22nd
October
Leaving the marina in Batam we were faced with a
very stressful trip ahead. The waters around Singapore are the busiest
in the world. Over 250 cargo ships anchored and allegedly 1 moves
every 2 minutes. At the widest point there are 4 shipping lanes,2 going eastwards and
2 westwards. Not to
mention loads of pilot boats, police and coastguard boats, tugs
pulling all sort of things including oil platforms plus the ferries and the odd fishing boats. To make matters worst we had a
horrendous weather, instead of the light winds that are usual
here we had 25 knots of headwinds (NE Monsoon) and choppy seas, rain and
poor visibility. We headed west very slowly due to the strong winds,
once the angle was 90 degrees to cross the shipping lane we went for it.
That is when the wind picked up to almost 30 knots, so we were doing a
mere 2 knots across the lane, with cargo boats closing on us at 15knots+
!
Despite all that the crossing was not so bad, only had to avoid a tug
boat that would not alter his course a centimeter. Once leaving the
shipping lane behind us, we skirted around Singapore and sought refuge
away from the chaos, in Johor Straits. The river divides Singapore and
Malaysia. Interesting that the Singaporean side was surrounded with a barbered
wire fence and danger signs all around. Police boats were patrolling
the borders that had sings of live shooting area. But we wondered that was
just to stop the Malays entering the island illegally, Singapore take
the threat of terrorism very seriously!
23rd
October
Spent the night anchored in front of Johor Bahru,
very convenient as the town is big and modern and Singapore is just a
bus ride from here. More boat repairs are waiting for us, and this is
the place to get things fixed. The weather has changed drastically, from
the unbearably hot and humidity that we had in Indonesia , now is rainy
and temperatures dropped. Also daily lightning, not very
comforting. Checking in to the country proved to be a task. We took a taxi
that dropped us on the bus/car terminal that links to Singapore. After
explaining to many officials that we wanted to clear in, we managed to get
Immigration clearance which was easy. Approaching Customs was slightly different,
they sent us around to the Lorry checkpoint where no one knew what
to do with us, then over to the ferry terminal to Indonesia. Some
confusion there, and the officials were clearing us out!! We explained
that we just arrived into the country. They told us to come back once
leaving JB, so not sure if we are completely legal... Meanwhile the cabbie
who was driving us around took the opportunity to increase his fare from
20 Ringgit to 130 Ringgit as we were stuck in the middle of nowhere,
him being the only option to get us back.
26th October
Last
few days we spent looking around town, not that there is much to see,
although JB is very pleasant, clean, lush green and there are some grand
buildings, including the sultan's palace, who is practically our neighbor. But finding odd bits to the boat
proved to be a task, maybe because of language barriers or the fact that
the Asians can't say "Don't Know". Instead they send you around
town on a wild goose chase. Very slowly we are finding our way around.
There
is an interesting mixture of Indians, Malays and Chinese people, although
none of them seems to mix. The shopping malls either have only
Chinese or Islamic
shops. While the Indians have the corner or street shops, as in
other parts of the world. The Muslims (mostly Malays) take up all the governmental
jobs and
the Chinese run the commerce,
29th October
Although Singapore
wasn't included in our plans, the fact that from JB is cheap and easy to
go over, we decided to pay a day visit to the "Nanny State". Few
more rules has been added to the list of fines of the country since last
we have been here 8 years ago: No eating in the underground station, No
waiting around in the Immigration lounge. As soon as we stepped out of the
bus we broke a few of these rules: We had a smoke in the street and also
did heaps of jaywalking (nobody seemed to follow these rules...) Then we
headed for the Chinatown, ended up having quite a religious experience
there. First we visited the Sri Mariaman Temple, the oldest Hindu temple in
Singapore . After that went over to the Pagoda of the 10.000 Buddha's ,finishing at the Jamae Mosque just as the Muslims were having their
midday prayers. Chinatown is very interesting with colorful arcades, much more
temples then we could have visited and lots of shops with Chinese goods
and silk clothes. We walked for miles, absorbing the city. Couldn't
miss out
Little India, with its superb curries. It was worth for a day out, but we were
so glad to get back to Malaysia, where people smile a lot more and life is
a lot slower. The wealth in Singapore is comparable with London, so is the
stress and the money orientated lifestyle.
1st November
Met some
interesting people while here, Paul a single handler, was one of them.
He has been cruising the SE Asia for 10 years now. He gave us good tips
about
anchorages and places to go. Like us, he is in a tight budget, but he
says if all goes wrong then he goes back to Australia on the dole!!
Besides that, Asia is great to fill up the water tanks, it rains almost
every afternoon and we have no water problems any more- as long as it is
not acid rain-we just stock up on the "pure" water.
05th
November
Two weeks in JB, we were quite settled , the
thought of moving again just didn't appeal, we are tired of moving all the
time and above all, tired of sailing. It is early in the season to go up the Melaka
Straits, head winds and Sumatras coming down on us. These Sumatras
occur during the change of monsoon, bringing
strong winds, rain, poor visibility, thunderstorms with lightning. But moving is the nature of what
we are doing... So we left.
06th November
Luckily
we didn't get any Sumatra today. Melaka Strait is incredibly busy with
cargo ships going up and down. It seems that there is little wind during
the morning and in the afternoon we got hit with moderate headwinds and
some swell, so progress was very slow. We anchored in Pulau Pisang: two
little islands formed the anchorage , only fishing boats around... And the
cargo ships transiting the Straits.
07th November
Got
up to late, but as soon as we saw the sea state we left. It was as calm as
a lake and no wind. We wouldn't make the next anchorage in daylight, but
couldn't miss the settled weather. Anchored in a rolly bay, impossible to
cook or sleep , it was as rolly as sailing !
09th November
Paul,
the single handler told us the story of Pulau Besar, where we are anchored
now. He heard it from a local: This is a sacred island for the Hindus, a
holy man is buried here, with a huge shrine. People come here to
visit the shrine, and pray, therefore it is not allowed to drink alcohol
and have sex (other then your spouse) in the island. Until a Muslim
arrived here and wanted to build a huge Resort, going against the wishes of the
Hindus. Indeed the resort was built, trees got cut down to do a golf
course to the disgust of the locals. One day the Muslim hotelier got
caught out with a 12 years old girl. Prosecution followed, he
lost all his money, the resort shut down and he fell in disgrace by having
sex with an under aged. It was bad Karma.
10th November
From
Besar we reached Melaka with a dinghy ride, followed by a ferry and
2 bus rides. This city has an interesting history. Almost every seafaring
country had their share of Melaka. First was ruled by the Hindus from
Sumatra, then the Chinese, followed by the Indian Islam, Portuguese,
Dutch, British and finally very briefly by the Japanese during WW II. The
Dutch square is the most interesting part, with old colonial buildings. We
visited the Stadthuys, the old Governor's house and now is the Historical
Museum, very interesting. There is so much to see here, but time was short
for us, we missed out the replica of the Sultan's Palace and the Museum of
Beauty ( concepts of beauty around the world) which was a real shame. For
an early dinner we decided to find Capitol Satay, a 3rd generation family run
restaurant, quite an institution here. We starved ourselves to have a huge
feast of Malay food, but for our disappointment the place was shut! That
was heartbreaking!
15th November
Arrived at
Port Klang, this is a dirty, smelly port town. We didn't hang around too
long, soon we were on our way to Kuala Lumpur leaving Nomad Life safely at
the Yacht Club. Thanks to Zsizsi and Tamas we had a place to stay in KL
and a chance to get off the boat. Their triplex penthouse is in the heart of
town (Golden Triangle), overlooks the Petronas Twin Towers and is very convenient for
sightseeing. The modern high rising buildings dominates the sky and
same as in JB, there are more grand buildings. We are starting to notice that the
Malaysians like to build in grand style... The traffic is chaotic, there
is a constant smog in the air and it is stuffy and humid. Despite
all that we
instantly liked KL.
16th November
The Kings
palace also have guards with horses
on the gates , a heritage from the Brits . There is a peculiar type
of Kingdom here: A new king is elected every 4 years from the 12 sultans (
Malaysia is divided in 12 sultanates). We
arrived at the Chinese
temple just in time for the Sunday mass, with singing and prayers.
15minutes drive out of town is Batu caves. This is a Hindu worshiping place. Hundreds of devotees come here to
worship Lord Subramanian. Like Mecca for the Muslims, every Hindu should
pay a visit here at least once in life. We noticed
that some had a shaven head covered with a yellow paste, some were
children others adults. Then Zsizsi told us that on their first visit the Hindus
have to shave their heads. In the afternoon we visited the
administrative capital Putrajaya. Here is where the Ministries and governmental
buildings are located. To have a better idea of the lavishness, the
Ministry of Finance building is a whole 1 km long! Apparently is a huge waist of money and very
impractical idea, but to comply with the Malaysian slogan " Malaysia
Boleh" (Malaysia can), it was built simply because they have the
money to do it (at the moment). We tried to visit the biggest Mosque in Malaysia, but
we were denied access as we are not Muslims...
18th November
Two
hours drive from KL is Tasik Chini, 12 lakes linked by vegetation clogged channels. With a canoe ride we got to a village where
the Jakun people live, an Orang Asli tribe. Although the blooming season
is over, we were lucky to see the lotus flowers , some of them on full
bloom. For the evening we had a real landlubbers program: we went to
cinema, which is quite a novelty for us. All the action and violence scenes
of James Bond have been speeded up , result of the censorship imposed by the government.
20th
November
Time to hit the seas again... Both of us were quite sad,
we had a wonderful time in KL, mostly due to the hospitality and
generosity of Tamas and Zsizsi, who spoiled us and made us feel truly at home. It was
very interesting to see how ex pats live here and their views of the
country.
The last day we spent working on the boat,
in Port Klang. We heard that the river is filthy, all sort of objects come
floating down: fridges, TVs. A friend of us saw a cow last week . But
still was a shock when a body was hauled out from the water. That
just wasn't bad enough, the body was left uncovered for hours just next to
the dinghy jetty...
