Lumut

Looking for what?

Having departed Indonesia we landed safely some hours later in Kuala Lumpur. I was following our progress from the planes porthole and saw us going along the Malacca Strait and I thought we headed very early over land at Port Dickson and soon enough the "soon landing" announcements came. Later I checked my geography and saw that actually the KL Int'l airport is very close to the coast compared to KL itself that is further inland, no wonder KL translates to "muddy estuary".

Checking out local yard venues

Having collected our luggage we waited for our friend B that was going to join us to Lumut and check out boating venues there. Some years ago I had delivered his boat to Europe. The wait was not totally unpleasant, the airport arrivals was akin being at a large mall with plenty of venues to choose from and shops aplenty. B arrived an hour later and soon enough we met and went looking for our transport. Having found it we piled in and set the course for Sitiawan for Chan's place where we were going to stay the night. About halfway we stopped at a large highway eatery and had some Malay fare for dinner and continued our journey. We arrived close to midnight and after brief hello's seeing each other after some years in between we got into our rooms and fell asleep.

Checking out local yard venues

Next day Chan introduced B to a couple of locations for boaters in the area and had discussions of support and labour for his potential project. There are plenty of areas in the area as there are these tidal creeks piercing the mudflats that the coast consists of. In the evening we headed for a Chinese restaurant and had a delicious meal before getting back to the house. B left the same night for other business and we stayed on for more vacationing.

Checking out local yard venues

Checking out local yard venues

Checking out local yard venues

Checking out local yard venues, shiplift

Checking out local yard venues

Dinner venue

Lumut Yacht club

One day we went to see the yacht club as Chan had some business there and I watched the life go on as the old tractor (the same one from Oct 2009 when I came here first) still maneuvered boats from their parking spots down the ramp into the water and people getting onboard and going about their business. I admire how utilitarian the area is, no frills, just functionality.

Yacht club yard

Boat being launched

Tow tractor

Typical Malay fishing skiff

Local speedboat

Tua Pek Kong Temple

Then some days we were left to our own devices and Chan gave us his truck to get around and we visited the Tua Pek Kong temple, I had seen it before from afar but never had gone inside so we thought we could cross that off our list. This Chinese temple is connected to the worship of Tua Pek Kong (God of Posperity), which originated in Penang and spread throughout Malaysia. Walking inside the compound I think almost every deity in the Chinese pantheon of Gods was represented. Prosperity had for sure arrived as all those statues and small gardens must've taken a fair share of funds to build.

The deities parade

Flags in the wind

Main entrance

Lions

Deities

More deities

Good luck frog

Wishing fountain

Main temple inside the compound

Chinese God's

Chinese God's

Chinese God's

Chinese God's

Lumut city mangrove park

As we had wheels and could decide ourselves we also then went to visit the City Mangrove park. The parking lot was completely empty but there were to Malay ladies inside the ticket booth that extracted entry fees for foreigners, they tried Malay with Cheche but replying in tagalog didn't get us understood or a local ticket. We had the park all for ourselves and roamed the elevated walkways until the creek, Sungai Lumut, where there were benches to watch life pass by in the river. 

Mangroves

The tide was low and slowly flowing out so we could see the mudflat completely until the deeper middle part. As we sat there watching mudskippers playing we suddenly saw a bunch of otters float by, on the opposite was a school of storks standing by. Crabs were going about their life more inside the mangrove as were some lizards zipping by on the walkway. We also saw some monkeys in the trees but they left us alone. Having had a quiet time we got up and exited the same way we came in, maybe the life would be different during highwater? We didn't stay as it would have taken hours to see the shift.

Mudskippers

Mudskippers

Mudskippers

Sungai Lumut storks

Shells

Lizard

Walk in Lumut

One morning, not particularly early we went to Lumut waterfront for a walk, the town was completely deserted with some shops open but no customers. It was a transit point for tourists to get to Pangkor Island but one would think there would be more life in places like this.

Lumut 

Lumut town in morning

Lumut dried fish stalls

Lumut dried fish stalls

Lumut dried fish stalls

Local boats

Passing coal tow

Bananaboat to Pangkor island

Bananaboat to Pangkor island

Day in Ipoh

Another day Chan needed to go to Lumut for some business and we taggled along to try out the Ipoh famous chicken. The architecture had been preserved quite well and the later we had a stroll in the old town which Chan remembered well from his childhood spent there some 60years earlier. Same buildings still stood but with other uses, some places were still in original use. The Concubine Lane was today just a tourist streak lined with restaurants and souvenir shops. Of course I had to spot a second hand watch retailer and as luck has it I bought an old Seiko 6139 from the uncle. 

Ipoh metalworkers

Ipoh metalworkers

For chicken we went to a newer area of Ipoh and as usual the venue was not very fancy but the food was very good. The architecture in the area was pleasant and full of restaurants selling different Chinese foods, mostly the chicken was the common theme and desserts.

Watch sifu at work

Watches on display

The oldest bar in Ipoh

Closed venue

Squirrel

Sitiawan

Food venue

Breakfast

Breakfast

Old Sitiawan architecture

Old Sitiawan architecture

Old Sitiawan architecture

Happy Birthday cake!

Lunch venue

Lunch venue

Dinner venues

Dinner venues

Dinner venues

Visiting Palingtao

Fish farm

Palingtao & Chan 

The deck

Bridge going north

Fishermen on the buttresses

Even the artists like to fish

Even the artists like to fish

Sitiawan boatyard

High tide

Monkeys opposite

Engine debris

Partially built hull from previous entrepreneur

Old Johnson's

Old boat main engine

Old Lister compressor

Boat under cover

Abandoned excavator

Low tide

Time to leave

Then it was time bid goodbye to Chan and Lisa and we boarded the bus for the airport. I had tried some days earlier to book a train but it was choc-a-bloc, no seats available. Anyway, we got on the bus and away we went. It started raining so we couldn't see much, the bus offloaded a lot of people at the KL main station and then the few, among us, were taken to the airport. There we roamed to and fro a bit until we found the way to go. Checked into airport hotel for the next days early flight and then we went for dinner. To our surprise we found an Uncle Roger fried rice restaurant so the decision was easy. The rice was a bit overly drenched in soy sauce for my taste but I guess that was the Malay style, I was more used with the Thai style where the rice is lighter.

Bus to KL

Dinner in KL

Next morning we packed up, checked out of the hotel and found our gate. Eventually the plane boarded and we took to arrive in Manila some hours later. There as a coincidence I met my ex deckhand Elizabeth and we had some lunch before going on our separate ways. It also turned out that Cheche and Eli had common friends up in Subic bay. 

Meeting Elizabeth at Manila airport