Phuket: enjoying the contrasts

October saw us go from working on Ketoro-on-the-hardstand (whilst we were apartment-dwellers), to working on our home whilst she was tied up in the marina, to free-as-a-bird cruisers when we finally said enough! … and set out into Phang Nga Bay to enjoy its incredible beauty and peace.

It was a month of many contrasts that also saw us juxtaposing work and thorough enjoyment of some new Phuket experiences. For example, we heard of the Phuket Vegetarian Festival and decided to investigate…

Phuket has several different communities (amongst whom: Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim; Thai, Burmese, Indian, Malay, Chinese and expat) that appear to exist mostly-companionably alongside one other, allowing one another space and freedom for individual expression.

 The large Chinese community recently (for nine evenings in October, the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar) held their annual Vegetarian Festival, with accompanying sacred rituals which are said to bestow good fortune upon those who religiously observe the rites: hold to a vegetarian or vegan diet for spiritual cleansing and merit-making, and pray regularly to certain gods. Chinese shrines and temples were homes to these sacred rituals, food markets, prayer, fire-walking and body-piercing.

 Boat Lagoon Marina is close to a large and beautiful Chinese Temple so we decided to investigate; early one morning we, on motorbike, joined (inadvertently) the procession of trucks and cars carrying the devotees part-way to Phuket town, then got a good spot to view the proceedings from where they started their walk to Sapan Hin, their final destination.

 This festival commemorates a travelling company of Chinese opera singers in the first half of the 1800s who got terribly ill soon after arriving in the jungles of Kathu on Phuket Island, but astonishingly all recovered after honouring two of their emperor gods through prayer and observing a vegetarian diet.

 Most procession participants dressed in white; many carried shrines, flags, and joss sticks, but the most stunning part for observers was to see the extensive body piercings of the entranced devotees ("Ma Song"), dressed in particular clothing to indicate that the gods have entered them during the festival. They are said to manifest supernatural powers, and perform self-torture (as we understand it) in order to shift evil from others onto themselves, and to bring the community good luck. They demonstrated that through their beliefs they can withstand body hardship and are spared pain. The man above has a long pole piercing both cheeks and supporting a Chinese lantern on each side.

To our eyes, it was all quite incredible, albeit gruesome. All manner of implements were used: one man put the tall handlebar of his children's scooter through his cheek, one had a large fan-palm frond on either side of his face, piercing his cheeks; one guy was pierced by two curved-handle walking-stick type umbrellas. This was on top of the usual knives, swords, skewers etc. We saw almost no blood.

 Throughout the festival, fireworks and drums are a constant backdrop, especially during ceremonies; the louder the better, because the noise drives away evil spirits. Street scenes are bedlam: crowds of participants being waved across intersections, others going about their daily business as best they could, dealing with traffic jams, crackers, smoke, dragons.

 All wonderful for observers, and no doubt a bonus for those on the tourist bus stuck in the traffic below!

After the procession, it was back at 9am, a cup of coffee and back to work on the boat: just another ordinary day for us!

October also saw Ketoro’s re-launch into the sea (well, the filthy muck that is the marina water in Boat Lagoon). This marina, dredged out of a mangrove swamp, is generally very shallow and all yachting activity must wait for high tide. For our non-yachtie friends: monohulls (yachts with single hull) have very deep drafts (very deep keels) and so cannot enter or leave the marina except at very high tides. The catamarans like us have shallower drafts so, although we still can only leave the marina at high tides, the actual water depth required is somewhat less.

But we have other issues, like our broad beams. (Yes, Irene’s beam IS becoming broader with all the convivial local food court meals with friends, but we are referring to Ketoro’s beam here!) So, here is the picture of our launch:

 The sides of the launching slip slope inwards, so we can only be put into the water when it is near the top of the slip; the tidal range here can be more than 2m. A nerve-wracking exercise, the launch:  there are few centimetres to spare, and one is very concerned at the thought of scratches on freshly painted and polished, gleaming hulls…

The deed was done (successfully); all the furnishings, dive gear, locker storage items that had been stored at a friend’s home were brought back to the boat, we moved back on board, further work was completed on it, and, with the tides dropping each day, committed to leave the marina while we still could do so.

But of course we had to prepare for the change from a life with access to transport and shops (at a marina, easy bike hire) and unlimited fresh water and electricity, to one for which the boat had to provide all that we could need: it was shopping time! It was occasionally difficult to figure out which was our bike…

Most importantly, there was still fun to be had whilst tied to land… and it was Halloween! So Ketoro saw her first Halloween celebration when Melisa, her friend and their children came to “trick or treat” us on board.

 It was time to leave this marina which has now seen Ketoro three times taken out of the water for working on, since our arrival in 2010. It is a great base to do boat work, with all the contractors and chandleries at hand; it is well placed to access the rest of the island, and a walk around the hard-stand provides endless interest, not least for the fact that some workers bring their pets to work…

 Thai people love birds, and they, in their decorative cages, are often seen carried by men-on-motorbikes to and from work. They sing beautifully on the hardstand, providing a wonderful contrast to the angle-grinders, hammering and general noise that is a boatyard. And it appears that they do not mind sitting in their cage in the sun at lunchtime, while their owners take lunch in the shade of a boat!

Well, after a time of feeling caged by all the work that was demanded by the boat, we have now fuelled up…

 And are dancing at anchor in magnificent Phang Nga Bay, sometimes (like here) alone in a spectacular spot, feeling that there is nobody else in the world. We revel in the contrast with the previous 6 weeks…

 … but look forward to the days of springs high tide when friends on monohulls can escape the marina and come and play in the bay!

Home Improvement

In our previous blog we went on a search for the meaning of “home”. The thing is, just when you think you understand what home means in a general sense, someone shows you another perspective…..

But for now, we are out of our carry-with-us home and are staying in an apartment at Boat Lagoon Marina while we do home improvement: for which Ketoro is now out of the water and on the hard-stand.

So many at home in SA are doing home improvement, so we thought we would show you what home improvement on a boat means, in our case…
Remember the cockpit roof (bimini) that was black with mould?

This is Ketoro with no cockpit roof, removed for scraping, repairing, re-painting. The boat was extra-hot with that roof gone. The boat was extra-wet with the roof gone too.

While the roof was off, we found water in one of the previously-dry inside lockers. Finger-test: fresh water. Aha…. Rain: traced back to a now-exposed small crack on the chart-plotter cover (instrument at the helm station), we found it had run down the inside of the electrical panel; so this is the fan drying out the electrical wiring and connections!

This flap-down board (above) also houses the HF and VHF radios, which went in for service, were repaired, but on checking …. Well, in fact, they were not repaired. They are away again, and will no doubt at some stage be returned in working order!

There were also plenty of sunny days, and these were used to get all sails down for repair and integrity checking; Rolf had to go up to address issues that were preventing our storm-torn genoa sail from coming down.

Hot days were also used to clean out the big front lockers …

We removed the water and fuel tanks from the lockers, so they could be cleaned and have inspection hatches cut into them (process underway here): in future we will actually be able to see into the tanks - a bonus, as their gauges are often not working.

A great mess was made of the trampoline area… Do you see the sign Tyra in front of the boat? Great coffee…. Great air-conditioning… a great break and hide-out!

Other jobs? This is our cabin, showing engine under the bunk and the auto pilot and rudder system behind the headboard – all now serviced and problems addressed.

The pic below shows the bilge (under-floor compartment) showing three of Ketoro’s approximately 12 holes below the water-line, which are used to conduct sea-water to or from engines, aircons, toilets, water-maker etc. These holes, of course, are kept well sealed, but in 6 of these, the seacocks or through-hull fittings (like the one above) were rusted, and no doubt would have stopped functioning or started allowing water into the boat half-way across the ocean if left much longer.

This mess is our saloon!

The missing cushions are either at the upholsterers for repair where they have been used too often as grab-handles, or stored in a friend’s house nearby: kind souls lent us a spare room! The lid is off the locker to work on batteries and aircon.

And of course the usual rust issues…

 Sent us on the bike out in the rain to the shops…

And the tool section at Super Cheap sent Rolf into tool euphoria!

 On the outside, there was scraping and anti-fouling (painting the undersides to diminish growth on the hulls) and scrubbing and new props (these no longer make the grade).

Of course, all of this home improvement has been done to get Ketoro fit and ship-shape for our 2013 trip across the Indian Ocean again: and it is clear that home improvement in this case includes the equivalent of doing the home electrics and plumbing and servicing the car.

We have added a further 35m of anchor chain for deep anchorages at some stops on the way and we checked our grab bags: these are containers that are equipped with necessities if we have to hastily leave the boat and jump in the life-raft. Well, of course we had grab-bags that we packed before we left more than 3 years ago; now was the time to unpack the two bright yellow containers….

Summary: food out of date, now exchanged for fresher (and more put in: we would have been very hungry from day three...); safety flares out of date (of course); batteries, although dated 2015 and sealed in packets, were leaking and useless; small mechanical water-maker and meds and first aid ok…. But no knives, no fishing equipment, no torches…! I think these had been gradually removed for daily duty over the last two years. Thankfully we have not required the grab-bags before now and their deficiencies will be dealt with before we set off from Thailand.

A lot of time has been spent doing research for the trip, for which we have compiled screeds of notes on alternative routes and spread-sheets with weather data, safety and security contact details (radio, phone, e mail). To compile this lot took us trawling through books and the internet.

Of course, great heed was paid to sites such as the Foreign and Commonwealth Office “Travel and Living Abroad” pages, where up-to-date info was gained on piracy and pertinent country data. Whilst this was often quite depressing, there was an occasional gem that lightened the moment, like this extract from the http://www.fco.gov.uk pages:

 

Balcony safety

 

There have been 13 incidents of young people falling from balconies so far this year. Three of these cases resulted in death while others have been seriously injured.

We've joined forces with the Association of British Travel Agents to help prevent balcony incidents among young people in popular holiday resorts. 

We learn from all we read, so of course balcony safety will play a prominent role in our planning and preparation from now on, and assumes great importance when we drink a sun-downer on the balcony of our apartment at the end of the day, avoiding a balcony incident while enjoying the view over the marina towards Ketoro (home on the hard-stand), from the apartment (home-for-the-moment).

As we also plan quantities to provision for the trip, we are most grateful that it is the balconies that are the problem, and not the sundowner drinks. Cheers!

Home is...

Boat life was abandoned late June for 10 weeks, as we set off to meet two brand new and very special people - our first two grandchildren, born within two weeks of each other. Freya (Barry and Kay’s wonderful daughter, born in London) and Blake (gorgeous son of Mark and Livi in Cape Town).

So London, then Cape Town, became our homes while we lived with the families, sharing in their joys and trying to help make their introduction to parenthood a little less exhausting. Our hearts were completely taken by the little new-comers and we were content to spend hours gazing at these precious beings.

 Then it was on to Durban for a week and finally Pretoria, previously home for 28 years. We allowed ourselves 10 days to touch base with family and friends here – and with friends of such long-standing, felt immediately and entirely at home.

Frequent questions were: ‘are you missing the boat?’ (No!) and ‘where do you consider home?’ To which there is no quick or easy answer…. Here are some pictures of our recent lives that try to fathom an answer!

London and Cape Town: our hearts are there. Our hearts were always there with our children (our sons and wonderful daughters-in-law)... BUT. Those tiny babies… how do they do it? They put hooks under your skin as soft as feathers and strong as steel and you know that your heart has been captured, and home is dictated. Not that you will be physically alongside them daily or forever, but in your mind, with them you are home.

Home was found again on land: more than 50 years of life on land does not easily give way to living on the sea. Our storage unit in Pretoria contains all our remaining land-life possessions (with apologies that some pics refuse to remain correctly orientated!):

We found it significant that the only chair we held onto was the ‘baby-feeding chair’, bought second-hand in Bethal 33 years ago!

On land, it was easy to satisfy the need (evidently-daily) for household shopping, getting about, eating out. Rolf found death-by-chocolate drinks easily obtainable, to his obvious delight.

The roof over your head is secure and unlikely to move violently, internet is reliable and fast, cars start and run reliably, pretty gardens are the backdrop to outdoor meals, salt stored in an open pot runs smoothly off the dispensing spoon. Days are fairly predictable and this gives rise to considerable (and enviable) security and confidence.

The return to Ketoro, on the marina in Langkawi, Malaysia, saw us wondering apprehensively how we would embrace home-on-the-sea again. We tackled predictable and seemingly endless issues that arise when a boat is left unattended on the water for an extended period: mould had blossomed (on hard surfaces, upholstery and bedding, and, photo below, the underside of what used to be a pristine white cockpit roof);

water intakes were blocked by barnacle and algae growth and hence toilets did not flush and water inlets to engines, generator, air-cons and watermaker needed clearing by diving in the murky harbour water; rust had lurked quietly and unseen – before triumphing over our basin tap.

 This kind of predictability is unpleasant, so you turn to your favourite luxuries for solace; in Rolf’s case (obviously) a chocolate drink. First use the drill to break up the solid rock-hard block that is the chocolate powder…

 Suitably prepared and provisioned, we set sail towards Phuket, Thailand; eager to be away from marinas and enjoying the travelling and overnight anchorages at beautiful islands. This sunset on the first night was promising…

but the promise of good weather was an illusion.

A three-month sojourn off the boat had made us, Ketoro crew, rusty too, but we learned very fast in weather that was sent to remind us that this is the off-season (the south west monsoon winds building up a head of steam as they cross the north Indian Ocean on their way to the low pressure zone over the Asian landmass) and this home is different: squalls brought big winds and rain, the genoa headsail tore before we could get control of it in the high winds, the boat’s airborne gyrations in the rough seas caused problems with aeration at water-intakes (drat those toilets and generator again!), anchorages with rolly seas did not offer the usual opportunities to snorkel and relax: in fact the wind coming from unexpected directions made the choice of anchorages risky and troublesome; a strap on our canvas cover / water-catcher tore and we had wave slamming on the bridgedeck, even at anchor.

So: much of the trip was passed wishing we were anywhere else… but anywhere else did not mean off the boat. It meant on the boat / in the calm lee of an island / not wet. We do not wish ourselves off this home, despite the fact that it is not predictable, secure or constant. Dolphins came to visit on day two – for us, this is always a good omen.

And this home brought us here, on day four:

 in the relatively calm lee of a beautiful island, canvas screens keeping the squalls and rain out, we swing from side to side and up and down, but our glimpses through gaps in the canvas and the rain are of paradise. And tomorrow that garden/island view may change as we move on, or we can choose to make it home for another day.

 

 When a ferocious squall hit the windward (west) side of the island that is providing us with shelter (on the east), our wind instrument nevertheless still registered 42 knot winds... from the north, refracted round the headland and charging over us like a steam-roller... a direction entirely unexpected, obviously, in this SW season! Happily, at this current anchorage we are still safe, unlike at this previous one (below), claimed in the pilot guide to be “ideal overnight any time of year”…

 where we spent the early morning hours holding position with engines on (still at anchor) to avoid colliding with the reef as the refracted wind from the north shoved us in that direction.

Are we comfortable where we are? No, not in the current weather conditions, but it could be worse. Safe? Yes. And the views are beautiful, storm or not.

So from here we can be out of harm’s way whilst getting on with normal day-to-day life: updating stock lists, eating, giving Rolf a haircut, communicating (writing e-mails and this blog), organising, planning the jobs to be done on the boat when she is out the water on the hardstand for the next month (at this stage the ‘jobs list’ is at 6 pages!).

And it is here that we figure out the question of what home means to us.

Home is … In London. In Cape Town… Or wherever our children and grandchildren are.
And home is on the sea, in a boat that can safely carry us through waters of unpredictable nature and in sufficient comfort for our current needs.

Now for the big question: when will we be able to escape from this refuge to dash across the sea to the next, as we make our way to Phuket?

 Well, two days after our arrival here the weather calmed and gave us this clear vista (below) of the above scene; the standing tall rock gives the name to the Chicken Island (Ko Dham).

We leave tomorrow, to get into the Phuket marina in a further two days… soon after which we shall be able to upload this blog!
(Post Script: at home in Boat Lagoon Marina now... and our home-on-water is about to be taken out of the water to become a home-on-the-dry-dock!)

Leaving Thailand again

Siam has many (hi)stories that offer enough intrigue and interest to be potentially good material for fascinating movies. Unfortunately, the King of Thailand (Siam) has frequently said no to any film-making done on location, and thus films on or about Thailand’s past were not filmed in Thailand. Two examples are ‘The Bridge on the River Kwai’ and ‘Anna and the King of Siam’.

When recently in Bangkok, we decided to visit the spot ABOUT WHICH the first of these films was made, i.e. the spot where it was NOT made! So we took a two-hour trip to Kanchanaburi and the Bridge over the River Kwai…

During 1942 and 1943 (World War II) the Japanese used Allied prisoners of war and civilian labour to build a 415km railway line between Burma and Siam (now known respectively as Myanmar and Thailand). This line became known as Death Railway as it cost the lives of over 15000 POWs and over 100000 Thai and Burmese civilians as a result of sickness, malnutrition, exhaustion and maltreatment.

The poignant but beautiful and immaculately maintained Allied War Cemetery for 7000 POWs stands near the site of the former Kanburi POW base camp.

Kanchanaburi was the site of notorious internment camps for the Allied troops; the history is really well presented at the Thai-Burmese Railway Centre (museum) and the JEATH War Museum, constructed by the Chief Abbot (and in the grounds of) Wat Chaichumpol, a Buddhist Temple. The bamboo museum’s construction resembles that of an Allied POW camp.

JEATH is an acronym for the nations that participated in the war effort here, as indicated by the flags: Japan, England, Australia, Thailand, Holland.

Just north of Kanchanaburi is The Bridge on the River Kwai.

This bridge was part of the Death Railway line, actually built to span the Mae Klong River. In the 1957 film The Bridge on the River Kwai, filmed in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), the river is incorrectly identified. However, the extreme popularity of the film brought about an influx of tourists to Thailand, looking for the “Bridge on the River Kwai”, so in the 1960s the name of the river was pragmatically changed from Mae Klong to Kwae Yai! (The tourist buck clearly has power, as also seen by the number of towns now named Shangri-La after the book, one example being Zhongdian… now Shangri-La… the lovely city we visited in China).

Tourist train on "Bridge on the River Kwai"

The original POW timber bridge was bombed several times (with varying degrees of success) by the Allied forces; this is long gone and what we see today is the steel bridge that was built a few months later and a couple of hundred metres upstream and that has also been repaired after a successful bomb attack near the end of the war: the round truss spans are the originals and the angular replacements (see in pic above) were supplied by Japan as war reparations.

Kanchanaburi, the town, is actually a fun place to be, despite being surrounded by a tragic past, and three days spent enjoying the historical sites, eating and having massages is a wonderful way to spend time while waiting for a UK visa in Bangkok!

There is also a beautiful 7-tiered waterfall, Erewan Falls, that has a Thai twist;

... here, at stage three, you share the pool with cleaner fish… you know the little ones they have in glass boxes for “fish massage” at Thai tourist towns? Well, their huge grandparents are here in this pool, looking for your skin cells!

The return to Bangkok took us down typical Thai streets with evocative street-light decorations … and a reminder that the King is always around!

After Bangkok it was back to Ketoro in Phuket, where we had to acclimatise to days of more than 34 deg. C temperature and 95% humidity again. But we needed to get to Langkawi, Malaysia: a visa run for the two of us and the boat. After having had a fairly long break from sailing we were happy to get into it again, so cleared out of Thailand and set off with good winds which allowed the sails to work (for a change) but the uncomfortable rolly sea from many days of wind challenged our stomachs and reminded us that our sea legs needed exercise!

Three days later it became “interesting”! We were due to go first to an anchorage at Telaga (in Langkawi, Malaysia) which is shallow and has a bad reputation for providing poor holding for anchors, particularly with winds from the SW. Heading across there on the uncomfortable sea, the winds picked up from the SW and we decided to try to find an alternative place to anchor. We therefore turned back into Thai waters and spotted a number of fishing boats holed up on the south east side of Tarutao Island. The locals know what they are doing so that is where we anchored…

Staying two nights in the company of more than 35 fishing boats and a tug and barge, all taking refuge from the weather, we watched a moving world as Ketoro danced and slewed about in the winds (happily limited to 25 knots) that bulleted across us from different directions. The fishing boats gave us considerable swinging room and half the bay, while these heavy boats took up the other half of the bay, rafted together in lines of three to seven boats, and close to each other.

Fishing boats rafting up

There are 18 fishing boats in this small area

The shallow waters of the bay were churned up by erratic swells, and one morning we were treated to the sight of pink-marked dolphins enjoying their feed around us.

The decision not go to Telaga was fortuitous: we heard that there was chaos in the anchorage, with huge gusts of wind (50 to 60 knots) and some boats dragging anchor and crashing into each other. (In discussion with other yachties, we are quiet about the fact that our worst loss was Irene’s vodka and orange which was tossed everywhere when a big cushion was blown off the sunbed onto the table!) Our refuge off Tarutao (albeit with little sleep on the first night) had provided interest and also beauty from surprising sources.

We are now in a marina on Rebak Island, near Langkawi (Malaysia) and the notorious Telaga anchorage… which has the crumbling film-set of that other film on Siam.

A falling-apart old house on the beach at Telaga is all that remains of the Summer Palace of King Rama IV of Siam, as filmed for Anna and the King. When the real, current King of Thailand said “no”, that film was shot in Malaysia (in Langkawi, Penang and Ipoh); later, the Thai authorities did not allow the film’s distribution in Thailand as some scenes were construed to be disrespectful towards the King. The Summer Palace now provides a lovely backdrop for the wedding photos of this gorgeous Malay couple, a sight we were delighted to come upon some time ago.

Current status? Ketoro is to be left in this marina, safe from storms, until mid September while its crew travel to the UK and then SA to meet their two new grandchildren!