Good Bye Indonesia, Hello Malaysia!

After clearing out from Indonesia at Belitung we had a 2 day sail/motor (mostly motor) to a small island called Selayar. It was a pretty stop and looked a bit like parts of Maine or Scotland but with 30C or so. Strong currents and lots of fishing traps made anchoring a challenge but it was good holding and relaxing for a full days rest before we continued north.  We left with friends Chris and Dave from 'CD' and Stefan and Sue from 'Charlotte' for the short sail to the next anchorage. On the way we crossed the equator for the 4th time. It was fun as we rafted the 3 boats together with Chapter Two in the middle providing the power to get us across the equator. We all had a glass of fizz and toasted the sea gods as we crossed. We separated after crossing just before we were hit by squalls so it was all very good timing.

After a few more stops in pretty anchorages, we reached the straits of Melaka where we had to cross the shipping lane to the Singapore strait. We have never seen so many ships. There were far more than the English channel. It was very exciting and we had to turn the radar off as there were just too many echos to make sense of anything. We got across in one piece and headed up the Johor strait to Puteri Harbour marina, Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

We spent 2 weeks in the marina and enjoyed the local restaurants especially our favourite, the Brussels Bar. As it's a Muslim country beer is fairly expensive (UK prices) but the burger and fries were tasty. In fact. the BB let us buy meat from them at cost price to stock up our freezer. We also stocked up with provisions at the local supermarkets which included a Tesco so we were a bit spoilt for choice after the small shops in Indonesia.

We organised a weekend trip to Singapore by car. It is very expensive to take the boat into Singapore marinas so we left it in the marina in Puteri.  There are 2 bridges linking Singapore to Malaysia and lots of people cross between the two. The southern part of Malysia is becoming almost part of Singapore with many people living in Malaysia and commuting. The problem with this is that it is pushing the Malaysian's out as they cannot afford the new housing currently being built.

Our first day in Singapore we headed to the bay front area to see the gardens which have their own version of the Eden project and a bigger version of the London eye. We went to the Cloud Forest dome which was amazing given where it is but is really too small. To see a view of the city we headed to the Sands Hotel which is near the bay front. It has 3 towers linked by a 'ship' at the top. The view was good but it was very expensive for what it was and they do not allow you in any of the restaurants unless you are a hotel guest even though, they are practically empty!

We stayed at a hotel which is part of a sports club near to Raffles hotel. It was a homely and friendly hotel and we could use the members bar and restaurant and other facilities. We enjoyed this as all the restaurants in the area were in shopping malls and included the usual chains. Not somewhere to have a nice meal for the evening.

Our next day we spent hours walking around the botanical gardens including the amazing Orchid garden.  There are so many different types and we took a lot of pictures as they were just so stunning!Then we headed to the main shopping area on Orchard Road. Its a bit like Oxford Street in London except every shop is a shopping mall full of designer shops. A shoppers paradise for those with very deep pockets but no good to us living on a boat! Our final day we headed quite a way out of the city centre to visit a bird park. They had an amazing number of different species of birds but it was sad to see how small some of the cages were for the bigger birds. However, many were larger and have walk through sections where you are in with the birds. This meant that you had some amazing views of ones like the Birds of Paradise. We also managed a trip to Raffles Long bar (last rebuilt 1995 or so!) but did not bother with a Singapore sling as its is just a tourist rip off. We are glad we visited Singapore but 3 days was definitely enough. 

We have joined the Sail Malaysia rally and as part of the rally we had a day trip in the Johor Bahru area. The morning was spent in Johor Bahru itself visiting a few uninspiring buildings but the afternoon we were taken to a village. The locals were so warm and welcoming, it was lovely. They did a welcome dance for us before serving a nice lunch and then demonstrated some of their local cooking with Tapioca. I particularly like the tapioca covered with coconut, it was lovely and sweet!

After a few more days in the marina we left to start the trip north up the Melaka (Malacca in English) straits. It took us 4 days and we had to motor most of the way as there is usually no wind. We have also been having some amazing thunder and lightning storms. It rains most afternoons and we can see 3 or 4 strikes of lightening all coming down at the same time.

Our next stop was Port Dickson which is where we currently are. Our time here has been busy with  games one afternoon, a dinner this evening and 3 day trips. The first was to the local area and we were taken to another village and to the military museum. The museum was definitely more a boy thing! Next we had a day in Kuala Lumpur. As part of the tour we went to the Batu caves which are caves with lots of stalactites and have a Hindu temple built inside them. There are 272 steps to reach the caves which are fairly big but probably looked more impressive without all the shrines!  The  other highlight of the day was seeing the famous Petronas towers with the bridge between the 2 towers. They are completely covered in stainless steel which definitely looked less rusty than our boat at the moment! Again, if you don't like shopping then there is no reason to visit KL. It is very busy and full of ugly high rise blocks.

Yesterday we were looking forward to a visit to Melaka which is the oldest city in Malaysia. We visited a number of historic sites (but they are surrounded by stalls selling tourist tatt) and we had a very good guide who told us lots about the history . The school holidays have just started in Malaysia so it was very busy which didn't help. We were taken to the maritime museum but there wasn't a single artefact in it. One thing we have discovered in Malaysia is that lots of places are called museums when they are really just displays of pictures and explanations about stuff they don't have.

After our rally dinner this evening (we are being fed a lot on the rally!) we have 4 days sailing to our next stop at Pangkor where we have more day trips and another dinner! The nice things about all the meals out is that we don't have to cook on the boat. It is so hot here that we just don't want additional heat from the cooker. Also the food in the restaurants is cheap, a bottle of beer normally costs us more than the food!