Malaysia

 

Malaysia is a bubbling, bustling melting pot of races and religions where Malays, Indians, Chinese and many other ethnic groups live together in peace and harmony. The mixture of cultures is reflected in the shops, restaurants, shrines, temples, mosques and churches that we visited.

Geographically, Malaysia is as diverse as its culture.  Malaysia is divided into 13 states and 3 Federal Territories, separated by the South China Sea with 11 states and 2 federal territories (Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya) in Peninsular Malaysia and two states and 1 federal territory (Labuan) in East Malaysia.

Malaysia from afar conjures up images of a hot and steamy city (Kuala Lumpur) and dank small towns typical of third world countries half a century ago.  Surprised again!  While it was a bit hot and steamy everywhere, there were air conditioned malls and offices and lovely shade trees to cut the mid-day sun.  As for Third World poor, I was wrong.  We experienced fancy long-distance bus rides, excellent roads, good internet connections, great restaurants, safe public drinking water and modern malls.  Mostly, though Malaysia impressed me with its people.  They were friendly, smiling, courteous and helpful.  We dressed conservatively to not give offense with our Western garb, and I never felt unwelcomed by the people.

 

We had an uneventful 3 hour trip from Singapore to a relatively new marina called Puteri harbor.  We found modern docks, great steady electricity and water.  We stayed there for just over a month and had the air conditioners humming continually.  Although electricity and water were metered, out total bill for 33 days was about $600 US which works out to about $18 per day.  We ate out several meals which are inexpensive here too.  Our biggest complaint is that the marina was very isolated.  The marina van took us shopping twice per week and would shuttle us for free to the local town and to nearby resorts to use their pool, but it would have been nice to walk to places without having to make arrangements.  A quick read of the labels on these food items in the supermarket (photo below) tell you that we are not in Kansas anymore!

 

Tom kept busy by replacing our watermaker membrane, doing some major work on the toilet system and got the dingy motor back in good shape.  Kim did her perpetual varnish work on the exterior teak and washing and waxing the topsides.  We tried to get some local help, but no willing locals could be found.

One day we took the efficient bus system to Johor Bahru where we met Cam and Nicki from Dreamer and did some clothes shopping.  Kim and Emily were fascinated with the colorful Indian clothes that were full of beads and baubles and both now have full outfits.  Even Tom now has a fancy turban.  The streets were lined with vendors cooking and selling spicy food, colorful flowers and Indian temples.   

 

We had lunch in a Chinese restaurant that had whole cooked ducks hanging in the front window.  It was delicious and very inexpensive.

 

We did manage to escape to Malacca for 3 nights and that was wonderful.  We splurged on a hotel right on Jonker Walk which had a King bed, deep tub, big screen TV and frosty air conditioning.  I will do a separate blog on Malacca.

Tomorrow morning we start a 5-day, 450 mile trip up the busy Malacca Straights to Langkowi.  We will provision there for our crossing of the Indian Ocean.

Tom

Singapore

Located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, Singapore has long been a shipping/trading center. Even in the 11^th to 14^th centuries it was considered part of both Malay and Javanese kingdoms, but it fell from importance and the settlement was destroyed in the 13^th century when the town of Malacca (Melaka) on the Malay Peninsula supplanted it as a trading center.  For hundreds of years the area was occupied only by fishermen in small settlements.

In 1819 Stamford Raffles, the British lieutenant-governor of Java, received permission from the British government to build a city on Singapore island, knowing that all ships sailing between the Far East and Europe had to pass this point.  By playing clever politics with an older sultan against his son, Raffles soon had a treaty that allowed British rule alongside the sultan.  Singapore became a magnet for workers from SE Asia and China in particular, and a major trading center.  A fort was built on the coast of Singapore, trade flourished and the East India Company raked in profits from all the ships that passed through.  Raffles built the city to a grand plan with botanical gardens, covered walkways, shopping districts, and the population divided “neatly” into ethnic districts.  Much of his original city plan is still in evidence today.

The British maintained an extensive military presence in the area during the 1800's and early 1900's.  During WW II the British were forced to surrender to the Japanese who had marched down the Malay Peninsula into Singapore in huge numbers.  The city lived under harsh Japanese rule from early 1942 to late 1945 and was returned to the British at the end of the war.  By 1959 Singapore became an independent member of the British commonwealth.  Lee Kuan Yew ruled as Prime Minister from 1959 to 1990, seeing the small nation through a disastrous two-year joining with Malaysia when there were major ethnic struggles (1963 to 1965) after which it became an independent state.  Lee Kuan Yew ruled with heavy-handed social and political policies, but overall the small country has enjoyed a booming economy, now based on services and technology more than maritime trade.

We motored over the 3 hours from Indonesia and stepped into a bustling modern world.  My AIS system was overloaded with ship targets and we weaved our way through 300 meter long ships moving at 13 knots.  The procedure entering into Singapore is unique (for us).  We motored into the western quarantine area, drifted and hailed the officials.  We passed our passports, crew lists and port clearance from Indonesia across the gap between the two drifting boats into a fish net on a pole.  Within 15 minutes the net came back with all the appropriate stamps in the passports and we were free to enter Singapore.  No charge for this service.  Many countries could learn from this procedure.

 

We splurged and stayed one week at the Marina at Keppel Bay.  We were met by 4 line handlers and electric and water lines were connected for us.  They even had fluffy white towels for us when we went up for showers.  It was a 15 minute walk to Vivo City, the largest mall in Singapore…5 floors of western decadence. The malls were air conditioned, but it was more fun to hop on the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT, also air conditioned) and zoom off to Little India and Chinatown.  Man were they ever hustle-bustle.  Lots of people, lots of motorbikes, extremely colorful shops with flowers and wonderful cloth, local market stalls with fruits and veggies, spice shops I could hardly walk into without sneezing.  Then back to the MRT and zip! - off to some other new wonder.

 

We got Emily a new passport and eyeglasses and had a few moles removed.  We toured the Asian Civilizations Museum, getting an overview of the peoples, cultures and religions of this area. 

We saw the Singapore Zoo, Night Safari and the Jurong Bird park.   

   

Animals at the zoo are kept in spacious, landscaped enclosures separated from the visitors by either dry or wet moats. The moats are concealed with vegetation or dropped below the line of vision. Dangerous animals that can climb well are housed in landscaped glass-fronted enclosures.  Emily got to ride an elephant and hold hands with a lemur.

We also rode the Singapore flyer.  The Singapore Flyer is a giant Ferris wheel located in Singapore, constructed in 2005–2008.  Described by its operators as an observation wheel, it reaches 42 stories high, with a total height of 541 ft., making it the tallest Ferris wheel in the world.  One week of non-stop shopping and sightseeing before heading off to Malaysia and cheaper dockage.

Tom