Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind - Seneca
We had time to give Tientos a thorough clean before the Rally fleet
arrived two days later. Major Han, the Marina Manager, had asked us to help out
so with Lea on the radio, Omar on berth allocation and Keith and Chandra
assisting in the tie up, it was an exhausting day for all.
Although we were not part of Sail Malaysia, we were invited along
anyway to all the festivities (helps to have friends in high places).
With everyone crammed into large tourist buses, we visited the Armed
Forces Museum, the King’s Palace (now a museum) for lunch, an Ostrich Farm for
Ostrich races, (and rides for the adventurous, although I declined to have the
flea-ridden feathers between my legs), and a Village Chief’s house for ‘Deepa
Valli’, a Hindu festival, for another traditional meal. So much food!
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| Interesting history at the Military Museum |
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| Lunch Entertainment |
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| King's Palace |
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| More food and generous hospitality |
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| Lorraine from Katani II taming the ostrich |
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Remember the friends in high places? Well an official dinner was held
for the Rally with various dignitaries and officials and we were invited to
join the hosts at the main table. That was fun as we didn’t have to fight for
the buffet as we enjoyed first class service and a prime view for the
festivities.
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| Harrier and Tientos at the Official Table |
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| For a bird's eye view |
Another tour was arranged to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital, whose
modern skyline is crowned by Petronas Towers, the world’s tallest
building. A visit to Aquaria was a little disappointing as it did not seem as
vibrant as the Aquarium in Melbourne.
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| Smog over Petronas Towers |
A visit to Putrajaya, the federal capital
of Malaysia, was a picture of stunning architecture and sculptured gardens. The
Putra Mosque was magnificent.The pink-domed Mosque is constructed with rose-tinted granite.
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| The pink-domed Mosque |
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| View from the Convention Centre at Putrajaya |
But after
another long day, we were over bus tours, so with Dennis and Patsy from ‘Harrier’ we opted for a 3 day stay in Melaka in the opulent Puri Hotel.
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| Welcome to Melaka |
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| Deceiving from the outside |
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| Opulent inside |
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| Keith checking into the Puri | | |
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| Melaka is a blaze of colour |
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| Even the Church |
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| The Malacca River |
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| View with lunch |
Melaka is home to the 1421 Imperial Pavilion (same owners as the Puri) and the details of Zheng He's voyage displayed throughout. The puppet show showing his life (and castration) is quite hilarious and worth seeing.
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| The Pavilion |
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| Zheng He's fleet |
Port Dickson has open-air markets and a large ‘wet’ market, selling
poultry, fish and meat still on the hoof.
Keith picked up a new machete for the coconuts whilst I selected a
kitchen cleaver with an embossed copper handle, for the chickens.
The rest of our 11 day stay was taken up with boat work, sorting out
the washing which had gone ashore but didn’t come back in the same bag, getting
a new awning for over the cockpit and finding lots of interesting local Indian restaurants.
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| Zheng He's map of the World adorned our aft cabine |
‘Australian Maid’, crewed by Darwin friends arrived at the Marina,
enroute to Selangor for the Raja Muda Regatta. I gave Morgan, the skipper, a copy of my Total
Tide program and said we would see them there.
It was time to head north for more exploring and to check out the
race.
May all your bars be wooden and well-stocked!
