Monday 26 May Terangganu

Terangganu

Chinatown mansion

traditional ship building

Crystal mosque

batik factory

Teranggnu is a state capital on the east coast deriving it's recent wealth from the offshore oil fields. The revenue from these has enabled large scale land reclamation, a very large semi circular sea wall to protect the river anchorage and unrestrained building of new high rise prestige towers.

From the anchorage in front of the Ri-Yaz hotel and marina we took the dinghy across the river to the old town and found the original hub alive with life; a double storey market with a labyrinth of passages with fresh produce on the ground floor and fabric shops upstairs. They were shops selling things other than sarongs but they were outnumbered. It seems this is where ladies come to buy batik sarongs in from cotton through to expensive hand painted silks. Following along the river bank was Chinatown which used to front on to the river until a land reclamation scheme put them one street and a canal behind an empty dust bowl lined with expensive crystal 'trees' which are illuminated at night. We liked Chinatown a lot – there was a modern, airy Penang coffee shop which served an excellent cup with cheerful service.

Today, Monday, we (the rally) were the guests of the tourist board. There was another large air conditioned coach to take us around – first stop local boat building, second the new Crystal Mosque. Not quite all crystal; the main building is mirrored glass, at the top of each of the four minarets is a ball of crystal catching the light. Also on the agenda was a visit to a batik factory and shop where we learnt how the local speciality is created and high tea at a local restaurant.

a good face for radio!

with DJ Adam, Jason and Karen

at Radio Manis (sweet) FM

However, there was an optional extra for the day – one of the local radio stations wanted two couples to interview live on their lunchtime show. David volunteered us and Jason and Karen from Yolo offered too. What a hoot! We had a pre-show meeting with the DJ where we talked about what he was going to ask us and then it was into the studio for thirty minutes of chat about our experiences sailing and visiting Malaysia. As a local station it broadcasts in Malaysian so DJ Adam took our answers and then translated them.

It was a very different and enjoyable experience, the questions were straight forward, no harsh probing interrogation, just tell us how much you like Malaysia and David didn't tell a joke,