back in Langkawi and the boat is for sale...

I am back in Langkawi now, and the boat is up for sale for $500k if anyone is interested..:-)...I'm here for a couple more days then onto Phuket to help open a new massage salon, and then onto Philippines to set up a call centre...should be fun..:-)

sailing around Phuket

Hope everyone had a good time over Christmas and New Year...I spent Christmas day on "The Beach"...the same one that was in the film... and then sailed up to Yacht Haven and left the boat there for a week while I went to Patong for New Years Eve and the fireworks..

Now about to head around the islands of Phang Nga. I hope the 7 inch tear I just repaired in the dinghy holds up...I shall be back next Monday to pick up my refurbished dinner table and then spend the next couple of weeks slowly wending my way back down to Langkawi...

Maverick Dream sleeping in Langkawi

MD is now in the marina at Langkawi, looked after by Paul and Sheila who do that sort of thing from a small shop there. It's up for sale, although don't mind of it does not sell...will keep on sailing..:-)

I'm back in Australia for a while, so no one is living on board right now..Louis has gone back to Europe to sort out his life, and the girls are in Australia looking for work to save money to travel around Europe next year.

I'll probably be back on board in late December or early January, for high season sailing around Thailand and Langkawi...

Thailand

We're back in Thailand..or at least the boat is. I've taken the 2 girls on a tour of Phuket and Bangkok and currently in Chiang Mai. It's Stephanie's job is to update the blog, but I'd thought I would give an update to let all know where we are and what's up. I'm writing this from the hotel, the girls are off today trekking, bamboo rafting and elephant riding...I am sure some pictures will surface here at some point..:-)

Plan is to head back down to the boat next week and get some sailing done around the islands - hope weather is going to improve - far too much rain..:-)

Penang

29th August

It is definitely cooler up here in Penang, Malaysia…In fact so much cooler that I actually wore jeans the other day! However, it has been raining for a few days which has *forced* Lyssa and me to spend most of our time in various shopping malls. It’s a hard life. The rain has stopped for now so we are going to take this opportunity to explore Penang a little more, although we will probably just stick to the area around the marina as Penang is much bigger that I expected!
Last night Lyssa and I went out for the first time to the QEII bar on the marina side where we watched the semi-finals of Mr Penang, Hottest Hunk! Wow it was great. Watching about 40 local guys parading around in their (small) underwear and posing oh so seriously really did make my night. Uh huh. We hung around until the party finally started and even then it was slow to get going! Lyssa found some fellow Ozzys dancing on the stage so there were only about 8 of us dancing on the stage until the booze started to kick in and more people joined us. I can safely say that Lyssa and I were the most sober people there as there were a few strange drinking games going on…We finally got back to the boat at about 3.30 with sore feet and yucky hair but it was all good. Today is a lazy day with washing and showering and chilling in the boaters lounge on the marina. Exploring comes later when it cools down a bit! And then out again at about 9! If Uncle Mark is feeling better I’m sure that he will be joining us to show us (or me anyway!) how ‘it’ is done.
love to all
Steph xxx

Singapore update by Stephanie

It certainly is a very full boat here with Alyssa and me as the recent additions to Maverick Dream! Alyssa arrived on the 9th and I arrived shortly after on the 10th. My initial reaction to Singapore was the heat! It hits you like a brick wall when you leave the air con it feels like breathing through damp cotton wool. We have had a busy week exploring parts of Singapore including drinking Singapore Slings in the Raffles Hotel;

Our days are mostly filled with visiting the swimming pool, morning, lunch and dinner without fail. I am going a lovely brown colour but Lys with her uber fair skin tone is going red. Or burnt. Either way people were stopping to look at her in the street.

(Pre-burn)

Yesterday Lys and I visited Chinatown and Little India towards the evening when it is much cooler here. We found that Little India was the more interesting of the two with more smells and little stalls wheras Chinatown was much of a muchness with similar shops and places to eat. It was in Chinatown that Lys decided that one nose piercing wasn’t enough and in a single, spontaneous move found a tattoo shop that would do it for her. The fact that the woman could speak barely any English should have been an indication to run for the hills, but no, they looked clean enough so Lys decided to go for it. Well. I shouldn’t laugh but it was a little amusing when she emerged with a huge stud in her nose…along with the sunburn she looked like the ultimate tourist. However I shouldn’t laugh too much as I am suffering from mozzie bites. I should take pride in the blood that I am producing as no-one else seems to be bitten at all!
The food here can only be described in one word – interesting. There is a mix of Thai, Chinese and a little Indian but a large amount of it is fish. Lys and I visited a huge food court with tiny stalls where you buy the food you want and then sit in a communal eating area. It is an experience but I’m sure my palate will soon adapt. Lys in true Ozzie fashion shovels everything down with little complaint. She does cook exceptionally well though. I sampled her french toast earlier today…mmmm!
We have also been let loose on the cinema in Vivocity which is a huge shopping mall. The adverts are the best bit… “My name…is Nicole” Snigger. “Turn it off or she’ll chop off!” Enough said.

Well…we are disappearing into the midday sun tomorrow to sail up to Thailand, dodging all of the cargo ships and oil tankers…so will update when we get there, but some pictures for now, the Aisian signs keep us amused!

(Lys, Helena and me!)

(Riiiiiiiight…)

Singapore

MD is now in One 15 Marina in Singapore, after having picked me up in Phuket, stopping off in Langkawi. I'm back in Australia till 20th July, then back onboard. We'll be there for the next few weeks waiting for Stephanie, my niece who is arriving in August and another 18 year old from Australia (Alyssa) is joining us so it will be a full boat for a while..:-). I'll update the site from Singapore when we start to make a move...maybe take some pictures cos it's getting boring with only text..:-)