Behind the Mast: March 2013

Thai Fishermen on the reef at Sunset

Thailand, a place of beauty and wonder. Everything I have heard about Thailand is true; the people are wonderful, the beaches are spectacular, the food is outstanding, and the shopping ain't bad either! The markets are piled high with colorful fruits and vegetables and "rice khen" vendor carts abound throughout the markets and cities. Slow Dance is currently in northern Phuket, at Yacht Haven Marina, which is by far, the nicest marina we've seen over the last two years of travels. There are awesome islands, beautiful coastal beaches and amazing shopping all within 30 minutes of the marina. The marina is located in a calm bay surrounded by jungle; very peaceful. There are several excellent restaurants with outside seating that have lovely views of the bay, all within walking distance. Nai Jang beach is 20 minutes away and feels like Venice Beach, island style. Indigo Pearl, is an absolutely gorgeous resort, set back in the jungle, off Nai Jang beach. The length of the beach has gorgeous white sand and goes on forever, lapped by the clear blue green sea. White linen table cloths blow in the breeze, weighted down with candles. The open air bars amid the palm's, serve up tropical concoctions as the smell of fresh grilling fish permeates the air.

In Thailand, It's easy and cheap to hop around by plane and you'll suffer few travel hardships and be rewarded with fodder for the mind and spirit. We hopped a plane to Bangkok; reigning Asian superstar city, the Big Mango! Confused and Challenged we made our way around the city to our hotel in Sumkumvit, Soi (that means lane) By the next day we were dialed in, riding the air conditioned sky train, shuffling our way through the crowded markets, and returning for a swim in the hotel pool. We were even a little sad to leave Bangkok. It's a huge concrete and chaos city but if you dive in to explore you find not just neon and noise, but fashion and future. Great clubs with live music, gay dance bars (always the best dance places) , elegant resorts, great restaurants and fun on th street, lined with small shops, a hive of activity.

City route shows sky train. Taken from the hotel window. Looks like New York

City view from our boat taxi up the river.

And so the last leg of our journey comes to an end and a whole new chapter begins! Slow Dance departed Bali and sailed to Batam, Indonesia. Then to Singapore and up the coast of Malaysia. Malaysia consists of two large islands, we sailed up the east side from Singapore and hope to get to West Malaysia, Borneo. The country is primarily Muslim territory but we encountered only nice people. There were some draw backs with Trinidad and the two cats. The Muslim religion forbids the touching of animals and does not allow for pets. People recoiled from Trini and children screamed in terror at the sight of her! We stayed in Langkawi Royal Yacht Club marina for a few days and found they were not animal friendly, so we pushed on to Thailand.. One fellow threatened to poison the cats! Here at Yacht Haven Marina there are lots of cat lovers and many yachts have a cat of their own. The local town is Muslim but they all have cats as well!!!! Nick and Zara manage the marina and love cats; they know all the cats by name and have a few themselves. Nick say's if anyone threatens a yacht cat or is themselves a cat hater, they will be asked to leave the marina.

Slow Dance is getting her make over and at a good price. We have an awesome project manager and so far the workmanship is beyond fabulous. The quality of work from A to Z is far superior to any place we have been. The fridges are working, the engine is getting overhauled, woodworking will begin and Ron is in heaven with the new converters and charger, finally installed. The last project will be haul-out, painting and new interior facelift! Exciting. Already looking at fabric and color's.

Chinese New Year was February 12, and the entire country explodes with fireworks and parading dragons. This is the year of the snake which is considered very good financially and almost as auspicious as the year of the dragon.

This Big Boy was crawling on the wall of a huge monument in Malaysia. He must have known it was close to Chinese New Year, February 12, 2013, The Year Of The SNAKE!

There were many Muslim "All Blacks" and I don't mean the Rugby team. These women had to lift the veil covering their mouth to eat or drink. The young girls swam in the pool with covered heads and their bathing suits looked like what my granny wore back at the turn of the century. The men were dressed in shorts and shirtless! Mind you, it was 100 degrees out and very humid. I like to think that when these women when home, in private wear Prada and Victoria Secret underwear!What do you think?

This women did not want me to snap her photo.

These ladies were more liberal and colorful!

These girls were Buddhist and helped us get our phone and internet dialed in for Malaysia

Tuk-Tuk mini mode of cheap transportation around Thailand cities

Cookie riding a gentle giant

Stone wall depicting old Thai way of life

Cookie decked out Thai style

Ron with the beauty handing out oranges before the Siam show

These are real people from the show.

Thai fruit carving is the most elaborate I have seen anywhere in the world. I haven't been everywhere, but I bet the Thai hold the record for most amazing.

This woman was carving a watermelon for the Buffet table

The finished product. Beautiful.

Many seafood restaurants display the fresh fish on a long expansive trough of ice. There are also tanks with fresh lobster and buckets of huge tiger prawns.

Ron holding up giant prawn

We had the pleasure to meet a lively Aussie family sailing in Malaysia who had the most fascinating story about their experience being shipwrecked in the Federated Islands of Micronesia. A Typhoon caught them by surprise and ripped out the bottom of their catamaran on the coral.. They barley kept from drowning by maneuvering up to a small island called Mogmog, They spent the next 6 months shipwrecked repairing the boat so they could get back to their home at the Gold Coast of Australia. The story was well publicized on Aussie TV and the family got a book deal out of the whole ordeal. The really interesting thing is that the publisher insisted on a sugar coated kind of modern Swiss family Robinson version of the book, however, they told us the "real story"! The island of Mogmog has a tribal system with a chief and a definite pecking order. It was mandatory for all women to go topless. None of the villagers would share the fruits from their trees with the outsiders. The Australian government sent shipments of food to the family along with items needed to repair the boat, dropped from a plane. I guess they didn't want to leave their boat on the island. The villagers were already claiming it. Their story was far from a cozy adventure amongst the friendly village folk! The night before they left the island, having repaired the boat, was spent with eyes wide open and shotguns in hand! Jennifer was as good of a shot as her husband and prepared to protect their girls. A gang of boys showed up at 3AM but were reluctant to start trouble when they saw the guns. The family was fully credentialed to carry the guns but never thought they would have to use them to get back home. Luckily no shoots were fired and the family departed the island without incident at first light. The worst thing they told us was about how baldly the islanders treat their dogs. There was one dog that the family loved and the dog slept under the boat while it was under repair. The islanders killed the dog and left it for the family. You won't find that in the book or the part about the guns! A good thing that happened was the family took a puppy from the murdered mother dog and after much trial and tribulation, was allowed to import the dog to Australia as the family pet! Jennifer explained that the reason the village became so hateful was because they believed they would get a lot of money from the Australian government for helping the family. Funny thing is, they were extremely unhelpful. I would have to say that after hundreds of years of white folk showing up to remote islands, the villagers just want to know what you can give them. Slow Dance experienced this in the remote islands we visited. The Chief expects gifts and the requests go on forever; do you have aspirin, antibiotics, DVDs,(Brave heart is huge) band aides, money for our project, etc......It's not like 1969 when Ron made his first landfall in Fiji, where the entire village came out to the beach to greet them and then made a huge feast in their honor.

Jennifer and her daughter on Slow Dance

Kunta Beach, Southern Phuket

Guess they have no waves here so they get down on the wave rider simulator. It sure was fun to drink beer and watch them all fall down.

Westin infinity pool in Malaysia

Rowdy little Lop-so

Yummy Sing ha beer

Naughty Mizzen. He ran away for a whole week and I had to go and rescue him from a tree! After that he sticks around but at night he has been spotted atop the highest point of the super yachts. Bad Boy!

Whaoo the lover boy. He stays at home, loves the Trini dog and laying on our bed while we watch movies.

Home decorated for Chinese New Year

Fun for all ages!

Bangkok skyline down by the river

From our hotel room

The airport was beyond spectacular. I really felt like Judy Jet-son!

One of my favorite beaches near the marina. Not sure of the name but there are never many people there and the food is great. Swimming is very good with all sand bottom and no waves.

Ron at the small local market

The pineapple lady

Bridge to the Hot Springs

Pool on the 6th floor of our hotel in Bangkok. 3 nights were $295.00UDS! and the place was extremely upscale

Who said "don't eat off the street" This was delicious!

Restaurant at our hotel. They had great thin crust pizza

Lady frying up bananas

Happy face at the local market

Rolly Tusker workers, unwrapping our sail.

Rolly Tusker is a famous sailor who developed state of the art everything for your sail boat. He was most famous as a sail maker, raceboat expert, and true adventurer . We took the sails from Slow Dance to his shop for repair and to also have a brand new Genoa sail made. That's 650 SQ feet for $5000 USD! I say this because anywhere else they would want as much as $12,000!. Gotta love Thailand for repairs. Anyway, Rolly Tusker plant is an amazing operation. The size of 2 football fields inside with equipment to make anything you can think of for your sailboat. We had a blast touring the place.

Saturday and Sunday market in Bangkok is the largest market in South East Asia. To say we were overwhelmed is an understatement. The streets were wall to wall people and the market went on forever with endless products from A to Z. This Spanish chef' makes Praia and roast chicken with a hilarious flare. All the while, the DJ spins awesome tunes for the folks gathered round for a taste of the wares and a cold beer from the bar.