Risking to make a big fool of myself I’m sharing this story as a warning for others. The other day I bought myself a new camera. A Canon SLR, the 500D body, with an 18-200 mm tele lens. Unfortunately I was properly taken in during the process.

I told the vendor that I wanted the Canon EF-S IS lens, but she said she had a good price on the corresponding Sigma lens. The price was good and I bought the system. When I got home and unpacked the purchase I discovered that they had packed me the Sima DC lens, without optical stabilization (a feature present on all modern tele lenses).

The vendor refused to cancel the whole deal and wanted a lot of money to change the lens. I therefore decided to take her offer to buy back the lens, just to get the mess over with. Unfortunately we had never discussed the prices for the body and the lens separately, so I probably ended up paying too much for the body this way. At his stage I now possessed a camera body, but no lens.

A forced smile?

I went to an other shop and bought just the lens (the right one with Optical Stabilization), and at the end of the day I had paid 100 euros more for the total system than if I would have bought both the body and the (Canon) lens from the second vendor! The bundled price is much cheaper than buying separate.

If you are in Langkawi and want a camera, don’t buy from the Chinese lady downtown! I later found out that she gets a lot of complaints, so I am not the only fool around.

There has been some customer friendly development related to the packaging and sealing of wine, such as the Chateau Cardboard and better screw-on corks.

Problem is that the old fashioned corks are very useful material in various situations. Recently the power socket of one of my external hard discs came loose from the circuit board.

I didn’t dare to solder it in place as I was afraid that I would accidentally create a short circuit. Instead I cut a wine cork to size and squeezed it in between the casing and the socket – no tools needed!

The corks work well also as isolators between the ham radio antenna and a stay (together with another important product, the cable tie).

Only imagination limits the use of wine corks, but sometimes you have to by more expensive bottles to get one!

The Real Measure of Heights
January 26, 2010

Koh Phetra, Thailand (above), Helsinki's Olympic Stadium (right)

We don't take American Express
January 26, 2010

Here, in South East Asia, you will commonly be charged 3% extra when paying by credit card. This appears silly, keeping in mind that bargaining is part of many cultures of the area. Three percent is such a small amount after all, but it is annoying to be punished for using the card. I would imagine that the possibility to use credit cards increases the amount tourists spend and therefore the vendors should think of the 3% as part of their marketing costs and include it in the price. Normal tourists - I'm not talking about Russian money launderers - do not walk around with enough cash for ad hoc spending sprees.

American Express cards are usually refused completely. I find it quite embarrassing to be frowned upon when I wave my expensive Platinum Card. What makes it even worse is that many stores display the Amex sticker on the door to pull in customers, but don't accept the card at check out.

Shopping in the Islands
January 17, 2010

On our way back to Phuket from our cruise in Phang Nga Bay we went to Rang Yai Island and visited the Phuket Pearl Farm.

[Click images for blow ups.]

It was time for some serious shopping - Malla picked up a necklace and a bracelet of black pearls.

Trying on the ankle bracelet. Ulf on s/y Roxy as advisor.

Next on her shopping list is a gown, for her to wear on our son Tomas's wedding in May. Dressmakers should not be hard to find in Thailand.

A visit to James Bond Island
January 13, 2010

We will soon update the web site with a report of our cruise in Phang-Nga Bay, Thailand. In the mean time we shall provide a preview.

[Click images for blow ups.]

On Thailand’s Andaman coast, in Phang-Nga Bay, spectacular limestone islands with sheer cliffs up to 400 metres high, emerge like giant scattered teeth from calm waters. The most famous, thanks to its prominent role in the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun, is Koh Tapu, behind my back on this photo. It stands in the lagoon of Koh Phing Kan, today also known as James Bond Island.

There’s too much back light on the photo, but we have some better ones also, such as the one below (left), shot only a minute later. Unfortunately I’m not in front of the lens anymore.

On this beach Scaramanga’s dwarf servant Nick Nack served champagne and later Bond and Scaramanga entered the duel. The rock can actually be recognized between their heads.

Tsunami again?
December 26, 2009

It arrived unstoppable, unannounced and unapologetic, midmorning on Boxing Day 2004. About one hour earlier, one of the largest ever recorded ocean-floor earthquakes had started to dislodge billions of tons of sea-water at the surface. Afterwards it has been called a “once in a lifetime tsunami”. At least those who didn’t make it alive would probably agree with that description.

Here I’m standing on a hill over looking Nai Harn Bay, on the coast most brutally annihilated by this tsunami – looking down at my yacht, Scorpio, peacefully anchored among the rest of the fleet of cruising boats from all over the world.

Five years ago, terror and pandemonium erupted as everyone scrambled as best they could to save themselves. Many drowned still lying in their beds or trapped inside their homes or hotel rooms. Those caught outside in the whirlpools of rising water fought to survive in a washing machine tangle of motorbikes, cars, corrugated iron, broken glass and concrete blocks.

Within an hour, thousands of tourists and Thai locals had perished, along with billions of dollars worth of property.

Earlier today I took a walk ashore and saw several signs of the disaster in the form of warning signs, evacuation posters and, very touching, memorial plaques resembling grave stones.

Looking down at the boats below it all seems unreal, like something out of 1000 and one nights!
But what if it happens again? Am I crazy for being here?

Some of the text above is borrowed from a book entitled “Tsunami Stories Thailand”.

According to the web site www.tsunamistoriesthailand.com, you can make a donation for the benefit of orphans in the worst hit areas.

Why do I have to pay for the call?
December 15, 2009

Usually, when we are staying for more than a month in a country, where they have wide mobile phone coverage, we buy prepaid local sim cards.
However, in one of our phones I use to keep my Finnish sim card – just in case there would be some urgent message from our families back home.

Unfortunately, most of the calls I receive on this Finnish phone are telemarketing attempts, typically someone in Finland trying to sell me a subscription for a magazine or newspaper. The annoying thing with this is that my operator will charge me for the roaming fee: the part of the call that takes place outside of Finland, while the caller only pays the local fee!

When I discuss this subject with friends, I’m surprised that they often don’t share my opinion: “But the caller can’t know that the call will be redirected abroad!”
So what? say I. But I didn’t ask for the call either!

It would be technically very easy for the operator to play a prerecorded message, saying something like:
“This call will be redirected through an operator abroad. Additional charges may be incurred. If you want to proceed, push “1″, if not, please end the call.”

Sometimes we use the phones for more sensible tasks, like here when illustrating the size of some prawns.

Cruising Around Langkawi Island
December 12, 2009

Annika finally made it and arrived including luggage. These photos are proof that her vacation turned out to be successful after all. Time flies and we are now back in Kuah, the main settlement on Langkawi. Tomorrow Annika will be returning to the land of Santa Claus again and starting the Christmas preparations.

Details about our Langkawi cruise in log #59.

Learning Malay language
November 29, 2009

Bahasa Melayu is a difficult language. First I couldn’t find any worlds that resembled any other language, except the word “Restoran”. However, after a few weeks I learned to look closer. Just look at the following photo, which has nothing to do with screaming:

And the following sign is obviously influenced by the Wild West:

Sometimes common sense is enough, clearly Berhenti is the word for Stop.

The photo below appears to be of a 5 star hotel, but the sign says Akademi Koreksional, which of course is Correctional Academy in English. I wonder if that is a kinder expression for jail? However, looking at the buildings, it’s more likely a university for jail guards than a cage for jail birds!

Particularly interesting is the Malaysians protection of their wild life. They even make the warning signs reciprocal. Here is one, giving the monkeys a heads up for cars crossing their path:

Flight connections
November 29, 2009

My sister Annika is on her way from Finland for a vacation aboard Scorpio here in Langkawi.

Her take off in Helsinki was delayed by only 90 minutes, but as she had only 70 minutes transfer time in Frankfurt she missed her connection to Singapore.

Unfortunately, at the time she finally got to Singapore there was no flight to Langkawi until the evening of the next day.
At least the traveling was lighter now, as the luggage was lost.

Annika was supposed to arrive 11am on Saturday, now we are looking at 8pm on Sunday – 33 hours later!

The loss of 1.5 days is a lot for a holiday trip.

Hauling out in Darwin - Ooh no!
May 19, 2009

We arrived in Darwin on Sunday, May 17, 2009 with the plan to haul out Scorpio as soon as possible and then fly to Finland on our traditional vacation. Because it was a Sunday I could not reach anybody at Spot On Marine, the only place for dry storage in the area. Instead I went on the internet and booked our flight tickets for the following Saturday – thinking that almost 6 days must be enough to arrange the haul out, scrub the bottom and clean the topsides. Then we would apply the anti fouling bottom paint after our return on July 13 before splashing the yacht again in time for the start of the Sailindonesia Rally on July 18.

To my horror, when I reached Spot On by phone early Monday morning, I learned that there wouldn’t be a suitable tide (too shallow) to get in to the yard until Friday afternoon! Also, after our scheduled return in July, there would not be deep water enough after July 15 so we would have to launch the yacht immediately on arrival. This meant, in addition to doing everything at the last minute or in a hurry, that I wouldn’t have the time to do the bottom and top sides work myself, adding probably at least 1 500 dollars to the bill.

I find it strange, that in a city of Darwin’s size, there are no all-tide haul out facilities. Also the fact that Spot On Marine has a monopoly is evident when you look at the prices.

Cullen Bay Marina has a slipway that can be used for doing the maintenance of the bottom, but only if you book a berth in the marina, and they did not have any vacancy for us. The other marinas in the area have no lifting facilities.

Cruising in Australia - never again!
May 19, 2009

Australia is an interesting country, with a lot to see and very friendly people. Unfortunately the sailing was not great. We motor sailed probably 80% of the time we spent on the east coast between Cape York and Sydney. We spent many days waiting for weather to move on – it was either calm or blowing Force 8 with big swells. There’s practically no cruising ground south of Bundaberg, with the exception of Sydney Harbour and Broken Bay and possibly a couple more (depending on the definition). There’s a long distance (50 nm) between safe anchorages, but they are usually inside barred rivers, which can only be entered at certain tidal moments – provided that the weather isn’t foul, when they may not be entered at all!

The much advertised Barrier Reef was also a disappointment, at least if you have been to the Caribbean. The water was not clear (no eye ball navigation) and the anchorages rolly. And then there was the constant risk of encountering hazardous marine creatures, like deadly Box jelly Fish, Irkundji and Crocodiles.

What to do with this blog?
July 14, 2008

I signed up for this blog, but I’m not sure what to do with it. Maybe just sticking to conventional web pages would have been better.
I guess the whole idea with a web is to make “discussions” (interactivity) possible, but I don’t foresee any great demand for such.
However, I’ll keep this vehicle here for a while and we’ll see.

One interesting feature may be the possibility to upload logs via the SSB radio when we are on passage and unable to reach the internet.
I could for instance write a story in the middle of the Indian Ocean also giving our exact position latitude/longitude.