Terengganu and turtle islands

Redang island floating jetty

Mobile telephone and internet access while sailing around Malaysia is excellent and so cheap. Each day whether at sea or in a marina we can access our emails and read what is happening in the world.

Today Rupert Murdoch’s “News of the World” has closed because of the phone hacking scandal making 200 journalists unemployed.

The two editors who were on watch at the time have got off Scot free for the moment. The sacked journalists will probably spent the next three months venting their anger and will possibly bring their executives to heel.

Here in Malaysia police are breaking up a demonstration in Kuala Lumpur about electoral reform. It is interesting that a Facebook site is being used to attract and mobilize protestors.




China town Terengganu

 Here in Terengganu a peaceful town of one million inhabitants life goes on seemingly untouched by National and international events .

On the surface the town appears to be conservative dominated by Muslim Malays with about 50 ,000 ethnic Chinese most of whom

Live in shop/houses in a street that backs on to the river.

No one we have talked to says anything about a racial divide in Malaysia between Malay Chinese and Indians but it exists in subtle ways such as a police road block to check motorbike licences in China town.
Terengganu has been a city of fishermen and farmers until recently.
With the exploitation of gas and petroleum in the South China sea.


It is the year of the rabbit. Is it not?



Now it services the oil industry and tourism to the neighboring Island groups of Redang and Perenthian. While it is reported that 200,000 foreign tourists visit the area each year, in walks around the town I have only seen 5 Europeans. Most of the tourists fly or take a ferry directly to a specific resort on one of the islands.

Business as usual in Terengganu

That is where we are heading.

Today was one of those domestic days and now at 8.00pm I have just finished the washing up while the rain is beating down outside. Soul Jazz is playing on the ipod and the sound is bouncing around through our neat speakers. 

The day began with a trip to the market across the river in the rubber dinghy. Annick went to the fruit and vegetable market armed with her book on Aisian spices (with pictures).She hunted down the 10 or so herbs and spices required for a curry while I trekked though Chinatown looking for pork and beer.


Back on the boat we sorted the groceries and arranged them in lockers ,topped up the water tanks and paid the marina bill.
Now we were ready.
The following morning after coffee we cast off the lines, rounded the red channel marker and headed out through the breakwater. The sun was shining , the seas calm with only a wisp of wind from the north.
We were heading to Redang island 30 miles away. There was a 1.5 knot current against us and we were only making 4.6 knots under engine.

On the beach at Redang Island

It was a good morning for some fishing. Connecting up the new trace,

I put the line over and after a few minutes of playing with it I just left it.

Thirty minutes later when I checked the line it was slack. Something had taken the hooks or maybe I did not tie the knot properly.

I tried again but was unsuccessful.


The water was becoming clear and there was a cruise boat on the horizon anchored off Lima island a few miles off the large Island of Redang. We were heading to the north bay that is sheltered from the northwest through to the south east.

Arriving at the bay there was a strange large white ship lying at anchor. It was strange in that it had an extra hull, not a catamaran but

It looked like an outrigger canoe with a three story block of flats built on the main hull stretching across to the out rig hull. The main hull has high bulwarks and I could see trees in pots on the foredeck.

Asean lady

Later I found out that the ship “Asean Lady” was built in China. It has 35 cabins, registered in Panama and has a cruising speed of 10 knots.

It is an incredible piece of engineering although I would like to know more about how she handles rough weather.


Redang island seems to be a place for honeymooners.Last night I went a shore at dusk to put our garbage in the bin.

In the shallow water on an outgoing tide there was a table and two chairs, two rows of kerosene lights were staked out as an entrance with six more to illuminate the table. Two honeymooners dressed for dinner but with out shoes walked hand in hand to the waters edge and sat in the chairs and waited to be served with cocktails and then dinner by the half a dozen waiters with their card table set up back on the sandy beach. On my return to the dinghy I noticed that one of the chairs was sinking in the wet sand and the lady had dropped a fork off the table and she was fishing around in the shallow water for it.

Although the whole scene looked a bit ridiculous the two lovers were oblivious to all but each other and the table between them.

The resort is five star with prices to match. We had cocktails at sunset with a couple of newly weds from Sydney.

After several days just relaxing at anchor we headed off for Perenthian islands some 18 miles away. We passed through the channel betweenthe large and the small island(besar and kecil in Malay) and anchored at the north east of palau kecil.

The srairway

There were two wind generators on the summit of the hill one facing west and the other east both stationary in the still air. There was a walkway zig zaging up the hill ,quite an expensive construction. The Concrete landing wharf connecting the walkway had sadly fallen into the sea. This seems to be typical of Malaysian constructions that start with a grand plan but falter somewhat in the execution.

Oops! this was not in the plan

We took the dinghy ashore to the back packer resort “D lagoon”.

This is the back packers dream, it is cheap @ US $20 a private room or US$12 a bunk in a room for 15 people. There is a good restaurant and hammocks under the palm trees and interesting coral to snorkel over with mask and J tube as the Americans call it whereas the rest of us refer to it as a snorkel.

volly ball on the beach

In chatting with the back packers you find out that many work like hell for six months and then spend the rest of the year traveling. Romances occur along the way or shall we say romances of convenience,

look what happens when a frog is seduced by a snake

“A rose by any other name smells the same.”



For all those office workers out there who are secretly fantasying about a co worker, forget about it, get your self a back pack and an airline ticket to Asia, you will find someone who will listen to you and hold you in their arms and you can share a meal for less than US$10 and who knows you might end up having breakfast with them and traveling with them to your Shangri-La.


Across the way at Pulau Besar we went to the more up market resort.


Served by a young girl who looked like nun we discovered that they did not serve beer so we settled for a fruit juice.

Malay staff at the resorts are polite, young and reserved in communicating with tourists, such a contrast to the Balinese.


These isolated island resorts are more like religious retreats or rehabilitation centers for alcoholics. That is not to say they are unpleasant they just lack vibrancy.


We went ashore at the village and ferry terminal on Palua Kecil to get some supplies.

anyone for a taxi!

Water taxis are lined up on the beach waiting for customers, the local school is breaking for recess while women sweep the street and collect garbage in plastic bags, put them in a wheel barrow and take them to the wharf to be shipped somewhere else. We stopped at one of the many food stalls and ordered roti chenai (bread and a bowl of curry sauce).

the day begins

This village of a 1000 or so people is unique in that there are no cars and very few motor cycles. Wheel barrows are the main form of transport for goods and children. The houses are timber constructions along walking paths with each house having a small garden or pot plants with the kitchen on the front veranda. Plates and cutlery hang in racks from the front of the house drying and being disinfected by the bright sunlight. There are a few stores selling fresh fruit and vegetables and an array of noodles, canned food and cosmetics.

mom I told you i was sick !

This is the ferry terminal where tourists arrive on the ferries from the mainland and then the water taxis take them to one of 20 or so resorts.

what a lovely morning for a stroll

We had a very pleasant few days in the Perenthians before sailing back to Redang. This time we actually had some wind 10-15 knots and in no time at all we were back in Redang by dusk with the strange outrigger with its block of flats still anchored in the bay.


Next morning a few B class fishing boats arrived in the bay so the crew could sleep before going back in the evening to catch more fish.I took the dinghy over to one of the boats and asked in Malay if I coud by some fish


“ Saya mebuli ikan”


I was invited on board,one of the crew lifted the hatch to the cold room where I saw plastic bags of of fish sorted by type and size.


I was asked to choose what In wanted.

My choice was 4 lobsters (in Australia we call them Moreton Bay Bugs)


4 small schnapper,a few tiger prawns and a dozen scallops.


I handed the fisherman MR 20 (US$6) saying is this ok. He looked at me and then went back down the hold and fetched more prawns and scallops.

Back on our boat Jalan Jalan Annick set about preparing the scallops for lunch while I scaled and gutted the fish, throwing the guts over board.


Within minutes there were 4 large turtles coming to the surface devouring the fish guts. These islands are famous for turtles and the area has been declared a national park to protect turtles and fish.

The fresh fish gave us three meals each one different and each one delicious, the only thing missing was the cold white wine.


Back in Terengganu turtles and turtle eggs are a bit of an issue.

Walking through the narrow walkway to China town there were a series of mosaics of turtles on the walls with the statement

“Say No to Turtle eggs” and 100 meters down the road at the wet market you can buy turtle eggs US 1.50 for a dozen.

Well that is it for now. In my next blog I will tell you how it took six hours to make a cheese sandwich.