5 weeks to when we had arrived and 8 weeks all but 2 days since the lightening strike. It was like travelling with a new baby with all the new noises Camomile was making. The VHF was beeping every 4 hours because Bill hasn’t set up the NMEA connection with the GPS yet and the AIS kept peeping because there were so many ‘dangerous targets’ around. We felt quite nervous. We were also going really slowly and Bill decided the prop must be covered in barnacles; he couldn’t get any speed out of the engine.
The island of Singapore
This is a screen shot of the chartplotter. The black line is the course we took. The first ‘current track’ is Puteri harbour and the first red cross is the waypoint for our first anchorage. We had decided we wouldn’t go far on the first day and just anchored at the bottom of the Johor straits, which took us 4 hours. It was strange to be out of the marina after such a long time. We were also now without the air conditioning and it was hot hot hot.
Jets flying over us
The next morning we left early and by 9am we were sailing. We were over flown about a dozen times by the Singapore air force, I think they had come out to see us off. There had been regular flyovers when we were in Puteri but usually only 2 or 3 at a time. Today they had all 6 out. 5 were in formation and we think the sixth was probably training them, any way they looked pretty spectacular.
Going round again
We sailed down to Raffles lighthouse, putting in a tack along the way as the track shows (we do sail properly sometimes!) so we didn’t hit the little island. We were so lucky with the shipping because just past Raffles lighthouse we crossed the Singapore shipping lanes, which are normally incredibly busy, sailing, practically unheard of. The next set of 4 red crosses is where we stopped for an hour among some islands so Bill could go over the side to scrape the barnacles off the prop. It really needed it and he said the hull was quite bad too but for now just scraping the prop made such a difference.
The gap
This next screen shot is a smaller scale and from side to side the distance is about 500 miles, don’t take any notice of the numbers along the top, they were Camomile’s current position at the time I took the photos. So the red cross that’s sitting on top of the word ‘Singapore’ was how far we got at the end of our second day out. We had made the decision not to stop for the night because there had been some sea robberies among the islands on the bottom left of the picture, which is northern Indonesia. So we kept going. We spent the next 60 hours, 3 nights and 2 days, going backwards. Not literally, of course, just travelling eastwards towards the sunrise. The first night there was a bit of lightning which lit up the sea in front of us but hopefully we’ve left that behind now. Bill used his time to finish some of the jobs like interfacing the NMEA to the VHF and SSB radios and working out how to turn the alarms off. The new system is very user friendly and we are both learning how things work and teaching each other. After the red cross in the middle, which was marking a tiny island, the wind was much more constant and we put up the cruising chute. Camomile was sailing really well and we had much better winds than we were expecting.
Dolphins
We were visited by a wonderful pod of dolphins half way across. As usual when you get the camera out they become shy but I managed to get a few photos of bits of fins and tails.
Dolphins again
Beautiful sunset
When we reached the first red cross on the right hand side at the tip of the point on Friday morning the wind died. We spent the day motoring to the island at the last red cross on the right hand side. It was Friday evening, the crossing had taken us 4 days and we arrived just in time for sundowners while we watched the most beautiful sunset over the island.
Just as beautiful in the day
Our position is
01º46.8 N
110º10.15 E
Pulau Satang Besar.
It looked equally attractive in the day and as the water was so inviting Bill put his wet suit on and spent about an hour in the water under the boat scraping off the barnacles. Lucky he had his wet suit on because there were quite a lot of jellyfish in there. My much-desired swim was not to be.
Camomile back in the islands again, where she likes to be.
Camomile on the Mend week 5
The autopilot hydraulic ram
So the auto pilot hydraulic ram turned up on Monday. Bill spent the morning finishing off some wiring for the crossover DC switch in the radar arch to get his horns working (I’m not going to begin to explain that). After lunch Ally turned up with the hydraulic ram, which she had extracted from the Singapore customs. When we opened the box we kind of understood why they had held it. The ram was skilfully attached to a backing plate to prevent it from moving in transit, it had come from the UK, but on an x-ray the profile probably looked like a gun. Secondly it had a little container of hydraulic fluid attached to it and the customs officials, bless them, had drained it. Why? Who knows but it meant we needed more before we could test it.
Trying the mounting unit for size
This is how the unit fits onto the mystery object.
It needed some fine-tuning!
Fine tuning
The base of the ram in place
The hydraulic ram hull mounting reinforcement, Bill’s official name for the mystery object, was fibre glassed in place by the end of the day Monday. Bill spent the next 2 days mounting the ram and wiring it up. The main mounting is under the port locker next to the bed with the ram going through a hole in the bulkhead ready for attaching to the rudder quadrant.
The ram ready for attachment to the quadrant
It couldn’t be tested without the hydraulic fluid and I spent 2 afternoons, on the bus, going to the next two towns carrying my little empty bottle trying to buy hydraulic fluid with an ISO of 10 – without speaking the language! Who says I have nothing to do all day? Unfortunately I failed. I managed to get cable ties, easy, and electrical terminal blocks, little harder, but not hydraulic fluid. I could have bought a 15 litre bucket of it but we only need 2 or 3 litres and they wouldn’t sell me a little bit. So I came home disappointed. We had a further disappointment when we heard the TV coming from the UK had been held up until Monday but at least that gave us a focus to work towards – leave on Monday.
Meanwhile Bill had sent another email to Aquila asking again about the VHF and the SSB. To give Aquila their due they always respond well to emails. Ally assured us the new VHF was on it’s way from Australia and would be here before the weekend, and they had bought a new Icom SSB from their supplier and installed it in their office to test ours, (apparently their supplier maintained it didn’t have a warranty because they don’t break) and they had our SSB head working! She also had hydraulic fluid. As our parts for the fridge had also arrived with the refrigeration company in Singapore we decided another trip to Singapore was in order.
Busy streets of Singapore
Thursday morning we got on the bus and made our way across the border, stopping to get a stamp in our passport either side. We went to the fridge company first to pick that up and got all the parts in our backpacks. After lunch we made our way to Aquila’s office. They are based in an unusual building in that it’s a vertical industrial estate. Singapore is very short of space so they have built many light industrial units vertically, it’s a brilliant idea. Apparently there was a service area around the back with a multi story ramp that delivery vehicles can drive up and there’s a large service lift on the inside. Aquila has a showroom/storage area on the 7th floor with a large office at the back of their unit. Very practical. Any way we arrived and had a demonstration on the SSB and sure enough it was working – brilliant. We made our way home – stopping to get two more passport stamps – and refitted the SSB head to try it. Turned it on …. same problem, GGGRRRR. Another email.
The new TV with two of my cushion collection
Friday 13th was it going to be our lucky day? Aquila were due to come over in the afternoon and commission the new instruments. The first good news of the day was that Ally had our VHF radio from Australia. The second good thing was the little TV turned up from the UK early, hooray nothing to stop us going now except a couple of radios! Then we heard Aquila were delayed and wouldn’t be over until late afternoon. 2 steps forward 1 step back all the time.
Bill made an attachment to go on the back of the TV so it could sit were the old one had been.
Bill had arranged for Aquila to bring over the new SSB system they had bought to check our system, which meant my sewing machine cupboard had to emptied – again.
We waited all day for Aquila to arrive and just as we were giving up hope of them coming, they arrived at 4.30. There had been a big accident on the causeway bridge causing gridlock in the area. Sylvester and Allyson had come along with Raja the SSB technician, the new SSB set and our VHF. While Sylvester started working on his laptop downloading the latest firmware for the sonar unit and configuring the new system, Raja started swapping out different parts of the SSB. Their head didn’t work on our system either so the next thing to check was the transceiver. Success, suddenly the system was working. So the new SSB set was fitted to Camomile and Aquila took away the non-working set to argue with Icom that it was faulty. We now had on board everything we had ordered, Friday the 13th turned out to be a good day.
Bill squeezing in cupboards again
Saturday Bill spent all day fitting the VHF and it’s speakers. Again wires and connectors were bigger making life difficult for poor Bill.
SSB transceiver on the left VHF on the right
The main VHF unit had to be fitted next to the SSB transceiver because it wouldn’t fit in its old place.
VHF speaker above the SSB speaker
All the wires neatly tucked away
The speakers for the SSB and the VHF are now together and the wires are encased in some conduit because they wouldn’t go behind the ceiling panels.
Sunday was clean up day trying to put everything back where it belonged. I scrubbed the outside decks because as there’s a building site next door the boats are all covered in dust. No photographic evidence I’m afraid!
Bill putting his tools away
Bill spent time putting his tools away including oiling his big vice.
Bill oiling his Grandpa’s big vice
All back to normal
The bikes back in place and the workshop all back to normal.
The forepeak all clear
The cupboards back in place over our bed
The new instruments all configured
The completed navigation station
And this is the chart table, looking like nothing happened, with Bill’s new computer and the new instruments. It’s worth noting that in the middle of the instrument on the bridge head is our faithful, stand alone Garmin that survived the strike and still works. It displays our trip figure and has a very useful snails trail, which we often use, so it was refitted among the new posh instruments. It looks very old fashioned but it works.
Some of the old instruments
The final use for the carrier box is storage for all the old bits which I managed to make Bill part with on the basis they don’t work!
A last drink with our friends
At the end of the day we met the crews of Soltice, Hokele’a, Totem, Utopia II and Kite for a farewell drink. Soltice, Hokele’a and Kite are heading across the Indian ocean this year so we won’t see them until we get to the US some time in the future.
Jackie and I
It will be sad to say goodbye to Jackie after our gym sessions together. Utopia II and Totem went back to their boats but the rest of us had a final meal together. Tomorrow we head out of here.
Bill (Soltice), Jackie, Sue, Jack, Jake, Jamie, Bill, Behan and Zdenka
Camomile on the Mend week 3
Palm trees at Puteri harbour
Life continues in Puteri harbour, it’s 32C most days and over 80% humidity so we are lucky to have out little air conditioning unit. It’s over a month now since the lightening strike but we don’t seem to have got very far. Everything is on order and we just have to wait.
Housing for the mystery object
Bill has been doing some more fibre glassing over the weekend. This is where the mystery object sits; it’s under one of the lockers in our bedroom. Maybe a clue.
Monday afternoon we went to the dentist, it was amazingly cheap. I had a check up and small filling, Bill had a check up, x-ray and fairly big filling with an injection plus they gave Bill about 3 lots of drugs in case of infection, pain killers, etc and the whole lot came to £86, we couldn’t believe it. Bill said his filling was painless too. Geoff the surveyor came in the late afternoon to see how things were going, and probably to check that we had spent the insurance money properly!
Our box arrived from the UK
Tuesday was delivery day. Firstly a delivery came from Singapore with the first of the new instruments. We were just sorting that out when a knock on the side came from the marina boys with our UK parcel that my brother-in-law Alan had sent over for us. It was like Christmas opening all the boxes. Bill certainly has some work to do now.
Lots of goodies inside
All stacked in the fore peak ready for fitting
I stacked all the boxes in the forepeak along with the cupboards that have been taken out of our cabin.
Nice new chartplotter
Not connected yet.
The LED’s were fitted first in the saloon; they were an easy job. Then Bill spent the rest of the day fitting the new C95 chart plotter and AIS. The chart plotter looks smaller than our old one but in fact the screen is the same size.
The circuit breaker panel with it’s red lights all repaired
Wednesday saw Bill starting with a couple of little things, the water gauge and configuring the new anchor windless hand control, both of which had stopped working. The rest of the day was spent working on the circuit breaker panel fitting new red LED’s and replacing the circuit breakers that had blown when the lightening struck. Bill is starting to realise that the wiring is going to take the most time to replace. Everything seems to be bigger, fatter wire, bigger connections, and bigger breakers’; trying to put things in the same place is proving difficult.
Shiny new alternator
Thursday I went off in the marina mini bus to the supermarket for the weekly shop and came back to find Bill had fitted a shiny new alternator. It was finished off on Friday morning along with the replacement smart charger.
Mystery object in place with wires just waiting for new hydralic ram
The rest of Friday, with the boat in chaos, was spent running wires for the new autohelm – which is what the mystery object is for. It’s the base for the new autopilot ram although he can’t go any further until the new unit arrives.
Base of a lock top box
Bill had the fibreglass out again in the afternoon and I discovered one of my lock-top boxes had disappeared!
Making a mould
Saturday morning the housing unit for the new autopilot controls came out of it’s mould.
It was trimmed up
filed and rubbed down
Given an undercoat
The contents of the deck locker spread around the deck
While it was drying we emptied the deck locker, I swear there seems to be more in there each time we do it, so that Bill could spend the day replacing the eberspächer diesel heater. Now I know you’re all going to say what do we need a heater for? Well one day we will return to colder climates when we’ll need it and as it was zapped by the lightening, to be covered by the insurance, it has to be fitted now. The gas alarm was zapped too and the wires for that have to go through the deck locker so Bill lost several pounds in his own personal sauna that day!
The re-wiring starts
No peace for the wicked so Sunday we were busy again firstly reloading the deck locker then Bill spent the day working on wires behind the circuit breaker panel inside Camomile with the air conditioning on which meant various lockers being unloaded and reloaded again as the wires make their way through the boat. The good news this week was that we heard our son James had made it safely down from Mera peak in the Himalayas.
Camomile Slowly on the Mend
Week 1
Camomile in Puteri harbour
Our position at the moment in case you want to look it up on Google maps is
01º25.0 North
103º39.4 East
Puteri Harbour.
So this is where we’ve ended up having booked a pontoon for a month that will take us up to 12th June, hopefully we can get the boat restored in that time. Puteri harbour is only 2 years old being part of the Kota Iskander project which is going to see a development not unlike China’s Shenzhen formed over the next 10 to 15 years.
New shopping complex with Starbucks looking over the marina
A new shopping complex has been built alongside the marina. Already there are a number of restaurants and cafes including a Starbucks so I don’t mind being stuck here for a while. Also our friends Jake and Jackie on Hokele’a, Bill on Soltice and Jack and Zdenka on Kite are on the same pontoon waiting for the season to head south so we aren’t alone. It’s a bit out of the way here but the marina runs a free bus to the big mall at Bukit Indah on Thursday morning and they will take us to the beautiful gym and pool at Ledang on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings so all in all it’s a pretty good place. Better than Danga bay, I’m never going back there.
So where to start? Having dropped Angela off at Singapore airport we went back into the city to Simlin towers to start looking for parts. It soon became obvious that the sort of things Bill needed to repair the boat weren’t going to be available here. We also went out to Changi Sailing club where there were, allegedly, lifting facilities. This consisted of a little wagon capable of lifting up to 10 tons? and a clapped out tractor to tow it, I don’t think so. The only other option at the other end of the scale and the country was Raffles marina, which, apart from costing a fortune, couldn’t fit us in until mid July. So we returned to the boat.
Bill has stripped out the old instruments
On Thursday the company from Singapore that Bill has been talking to, who looked like they would be able to fix the boat, came over to look at the state of the Camomile and quote for the replacement of all the instruments. Bill managed to borrow some fridge parts to get the fridge going again until our new one arrives. Hooray at least we can have a cold beer. Bill spent the rest of the week on the internet researching and ordering parts in the UK and started stripping out the old instruments while I started writing the story of Angela on board. Royal Sun Alliance has agreed to an interim payment so we can get things going. The wheels are slowly turning.
30 Days in Thailand
Leaving Pangkor
This is our blog for Thailand but it takes quite a while to load so I’ve broken it into two parts.
Part 1
After our land travel and Bill doing more boat jobs, it was finally time to leave Pangkor marina on 15th February, Camomile having spent the best part of 4 months there.
Tim and Rebekah with Ophelia on the left and Willow on the right
We sailed gently up the coast stopping in anchorages overnight and then had a few nights in Rebak marina. Here we caught up with our sailing friends Tim and Rebekah, fellow Westerly owners on their Ocean 49, and their lovely twin daughters Ophelia and Willow. We enjoyed some baby squeezing time between lovely languid swims in the resort pool.
After stocking up the boat on the duty free island of Langkawi we checked out of Malaysia on 28th February but will be back here for the start of the Sail Malaysia East rally on 2nd April giving us 30 days for a whistle stop cruise around the Andaman coast of Thailand.
Bill raises the Thailand courtesy flag
Our first anchorage was off Ko Adang in the Ko Tarutao national park. As is our tradition Bill hoisted the Thailand courtesy flag on arrival.
Beautiful anchorage
The island was uninhabited and a great place for picnics on the beach and snorkelling. This was what we had imagined Thailand to be. As I’d bought a new waterproof camera in Langkawi I was anxious to try it out. It felt strange putting it under the water but I managed to get some interesting shots.
Crown of Thorns starfish
Beautiful clams
This starfish, beautiful as it is, is a member of the crown of thorns variety, which destroys the coral. Luckily this was the only one we saw, but it reminded us of reefs visited on our voyage that have been devastated by these creatures. It was a striking specimen.
There were lots of lovely clams, which draw themselves in as you swim near them; the colours were stunning. Difficult to photograph though so I probably need to play around with the cameras settings.
We watched the sun go behind the tiny island
We took pleasure in spending a couple of days there while enjoying sundowners and watching the stunning sunsets before stopping off at Ko Rok Nai for 24 hours to do some more snorkelling. By this point we were getting pressed for time as we needed to get to Phuket to meet James again.
James on board
The official port of entry for Phuket is Chalong bay. We only stopped there long enough to check in, do some shopping and washing and pick up James. Chalong is full of bars with white men of the age 60+ being entertained by girls of between 16 and 25. Some people think it’s ok but I think it’s awful. Some of the older women offer ‘masssssaggge’ but they all looked like Ping Pong from the TV programme ‘Little Britain.’ You had to run the gauntlet trying to get past them walking to and from the boat jetty.
We left Chalong and sailed to a bay on the south west corner of Phuket island called Hat Nai Han and anchored off of the Royal Phuket yacht club only to discover it wasn’t a club but an upmarket hotel and they didn’t have any yacht facilities.
Sailing on up the west coast of Phuket we anchored in Karon bay. Within 10 minutes Camomile became victim to the jet ski brigade. As there wasn’t anyone else anchored in the bay the jet skiers thought it would be good fun to come and have a look at us. After about the 10th jet ski that came whizzing passed us in half an hour it was time to move on again! We continued past Patong bay and Surin bay because through the binoculars all that could be seen were rows and rows of deck chairs literally right across the beach and yet more jet skiers.
Took the dinghy into the waterways
Refuge was finally found at the northern end of Ao Bang Thao, the deckchairs being at the southern end. With only half a dozen boats anchored in the bay we got a peaceful night. At the northern end of the bay a channel led to a very interesting waterway, which was great fun to explore in the dinghy.
This old girl won’t be going very far.
Lovely sunsets
It was very calm with lots of local ‘long tail’ boats up on the side; some wouldn’t be going anywhere any time soon. We all went ashore for a nice beach side meal that evening and watched the sun setting again.
The fishing port of Ngan Yong
The 10th and 11th March found us doing a couple of long hops up the coast to Ngan Yong so that James could spend the day ashore renewing his visa. It’s possible to get a 30 day visa-on-arrival but it can’t be renewed inside the country so then it’s necessary to do a ‘visa run’ to Myanmar (Burma) or Langkawi. If you want to stay longer it’s best to get a 60 day visa before you arrive but James hadn’t and he’d already been in the country 3 weeks. Bill dropped him off at the fishing port where he managed to catch a bus to the border town of Ranong then he took a boat to Kawthoung in Myanmar to get his passport re-stamped.
Sailing out to the Surin islands
Thursday 13th was a lovely sail out to the Surin islands, a group of islands with pockets of white sand beaches and rocky granite headlands creating some nice little anchorages. The water was really clear enabling us to see the wonderful marine life. We picked up a buoy under a headland on the northern island of Ko Surin Neua and joined a group of cruisers on the beach for sundowners.
A beautiful scene …….
The next day started with a dinghy ride around to the Park Headquarters where there’s a café with basic but nicely cooked food.
….. until someone stuck their face in it!!
Bill loves Magnums
Stunning views
After lunch we walked around the bay while looking out at some stunning views; more real Thailand.
Panorama of the bay
James with his Mum
More coral
James free diving
and Bill
2 metre Moral eel
We got in the water for a snorkel and found lots and lots of fish including a 2 metre long Moray Eel.
‘Long tails’ anchored
That night the wind got up and was licking round the headland making us roll really badly. As none of us could sleep Bill decided to drop the buoy and make a night sail to the Similian islands some 55 miles south. It was a slow sail through the night under main and genoa and once everyone was up in the morning the cruising chute went up. Camomile made good time and by midday had picked up another buoy this time off of island No 4 Ko Miang. It was packed with tourists but fortunately by 3 or 4pm most of them have gone leaving just a handful of campers and the yachties.
Camomile in the beautiful azure water
The island has a very good trail to follow to the top of the hill that afforded stunning views. Camomile looks very comfortable on her buoy in the beautiful blue water.
More islands
Looking to the north you could see the little group of islands that we snorkelled that afternoon.
Climbing back down the hill
That evening a very unseasonable storm blew up from the east with lashing rain and high winds putting us on a lee shore on a very bouncy buoy giving us a nervous night. Fortunately everything held ok but the next morning we decided to leave and motor sailed back to Ao Bang Thao, some 51 miles; not pleasant with wind on the nose most of the way but it felt more secure back at anchor with an off shore wind.
Tuesday 18th we were back in Chalong for more shopping and washing again before leaving to tour Phang Na bay between Phuket island and the mainland but that’s for the next blog.
Finally the old capital of Louang Prabang
View from our hotel
Arrival at the Luang Prabang bus station was reminiscent of the atmosphere at Vientiane and we fought our way past the gaggle of tuktuk drivers until we found one who we thought understood where we wanted to go. We were tuktuk virgins and really enjoyed the ride into the hotel. The wrong hotel. So commenced our second ride where the clerk could not find our Agoda booking. This was because we were in the old Ancient and not the new Ancient hotel. By this time I had twigged that tuktuk drivers can read Lao with its indianesque alphabet but don’t do so well with the English one. So on our third attempt we arrived at the quirky but comfortable Ancient hotel with a very designery bath placed in the bedroom. The location was perfect though and we felt immersed in the local community as we sat on the room’s small roadside balcony. Nice.
Local market
Buying silk scarves
Our first temple Wat Mai
The following day was spent lazily strolling the town researching the many offers available for treks and tours, previewing one of the many temples and was rounded off with an evening meal overlooking the river.
The ornate entrance
Beautiful Buddha in the grounds
Beautiful mong children
Traditional village
The village shop
Difficult to tell the age of this lovely lady
This set us up for our four hour jungle trek starting out at a Mong village where a small ethnic group, of what I understood to be descendants of Genghis Khan’s hoards, showed us some of the techniques used to build their homes out of materials harvested from the jungle. I found the similarities with the Solomon’s striking and wondered at how far the brutal empire had spread its influence.
Trekking through the jungle
The jungle trek was a demanding but not arduous one through ancient but well defined tracks which eventually lead us to a clearing where a simple but tasty lunch was served.
Buddha on the hill at the entrance to the cave
More Buddha inside
Hunger sated our guide lead us up past a golden Buddha statue to a cave mouth and explained that, during the war, this served as home for 200 people and a guerrilla base from which the American forces were harried at night. The cave was large and went back a long way with small Buddhist shrines in various niches but it must have been a dark and unpleasant place when it was occupied by so many people.
The blue hole source of the Kouang Si waterfall
A short walk took us to a “blue hole” spring, source of the Kouang Si waterfall which the track eventually took us to the top of.
Bill dangerously near the edge to get this photo
A rest at the top
From this group of calm pools we could peer over the precipice and watch the water cascade down the hundred or so feet below into a group of small lakes dammed by calcification.
Lots of steps to the bottom
The base of the beautiful Kouang Si falls
The steep track and steps followed the falls to a spot where you could swim if the urge took you to join the crowds who had arrived by bus to avoid the jungle walk.
Beautiful rescued brown bear, love him.
At the lower end of this park stands a small black bear sanctuary where the slightly bored animals are kept in a cluster of well laid out compounds. Not an ideal situation but these rescue cases are better off here than being abused as pets or worse as donors for body parts or even the inhuman practice of keeping them half alive to drain their bile for quack medicines.
Some where in there there’s a path!
As we got up the next morning Sue was fair squeaking with excitement and rightly so as today would realise her little girls dream of meeting and riding an elephant. What she had not been banking on though was the ” medium to challenging” trek that proceeded it. I suppose we should have rumbled it when we arrived at a muddy track by the side of the road, gamely leaped out of the tour minibus to discover that none of the other passengers followed. Just the young guide, all sinew and wirey with a big smile on his face. Did we like walking?
I was allowed one 5 minute sit down.
A gentle hillside transformed itself into better than a 2:1 gradient with a loose covering of leaves and dry gritty earth which was just like skating on a near vertical lake of ball bearings. We both struggled through the thicket of huge bamboo until we had ascended around 400 meters vertically. Without Sigh the guide and Sue’s stubborn sense of purpose I’m sure we would still be on that mountainside.
My reward – an elephant ride
It was the toughest 2 hour ascent we have ever done together bar none but like so many of these things the pain of the memory dissolved on contact with the first of the majestic beasts we had come to find. There were three elephants in the small camp we arrived at and after a short break for lunch we were lead to one which was saddled and mounted her via a raised platform.
The mahout guided her along
Along the shores of the lake
The mahout first lead her and then rode her neck just in front of us as she gently and politely took us on a half hour tour of her domain. Sue, a little disturbed by the rickety double saddle as it pitched and rolled with our steed’s gentle gait was the picture of the happy little girl who had finally got her Jumbo ride.
Stroking her leathery skin
It was a pure magic moment as we descended from the huge animals back and gently stroked her course and leathery skin.
Slow boat across the Mekong
Even the slowboat ride across the Mekong to the Pak Ou cave of 1000 Buddhas that followed could not eclipse this special moment. That evening we returned to the sanctuary of our hotel room utterly exhausted but fulfilled.
It may have been a combination of excessive emotion and effort or just a nasty bug but Sue was poorly during the night so a gentle day inspecting Luang Prabang’s temples or wats was a good follow on for the next morning.
Wat Saen
The old towns UNESCO status is well deserved as its treasure trove of guilded and ornate buildings reveal themselves as you wander through the narrow streets and lanes which, although carrying traffic, are pervaded by a certain sense of tranquility almost leeching out of the fabric of this town with it’s many attendant orange robed monks.
The monastery’s two ornate longboats
It is situated on the confluence of two rivers that almost surround the town, and beneath a temple-topped hill, Luang Prabang is a wonderful patchwork of traditional Lao wooden houses and hints of European architecture; reminders of when Laos was part of the French colony of Indochine. Golden-roofed wats, decorated with mosaics and murals of the life of Buddha, sit under the gaze of wrap-around teak balconies and 19th century shuttered windows. All of this is set against a backdrop of verdant greenery and rugged mountains.
One of the exquisite entrances of Wat Saen
The monks of Wat Saen had already made themselves known to us at 4am each morning when they sounded their call to prayer on a drum situated just behind our otherwise very peaceful hotel. Their Wat was built in 1718 by King Kitsarath with 100 000 stones from the Mekong river and was restored in 1957 commemorating the Buddha’s birth 2500 years earlier. History just coursed through these streets like blood through veins.
Wat Xiang Thong
The wall of this building was made of semi precious stones
Grand Wat Xieng Thong is one of the most important of Lao monasteries and remains a significant monument to the spirit of religion, royalty and traditional art. There are over twenty structures on the grounds including a sim, shrines, pavilions and residences, in addition to its gardens of various flowers, ornamental shrubs and trees.
Funerary carriage hall
The funeral carriage but it was so big it was impossible to get far enough away to photograph it.
Lunch by the river
Lunch was spent in the shade of a tree lined roadside cafe overlooking the Nam Khan river as it approaches from the south east wondering whether it’s spindley bamboo foot bridge was strong enough to survive the wet season’s rain or if it was rebuilt each year when the water receeds.
The Royal palace seen from above
The Royal Palace museum was built in 1904 during the French colonial era for King Sisavang Vong and his family. The site for the palace was chosen so that official visitors to Luang Prabang could disembark from their river voyages directly below the palace and be received there. Crown Prince Savang Vatthana and his family were the last to occupy the grounds. In 1975, the monarchy was overthrown by the communists and the Royal Family were taken to re-education camps. The palace was then converted into a national museum where the interesting and ornate exhibits of weapons, ceremonial garb and gifts from abroad are displayed against an often impressive, imposing “front of house” but, at times, stark private apartments.
The top of That Chomsi
That Chomsi is the monument atop the highest land for many miles around, can be reached by its 328 steps but rewards with a magnificent view of the city below with its many guilded children glinting in the late afternoon sun. I was Watted out.
With “that” coach trip still in mind we had booked a Laos Air return flight to Vientiane. This was £15 vs £65 and 9 hours vs 35 minutes though, more importantly, it was less likely that the pilot would be as manic as the coach driver.
We had a wonderful view of a stunning city.
Camomile is having a rest
Camomile being lifted
Camomile’s position is 04º12.6 north 100º36.1 east she is up on the side at Pangkor marina, Malaysia with Norsa by her side so she won’t be lonely. Norman, Sara, Bill and I are in the UK where the temperature is 20C less than Malaysia!
Bill inspecting the hull after Camomile was lifted
Bill and I have come back to the Uk to celebrate James’s 30th birthday with him and Thomas on 1st November. We hope to go to the WOA SCG AGM on 9th November. The BWR reunion is on 15th/16th November and then we will be heading to Scotland mid December for Christmas with James and back to Malaysia early January. Hopefully we’ll get to see many of our friends and family in between.
Bill is in France with the boys (or should I say young men) for a few days and I’ve been helping my sister’s Angela and Amanda sort out Mum’s bungalow
My UK mobile is 07968 351920 look forward to seeing many of you.
Camomile and Norsa
2nd Week in Indonesia
Mum in July 2011
After hearing the sad news about Mum we sat for a day wondering what to do. I had already told my sisters if Mum passed away while I was in Indonesia I wouldn’t be able to get home but now it had actually happened I wasn’t sure it was the right decision. Our only options were motor to Bali and I could fly home from there, but I wouldn’t be able to get back into the country for a month and it would probably take quite a few days to get there, or continue with our cruise and go home end of October as planned. After a long struggle I decided on the latter. I had flown home for a short visit while we were in Darwin when Mum first became ill and we all feared the worse but she had seemed to be recovering so I returned to Aus but the infection in her heart was too much for her body to cope with. I console myself with knowing I had seen her one last time. I think she would have liked me to continue; she always enjoyed getting our postcards to see where we were. This photo was taken when I went home briefly in 2011 before her heart troubles started.
Bill on the back of the motorbike
Tuesday 6th August we left Kupang with our friends Norman and Sara to head south to the island of Roti. We had a couple of lovely overnight stops before arriving in the town of Ba’a. We landed in the dinghy and were met on shore by a bunch of lads from Sail Indonesia on motorbikes offering us a lift into town. Our first thought was no but life is very slow here and the roads are so bad you can’t go fast if you wanted to so we jumped on. I’m sure our boys would be horrified after I’ve told them so many times not to do the same thing.
Shopping in the market
They took us to the local market where we were able to buy some fresh veggies. The fascination continued with us and everyone wanted their photos taken with us.
Sara with our interpreter
It was useful having an interpreter although I’m sure the prices went up but when you’re only paying a dollar or two we certainly didn’t question them.
The turtle was gone so fast
While walking through the market we noticed a turtle laying on the ground in the sun, at first we thought it was dead but then we realised it was alive. Norman asked what they were going to do with it to which they replied ‘Eat it’. They keep animals alive so they remain fresh but this poor turtle was clearly suffering so Norman asked them how much did they want for it. After some bartering rp200,000 about £14 was agreed. It was carried to the beach and put down onto the sand, as soon as it realised it was free it was scrabbling to get into the sea. A wave picked it up and it was gone so quickly I could only get this photo with it’s little shell just showing in the middle of the picture. Hopefully it will remain free.
Back on the bikes
We jumped back on the bikes and were taken back to the dinghy further down the beach.
Delicious bananas
These are the bananas I bought in the market for rp20,000 about £1.40, they taste so sweet here having only been picked a few days ago. I also managed to get some beans, carrots, spring onions and tomatoes, but no other salad and no apples. I don’t think we’ll see apples for a while.
Norsa being ‘rescued’
Saturday 10th we decided to leave Ba’a and sail around the corner of the island to Nemberala. Unfortunately Norman’s anchor got hooked around a bommie (coral head) and was jammed. We asked our motorbike friends if there were any divers that could come and help. They sent out the local dive rescue, which consisted of a couple of guys in a canoe with a snorkel mask between them! With a lot of shouting forwards and backing after several hours Norsa was free although Bill thinks Norman probably freed her himself but the boys were trying to be very helpful. We arrived at Nemberala just as it was getting dark, which was a bit tricky as we had to pass through a reef but all were safely in by 6.30.
Lots of boats in anchorage
Pretty church
There were quite a few rally boats in the anchorage and the next day we all headed into the village to look around. I found this pretty little church tucked away and this…..
Local petrol station
…is the local petrol station. All of these bottles hold a litre of petrol, just enough for a motorbike tank. It’s decanted from a large drum of petrol usually with the use of funnels and tubes and sometimes while the guy is puffing on a cigarette! I kid you not. These ones have proper lids but we’ve seen them with little bits of rags stuffed into the top. Words like cocktail and Molotov come to mind!
Hut on the beach
We walked along the beach and saw several huts like this that have people living in them. Can’t imagine what it’s like in the rainy season, maybe they live somewhere else then.
Sue having a pedicure
We walked right to the end of the beach and found a lovely resort with a spa, Sara and I treated ourselves to Pedicures.
Happy Hour
We found it was serving cold beers, something of a rarity in these parts as many people don’t have fridges let alone the electricity to power them. As you might expect the other cruisers had also found the place and it became our favourite spot for Happy Hour.
Cheers!
Arriving safely in Kupang
Our position at 9.00 Tuesday 30th July
10º 09.6 south
123º 34.2 east
Kupang harbour
A rickety Indonesian fishing boat
Our 4th day at sea had seen some wind and we sailed with the twizzle rig up all day. Now we had a dilemma because as the passage had been slow our predicted time of arrival was going to be after dark. We could motor, but probably still wouldn’t get there in time, or we could slow the boat down. We opted for the latter. I hate doing that, it seemed crazy to slow ourselves down but the approach to Kupang is through a fairly narrow channel and travelling through after dark would be difficult. We were 20 miles from the entrance at 22.00 with 5 other boats around us. After communicating on the vhf radio we all decided to hove-to for the night. We didn’t have the main up so we just winced the gennies in and let the boat drift. We were still travelling at 1½ kts towards the entrance. Bill had 4 hours sleep then let a bit more sail out. At 6am we proceeded into the channel. There were lots of fishing boats on their way back in with their catch plus lobster pot buoys everywhere so I think we had made a wise decision.
Our first sight of Indonesians was in a fishing boat coming towards us on its way out of the channel to go fishing. It looked very rickety with a tatty sail; I don’t think I would have liked to sail in it.
The Kupang fishing fleet
This is the local fishing fleet a little way away from Kupang.
Bill hoisting the Indonesian courtesy flag plus the ‘Q’ flag
When we arrived Bill hoisted our Indonesian courtesy flag along with our yellow ‘Q’ flag to await the customs. During the day the last of the fleet arrived, mostly under their own steam.
Tiare Tiporo III being brought in by the dinghies
This boat’s engine had broken down on the third day and they had sailed with whatever wind they could find. When they arrived at the anchorage I put a call out on the net to ask for dinghies to help tow them in the last bit. The camaraderie of the rally is starting to show.
We’re back on line
Sara, Norman, Bill and Sue on Bill’s birthday
Bill has finally managed to get the website back on line. Sorry it’s been down so long. Lots been happening. We made it safely to Darwin for Bill’s birthday but the next day we had bad news from home that my Mum was very ill. I decided to fly back to the UK to see her even though she might not have been there. Fortunately she started getting better when I got there. Sadly I couldn’t stay long because we are due to leave on Sail Indonesia on 27th July. We will be in Indonesia for 3 months before we move onto Malaysia when we plan to come home for a couple of months for Christmas.
The base of this ‘London bus’ is made of beer cans
Before I went away we went to watch the Darwin Beer can rally. All the rafts were made of beer cans and most of them floated. It was a fun day out with lots of activities going on all day.
Another beer can raft
Any one for tennis?
Bill next to a termite mound
While I was away Bill went a trip with Norman and Sara and our BWR friend Tom to the Litchfield national park where they saw huge termite mounds, saw beautiful waterfalls and sat in lovely crystal clear water.
Beautiful waterfall
Norman and Sara enjoying the cool water
Tom with his 4 x 4
Camomile 