To Penang

Leaving Pankor on our way to our next rally stop of Penang about 70 miles away we kept to our routine of no overnight passages, we made a stop at a small island Pulau Talang about 15 from Pangkor. This made for a very short day, but there were no complaints from either captain or crew. In the afternoon we were visited by some local fishermen, a first here in Malaysia, who wished to trade some fish for fishing hooks. I dug through our supplies and soon we had one small fish of about 15 inches and 3 crabs. This for 6 hooks. It was a nice supplement to dinner.

Off again the next morning for the remainder of the trip to Penang. Once again most of the forward mobility was provided by the faithful "miss perky" our auxillary engine. The anchorage was was a calm channel between Penang island itself and Jerejak island. We set the anchor along with 12 other boats. A swim would have been nice but after spying a number of jellyfish trailing long tentacles we decided to forgo a dip. Penang is the oldest of the British straits settlements as the first lease was signed by the British East India company in 1771. Today Penang's economy is high tech industries and tourism.


Sunday the 28th was to be a rally tour day and a long one. Here at Penang we have about 30 boats that are rally participants. The schedule began with a pickup by water taxi and then being bussed to various activities and places around the city. First stop a local boatyard where we were shown their facilities for an necessary repairs we would need for our yachts. This was a modern yard with all services available. In fact the following day I dropped 2 of our spare anchors off to have them re-galvanized.

Next stop into the city of George Town, established in the late 1700's. We saw some of the preserved colonial buildings and were dropped off at an outdoor street fair for lunch and shopping. Kathy found an addition to this years Christmas decorations and I found a nice outdoor refreshment stand.


Next a visit to the Cheong Fatt Tze mansion. The restored home of one of the wealthiest tycoons at the turn of the 20th century. Painted a bright blue it is comprised of 38 rooms,5 courtyards, 7 staircases and 220 windows, all of the stained glass variety. The art work in the photo is actually comprised of broken pottery that is then use for the various scenes.



Our last tour stop was to the LGL Specialty Center a modern hospital. So first stop where repairs could be made to our floating homes and last where modern and inexpensive medical care could be obtained for our bodies. We had been told of the excellent medical facilities available in Malaysia and this was an opportunity to visit one. There will be more later on this as today while I'm writing Kathy is having the "executive health screening".

Our day was to end with a dinner and some fun. That will be the subject of the next post, which in blogdom will actually be before this once it's done.