We arrived in Yacht Haven Marina, Phuket, Thailand
on the 9th December. 08:10:23N 098:20:41E, after what had been a
very tiring and testing dash from the Kumai
River in Borneo.
Along the way we visited The Island of Batam as our exit point from Indonesia. Then
Singapore & Malaysia before
arriving here with our two grand daughters and their parents, who we had
collected along the way in Langkawi. More of which anon………………………………………………
By the time we got here we were exhausted. The passages from
Borneo had been very testing, due to the
dreadful weather and hordes of unlit fishing boats and fishing boats with
incorrect Navigation lights, that made it impossible to work out where they
were going. Most of these are wooden boats, so very hard to spot on radar. Then
there were the fishing nets. Some up to two miles long. Plus loads of debris in
the water…..packing cases, whole trees. All very nerve racking. Plus the
usual smattering of things going wrong with the boat. So we decided, after much
agonising, to drop out of the rally and stay in Phuket. WE have some good
friends here, it’s a great place, and the people are a delight. Not only
that, but due to all the low cost airlines that come here, it’s a fantastic
base to visit all of S E Asia. The other terrific plus is that the market is
still quite buoyant out here, with lots of new five star hotels and luxury
houses being constructed. Far more interesting that heading back to gloomy England and the
recession.
We did have a ball on the Rally. We would most certainly not
have undertaken the voyage without the organisation and support of the very
experienced and helpful team of Tony Diment, Peter Seymour and Richard Bolt. So a big thank you to them for making
it possible for us to undertake this adventure. We will miss our rally friends terribly,
and when they all left on the 2/3rd January,
it was a very sad moment. But the rally will be over when it gets to Crete in 4 months time………then what?
So, over the next few days I will up-date the web diary with
pictures and stories about what we have seen and done since Kumai River.
Talking of which, a few pictures for you to ponder………..
The two pics above show Princess. That’s the hairy one
in the middle. She had a weeks old baby attached to her chest and her 8 year
old son was trotting along behind us….all on the way to a feeding
station, as detailed below.
These long tailed Monkeys were directly over our river boat
This was “Tom” the dominant male at Camp Leakey.
He weighs in at around 100 kilos. Not to be messed with!!
Tom breaking unto one of the sheds at the camp for an unscheduled
snack! It took 3 warders waving their jackets at him to drive him away. Then
they had to re-build the shed……
The wild life was all around. Butterflies and huge Moths
like this one above. The mosquitoes in this jungle are “professionals”
even the guides ware 50% Deet. So loads of Deet and After Bite are
absolute essentials.
The village life is simple and basic. Transportation is all by
canoe or river boat.
The whole Kalimantan jungle
experience was unforgettable…..life changing in fact. It has certainly
made me look at life in a quite different light now….for the better
