Vega - Royal Langkawi Yacht Club Marina

Royal Langkawi Yacht Club Marina

Vega

Hugh and Annie

Wed 4 Mar 2020 12:30

For obvious reasons we try and avoid glassware on board. We therefore have a plastic cafetière but unfortunately this has not proved very robust and the sieve plunger is held together with araldite. Whilst in the UK Annie came across a glass cafetière in a charity shop that has a more robust all metal sieve plunger. We assumed the glass vessel would be pretty robust and brought it out with us. Annie was removing another Pyrex glass bowl from under the sink and hadn’t noticed that in doing so it had caught the new cafetière and knocked a large and sharp edged piece of glass out of the base. This Annie promptly trod on and sliced open the ball of her foot. I was sent off to the chandlery while Annie stemmed the bleeding. Sadly the chandlery didn’t have any of the items on my list but I was able to find out the location of a local clinic that could sew up the cut. However Annie took exception to this slight on her professional pride and would take care of the wound herself. This involved one suture, three steri-strips and a large plaster. I pride myself on remaining conscious throughout, manfully sterilising instruments, retrieving endless boxes of medical supplies from the heads and even, if needs must, being prepared to put the suture in myself. The downside to this event is that our trip to Thailand will have to be delayed a few days to allow some healing to take place and make sure no infection sets in. Annie is frustrated not being able to swim in the pool to relieve the heat of being onboard in a marina berth..........
A day later and the wound seems to be healing nicely. Furthermore a second trip to the chandlery has led to the discovery of a new and more robust anchor chain swivel, a more robust galvanised shackle to attach the new anchor, more robust split pins for the rigging bottle screws but, sadly, no chain markers for determining how much we let out at anchor. I may try and retrieve the ones left in the old chain.
We have gleaned a few economic and social insights since being out here. In Penang we went on a guided cycle trip around more rural parts on the west side of the island. We rode through a palm oil plantation. Although providing little by way of employment, palm oil is heavily promoted by the Malaysian government for its many uses, health and economic benefits whilst making the claim that no rain forest is felled to make way for it. In Indonesia we were told that the locals didn’t eat palm oil because they considered it bad for their health! We also rode through two riverside villages, one Malay and one Chinese Malay. In Malaysia fishermen are paid a monthly subsidy by the government of several hundred Ringitt. In order to qualify as a fisherman you need a boat and to be registered. In the Malay village there were lots of fishing boats, few of which ever went to sea, the “fishermen” owners content to stay at home and receive their subsidy. In the Chinese Malay village there were few fishing boats but lots more small fish related businesses. The Chinese Malays register as fishermen, save the subsidy income and then use this money to set up a business such as a fish farm (of which there are many and which are the main source of seafood now). They then sell their fishing boats to the Malay community. Much Malaysian business is run by the Chinese Malaysian community and you have to admire the Chinese, they form the dominant business community in many of the Pacific countries we have visited. The Indian Malays seem dominant in the restaurant and hotel businesses. We were told that only around 12% of Malaysians pay income tax. The government is heavily dependent upon Petronas, the state oil company, for its income and is an example of why the need to reduce fossil fuel use is receiving so much opposition from many countries.
Penang