January 24, 2007

Over the last several days I have gotten emails from friends asking how we spend our time in a port like KK.  My answer is in the form of a question to them.  How do you spend your time at a 5 star beach resort?  We do much of the same things – going to the pool, shopping in town, visiting the local sites, reading, and just relaxing.  The only difference is that we are not limited to a one or two week vacation.  We can stay at a place like Sutera Harbor Marina as long as we want.

My typical day begins around 5:30 AM.  After brewing and drinking a cup of coffee I head for the gym.  I work out (riding a stationary bike and lifting weights) and then spend some time in the whirlpool.  When I’m finished it’s around 9:00 AM and Yu-ching is just waking up.  I fix breakfast and we talk about what we would like to do for the rest of the day.

Two or three time a week we go to town to pick up groceries and anything else we might need.  Yu-ching likes to window shop so some days she goes alone and visits one of the malls.  Most of the other days are spend by one of the three pools.  I also spend an hour or so everyday answering emails and doing other work on my computer.

In the evening we either prepare dinner on the boat or go out to one of the restaurants at the resort or in town.  Although KK is not very big it is a vacation destination and therefore has a number of good restaurants.  One that we especially like specializes in seafood.  In front of the restaurant there are 50 or more tanks filled with every kind of live fish, lobster, shrimp you can imagine and some sea creatures that you have never seen before.  You make your selections and tell the waitress how you want them prepared.  You can’t get fresher seafood than that.

The weather over the last couple of weeks has not been conducive to sailing so we have stayed in port.  It has been sunny and warm, but the seas have had large choppy waves.  Actually when you are cruising and spending some time in at a marine you don’t take the boat out that much.  Once you have seen the local shore line and visited the offshore islands there’s not much else to see or do.  Cruisers don’t go out for the sake of going out.  There are a couple of boats near ours that have been here for three or more months.  In talking to the owners they told me that they only go our when they have visitors.

We are planning how and where we will spend our time during the upcoming Chinese New Year holidays.  It looks as though Yu-ching’s sisters will pay us a visit just before the New Year and then we will all go the Taiwan to spend the rest of the holiday with her parents.

Not much else is new so I will close for now and go to the pool to work on my tan.

January 8, 2007

Keith, Kelley and Gigi began their 3 day trip home (they had overnight layovers in Taiwan and LA) to Nashville last Thursday.  We received a phone call from them last night to tells us they arrived save and sound.  Life aboard is certainly quiet without Gigi.  Everyone at the Club and around the docks keep asking about her.  We miss her and her parents very much. 

Yesterday we were invited to a Malay wedding. The reception was held at the home of the Groom’s family about an hour from KK.  It was truly a family affair.  Preparation began several days before the big event with family members erecting tents, preparing the food, making rice wine, etc. The party got underway at noon and lasted until midnight.  During the day they had a traditional Malay band and in the evening a DJ played music for dancing.  We had a great time meeting everyone and the food was beyond description.

Shortly after the first meal was served we noticed that the men began drifting away.  We followed them and discovered that they were all moving to an area behind the house where a number of tables were set up for card playing and games of chance.

Today we are spending a quiet day on the boat recovering from the wedding festivities.

We have posted some photos under “Blog Photos 18” of the wedding, Keith, Kelley and Gigi and our neighbors.