Shopping at Supercheap

Screenshot of the Supercheap website

I attempted to use Supercheap's delivery service and end up going to Supercheap more times a week than I would like. Below is pasted an email I sent them after my experience:

Dear Sirs, good day,

I'm writing this email to inform you that the delivery service that you have is not working - at all.

I have been shoppping in Supercheap for more than a year now re: all my provisions and housekeeping materials are bought from your good store. Recently I heard that you also have a delivery service so I decided to try and use it and I duly applied for a membership card. In order to save my time I decided to order via the delivery service and faxed an order to you (Both in Thai and English).

A few hours later a person calls me and says my membership card is only for wet stuff so I come down to your good shop for applying another card and I re-send my fax order.

An hour later a person calls me and says again there is a problem. I ask how many cards do I need to process my order? Reply comes that order will be processed.

Next day I receive half of the stores ordered, only food items. I also get delivered chicken feet instead of legs (drumsticks).

I drive down to Supercheap again and ask if I can change the chicken feet and why not the whole order was delivered? I get reply that balance will be delivered today although I say I could go and pick up all items myself as I'm already at your shop. Reply is, "no need, we will send it to you".

An hour later I'm called and told that delivery today is not possible. I ask that why did you promise delivery when it is not happening? Now I need to get into my car again and drive down to Supercheap to pick up the remaining items.

Another hour later I get another call from you and a person is telling me that items are being delivered. Rightly so I get another delivery but the whole order is not there, so I have to rush down Supercheap again to buy my remaining items (worth 7000THB).

In conclusion instead of one weekly trip to buy my housekeeping and provisions (this week worth 14000THB) I had to come down to Supercheap 3 times as I was hoping to get my order delivered with no visits at all.

Do you call this Customer service?

Oh well, I received no reply and suspect I will never receive any. I can only conclude that I can only order basic stuff but nothing elaborate - they will never deliver it even if I have written it down in Thai for the people to easily understand. I just wonder how the hotels and resorts deal with this, I suppose they just send stooges to do the shopping.

For me it is a bit different as I can't trust a service that don't deliver stuff when and what I want when I am working on a deadline or with pax onboard.

It might be Supercheap but definitely delivery service is not Supergood...

Their website

Phuket Vegetarian Festival

Later on in the evening we get down to Phuket town to see the finale of the Phuket vegetarian festival. The possessed Mah Song are going to flog themselves with boiling oil. We arrive early to see a cauldron of oil being fed by a coal fire being stirred by assistants.



Time went by slowly but the spectators were lined up in rows, both local and foreign. Finally the first possessed came by wagging his head and went to pay his respects at the altar. One by one more followed and they all gathered around the cauldron. They were speaking all the time but I was too far away to see or hear what they were saying and I presume they were mostly speaking Chinese anyways. Soon enough all mediums were given yellow rags and they started dipping them into the cauldron and the lashing themselves over their bare backs with it. I could not see anybody getting burns on their skins. After awhile these rags was shredded and thrown to the audience, needless to say there was a scuffle where the rag landed. Later on the assistants bottled the boiled oil and sold it against a donation for the temple. At this stage we left the scene and went for a vegetarian late dinner.

Next day went busy working but on Monday 26th is the grande finale at Sapan Hin in Phuket Town for the veg fest so me and Saini decide to go. When we arrive and find some parking after long searching we are emerging to a warzone. There is a continuous thump coming down form a car stereo show, rockets and bangers being fired all the time. The air is thick from cordite smell and smoke. We walk around the car stereo show and gape at the sound systems installed in the cars, just incredible show pieces. After that we wander down to the beach and see the Chinese temple and people lined up sitting and waiting. We also see construction of several bonfires. Rockets and other incendiaries are fired off continuously. We walk around and finally decide to sit down near one of the unlit bonfires.

Just one of the rockets...

We sit and chat and wonder about all the action, Saini confirms it is more fireworks than during Diwali in India and soon enough the people gets more and more. The whole field in forn tof the Chinese temple gets filled up and one can hear fireworks going off like machine guns and the smoke is gettig more dense, soon enough one can't see the sky. The noise is deafening. Pall bearers emerge from the smoke carrying effigies of Chinese Gods on chairs, carrying them to the waters edge. They are all like demons from the underworld coming from a barrage of crackers beings thrown at their feet. Everybody is covered in rags from head to toe.

Chinese Temple at Sapan Hin

Eventually I can see there is a lull in the activity and some kind of ceremony is underway in the middle of the field, I can't see it, just a huge parasol is held up at the centre of activities. Finally it starts moving and the parasol heads for the sea. People gather around the pyre with burning torches, guards go around and wards off anybody trying to light the pyre too early. Finally the parasol reaches the waterfront and the pyre is set on fire. It quickly gathers momentum and the heat is incredible, me and people around me retreats back. This seems to be the highlight of the proceedings so after this me and Saini head back for the car and the ship.

Sending off a lantern for good luck

The traffic is same as during rush hour despite it is midnight and we try to find a circuitous route out of Phuket Town and finally manage to do it. Doing tis we discover that all roads coming from Chinese Temples are covered in red paper debris coming from the fireworks being thrown at the people walking to Sapan Hin. No wonder they all were covered in rags from top to toe and looked like Bat's out of Hell when they arrived...

More of The Nine Emperor Gods Festival

Toby's 40th birthday bash

On the 23rd was Toby Koehler's 40th birthday. Toby is our agent here in Phuket and he invited us among all other yachties to participate in the party that was going to take place on Nai Yang beach at the Beach Club.

The birthday boy himself

We left Kalizma by 7pm and arrived just in time for the kickoff. Crew and me gifted Toby with a bottle of very old single malt and a coloring book (the cover said for all ages)...

After sitting down it was beer time and I was looking around, slowly also people I knew started to turn up, Gordon Fernandes, Toby's boss arrived. I also saw Nick Wyatt and Zara Tremlett from the Yacht Have marina. Further on I saw Peter from Queen of Andaman and Ted from Yanneke Too.

Nong Kae from "the living room" at Yacht Haven

A band started playing blues and old rock, terrific vocalist. Can't recall their name but they usually play at the Irish Pub in Patong Beach.

I met Michael Bosch too that last year was on a dinner party onboard, he still recalled vividly the Whyte and Mackay we consumed that time. I also assume the other guests, including Toby, remembers our fun night.

Nick "the Greek" and Jeab doing the "dirty dancing" :)

Later on I also bumped into Nick "the Greek", a Cypriot that used to work for Gordon but is now doing something else for rich people, lovely guy and I got to use my Greek language skills too.

Toby giving the beat

At one point Toby demonstrated his drumming skills and performed with a bongo drum and ankle maracas. Really good beat.



After this the party started going with dancing and stuff. A bit later we had to go home as Richard had had enough.

Richard in great form

All in all, great bash Toby & welcome to the Old farts club! :D :D :D

Diwali celebration

As per Saini's explanation Diwali is in celebration of homecoming of Ram after his exile. Those who want to know more may click this link

Anyway, I decided we'll celebrate the Diwali at Chao Mai beach doing some BBQ and relaxing in Trang province. We set off with me, Jira, Saini and Kalpu with Vivek and Rajaram to join us later.

17th we are busy chasing BBQ items for the Diwali celebration, we already got rockets in advance. Jira's brother N. Thuen ascertains we can fire rockets and do BBQ at Chao Wai Beach so we decide that there is where our celebration will take place. Rest of afternoon is spent guiding Vivek to Trang and he finally arrives shortly after dusk.

The beach itself is huge and very shallow. I waded out several hundred meters and was only ankle deep in the sea. It was low tide at the time so it was not surprising.

After dark we built up a fire from the drift wood on the beach so one could see what one was eating. The menu was squid, shrimp, fish and chicken with spicy Thai dipping sauce and beer of course. This time we had no Kingfisher as we had depleted our stock in the Lumut drydock.

Saini was busy guiding Vivek as he tended to get lost on the Thai highway, eventually he found the way and arrived after dark with Rajaram. They also brought the ghetto blaster so after that it was Indie pop time.

Everybody was enjoying until Saini fired off a volley of rockets. It did not take many minutes for the park wardens to come around and tell us to put out the fire and stop shooting rockets off. Oh well, we put on the car lights and slowly winded down the BBQ and headed for home.

Sunset at Chao Mai Beach On our way back to Khuan Kun we get permission from Jira's father to shoot off all rockets in front of his house the spirit returns to Saini, Raja Ram and Vivek. We arrive there shortly and park & start to offload rockets. Saini & Co start to shoot off a most incredible amount of incendiaries. At times it seems Vivek got an infinite supply in his car trunk but it also showed signs of coming to an end when he whipped out the "badawala" rocket battery. Finally after abt 30min of incessant firing of rockets and the neighborhood awakened we had finished all our stuff. I said I'm going to sleep but Raja Ram said he had not had enough to eat so he needed something to eat, same as Saini and Vivek. I sent N. Thuen to get the guys fed and headed myself for some shuteye...

Footnote on the Lumut drydocking

After having voiced my and my offices dissatisfaction of what went down in Lumut I was approached by the Manager, Mr. Nick Coombes, of APS Langkawi to meet on the 16th to sort out some issues at hand.

Fortunately Cmde S.K.Mongia was also visiting Phuket at this time so I could coordinate to have a mutual meeting and saving a lot of emailing afterwards.

We met on the 16th at 10am onboard and went through the events of the DD and came to our grievances that eventualy boiled down to a discount of the final DD invoice.

To cut the story short I have the deepest respect for Nick by assuming responsibility of his bad business decision and granted us a considerable discount on his Company's expense.

The only party coming out of this mess "unscathed" is the main culprit "Grade One Marine Shipyard", they must've been laughing all the way to the bank.

Oh well, I'm sure they will now be missing many Yacht repair contracts as I'm sure APS Langkawi won't be promoting them as the place to haul out in SE Asia.

In case anyone asks me for a reference I'll give one too - a negative one. I have no positive thoughts whatsoever for this "run-by-night" establishment. In fact I have reported their disgusting antics to the Malaysian yacht and Shipyard associations.

Rainbow just off Yacht Haven

Drydocking Lumut

Years ago on m/v Columbus Caravelle where we once spent an annual docking in Guangzhou for 2 humid weeks I thought that was bad. Then in 2003 when I was working on Project m/y Turama I thought I’d seen it all. Last year in Langkawi Wavemaster I thought I had hit rock bottom but I was once again proven wrong this year in Lumut by Grade One Marine Shipyard that set records in shafting the Client.

Lifted up after more than 24hrs of wrangling

As you may have glimpsed in my previous blogs that our drydocking has not gone quite as smoothly as anticipated I am not exaggerating this. It is usual that there are always some squabbles that are then solved by giving a bit and taking a bit after some discussions. Not so with Grade One Marine Shipyard.

Weight dials on the shiplift put us on abt 350mt displacement

Asia Pacific Superyachts of Langkawi had recommended this yard as they had successfully lifted there abt 10 boats. I visited the facility in May and they visited us in Langkawi in order to work out a quote. The facility is new and seemed promising in my eyes. Once I left Langkawi again there was not much movement on the quote despite emails back and forth. It seemed yard only moved for us when John Orr went down to Lumut to chase them.

Furthermore, APS put themselves as a go between as agents and so in effect we were the client of APS and APS the client of the yard. My management expressed their dismay to such an arrangement and warned APS that they are putting themselves in a precarious position in case problems arise. We were told this is the only way yard wants to deal with yachts, via APS Langkawi, so we digressed. APS assured that there will not be any problems and floating will go smoothly. Well, as it happened all went to hell and relationship between vessel and APS Langkawi is discontinued indefinitely.

Yard has following muppets to show: Operations Manager Fuad bin Rasol, slick prick that promises even the moon from the sky in order to get you to his yard. Seems to have poor conception of reality and hence does not know what his labor is doing or perhaps just pretends to be that way. Haji Nasir, senior costing officer, promises that anything can be done in a blink of an eye, next day goes back on his word. Costing stooge Mahat, Nasirs right hand man, hopeless blabber and interrupts anyone who starts to give him facts or question his facts. Project Manager Azlan is as useless as tits on a donkey, unfortunately he was appointed to us. Shiplift supervisor Captain Ahmad, formerly known in Rebak, Langkawi as Mr. 10%, proud person, cannot take advice.

View through our rudder pintles

The only persons that really earned recognition for good work and ability to problem solve was Mr. Saeran and Mr. Teoh, the first is in charge of mechanical issues and did our rudder and props, the latter is underwater hull supervisor from cleaning to painting. Especially Mr. Teoh never vacillated on any job at hand, he just did it.

Project Manager Yin was the only PM that seemed to know what he was doing, he was appointed to do all the other government ships that was being overhauled, when at times PM Azlan lost his only marble the yard sent Yin over for few days and this kept on going during whole yard stay.

As a conclusion of our visit I can say that we have been had totally by APS Langkawi and Grade One Marine Shipyard and I am thoroughly disgusted by their antics. It was not probably the brightest idea to come and do a drydocking in a muslim country during their fasting month but we were assured that it would not affect productivity as they also employ staff from other religions. I initially planned arrival 1^st August but it was changed for budgetary reasons. Seeing that the yards clients mostly consists on government vessels from the marine police, coastguard and navy I assume they just do a shoddy job, charge it triple or quadruple and get paid for it, no adjustments are never asked for as it is a government job and bureaucrats just sign whatever is put in front of them.

Finally on the way to be floated

Needless to say we will never ever visit this yard again, one can only take so much of being overcharged, held for ransom and being blackmailed.

Around Lumut

Having spent over a month in Lumut I have gotten to know the area a bit. Obviously the biggest attraction here is the Pangkor Island resorts and Pangkor Laut where movie stars visit. I did not visit there as I am not that keen on such places, seen one beach, seen ‘em all…

Lumut itself is more like a thoroughfare for tourists on their way to Pangkor although there are numerous hotels and restaurants in the area. The town itself has only one main road that passes in front of the ferry terminal for Pangkor. The road is lined with souvenir shops and stalls, at end of the road or edge of the town is a big Nasi Kandar where you can get a cheap Indian or Malay fare.

This restaurant was often frequented by my crew. Behind this Nasi Kandar (you need to go behind the stalls) is a side road that leads to a restaurant called Rockefelle, it has a nice and fairly cheap menu that caters for foreigners, on Sundays they do a BBQ. Staff is friendly, mixed Thai and Malay.

Towards the other direction from the Nasi Kandar you can see Jook’s Joint Bistro that also sports a foreign menu and a very active Malay staff that tends to your needs. I recommend the chili con carne with nachos that is not featured on the menu. Pizzas here are also very tasty.

Behind Jook’s joint is an Italian restaurant called Capri, although the food is excellent (at least the pizzas) it is quite expensive, for this reason I ate there only twice.

North of the International Lumut Marina are 3 restaurants that are managed by an Italian Owner, Massimo, and his Singaporean wife Judy. Only the Italian restaurant is open and staff is from Myanmar. The pizza topping was great but the crust was made of wrong kind of wheat flour and not so tasty compared to Jook’s or Capri.

Front of Lumut International Yacht marina

Coming down south next to Massimo’s is the Marina and after them is Lumut Country Resort where I stayed during the visit. The resort is really basic and a bit run down but the ambience is nice and you get warm shower and aircon as well as a breakfast with the daily paper. Rooms went for 105 RM a night. They also have a swimming pool if you fancy that.

Going further south from the resort is Jook’s Joint Bar, the only place in town where expats go for beers and demi-mondaines. Almost opposite Jook’s is The Green Door.

The Green Door is a Chinese restaurant run by Ah Pau (look for sign that says “Restoran Kepala Kari Ikan”) where you get a delicious fare. Pork is also on the menu, pricing is a bit over the top in my opinion. These are my recollections of any note worthy restaurants in Lumut, I tried a few others too but the food was bad.

Now going out of Lumut towards Sitiawan you will arrive to a crossing with a KFC on your left side (this is the ecenter of Sitiawan), turn right and continue for abt 1km, keep your eyes focused on left side for a restaurant called Bei King (I suppose it means Peking), the food is excellent and reasonably priced.

Near the Grade One yard, at the first light crossing towards Lumut, is a restaurant called Hai Lam Village, we got most of our lunches there, very affordable and good food. Eat inside as outside is a lot of flies coming from neighboring chicken farms.

Furthermore for shopping drive towards Sitiawan or Ipoh and you will many supermarkets where everything is available. For technical stuff you can’t find near Lumut - go to Ipoh (60minutes drive). Same applies for sightseeing more of Perak.

Diving Pulau Pulau Sembilan

Since the yard disaster continued and we were held for ransom until payment in full I was again stuck in Lumut yet another weekend. I was meeting Chan for dinner on Friday and he asked if I would be interested in going diving the next Sunday together with his hooligans, this time at the Sembilan Islands. These Islands are a group of nine (hence the name Sembilan (9)) located south of Pangkor Island.



Map of the Sembilans

As Chan went there already on Saturday for camping I came out with Ah Pok on Tuna II that went fishing with some other guys. At 7am Ah Pok picked me up and we went via the morning market to stockup on food and drink. We left early Sunday morning to one of the bigger Pulau Saga that had a fresh water stream too. On the way I got dejavu experience as we hit a heavy rainstorm but after that the weather turned partly overcast with sunshine.

The camp was rigged up as a big tarp in an inverted “V” to cover a raised dais where people lined up like sardines to sleep. I met Chan and was immediately thrust an Anchor in hand and as people had had breakfast we loaded onto the boat and headed for our divesites.



Beach at Pulau Lalang

Our first site was “Black Rock”, a cliff just barely jutting out of the sea with a rusty marker to warn seafarers of the navigational danger. Chan warned me of getting close to the rocks as the swell would grind me to corned beef against the barnacles and whatnot. Without saying I could see what he meant. We geared up and plopped into the drink and down I went.



The Black Rock

The 1st 10m visibility was no more than 2-3m and when going deeper it improved a bit to perhaps 5-6m, current was zero. I could hear spear guns going off like rapid fire and thought that the fishing must be good. Chan had loaned me an underwater camera so I could entertain myself while diving. Having a visibility of only 5-6m the photography was limited to close up shots only but it kept me busy. At 25m depth everything looked to be only different shades of green but whenever the flash would go off I could see the real color of every plant and organism I shot. The bottom was very rocky and had nice nooks and crannies for the fish to hide in, the corals were not that plentiful but there were loads of oysters the size of palm of my hand. I think Chan had speared the most fish during the 1st round, at least there was a queen fish, a barracuda, a bat fish and a golden grouper.

Link to my underwater pics



Ah Chan and in between dive brew

Our next dive we shifted to “White Rock”, a much bigger rock islet with a white light house on it. Ah Pok was dispatched to go onto the Island to look for birds nest. Chan told me that if they found something it was of very good quality. Unfortunately after a few minutes Ah Pok came back empty handed – somebody had looted the Island before us.



Ah Pok looking for birds nest

We got back to our diving business and geared up, Chan just told me to follow the Island nothing special to look out for. I went down again with same visibility as on White Rock, only addition was that I could feel the swell at times pushing me around even at 20m depth. I glimpsed some big fish swimming around me as well as loads of smaller tropical fish. Here was same amount of soft corals and sea urchins as well as the rope like grass thingies growing up from the seabed. I was shooting away on my camera and admiring the steep cliff walls and crevices that was present here too. Sadly, the visibility did not allow for any large scale pictures.



The White Rock

When coming up it was again Anchor time and soon enough the guys were gearing up for the 3rd and last dive, same venue. As our decompression had been so short I stayed at abt 12m depth and prowled the cliffs for something to look at. After awhile I stumbled upon a small ray-fish sleeping under a rock. It was the 1st to see in these waters although I had seen plenty of them in the Maldives before. Other than that I can’t say that the dive was that eventful, same poor visibility and swell pushing me around. In good visibility I bet the view would be marvelous. I came up and it was time for late lunch at the base camp.



Lunch at camp

At the camp I took advantage of the freshwater spring and showered the salt off. It was time for another Anchor and some roasted duck on rice. As usual food always tastes great in the great outdoors and with good company. The conversation was going in rapid fire Cantonese and I could not understand a thing, but it did not matter, Chan translated the best bits.

After the meal people started packing up the camp and I went for a stroll along the beach. The sand was clear but at the HW mark there was the usual human debris, old peieces of rope, empty bottles, slippers and so on. Abt 100m along the beach I came to a shrine that fishermen use to make offerings for a good catch. There was 9 chinese Gods in the shrine so it ought to make a strong case for a good catch. A bit further along the beach I stumbled upon a 1m long monitor lizard running into the thicket, probably as surprised by me as I of it.

The fishermens shrine

Finally the beach ended into a small rock formation that I did not want to scale as it was soon time to go back. I noticed at the water edge was sem submerged rocks that was covered in 15cm long sea limpets, they looked like armored sponges and they sure stuck to the stone like superglue. Anyway, it was time and I turned back walking along the beach to the boat just in time. We headed back to Lumut and everybody was sort of nodding off after such a heavy weekend.

The superglued organism

On the way back, Pa Ling Tau in front

Once arrived to Lumut I discovered I had forgotten my footwear on Tuna II so I was going barefeet. The boat was hauled up, emptied of gear and washed with fresh water, the loot was cleaned out and divvied up. Finally Ah Pok gave me a ride back to my hotel where I collapsed onto my bed until John called me to join him for dinner.

The loot

Diving at Pulau Jarak

Our drydock here is turning to disaster by the yard but I will get back to that later, anyway, last sunday I was invited to go for diving at Pulau Jarak and since the yard is hardly working I briefed my C/E and 1/O for my absense for the day. I left my hotel early in the morning lugging my dive gear. I was picked up by Mr. Chan, my newest acquaintance here in Lumut, we went to a local eatery and got some noodles for breakfast and then we headed for the marina opposite Grade 1 shipyard. We arrived soon enough and I saw the diveboat on a trolley being stocked up with divegear, food, fuel and whatnot. The boat was a abt 12m open monohull, same shape as they use in Maldives except that in Maldives they use mostly covered boats. Astern was fitted 2x200HP 4-stroke Yamaha outboards. Soon also other participants started to arrive and at last the crowd was abt 12 guys, all cheerily chatting in Cantonese with the phrase "tiu lei" splattered everywhere. Finally, the boat was set to go and the marina tractor floated us down the slipway and we started off towards Pulau Jarak.

Pottering out to sea along the Lumut waterfront The weather was fine and I sat with Mr. Chan at the fwd bench chatting and I was thrust a can of cold "Anchor" beer into my hand. It was abt 9am so the day was starting fine. The boat "Tuna II" was making 25kts in calm seas, but after we've passed Pulau Pangkor and headed out for open seas the waves started to grow higher. After some time we started to get overspray on the bow and I changed my wet T-shirt for my rashie. All the time the Cantonese discussion was raging as guys were changing opinions or whatever so I could not help myself asking Chan what "tiu lei" means as it was repeated so often and I could not recall it from my years in Hong Kong. The reply cannot be typed in here... 

 Our happy pilot 

By this time large dark clouds were looming in the horizon and we we're headed straight towards them. It did not take long for the waves to grow up to 2m and we started getting torrential rain over us. We all huddled in the stern where there was at least some shelter. This is the bad point of having an open boat... Finally we arrived at Pulau Jarak after some 2hrs drive (~40'). Pulau Jarak is a forested small Island that on the Chart of Straits of Malacca looks like a button in the middle of the channel. The Malaysian Military has posted a small outpost and garrison on it to control piracy in the area. The shores were lined with boulders of different sizes and the jungle came straight to shoreline. It looked pretty impenetrable, at least not with bare hands, so dense is the brush.

 

Pulau Jarak 

The rain and wind had stopped as we had passed through the weather front, the waves were still pretty high though so it was decided to dive at the inner reef first. We all geared up, some of the guys had spearguns and Mr. Chan told me how the Eastern inner reef is formed so I could get some bearings and then said this is all solo diving. No problem, a mans gotta do what a mans gotta do. I jumped in after Chan and he quickly disappeared in search of prey. I was down on a rocky bottom with corals here and there and could see huge boulders lined with corals and attached to them was clams of various species, lots of them. I also saw loads of fish in various sizes. While slowly swimming along the reef watching the action I found a lead weight and a meat chopper on the seabed. I collected them to throw away. Intermittently I could hear the "thwack" of the speargun when other guys were pursuing their prey. After abt 40min I ran out of air and had to surface, not a spectacular dive but the boulder scenery was nice. 

  Between dives relax 

After up on the boat and having changed a fresh tank to my gear I was gain offered a cold "Anchor", it went down with the other guys while watching them hauling onboard their catch which was promptly chucked in a huge icebox. The waves had come down so it was decided to go and dive the outer reef. It is located abt 200m N of the Island, we dropped anchor and geared up. Instructions were to follow the anchor line down. There was a slight current at surface but at the bottom abt 20m was ok, I could again see the big boulder formations with plenty of corals et al. Some rocks were heavily draped in torn fishing nets, this area is also popular with the trawlers. Once down I searched around slowly and saw a big crab hiding in a crevice. I started swimming along the rock wall observing big funnel and fan corals, there was also long rope like plants growing up from the bottom as well as tree like green corals. In abt 30min my air was out so I had to surface, I had also picked up a few oysters to contribute to the loot. 

 

My handpicked oyster 

Same routine happened again with the "Anchor" amid shouts of "Tiu lei". Chan told me they always competed who gets the biggest fish and he had to prove himself on the last dive. We drove around the Island to the Western side and anchored for lunch. 

 

 Pulau Jarak 

Lunch was beer, roast duck and rice with dried fish and Chinese croissants. Very taste after 2 dives. After a short rest we geared up again and dove off. Here the reef is very close to shore and has cliff like drop offs with huge boulders sprayed around. Swimming around them was like entering a maze. Again I could hear the thudding of spear guns and I saw actually 2 guys off 10m from when I saw a big Coral Grouper under a rock, I took my knife and banged my tank to get their attention and pointed under the rock, it was actually Chan that came and he speared the fish in no-time. By the time he had secured the fish on his BCD and loaded the spear gun again a school of Queen fish had approached us, so Chan just hoisted the gun and speared the closest one, the other fish swam in consternation around us and disappeared, Chan's prey was not giving up but tried to swim off too, Chan had his hands full not to loose his grip on the gun handle. Chan quickly pulled the gun to himself and then the line attached to the spear and forced the fish on the sea bottom while threading it on his BCD while removing the spear. I swam on and while coming around to the Northern side of the reef I was hit by a strong oncoming current so I decided to back track and just explore the small area I had just been scouring. Rest of the dive was pretty same as before and I was anyway short of air soon so I surfaced after 20min underwater. I swam back to the boat and waited for the other guys to arrive. It did not take long as the whole bunch was onboard and the anchor was hoisted, it was getting time to get back home.

 

Homeward bound 

We rounded to the South of the Island and I saw an Army Garrison placed there. A few guys came out of the huts and on a small beach outcrop I could see an armed sentry in a watch tower. The hutments more like resembled chalets of a resort, the soldiers on the Island really had a peaceful place for themselves (I bet they did not appreciate it that much after one month rotations). We approached the jetty and handed over a 10kg ikan bakar or something that looked like a tuna. Chan told me the soldiers only get rations to live on and I could not even see a dinghy that they could use for fishing. I guess the army does not encourage such activities when they should be looking for pirates. We waved the boys goodbye and headed back for the mainland. 

 

Another happy diver 

By this time it was partly overcast so the ride was smooth. One guy started to carve up a Rainbow Runner fish into sushi. Soon enough we were washing down raw fish dipped in Wasabi and soya sauce with beer. Everybody was happy and in happy spirits. After an uneventful trip back (we finished last drops of beer just in the channel) to the marina the boat was hauled up and the laboring part began.

 

Elvis carving up sushi 

 The boat was emptied of all dive gear, the fish was laid out and gutted, engines were flushed with fresh water. Finally after everything was stowed and fish divvied up we left back for home. Those who have been diving knows how much it exhausts one. I came to my hotel, dragged my gear in the middle of the floor and passed out on bed. 

   

Our diveboat and loot 

What a lovely way to spend a sunday...

Voyage Phuket - Lumut

We left Phuket on the 22nd Aug in order to be in Lumut a day before haul-up so I could sort out any problems from yard side as well scout out the area where I was going (it is un-charted).

Impressive clouds at Phi Phi Island

The weather was not too bad when we left but became increasingly poor the further south we went. By the time we were passing Langkawi Island it was pouring down cats and dogs and whatnot.

View to Phangnga Bay

John, our agent, who was driving down south called me and told the weather had been equally poor on the highway, only after Penang had the rain let up a bit. At sea we got westerly swell from our sb quarter that was not making the going any easier. As we had plenty of time on our hands I decided to enter from south of the Pangkor Island, the channel is wider there and I had been here in 1998 before so I sort of knew the waters. High seas were still rolling in from the Straits but as soon as we were in shelter of the Pangkor Island it stopped. The mainland side had been developed with tens of highrise buildings compared to 1998 there had been nothing there.

The Navy Colony on mainland opposite Pangkor Laut

Also the channel was better marked than in 1998, there is a 90degrees bend about halfway in the channel. Once cleared we were passing massive naval installations and greeted by the odour of a fertilizer factory that also closely resembled the smell of a brewery. I anchored in front of the Lumut International yacht club that consists of a 2 small piers and a collection of small craft. In front was also anchored a laid up navy vessel, Rahmat, that seemed it had been there a long time.

We launched our tender and took ashore Kalpana who needed medical attention as her wisdom tooth had started acting up. John met us at the pier and I got my clearance papers handed over as well. After this we headed up the channel to scout the “un-charted” area. We passed a flour mill and cargo piers until we reached a fork and took off right, shortly after, we arrived in front of Grade One shipyard. The 75m double pier where the lift was going to happen was flanked by three 60m long offshore vessels. We surveyed the waters in front of the pier and found ample water there except to the immediate west where we discovered only 3-4m of water, it appeared to be a mud flat just at the western pier end. Having done this we headed back to the ship and it was time for me to meet the yard people.

At the yard I met up with the lifting Engineers and we went through the way they wanted to lift up. It was the same as in Langkawi last year, stern first until we were inside of the piers, then stop. It appeared that the shore side was a bit shallow too. Instead of hauling the next day the yard wanted me to arrive same day at 1530hrs. Oh well, said and done, I was happy to get the show on the road. John dropped me off at the marina where I got a refreshing rain shower on the way back to the ship. We hoisted back our tender and anchor and sailed up river.

When we arrived the lifting piers I had a westerly current and wind going on and I saw it was not going to be an easy task to get the boat in with all elements at my broadside. My first attempt failed as I could not keep my bow up to the wind and current so I had to abort and try again. My 2nd attempt I was keeping my bow well up wind and tried to approach with my stern and then let my bow turn when I was easing her in between the piers. Easier said than done, I got stuck in the mudflat just west of the piers so I had to redo my approach. My 3rd attempt was successful, Saini was giving me good instructions of the situation aft and I backed in with speed. My bow fell again but I was in before it was too much. No damages either. We handed lines ashore and the yard started to position the shiplift and prepare to put is on the hard stand. My next story will about our works in Lumut, until then…

Back to work again...

So, once we arrived Phuket 6th Aug I was off the ship again on to spend my remaining vacation days, after that it would be continuous work until next May again...

I went home to Jira and just relaxed until 14th when we made a sojourn to Chumphon province to visit relatives, this time Jira's brothers mother-in-law. She has farms near Lang Suan. It was a grueling drive up north half way to Bangkok with a lunch stop in Surat Thani at a highway Co-op eatery. All and all it took us 5 1/2 hrs to get from A to B. The mother-in-law had her house high up in the hills and it was pleasantly cool in the evening, even the mozzies did not bother us too much.

After arrival though we still drove down to Lang Suan Pak Nam (Lang Suan by the Beach) and saw a huge aircraft carrier built from concrete erected on the beach. It was a memorial for King Mongkut (Rama 5th). At the market we bought seafood for dinner and also visited an aunt there. Well up in the mountains again cooking began. As it was nearing voting time some guys appeared with rice whiskey bottles and tried to get the local menfolk drunk. I guess they ended more inebriated than the guys of the house (I had no part in it).

The Kings memorial

Then saturday morning 15th we got up early and started to pick Long Kong fruit from the mother-in-law's orchard. Long Kong fruits are as sweet as Lychee's but hairless and they grow funnily straight out from the tree trunk. The fruit is very well liked by ants and the are testy too and like to bite. This discovered too when climbing up a tree and harvesting it. I was picking ants off myself for an hour afterwards.

Mother-in-law also gave concentrated Durian candy to take down South. The candy is manufactured that several Durian fruits are peeled into a wok and then put on low heat while the wok is stirred all the time. Some people also add sugar but in this case none had been added. The stirring goes on for up to 12 hrs until all liquid has been heated out and only a thick brown paste remains, this then is collected into containers and kept in a fridge. The candy can be eaten just like that and is very filling, same as the fruit in it's natural consistency.

Once we had 7 crates (abt 120kg) of Long Kong in our pick-up truck we loaded ourselves in it and headed down south again. This time we did a late lunch stop near SUrat Thani at the Phrap Pla restaurant by the sea. It had a long walkway to get to the building itself but the view was very stunning and the oysters cheap (25 THB compared to Phuket 45 THB or >). Once fed we loaded us up again and headed for the last stretch home to Trang.

Then on 19th morning it was time to travel to Phuket and sign on Kalizma. I had an handover with Avnish and he arranged a farewell party in his restaurant Kargo Curry near Laguna. The food was excellent.

Next day, 22nd Aug, it was time to cast off Phuket an head down to Lumut for our drydocking. The weather forecast looked fairly ok and what happened then, I will update you after we've completed our works in Malaysia...

Related pics here

Voyage Phuket - Langkawi - Phuket

As agreed I interrupted my vacation to take Kalizma to Langkawi and back. The purpose was to get some movement on the engines and pick up stuff that I had been shipping to John over a few months time. The main issue was to get our aft emergency exit hatch so we could install it here in Phuket before we would leave for our drydocking in Lumut.

I came onboard on the 31st and had a short recap with Avnish, confirmed we were all stocked up, sent passports for clearance and so on. On the morning of 1st Aug we left in sunny weather conditions. As we got out of the channel and sailed down Ko Yao Yai the sea got more rough, not bad but it shattered all our hopes to be able to stop for a dive during the passage. We slowed down and pottered on for 7kts and reached Royal Langkawi Yacht Club early morning.

In Langkawi I was met by our usual agent, John Orr, and the morning went swapping gossip and sorting out the business at hand. Tickets for Richard and Martula had been arranged so they could leave for their annual vacation. Later on John delivered shipments and I could see that I was missing one packet. It was again off to go sending emails to the shipper. In the evening I was invited out to Pantai Cenang for a private party.

The venue was at TJ's pizza restaurant where I had had earlier I think the best pizza I ever had in Far East. I met also previous acquaintances like Brendan and Lyn and several other familiar faces whose names I can't recall (apologies).

The Hotel at Kuah waterfront, looks like a piece from Disneyland

Monday morning on 3rd our freezer contractor started work on our freezer that had been long pending. Richard and Martula was whisked off to the airport. I got reply from shipper re: our missing parcel that it should be on the Island already. I relayed the info to John who discovered it should have flew the day before but it hadn't, then after much wrangling and knocking on doors it was finally located in the Customs warehouse. Our freezer contractor hit a few snags in his installation program that we had to postpone not only for him but also for the missing shipment of our anti marine growth system.

Tuesday 4th I woke up to nice sunny weather. Things were going my way for once. the Cathelco package was found and delivered onboard and Michael, our freezer technician started the freezer late in the evening. Only in an hour the freezer went to -15 degrees, a thing that in India was told us to be impossible. In the evening I was invited by John to come to his pad for his wife, Pam's, birthday party.

Wednesday the 5th was a disappointment weather wise, from early morning a strong breeze blew from west causing us to be pinned in the RLYC marina's N-S pier. John came to pick up the passports for clearance so I could depart when I wanted. I was constantly watching the wind meter but it refused to budge, on the contrary it went up to 40kts at times. The weather forecast was not much better, it promised better weather after 2 days. Finally, in the evening when the sunb started setting the wind came down a tad so that I deemed it safe to maneuver. I chased my crew to disconnect shore power and start engines whilst also letting John know that we were leaving.

Departure went well although I had some flies in my belly. I left my forward spring at the corner of the pier and slowly eased her over the corner and turned my stern against the wind and out of the port. Once I could see that I was good to go astern I started going slowly. Guys on the pier helped the going with fenders and I used the bow thruster to keep her off the pier. Having the bow clear of the corner I had to use my bowthruster the other way so my stern would turn more towards the port exit. The current was still flooding probably due to the strong wind that had prevailed the whole day. I cleared the wave breaker and turned around to face west and for Phuket. On the way we celebrated Jyothi's birthday in the exit channel and had some cake and dinner.

Once we entered the open seas at Pantai Cenang I confirmed the weather forecast, waves 4m high was rolling in from Indian Ocean. Luckily my stewardesses and other knew what I meant with bad weather so they had prepared the ship properly for rough seas. After entering open waters part of my crew went senseless from seasickness as usual. Luckily they were not my watchkeeping crew.

Next day was not much better, same weather prevailed and it eased down a bit while going north of Phi Phi Island, then it was easy going towards yacht haven. I missed the high water but was informed that current and wind is not bad so the marina allowed me to berth a bit later. I tied up port side along side at our usual corner without any mishaps. My crew was happy to have a stable deck under their feet again. Anyway, the cleaning started for some minor items that had broken during the passage...

Visiting kids

On the 22nd it was time to take the bus up to Bangkok and visit my kids. The bus was a VIP bus and it was frigid, luckily I had a sarong with me that I could try and warm myself. I arrived semi-deep frozen to Mor Chit the next morning.

Kids both were in good health exempting some sniffling and cough. We had a weekend of playtime as they were too busy weekdays studying. Their uncle had started a chicken and duck farm that they had fun feeding.

Pheung and Finn off to school

On the 29th evening I headed back south as I needed to get on Kalizma to take her to Langkawi. This time I took a night train. It was far more comfortable than the bus and I was prepared as I wore jeans instead of shorts.

The evening went chatting with teachers returning from a seminar in Pattaya (I wonder how those two go together). Around 9pm the train attendant came and folded all beds down and made our beds, then it was just to climb up and get some shuteye until next morning...

Car crashing in Thailand

20th I drove to Phuket to pick up my laptop. Luckily the techies had managed to save most of my data from the protected hard drive so I could be a happy camper again. The official diagnose was a faulty RAM chip. On the way back I had a misfortune to collide with a motorbike.

Not this bad though...

I was cruising on a straight double carriage road abt 80km/h and at one point I met a motorbike that just turned in front of me. As soon as I realized that they are turning to right over the road I slammed my brakes and veered to left. By this I managed to avoid a frontal crash but the motorbike did not stop or try to avoid us so they hit my right rear tire. I could see people flying like ragdolls in my rear mirror. Because of the impact I swerved 90 degrees to starboard and stopped in the middle of the road. The engine died at the same time, I just pressed the clutch to roll back a bit in order not to be in the way of other oncoming traffic.

Once off the road I got out of the car to survey what had happened I discovered 3 youths lying on the road with minor scratches and torn clothes. I had actually stopped in front of a road rescue station so I asked Jira to ask them to call for the police and her to call for the Insurance Company. The rescue people loaded the 3 boys in a car and sped them away to hospital to be checked.

After awhile a constable arrived on a motorbike to take the initial reports and photos of the scene. I checked the motorbike myself, it was a total loss. The rear drive gear had split against the road surface and my rear tyre. I had bits of metal in my flat rear tyre too as well as dents on the whole right aft portion. After a couple of hours the Insurance Company guy arrived to the location and took his photos of the scene. I drew up a picture of what happened and Jira wrote it in Thai. Once we had our tyre changed we headed for the local police station to sign their reports.

It turned out that the 3 boys and the whole kin was there too. They requested Jira if we could handle our repairs so they would handle their repairs. We said it was ok on our behalf. We learned that the boys were only 15yrs old and had borrowed the motorbike that was only 2 days old. The father of the boy that had driven was ashen probably due to the extra expense of having to buy a new motorbike. The boys came and apologized to us in person for their reckless driving. I told them they were lucky today. After awhile we were called in by the head sergeant of the station and he read th law for the boys and their parents as they were still minors under Thai law. The boy got a 400THB fine for driving without a license.

After everybody had signed the police report we were given permission to leave. We arrived home late in the evening.

This was my first real crash in my life and it was in a sense scary as I could not control the events in any way as the boys on the motorbike had other things to do than look at the oncoming traffic so they almost acted like a person jumping in front of a train. Luckily the result was not the same and no fatalities occurred. I just hope they learned a valuable lesson.

The Thai traffic statistics are terrible reading, the fatalities in a year goes to thousands and the accidents to tens of thousands, all mostly due to drunk driving, underage driving and speeding. It seems at times that Thais start driving a motorbike when they can reach the handlebars and the parents allow them(!). No wonder accidents happen.
One never knows how your day will turn out when you wake up in the morning.

Trip to Ko Samui

On the 13th the entourage packs itself in the pickup again and we head for Ko Samui to visit Jira’s younger sister. I’m still on the road to recovery but feeling ok for the trip. We drive the whole day and take the ferry at Surat Thani to Ko Samui, only 420THB for the vehicle. The ferry seems to be (judging by the old signs) a Japanese 2nd hand find. It has Airconditioned lounges, a cafeteria and foot massage to offer.

The trip only lasts for 1,5hrs and we head down to the car deck to get off. We drive around half the Island towards the airport at Chaweng beach where Plen lives with her husband. Her kids are with us as they are being looked after by her mother, they are all ecstatic of seeing mommy and daddy again. The evening is spent cooking and catching up.

14th we laze the whole day and in the afternoon go shopping for seafood, it is not that much more expensive than on the mainland. Everything else is though as the Island seems to be mostly geared up for tourists which abound compared to Phuket. I have also never seen so many English signs posted, actually more than Thai signs, all advertising for services, restaurants etc. In the evening we head down to Plen and Muk’s restaurant at the beach. All the seafood is BBQ’d there and we all have a delicious and enormous dinner.

15th is spent driving around the Island and visiting tourist spots. The 1st stop is at the Grandfather and Grandmother rock. I have no idea why they are called so but Jira’s sister is leading me onto the rocky outcrops pointing at another rock jutting up saying “that’s the grandfather rock” and we walk a bit further down towards th waters edge and she points at a cleft and asks me “Does it look the same?”. A light goes on in my head and I laugh. They also sell here locally made coconut candy that is an Island speciality. No wonder at all as coconut groves abound everywhere you drive.

2nd stop is at Namuang waterfall that is but a trickle down the mountain side into a pool of muddy water. Kids are seen splashing around there. We don’t linger long and leave after we have fed the elephants with bananas.

Next stop is at Hin Lat waterfall that is at the edge of the nature reserve that is in the middle of the Island. The water is not running much more here either but the waterfall is in several stages and has “cauldrons” of water where one can take a cooling dip. I venture up the rocks that just gets bigger and bigger the further I get. Eventually I discover the waterfall has a fork on it’s way down but as the rains have not started yet it is dry. I go up further and climb huge boulders the size of brick houses. I don’t reach th end after 1 hour so I decide to take one last dip and head back. I discover that the cauldron has many small fish that comes and pokes at me when I sit in the water listening to the birds and the trickle of water down it’s path. When I come back all are ready and waiting for me, Muk is buying Durian fruit several of them and we gorge ourselves on the King of Fruits while driving back home. Dinner was made at home this time, spicy Moo Phad Phet that burns the living daylights out of an ordinary man.

16th July was time to do temple hopping. We visited so many temples that I lost count. I “hired” a Luang Pho Daeng amulet at one temple by the beach while Jira & Co made merit with the monk. One temple that stciks in mind is one with a huge Chinese laughing Buddha surrounded by Hindu deities like Ganesh and Krishna, beside these was a giant Buddha statue with more arms than an octopus. I reckon they depicted all the postures Buddha has (Well, excepting the lying down pose). Once at home we went and visited the temple built on the hill on top of the airport, there was a magnificent view of the Island.

The Buddha and all his hand postures

17th It was tme to pack our gear together and get back to the mainland. We started early morning and arrived safe and sound to Trang same evening.

Related pics posted here...

Getting sick from local mosquitoes

Thai mosquitoes in the act

10th July I get sick. I wake up in the middle of the night to that my every joint is aching and I run a high fever, so I quaff some paracetamol and go back to bed.

Next morning I still feel bad and I can see that I am starting a rash like measles (which I suffered when I was a kid). Jira concludes it is a local sickness that is obtained from mosquito bites. I endure the whole day thinking I will get better but the fever seems to gain momentum in the evening so we head for a local doctor and her private practice.

At the Clinic the Doc seems to draw same conclusions and I get a shot and many different colored pills to take. Doc advises me that I should not drink excessively and live a regular life the following 6 months as the fever may and rash may come back. The fever lets go but the rash remains. It is bloody itchy too.

After some days the rash also fades away. Only thing remaining is a constant neck pain, like after sleeping on a bad pillow. I hope it will also disappear soon.

After doing some reserach I found out that I might have gotten "Chikungunya", roughly translated "grandmothers illness" by the Thais although the original name stems from Mozambique as it is associated with aching joints.

Below is a description from the US CDC website:

Chikungunya fever is a viral disease transmitted to humans by the bite of infected mosquitoes. Chikungunya virus is a member of the genus Alphavirus, in the family Togaviridae. Chikungunya fever is diagnosed based on symptoms, physical findings (e.g., joint swelling), laboratory testing, and the possibility of exposure to infected mosquitoes. There is no specific treatment for chikungunya fever; care is based on symptoms. Chikungunya infection is not usually fatal. Steps to prevent infection with chikungunya virus include use of insect repellent, protective clothing, and staying in areas with screens. Chikungunya virus was first isolated from the blood of a febrile patient in Tanzania in 1953, and has since been cited as the cause of numerous human epidemics in many areas of Africa and Asia and most recently in limited areas of Europe.

See original post and more info here