Bangkok

After a couple of weeks at anchor we move Moonshadow to an outer dock at the marina where she will stay while we take a 3 week trip to Bangkok, Cambodia and Vietnam. We fly Air Asia to Bangkok, a city of several million people, then catch a bus to the Banglamphu area. We take a room at Baan Sabai Guesthouse. A guesthouse is similar to a hostel but we have our own room and bath.

Early in the evening while sitting at a sidewalk cafe we spot English friends Pam and Roger of the sailboat Cap d'Or. They join us for dinner and we discover that they are staying nearby and have a similar trip itinerary. In the morning Richard and I tour other guesthouses in search of a room with no mosquitos. We move to the Mango Lagoon Guesthouse.

A brief walk from where we are staying, the Chao Phraya River is close to flood stage and rather turbulent. We hop onto one of the many ferry boats and head downriver. As the ferry zooms from pier to pier the boatman at the rear struggles to pull the ferry close enough to the dock so passengers can get on or off. We leap off and head for Chinatown where we spend the afternoon wandering the narrow streets and alleys. Each section of a street has rows of shops with a particular specialty: jewelry, shoes, Chinese lanterns, colorful paper art and of course fresh flowers and food. We are objects of curiosity as we sit down for a coffee at a traditional coffee house amongst the regulars, a group of old men for whom this must be a second home.

The next day we walk to the National Museum where our favorite exhibit is the collection of royal funeral chariots. These elaborate vehicles are kept in a huge garage-like building and when necessary can still be used to carry the urn containing the remains of a member of the royal family. One chariot, built in 1785 by Rama I weighs 40 tons and is pulled by 300 men. Unfortunately taking photos is not allowed.

After eating lunch overlooking the river we walk through the amulet market on our way to Wat Phra Kaeo and adjoining Grand Palace. My below-the-knee pants are not deemed proper enough for this most holy of Buddhist sites so I am issued the tailored, Thai version of a sarong.
The wat is dazzling with its varied structures and statues of gold, bright colors, tile work, mirrors and colored glass. Inside the largest building resides the Emerald Buddha which, although quite small, is the focal point for the crowds of Thais who come here. Surrounding the wat is an arcade, the walls covered with murals depicting the ancient tale, the Ramayana. Artists continually work at restoring these painted scenes which are damaged by the humidity.

We are only allowed to see part of the Grand Palace compound even though it is no longer used by the royal family except for ceremonial purposes. And only the outside and garden area at that. We thought the brick red, blue and sometimes green tile roofs and rooflines were quite striking. We caught a gardener at work against this background.

For more information and a few pictures of Thai palaces click on www.palaces.thai.net

Yacht Haven

As we head to Ao Chalong after our haulout we notice how nicely Moonshadow moves through the water with her new bottom paint. We anchor and go ashore to visit immigration to renew our visas for one more month. This costs us a whopping $50 each. Twice as much as we paid at the Thai embassy in Kuala Lumpur for the first two months. We had thought we might stay at Chalong for a few days as it is convenient to shops and public transportation. But after two bouncy nights we have had enough and decide to return to peaceful Yacht Haven.

The anchorage at Yacht Haven is usually flat and calm with an easy rowing distance to a dinghy dock. For $10 a month we have the use of the marina facilities. The managers, Australians Nick and Zara, are exceptionally friendly and helpful. The marina is unusual in that the buildings are situated on a narrow strip of land at the base of a cliff. Water flows continuously from small pipes protruding from the face of the cliff in the parking area. As the rainy season winds down it is nice to have another source of good drinking water.

Most evenings we go ashore and walk to the end of the road to Papa and Mama's Restaurant. Constructed of scrap lumber and corrugated tin, Mama's is an open air establishment built out over the water. Not a fancy place but the Thai food is good and very reasonable. Daughter Kit does the cooking with various family members helping with clean-up. Some of them live here and there are always a few children about.

One evening we walk into the nearby Muslim village of Koh En during a 3-day festival. We check out the clothing, jewelry and other items for sale in tents which line the road and sample the food prepared at the hawker stands. We wander into a large courtyard where it appears something is going on. As usual, we are not sure what is happening but figure it might be interesting. Under a large canopy hang several small hammock like swings. Each is individually decorated with flowers, small stuffed animals, dolls, etc. Several families come to this area and place a small child of about one year to eighteen months old into a hammock. Someone sits next to the hammock to try to keep the child occupied and happy. A group of men seat themselves behind the hammocks and begin to beat on drums and chant. This goes on for a long time. Some of the children grow tired of staying in their hammocks. While we stand and watch a man brings chairs for us. Someone else gives us plates of food. The local people seem pleased that we are here. The following day we confirm with a Muslim friend that this was a religious rite to initiate the children into Islam.

Ratanachai Shipyard by Richard

The night before our scheduled 0800 haulout at Ratanachai Shipyard we anchor next to Taphao Yai Island. In the morning we catch the flood tide to ensure we will have deep enough water to enter the Phuket River. We motor up the river in line with several local fishing boats returning with their nights catch. We turn into the slipway where half a dozen boatyard workers center Moonshadow over a small rail car that has been submerged underneath the keel. We watch as a diver positions the support, then a cable slowly pulls us up and out of the water. It is an odd sensation to be on a boat moving on a railway. A group of young women, whom we later learn are from Myanmar (Burma), scrape small sea creatures and growth off Moonshadow's bottom. After a pressure wash Moonshadow is again moved on the railway to her space for the next two weeks, amongst large wooden fishing boats, a huge ferry and a few other yachts.

After making arrangements with the yard for a boatworker and getting Moonshadow set up for the following day, we catch a ride to our hotel. Anita doesn't deal well with high places or chemicals and dust so we found the lovely Crystal Inn, a small hotel in downtown Phuket, to stay at while Moonshadow is in the boatyard. Every morning Richard would ride his rented motorbike to the boatyard while Anita was in the hotel coffee shop sipping tea and reading the Bangkok Post.

The next two weeks were spent repainting Moonshadow's bottom, cleaning the prop, installing a new transducer and other jobs that are easier to do out of the water. After many years of using a hard epoxy based antifouling (paint that keeps barnacles from growing on the bottom of the boat) it had to be removed by grinding. This took a day and a half and we had red dust covering the entire boat. A Mr. Buong did the grinding and some other jobs for us. We paid the yard $21 per day for his services and they paid him $16 per day.

Evidently spirits like to inhabit boats so every evening a shipyard worker walked through the yard carrying a tray of burning incense to drive the spirts away. We also noticed an occasional large tray piled with fresh fruit, flowers and roast duck being taken to place on a fishing boat as an offering when the boat was re-launched. So on Moonshadow's launching day we requested a small offering of fruit to be purchased from the nearby village. We figure we need all the luck we can get. The offering was placed on the bow and just as Moonshadow went down into the water on the railway a boatyard worker lit the long string of firecrackers that had been attached to the bowsprit. This is to scare away any spirits that might try to leap aboard at the last minute. We headed out of the river and back to the anchorage, where we ate the offering.