Yard work
And by yard work I do not mean raking leaves or cutting the grass! I do not think I will ever have to do that again.
No, yard work refers to shipyard and our progress is slow. This is not due to us or the shipyard but rather the weather. It is the SW monsoon season here and the weather is challenging.
Our stairway to heaven
Last night it rained monsoonal type rain all night. We are living onboard while we work on all the projects. So, early morning, it is still raining, washroom call beckons, get out of bed, get dressed, head out the hatch, first douse of water from a puddle collected on the awning, umbrella up, down our stairway to heaven, it is dark, step off the second to last step and into a lake.
Yup, a lake. At least the portion of the shipyard where we are located was covered in about a foot of water. Connie was a little shocked as she looked out wondering how she was going to get over to the washrooms but then she saw something float by. Umm, it was part of all my working materials I had stored under cover and under the boat. Even the following day we were wondering where things had gone. Just walk down the yard and they turned up in the ditch.
Rain, rain, rain and more rain
What can one do but laugh? We are not hauled out in Alberta but….So, another couple of days have to be added on to the whole project due to weather. It is not like we have to go back to work next week!
In the meantime the centreboard is under cover and progress is being made. We are on schedule as far as that goes but it is the painting projects that are suffering. I do not want to paint with $100/litre paint and have the paint destroyed by rain.
Progress is the key….
Work on the centreboard is progressing.
On the hard
Nervous parents watching their baby being raised from the water
On the hard is an old sailors term for putting ones boat on dry land and out of her element. Sometimes this is necessary not only for painting the bottom to ensure a smooth glide through the water with unwanted passengers that are quite crusty and adverse to travelling fast i.e. Barnacles and other slimy monsters of the ocean but also to repair or replace items that are not quite working properly.
The centreboard partially released from its housing and showing the crack going across the board
The major reason for us to haul out now is to fix a damaged centreboard.
We have been sailing the last five months with the centreboard tucked up into its housing as knew it was damaged and did not want to make the situation any worse than it was.
We have now hauled out at Boustead Shipyards here in Langkawi. We live onboard while we do the work and there is lots to keep us occupied. We do have a beautiful view from our cockpit overlooking the entrance to Kuah Harbour. We watch all our new found friends sailing in and out either on their way to, or back from, either Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore or other areas of Malaysia. The view is better than other workyards we have been in but it is still a ‘WORKyard’ and as the clock ticks we have to keep working.
A better view of the cracked board as it lies on the ground removed from the boat
Back to the centreboard. As you can see from some of the photos the centreboard delaminated and is cracked. A hell of a job to repair but we have started. We hope to be back in the water in a few weeks so stay tuned!
Work in progress. The tearing apart before rebuilding
In the Sauna
Yup, we are back living in the sauna. I am sure there are a few out there who have heard that it is hot down here but here I go again. This time though I am not going to complain! I am trying to figure out how to save myself a return air flight back to Canada to cool off.
It’s one thing to have high temperatures and very high humidity but to have it without wind puts it into a different realm. And SE Asia does not have the trade winds. Here the average wind speed is about 3 knots. The wind does blow above 8 knots on occasion but that usually comes with black clouds, horrendous gusts of 40 knots+ and copious amounts of rain. This is a monsoon area and right now we have the SW monsoons for which the Malaysian peninsula is partly protected from due to Sumatra to the southwest. Phuket is not protected and as a result gets more rain and more wind.
Combined with two large household fans, 6-12 volt fans, 4 hatches we try to stay cool.
However, it is not enough. We have succumbed and purchased an air conditioner. Many of those sailors who have been here for any length of time have succumbed; that is, apart from the Aussies who seem inured to the searing sun, the lack of wind and the excessive humidity. I think if it wasn’t for the lack of wind I could work with it but especially at night when what little wind there might be disappears then it is downright uncomfortable.
Air conditioner over the hatch but not working quite yet
Now, though, we turn on the aircon at 1700hrs, cook dinner, clean up and relax in cool comfort. The aircon goes off in the morning and we emerge from our cave.
Almost installed and working
Air con baffles made from coroplast for installation and insulation
Why? We do not want to get too used to aircon and so get out, work on the boat in the morning and then spend part of the day in the park chasing hornbills, visiting other boats, hunting for supplies or bicycling around.
Soon we are hauling out to repair our centreboard. Hope that is a short period of time and then we are back in the water and headed for Thailand.
What are we going to do when we move and have no dock power? I guess just find a good anchorage with clear water where we can swim at any time of the day.
Back onboard
We are back onboard Sage. We have many great memories of India and would love to explore more given the opportunity and a bit of a break from the intensity.
We arrived back in the evening hoping a slow introduction to the heat and humidity might help. We look back with fondness to the lows of 0C and highs of 16C in Ladakh and are seriusly considering air conditioning if we stay at the dock much longer.
Much needed repairs to our centreboard are on the ‘to do’ list but the yard where we were going to haul out can no longer take any business. Apparently the long anticipated car ferries have been directed to get out of Khua’s anchorage and tie up at the wharf where the shipyard is. That means the shipyard cannot haul boats out of the water nor put them back in. More a worry for the boats that are already on the hard than for those of us waiting to be hauled out.
Wait for further developments….In the meantime we are enjoying being ‘at home’.
Monastries, stupas and people
Just a little photo essay
Monastries
Stupas
People
Celebration
Am not sure what we are celebrating? It’s either a celebration that we are leaving India, a celebration that we survived our trip despite the car rides, living at high elevations, hiking at 4000 metres, living at 3C with no heat, crossing a multi lane highway in Delhi or eating food at the Kolkata airport (next to Srinagar the worst airport in the world).
Celebrate we did though. And all at the most amazing hotel, the Imperial Hotel in Delhi. We met our friends Francois and Veronique for dinner at the Spice Route restaurant for a not so cheap dinner. We were on our way out of India and they were on their way to the Andaman Islands before heading back to Toulouse.
Here are a few pictures of our short adventure as wealthy tourists at the Imperial Hotel.
The 1911 Bar where we imbibed a few mohitos and Singapore slings before meeting up with Francois and Veronique
The Imperial Hotel where they would not let me swim in my boxer shorts
The main lobby of the Imperial Hotel
Excuse the poor photos of the Spice Route Restaurant. The photos do not do justice to the handed painted walls of this restaurant
Expand the view to read a little history
Appetizers for anyone
Main course
Are you salivating?
And if you go in the winter months you can sit outside and have a buffet lunch on Sundays so we will return and spend our months pension on one meal!
Ladakh to Kashmir
What an incredible road trip. From Leh to Ladakh is approximately 420km but it took us two 10 hour days of driving.
On leaving Leh the roads are new and well maintained for the first 60 km. After that numerous delays occur due to road improvements and new construction.
The roads are busy. The main route to southern India through to Manili is still closed due to avalanches and snowfall. The route through the Shojila Pass to Kashmir has been open only one month and still has large accumulations of snow close to the roadways. The only other route from Ladakh through to larger centres is the Kargil-Skardu route which passes in to the Gilgit-Baltistan area of Pakistan. However this route, despite its year round access, is still closed due to unresolved India-Pakistan issues.
So off we headed. The sky was blue, the deal made with the driver, luggage loaded, good byes made to new found friends,
birthday breakfast finished and our seatbelts done up.
Out of Leh, past the huge military installations, a wave to the unseen chinese lurking in the hillsides and onwards through the desert like Himilayas and onwards to Kargil. Road conditions were good at least for the first 80km and then things started to change.
Combination of heavier traffic, road repairs, road building and dust combined to make stops more frequent. However the scenery was remarkable if not stunningly awesome. I can usually sleep anywhere, anytime but no where on this drive did I nod off. I think though this was more due to the several thousand foot drop offs that appeared at the unbarrired sides of the road. Some dropped off percipitously into dry gorges and others into roaring glacial waters formed from the quickly melting snowpacks especially closer to the Kashmir border.
Interestingly once west of Kargil the dry barren landscape of Ladakh gives way to the greener landscape of Kashmir. The slopes of the mountains at low elevations are starting to show new green pastures and the hillsides are weeping both small streams and gushing glacial torrents.
Although the Shiji La Pass (3,291mtrs) is not as high as other passes we have gone over it is ever so spectacular. Entering from the east one follows a narrow valley finally reaching an unspectacular summit. The road appears to be relatively good and just when I say to Connie how relaxing it is we reach the summit and start to descend one of the most treacherous descents we have seen. This is emphasized by the military tow truck perched at the side of a steep precipice as it hauls up a vehicle that had run off the side of the road and rolled down the cliffside.
The road’s descent down into Kashmir is complicated by its narrowness. Supposedly the military controls the one way traffic for which the road is better suited. However in reality there is no control. Our west going convoy of trucks, buses, jeeps and the occassional motorcycle started the westward mover over the Shoji La Pass at 0500hrs. By the time we were descendind down into the Kasmir Valley we were meeting eastbound traffic climbing up on roads better suited to one way traffic. What a nightmare!
In the end we made it to Srinagar without too much damage. We did have two accidents. Neither of them were the fault of our driver. One where a truckload of wood was driven backwards into our windscreen but didn’t break it. The other when someone drove into the back of us within 2km of getting to the hotel in Srinigar.
Helpful contacts if visiting Leh and/or Srinagar
Adventures with a picnic basket
So, yes, I think we are a little crazy. Who else would rent a motorbike in India where there is no insrance coverage and where cows rule the road and where people think honking the horn is more effective than applying the breaks?
Our first foray on the motorbike took us to the only sakya monastery in the Ladakh region, Mangtro Thupten Chokhor Monastery.
It is located on the opposite side of the valley from Leh and high on the hillside with incredible views. There we met two french women working on a three year project to catalogue the numerous treasures of the monastery and to set up a museum which could be used as a model for other monasteries.
From there we made our way through the village below where we partook in sharing a little barley beer, chhaang, with the locals whilst they plowed and raked the fields
as part of the process of encouraging the wheat to grow. Needless to say it was a little difficult to saunter away and climb onboard the trusty Enfield motorbike after a few glasses of chhaang .
Here are a few more pictures of our roadside adventures of the last few days.
Crossing the Indus river to the monastery.
Just another bird!
Who better than Buddha
As the Indus weaves through the Himalayas to the ocean
And our roads through the valleys.
Live Life A Little On The Wild Side
As a result of seeing the following I thought I should throw away my picnic basket and….
Rent a motorbike and away we go….
So wait for further adventures…
The Himalayas
Our first glimpse of the Himilayas was through the window of the airplane going from Delhi to Leh, Ladakh.
You will have to enlarge the photo of the area map to determine where we were headed and some of the areas we visited in Ladakh.
Leh is an old town situated at 3,500 metres above sea level. The air is thin, the climate dry and the daytime temperatures in the summer reach the mid 20s but for us the temperature at night dips below 0 and the maximum daytime temperature has been 9C
We have now been in Leh for a week with a three day trip to the Nubra Valley thrown in. We love the area despite the cold nighttime temperatures of -3. It is very early on in the tourist season and so it is quiet and cheaper. The snow still comes down to lower elevations and threatens road closures to the outside world and some of the fascinating places accessible within a days drive. Despite the cold nighttime temperatures the valleys are starting to turn green and the planting and irrigation of the market gardens is a major local activity.The trip to the Nubra Valley was incredible.
The picture above is of the pass, Khardung Pass, which we had to go over. Look carefully and you can see the road cut into the side of the mountain. The pass rises to 5,346 metres. Going to the Nubra Valley took ten hours and the return 12 hours. This was for a 160km trip! Both ways we had to use chains but on the return trip we were doing it in the dark. Fears of avalanches, rock slides, frezzing temperatures and mechanical breakdowns kept us all awake.
Of course there are the incredible buddhas and buddhist monasteries scattered everywhere. Buddhism is the major religion of Ladakh but slowly losing out to the muslims.
It is hard to get over the sheer scale of the landscape and their geological formations. It is too hard to translate into the written word and even pictures cannot translate the scope.The trip was made early in the season snow wise and as such caused a few anxious moments as we made the death defying crossing. It involved travelling by rented mini bus with two Italian women and a French couple. It is definitely not the road for the faint of heart. We thoroughly enjoyed almost every moment and it was worth the harrowing journey even to have only one free day once we were there. We could have stayed two weeks but are now glad we are back at the Jismet Guest House in Leh.Today we are just relaxing, doing laundry, soaking up the sunshine and planning dinner out with new found friends.
It is still very quiet here in Leh with most of the tourists being of Indian origin as this period is the beginning of their major holiday season. There is a smattering of Italian, French and Australian. There are few americans and even fewer Canadians. I would not want to be here in July/August as judging from the number of hotels, restaurants and gift stores that are now closed it would be a tourist nightmare in high season. Like so many places where tourism plays a strong role the result is not appealing – Phuket being one of the more extreme examples.
Here are a rew more of my favourite picttures:
This was taken at the local temple in Leh when 800 monks gathered to celebrate Buddha’s birthday on May 5th.
View of the Nubra Valley taken from the Diskit monastery.
Sage on sail 