Wednesday, November 28, 2007

#23 Raffles to Penang, Malaysia

We are now in Penang! We have made our way up the Malacca Straits avoiding terrible thunderstorms, logs, rubbish, ropes, fishing trawlers, local fishing boats with 3km nets, tugs pulling barges and staying close to the shipping lane but not in it!! A lot of the ports along the Malaysian coast are very major ports like Port Kelang and Lumut. Lots of things to look out for but no sign of pirates!!

We day sailed from Raffles via
Pisang island
Water Island
Port Dickson (lovely spot with great facilities but not much of a town. Great market on Friday nights though!)
Port Kelang
Pangkor Island
Lumut and then to Penang.
Wind have been mainly north west as there were two typhoons near the Philippines Typhoon Mitag and typhoon Hagibis. These have given us 2.5m seas and Strong NW winds and guess which direction we have been going.......NW!

We are leaving Penang reluctantly tomorrow to go to Langkawi a day sail away for the final rally dinner for the passion Asia rally on Dec 1st and all the weather looks like NE10-15 for a change which will be excellent for us. Fingers crossed the winds eventuate!!

We have been staying at a marina in Georgetown. It is right on the edge of Little India and china town. A fab spot and we have done lots of tourist sites and eaten some fab food at ridiculous prices. Usually $10 will give us a feast. Another $10 will cover the beer!

We have been to Penang museum, Khoo Khongsi Clan house (chinese family exclusive club house), botanical gardens, walked endless km's round Chinatown and little India. Managed to find a Tescos here but alas no branston pickle or licorice allsorts!

We are planning to stay in Thailand for 4 months and will probably use Yacht Haven Marina, Phuket every now and then. We expect to be there around Christmas but you know how plans can change.

www.yacht-haven-phuket.com
for those who want to Google
8n10.2 98e20.5

When we hit Thailand we will be purchasing a Thai Sim card so will have yet another new number!!

Merry Christmas to all, we should manage to get one more email off before then. Don't spend or drink and eat too much either!!!

We'd love to hear your Christmas and new year plans so please drop us a line!

3 comments:

Ganeida said...

Christmas? You're joking!
Cait is auditioning this week with a semi pro choir ensemble & we have the flu. I don't want to know about Christmas.

Just did 3 days in the Springbrook rainforset & did the firelies; very lovely.

Chris Myles said...

Blue Moon ... glad to see the BLOG is up and running. It looks great! We added your blog link to our website too.

Kerry Spittle said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH!!!!! I imagine you are in Thailand now. Your blog is fantastic. Please add more pictures...I'm looking forward to hearing about your stay in Thailand. We are home for xmas. Wayne's daughter is up from Melbourne for a week and Wayne is home for a month...I haven't spent a month with him since April 2006 because of his expat life. It will be a change. As he travels so much I am going to Fiji in Febraury with a girlfriend and can't wait! I haven't been to Singapore since August because Wayne is rarely there. I lose track of where he is in the world sometimes. Maybe I should meet you in Thailand next year...now there's a thought??...hmmm??...I might think about that. What do you think?
Take Care and have a very happy Christmas. Love to all the Blue Mooners!!! Kerry xoxox