MALAYSIA

DANGA BAY

DANGA BAY MARINA

We arrived at Danga Bay Marina after coming through the Singapore Straits where hundreds of very large ships pass through every day. We needed to cross this “road” in our very small boat, but despite all the worry, it proved to be very easy. The huge thunderstorm and torrential rain we encountered just after that was a different story altogether.

THE BOATS

The marina is situated in the province of Johore, right next door to Singapore, and is where the West Malaysian rally will start. While we have registered to join, we will probably stay here until after the New Year. The price of the marina is very good, as it is FREE, well protected from the weather and close to everything we need.

To get the rally of to a good start the organisers staged a kayak race. Open to one and all, Nancy off Amulet and myself entered the women’s doubles and singles. Since neither of us had done any kayaking before and we had to use double kayaks in the singles race this was going to be exciting. I would be happy if I could stay upright, let alone finish the race competitively.

KAYAK RACES

The women’s singles were first, with six of us competing. We had been instructed to round the buoy anti-clockwise but obviously one person didn’t listen to the instructions and went the other way pushing me way off in the process. She came 1st, Nancy was 2nd and I still managed to come in 3rd.

OOPS!

Time for revenge in the doubles; only problem was I had no idea how to steer the bl…y thing so we covered about twice as much water as the others and still came in third. Not a bad effort for a pair of oldies who had never been in a kayak before! Prizes were handed out at dinner that night (which was a grand affair) and we scored vouchers at the local supermarket.

GOVERNMENT HOUSE

The following day saw us boarding the bus at 8.00 am for the bus tour. First it was off to Puteri Harbour, where a new marina has been built and a whole new government seat is being built. Once all the government departments have moved, the old town will be renovated and given over to tourism. The concept is grand; it will be interesting to see how it develops.

ENTRANCE

SOUTHERNMOST TIP

From there we went to Tanjung Piai National Park. It is also the southern most tip of mainland Asia. The national park consists of mangroves and ocean. Long boardwalks crisscross them giving easy access to the different areas. We walked out to where the Johor Strait becomes the Malacca Strait. This is where we will be sailing when we eventually head north to Langkawi and beyond. Tanjung Piai is also home to very cheeky monkeys. One actually came up and stole a can of drink right out of someone’s hand!

MONKEY BUSINESS

After having worked up an appetite in the sea air we were off to a mock Malay wedding at a traditional house to have a late lunch. The food was fantastic, the bride all smiles and the groom obviously only there under duress.

“BRIDE AND GROOM”

From there we went to a pineapple research centre and treated to fresh pineapple and demonstrations of the use all parts of the plant can be put to. The leaves can be stripped in such a way as to leave only fibres which are then spun and woven into material. After browsing through the museum it was time to head home to our boats.