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Bulletin - 1 March 2002 |
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Singapore & Malaysia |
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We had arrived at the northern end of Indonesia to find a very comfortable marina at Nongsa Point, just a 30 minute ferry ride from Singapore, and we took the ferry across soon after we had arrived to start the process of obtaining our Indian visas for the Andaman Islands. The quantity of shipping in the Strait was astonishing - it is supposed only to be less busy than the Channel, but the Singapore Straits are much smaller, making the density very high. Some ships are passing through the Strait at high speed, while others are manoeuvring into the various different docks, so that the traffic appears to be going in all directions. |
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John had been to Singapore a few times on business, but Helen, on her first visit, was very much struck by how green it was - much more spacious and less high-rise than expected, with many trees and green areas around the city. It is also green because it pours with rain, which it did ceaselessly for most of that day. It started while we were inside the Indian consulate, and we were gazing at it in dismay, wondering how far it would be to the nearest taxi, when a kind local took pity on us and offered us a lift! We chatted as we drove along, and as he dropped us off, Vincent gave us his card and told us to contact him when we came back to Singapore to collect our visas, suggesting we meet up together in the evening - and Singapore quickly felt not only green but very friendly. |
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With the rain continuing to pour down, and newly armed with an umbrella (NOT a normal item found on a sailing boat!) we went to St Andrews Cathedral and then decided there was nothing better to do on a wet day than have lunch in the Tiffin Room at Raffles, which certainly lived up to expectations. |
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After completing our various boat jobs back at
Nongsa, we decided that it would after all be fun to take Flame across the Strait, which would also enable us to take Vincent up on his kind offer. We made as rapid as possible a crossing of the main lanes, finding a small gap in each direction, and then threaded our way through the small craft anchorage in which there was everything from this extraordinarily shaped modern vessel to cargo carrying motor junks. There were so many ships of all sizes (not exactly our idea of small craft!) that it was hard to see where we were heading for - it was much more like an obstacle course. Finally however, we identified the new container port behind which lies the Republic of Singapore Yacht Club, which has a marina with plenty of space for visiting yachts. This club/marina is huge and extremely luxurious - we had smiled at the notice at Nongsa forbidding the use of golf carts on the pontoons, but here there was a shuttle service run by the staff in golf carts! Going along the outer "wall" of the marina, which was actually a very long pontoon, one could see it undulate ahead of one, along its length, with the swell caused by passing ships! This photo of the business district, taken as we approached the small craft anchorage shows the city to be both high-rise and green! We had arranged to meet Vincent in the city and we had a delightful and fascinating evening with him. He took us to a little known and excellent food court (in an ex British Army barracks) where you can choose food from a number of different stalls around you. Vincent ordered a delicious meal including frogs legs and we talked at length as we ate. This, he later told us, is a most un-Chinese habit. To show proper appreciation of the food, you eat it when it arrives, and quickly, and only talk afterwards, and we subsequently observed that this is what everyone does. He explained that the green-ness of Singapore is due to feng shui - Singapore is crab-shaped, with the two leading politicians resident at each side, making the claws. But if the city has nothing growing, it looks like a dead crab, so to ensure that it prospers, there need to be plenty of trees and green areas to embody a strong, living crab. There had been recent elections, and we asked a few general questions about the system of government, in particular local government, and were interested to see that Vincent looked round and then spoke more softly in answer to what we had believed were quite innocuous questions. Later we drove round the city a little - road pricing and parking by smart card are in full implementation here - to look at the lights ready for Deepavali in the Indian quarter, and the Christmas lights in the shopping centre. The residents of Singapore are of very mixed races, but clearly living in harmony and again we were interested when Vincent recited a rhyme that all school children say every day, the gist of which is that all Singapore citizens are equal and that above all Singapore's peace and prosperity are the key. We went back to the boat to show him something of our home, and I am afraid the extreme luxury of the RSYC confirmed in him the view that sailing is a very rich man's sport. It is certainly very different from yacht clubs at home! On our way out of Singapore, it was interesting to see the huge areas of land which are being reclaimed - what was shown on the chart of a few years ago as five islands at Jurong are now all one, and this is being extended to the west to more than twice its new size, rendering our charts all but useless! That night we arrived in Malaysia, at the very southern end of the Malacca Strait, which runs for about 400 miles north between Malaysia to the east and Sumatra to the west. Due partly to its reputation for the quantity of rubbish, including huge logs, and for unlit fishing stakes and traps, we had decided to sail mainly by day, stopping in anchorages and small towns and visiting Malaysia as we went. Our first main stop was at some small islands just off Malacca itself, and we took a ferry across for the day to clear in and explore a little. Malacca had been the key trading port on this important trade route for hundreds of years. It was well situated as it was served in turn by the north east and south west monsoons, so ideal for sailing ships, though we had very little wind and wondered how they managed. It was developed in the 14th century with Chinese assistance and patronage, but subsequently the rulers embraced Islam, which helped Malacca to benefit from the successful Muslim trading community. Its success by the early 16th century was such that it attracted the attention of the Portugese who were trying to break the Arab merchants' stranglehold on trade between Europe and Asia. They took Malacca by force, but subsequently lost it to the Dutch who continued to develop the trade. Finally in the early 19th century, the Dutch lost it to the British. We found it hard to imagine having to fight a battle for the town after sailing all the way from Europe, especially since today, Malacca is a rather sleepy town with a silted-up river, and relies on tourism in place of trade. The river is inaccessible by yachts, but is actively used by very small local cargo boats, being unloaded largely by hand (Malaysia03). The town itself is a curious combination of very modern high-rise blocks and original local buildings, with some old Dutch colonial administration buildings and a Straits Chinese "Millionaire's Row". The local history museum is housed in what is said to be the oldest-surviving Dutch building in the East, but concentrates mainly on pre-colonial history and the arrival of Islam. The Chinese have been trading here since the port's earliest days and to this day are extremely visible running most of the shops and businesses we saw. After a day visiting Malacca, we sailed on to a marina just south of Port Dickson, which has become a major local tourist resort. We were interested to discover that the high-rise buildings, which were again very much in evidence from the sea, were mainly tourist hotels and apartments, and were only on the sea front. They give a heavily built-up and false impression of the local towns. This marina was part of a partly completed apartment and leisure club complex and was certainly very comfortable, with swimming pool, snooker room, cinema (with sofas and armchairs to sit in) and so on! A pleasant change from the exposed anchorages we had stopped in for several nights in a row on the way up from Singapore. We took a car inland for the day from here, and visited the old palace of one of the local Sultans, where downstairs there were some handloom weavers producing Songket, which is a rich fabric with geometric designs woven using gold thread. The traditional local architecture has very distinctive roofs which appear even in corrugated iron roofs on simple houses. On the way, we drove through miles of palm oil plantations, which is one of Malaysia's largest crops, and also some rubber plantations (on which more later from Sri Lanka). Agricultural exports have helped Malaysia to survive the recent Asian economic crisis, leaving it not totally dependent on its newly developed industries. On the way back, our driver took us to his favourite fruit shop, where we bought a stalk of the most delicious small bananas, with an incredible colour and sweet flavour. No need for "exotic" fruit when bananas taste like this! Moving on from Port Dickson, we stopped briefly at Klang, the port for Kuala Lumpur and then moved on to Kuala Selangor, motoring up a river on the rising tide to anchor off a stilt village or kampung with most of the houses and the "road" immediately behind them all built on stilts on the muddy bank of the river, and each house with its fishing boat moored underneath. It looked wonderful by night though rather more prosaic by day! Entirely inhabited by Chinese, the main industry here, which we were able to smell on the evening breeze, appeared to be sun-drying thin slices of fish! While having lunch at one of the restaurants overlooking the river, we observed a small ritual taking place, which we assume was to propitiate a fishing god. Ashore on the opposite bank was a rather charming small building used to sight the new moon. We walked round a rather barren nature reserve and spotted a few monkeys in the distance , though over the river we saw many wonderful chestnut coloured brahminy kites. That evening, we went to see the beautiful "synchronised-flashing" fireflies up river. One is rowed silently along the dark river where thousands of these fireflies gather on a certain type of low-growing oak tree and twinkle and flash so brightly that one can see them across the river (some 15-20 yards wide) though they are only about 6mm long. The male fireflies flash the most brightly - to attract their mates. They are synchronised with their immediate neighbours, but the timing does gradually change, so that there is a sort of "Mexican wave" effect when seen from a distance. The arrangements to visit them are very well made, so that one is scarcely aware of other boats around you, and there is no extraneous noise or light - though we were also lucky to be there when the moon was small. Our next stop was off Pulau Pangkor, an island close to the mainland and said to be very attractive. Particularly recommended was Pangkor Laut, a small island off the main one, where it was said that one might have to pay to go ashore. When we went to investigate at the small jetty of the resort on the island, this turned out to be quite true - one could only land if staying at the hotel! Talking to the charming "Client Relations Manager", an Englishman, we realised that this was clearly a rather special hotel, so with our wedding anniversary a few days away, and the offer of a safe berth for Flame for the night on their jetty, we checked in for a night. The hotel was a delight, with beautiful rooms, the highlight of which was the outdoor stone bath! The island is mostly jungle clad, with a few pleasant beaches - one in particular on the western side of the island with an interesting wartime story attached to it. Following the fall of Malaysia and Singapore, a few British officers had been left behind to organise sabotage parties. One of these, FW Spencer Chapman had lived with Chinese communists in the jungle for 3 years before finally making a rendezvous with a submarine in the western bay at Pangkor Laut, in order to report in detail back to the military authorities in Colombo. Pangkor Laut is one of the few places in the Malacca Strait close to the shore with enough depth for a submarine to hide in. In the morning we took advantage of a walk through the jungle on the island led by Yip, the hotel's own naturalist, a forester by trade. We learnt a lot about some of the jungle plants we had already met during our rather less civilised walk on Serutu, and were interested to discover that the viciously thorned palm which left so many splinters in our hands is used for making chick blinds. Apparently it only has thorns between its base and its leaves - to prevent it from being eaten by animals. We also saw the rattan plant, which is a long creeper which climbs by mean of its thorns (uncomfortable place, the jungle!). Also an interesting coincidence is the joint presence on the island of this small fern growing wild, and its fossil in sandstone (not locally quarried) used in paving round the swimming pool! We learnt that the incredibly loud squealing noise of cicadas is made by just one or two individuals, and that they do not rub their legs together to produce the noise, as everyone thinks, but flex their tummy muscles! The island has been used for timber by locals for many years but there are still a few magnificent tall straight jungle trees - diptocarps - which made a forester's eye gleam. Because the trees are always in growth, when they are felled there are no tree rings to show how old a tree was. Age is therefore measured while the tree is growing by placing a ring of paint around its trunk and measuring in that spot every year. It had rained during the previous night and at the end of our walk, Yip spotted this young pit viper near our path - they aren't such a spectacular colour when mature. Altogether it was a delightful and informative 24 hours, and we regretfully left the delights of Pangkor Laut to move onto our next stop in the Dingding River, at Lumut. Here we met up with a great friend of our friends on Just Magic, and finished up staying in Lumut for much longer than we had planned, doing some much needed varnishing on Flame, and then leaving her in Pam's care while we took the bus and sleeper train up to Bangkok for a few days. We will describe that later, but the bus drive through northern Malaysia was interesting, through fertile plantations of palm oil, rubber, bananas, papaya and pineapple, until we arrived at vast flat plains of rice north of Taiping. The villages were beautifully tended, with strimmed verges and flowers along the roadside, and the traditional Malay stilt houses still very much in evidence (impossible to ask a bus to stop for a photo!), and the hill country visible in the distance. There were plenty of chickens around, but of course no pigs, and surprisingly to us, few goats. There were many Hindu temples as well as mosques, and the occasional Chinese cemetery with their attractive semi-circular gravestones. The towns were well landscaped, with evidence of much new development, and we were amused to see 20-storey air-conditioned blocks of flats with their chain-link perimeter fencing hung with the residents' washing. Once back from Bangkok, we pressed on up the Malacca Strait for Pinang. We have said relatively little about the sailing - because we were mostly motoring. The NE monsoon had not really settled in (which would have meant a stiff beat anyway) and it was a lucky day when one managed to sail a few miles. The Strait itself was full regular "streams" of rubbish, some natural, but much plastic, with shoes and lightbulbs most obviously in evidence, along with the occasional large log. More pleasantly, we were intrigued to see, over and over again, the long thin garfish "walking" on the water: they seem to stand up on their tails and, twisting from side to side, effectively run for several yards at a time, interspersed with more conventional jumping, skimming the surface with their long bodies parallel to it. There were enormous numbers of fishing boats. Off Kuala Selangor they dredge for cockles, and the "beach" under the landing stage in the river was a mass of cockle shells. Just north of the Dingding river we anchored off an uninhabited island to be ready for a long day up to Pinang, and on waking to get started just before daylight, were initially completely confused as to our whereabouts, as there was a huge arc of lights all round the anchorage, as if lining the coast road along a wide bay - all small fishing boats. Once we got started, on the way up to Pinang, fleets of larger boats came past us for several hours, and we were able to count a hundred boats in sight for most of that time as they passed by in the opposite direction. Curiously, in the markets we only ever saw very old, tired looking fish, so we have no idea if they all went for drying. The boats certainly did not seem large enough to be processing or freezing their catches. We arrived at the southern end of Pinang island in good light and anchored off another small island ready to catch the tide in the morning. Georgetown, at the northern end of the island, was conspicuous by its tower blocks, and we passed under the modern suspension bridge and into the anchorage off another Chinese stilt village. (Pinang is mostly Chinese in any case.) Here whole streets were built out over the shallow mud at the edge of the harbour, thus apparently escaping taxes! There was a local ferry service available to yachts and small trading junks alike and we went ashore to explore the town, which, because of its particular rent control act, still has a high proportion of its pre-war buildings in tact, if not always in good condition. Pinang was established by the British as a trading base for the northern end of the Malacca Strait at the end of the 18th century, and boasts the first Anglican church in South East Asia - St George's built in 1817, as well as a splendid clock tower, which was presented to Pinang by a Chinese millionaire to celebrate Queens Victoria's diamond jubilee - it is 60 feet tall, one foot for every year she had been on the throne. Some of the old buildings are now being renovated instead of being torn down to make way for tower blocks, and it may just be that the rent control act has lasted for long enough for Pinang to learn to appreciate its old buildings. We visited the Chinese Goddess of Mercy temple, with its roof tops carved to represent waves, on which stand guardian dragons, and which even from the outside was wreathed in incense. We rented a motor bike for a day to see a little of the island and the high spot for us was the Butterfly Farm, which breeds and displays live several hundred varieties of Malaysian butterflies and moths. They live in a large wire mesh enclosure planted with appropriate plants and offer an opportunity to look really closely at many different types. The only difficulty was trying to identify and name any of them. |
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Our last leg of the Malacca Strait took us up to the Langkawi archipelago and we found a delightful anchorage surrounded by islands right at the southern end, from where we could watch monkeys on the beach foraging for crabs, and closer to, jumping through the trees near the shoreline in search of fruit. |
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We had arranged for spares and mail to be sent to a nearby marina and so reluctantly left our pleasant anchorage to make for the marina. Here we were intrigued to learn more about Ramadan, which was just about to come to an end. We had known that it begins with the sighting of the new moon, but had not realised that it also ends the same way. But this means, in Malaysia at least, that it can end on one of two possible days - either the earliest possible sighting of the moon, or otherwise on the following day, being the 30th day of the fast, if for example, the first night is cloudy. This makes for an interesting situation in what is a rapidly modernising economy, that the date of the two day public holiday which ends Ramadan is only known for certain at 8pm on the evening before. Also different Malay states observe different weekend days - some Friday and Saturday, others Saturday and Sunday with a long lunch break for Friday noon prayers. Malaysia is also interesting in celebrating the festivals of many different religions, all of which are given public holidays, including Christmas. The marina environs turned out to be attractive, with kingfishers and brahminy kites very much in evidence near the water, and hornbills and silver haired monkeys on a nice walk though the jungle. We both caught colds while we were here, so we lingered for a few days to let the worst pass, and then finally set sail for Thailand (a few miles to our north!) on December 19th. |
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