Kudat and a Visa Run
Sunday, December 18th, 2022
December 2022
The ‘Duck Pond’ in Kudat is a very sheltered little harbour with a small marina mainly for power boats. It is possible to anchor outside of the marina and take stern lines ashore to the protecting wall that surrounds the ‘pond’. Not terribly exciting but it is a welcome opportunity to just stop for a while and take care of the mounting list of niggling boat jobs.
The harbour is surrounded by an enormous golf course and from my cockpit I can watch the more affluent citizens buzzing past in their golf carts as they proceed to the next hole. All quite civilized and all rather different from my optimistic expectations of Borneo as a land of jungle and longhouses.
The water around the boat comes alive at night with shoals of fish leaping out of the water to escape some bigger predator beneath. From my cockpit during the day I’ve watched two enormous water monitor lizards stealthily looking for prey. One nearly caught a heron that was taking a break perched on a floating bamboo near to Speedwell. The bird just managed to lift off out of danger as the monitor made a treacherous lunge at him.
The small town of Kudat is a 20 minute walk away and has a very good fresh food market. The old part of town has some jam-packed traditional Chinese-style shops selling an amazing variety of stuff. The other end of town is more modern and has pleasant pedestrian areas with places to sit and relax.
Lots of small restaurants and coffee shops. Although, it took me a little while to understand the local coffee scene. In most parts of the world these days there is a bewildering choice of coffees and all I ever want is a simple black. Maybe a little sugar. I have found that the magic word is ‘Americano’. That usually gets me what I’m after. Not so in Malaysia. But at last I have learnt that here the thing to ask for is Kopi-0. The 0 presumably indicating no extras. Although a little sugar is part of the deal anyway.
The fishing harbour is always busy and crowded with boats supplying the big fish-market with an amazing variety of seafood. Small fish are quite artistically displayed in shining arrangements. Shrimp, squid, shark, rays, parrot fish, eels, tuna and so much more. All rather horrifying to a committed vegetarian (who does also occasionally eat fish).
My 90 day visa for Malaysia was due to expire in mid-December and as extensions are not easily given I decided to take a quick trip to Manila in the Philippines and hope for another 90 days on my return. Speedwell was safe and secure in the Duck Pond and friends on neighbouring boats would keep an eye on things. To add to my peace of mind I had also been able to seal some annoying deck leaks which had started to become a problem in the frequent torrential rain. I would have preferred to sail the fairly short, roughly 200 nm, distance to Puerto Princessa on Palawan but it would have been extremely difficult against the prevailing NE monsoon winds which had started to blow consistently and strongly. Not to mention a daunting SW trending current. And remembering that sailing to windward is not Speedwell’s strongest point.
All went according to plan and I spent an interesting week in Manila after a short flight from Kota Kinabalu. I stayed at the Malate Pensionne which is a very reasonably priced, old-style hotel in a convenient district. The interior was cool and fairly dark with solid wood panelling and floors. A security guard posted at the entrance kept undesirables at bay. The pleasant staff made for a very happy stay there.
Each day I walked through the crazily busy streets to visit the recommended tourist attractions. The impressive old Fort Santiago in Intramuros, the old walled part of the city, conjured up visions of a Spanish colonial past. Rizal Park is a big open area in the city and a nice place to get some street food and find a bench at lunch time. If I was lucky I could finish before the afternoon rain started. I also visited three magnificent museums clustered around the park.
The Museums of Fine Arts, Anthropology and Natural History are all in massive five-storey buildings which were destroyed during the Battle of Manila when American forces bombed them to defeat the Japanese occupying forces at the end of WWII. Photos show how they were totally ruined. Now they have been rebuilt and boast acres of gleaming marble, exquisite parquet floors and an awe-inspiring atrium in the Natural History Museum. Entrance is free but strictly controlled and I had to show ID and proof of full Covid vaccination. No food or even bottled water allowed inside.
A short walk in the opposite direction from the hotel took me through Manila’s Korea Town and down to the shore. An attractive ‘Bay Walk’ is still in the process of construction but I was able to walk along to get a look at the Manila Marina. Then back to a section where all plastic and other garbage has been cleared away and an artificial Dolomite beach has been created to provide a pleasant place to sit and watch the sunset. Access to the beach is as strictly controlled as at the museums. No food, no swimming…just sit and look at the sea, imported sand and the sunset when it comes. For all that, it is rather beautiful.
The traffic in the city is amazingly chaotic with a jumbled mass of cars, trucks, jeepneys, motorcycle- and bicycle rickshaws, tuk-tuks and of course jay-walking pedestrians. I am a self-confessed caffeine junky and I needed something stronger than the hotel provided. Disappointingly all the local coffee places only seemed to open at about 10 so I frequented a handy MacDonalds situated on a busy street corner where I could usually find a seat at the window to watch the passing parade as I re-caffeinated. Just opposite was ‘Robinsons Mall’ which is probably the biggest that I have ever experienced. The very well stocked supermarket had me considering doing some serious grocery shopping and paying for extra luggage in the hold on my return flight. Common-sense prevailed.
The return trip went without a hitch and I am now happily back on Speedwell with another 90 days in Malaysia.
