With the shaft at a foundry a couple of miles away in Lumut to have the thread recut, and the bulk of the out of the water work complete we sneaked off for a bit of R&R.  We had a hire car so we were able to drive to the nearby Teluk Batik to climb 300 Bukit (Bukit being a hill and 300 its height in meters).  It was good to be out in the fresh air and to exchange the boatyard noises for the sound of forest creatures, even if there weren't any views at the top.   Another day we tried to do a walk near Lumut, but after Google maps had taken us up several dead ends. we gave up and returned to Teluk Batik for a less challenging walk that promised views.  Unfortunately it was not well used and after a couple of kilometres the trail disappeared into thick jungle and we had to retire.

Phil at the rest stop half way up 300 Bukit

The Passage to Langkawi rally was in the marina during this time and, with his usual generosity, James who owns the marina invited everyone in the marina and yard to attend the rally dinner in a specially erected marquee in the yard.  Good food and unlimited free beer meant it was a great evening. Friends from New Zealand, and also from the rally round Malaysia this year, were there and we had plenty of time to catch up.  Two days later James laid on the monthly marina barbeque:  meat and beer supplied by the marina, salads and dessert by the sailors.

At the weekend we had a day trip to Ipoh, an hour and a half's drive away.  It rained steadily on the way up and standing water built quickly on the roads: it would not have taken much for them to flood.  We stopped first at Kellie Castle.  Never completed and now a ruin it was started in the 1910s by a Scotsman wanting to impress his peers.  He had made his fortune in the rubber and tin trades and imported labour and materials from India for the construction, but died in 1926 before it could be completed.

Kellie's Castle

Our second stop was the Sam Tong Poh Buddhist temple.  It is the oldest of several cave temples built into the limestone hills surrounding Ipoh and was a peaceful place despite a number of tourists.  In front there was a small lake full of interesting rock formations embellished with models of people and buildings.  You could then pass through the temple and a tunnel lit by lotus shaped candles to come out in a cavern open to the sky with a disused temple building, gardens and lots of tortoises!  Not all the visitors made it this far and we had it to ourselves for a while.

In Ipoh City Centre we found a parking space in a small, attended parking lot (we were in the last spot on the pavement, inches from the kerb).  We expected to pay tourist prices, but the attendant charged us for one hour and said we could stay as long as we liked.  Because of the rain, he said!  We walked to Concubine Lane, a narrow street with interesting old buildings now sadly hidden from view by the many tourist stalls and shops. After lunch in a warung in the lane we followed the self-guided Heritage Walking Trail seeing buildings relating to the tin trade, source of Ipoh's historical wealth, the old colonial town hall/library, the imposing railway station and colonial era clubhouses.  Finally we stopped at the street art area, which seemed to be a not overly successful attempt to turn a back street into a tourist venue.

Street Art

Ipoh done and our legs tired of pounding the streets we headed back to Pangkor to finish the final jobs to get Serenity ready to go back on the water. High tide on relaunch day was late afternoon and we were put on the trailer in the morning so we could apply antifouling to the patches where we had been propped up in the yard and move all of our belongings back from the apartment to the boat.  Our relaunch went smoothly, and we were soon moored up and checking that all our systems still worked.  We used our final day with the hire car to reprovision and visit customs and immigration to clear out.  The next day was spent tidying and stowing to be ready for sea then on Friday morning, after a month in Pangkor we slipped out of the marina at first light and turned north.

Our route north from Pangkor to Pulau Rimau (1), Strait's Quay marina (2) and Teluk Ayer Tuan

We had no wind for the 70 miles to Penang Island but with her clean bottom Serenity slipped along nicely and we dropped anchor in the shelter of Pulau Rimau before nightfall.  The next day we had a brief sail before the wind died again and we motored up the strait between Penang Island and the mainland to Strait's Quay marina.  We had been going to anchor off: with the rally around we thought the small marina would be full, but when Phil contacted the marina manager, Aziz, to find out the best place to anchor he said he could fit us in.  He did, but only just.  As we motored into the berth he indicated we came to a gentle stop part way in in the mud.  Not a worry as it was low water and we would leave before it got that low again.  We were there mostly for the high-end grocery store that supplies some western goods.  They didn't have Tahini this time, but there were some small jars of marmite and real McVities Digestive biscuits!

>From Strait's Quay to the southernmost island at Langkawi is about 60 miles so again we left at first light.  It was like someone had turned a switch on the weather - a couple of hours out we had a good sailing breeze from the northeast which veered to the east and increased as the morning progressed.  We started with full sail, then put a reef in both sails and Serenity settled in to eat up the miles at between six and eight knots, keeping pace with the bigger monohull and catamaran that left just after us.  With a gentle swell and blue sky it was a glorious day.  The wind began to ease after midday, but we sailed to within 5 miles of our destination where we anchored in the well protected Teluk Ayer Tuan at the southern end of Pulau Dayung Bunting and enjoyed a glass of wine as we watched the eagles in the sky above us.