It's rude to point...

Rhiann Marie - Round the World
Stewart Graham
Mon 24 Jan 2011 14:54
Monday 24th January 2011 2245 Local time 1445 UTC.
 
Still at...
 
06:18.45N 099:50.39E
 
Not much to report today. We had planned to move the boat up the east side of Langkawi to the Hole in the Wall area but a noon departure was delayed by numerous small jobs.
 
One large and important job was to restock Rhiann Marie's stores to take adavantage of the cheapest wine and spirits prices we have seen since Gibraltar and Panama.
 
I also started purchasing the engineering components required for my anti- boarding defence which I intend to fit for the Gulf of Aden transit.
 
The planning for this has to start in more detail now so more and more thout and time will be given over to it.
 
We have been touring round the island on my hired Yamaha scooter and it is very beautiful. There is an astonishing range of scenes and scenery that you get in a developing country.
 
Malaysia is in a phase of development and while its economy and its people are more well off than say its near neighbour Indonesia, the people have still retained a friendliness that will inevitably be lost as further development takes place.
 
People are friendly and polite. Do you remember being told it was rude to point when you were younger? Well all over this region of South East Asia people don't point with a finger - they use their thumb, generally in a closed fist to indicate directions etc. They also like to hand you things with both hands and where that is not possible they will generally hand to you with their right hand while touching their left hand to the right. After shaking hands with you and introducing themeselves they will bring their right open palm up to their heart.