Narrowboatboy’s Big, Bad Blog...Narrowboat & Travel blog based on Lancaster Canal
Aspects of narrowboat life and other inspired observations gained from my personal travels made into a quirky blog to from a Lancastrian Recalcitrant.
recalcitrant
rɪˈkalsɪtr(ə)nt/
adjective
1.
having an obstinately uncooperative attitude towards authority or discipline.
noun
1.
a person with a recalcitrant attitude.
"a stiff-necked recalcitrant and troublemaker"
☯️
Start with what is right
rather than what is acceptable.
Franz Kafka.
Arriving back into Malaysias capital we had a private apartment for the last couple of days in on the opposite side of the city from our previous stay in KLCC.
Wonderful views of the Merdeka 118 from the 43rd floor apartment window.
Plus an incredible view of the city skyline from the amazing infinity pool on the 51st by day and by night.
Morning came and at 10:30 on the dot the electric bullet, train bound for KL, pulled out of the station. We had Business Class booked for this and as it reached 140km per hour it was time to sit back in the recliner, stuff our faces with more free food and catch up on a good blog.
‘Downtown train’ by Tom Waits from the ‘Rain Dogs’ album before Rod Stewart got his greedy little mitts on it a few years later. Enjoy a great live version here.
We are finally tearing ourselves away from Pangkor Island having thoroughly enjoyed our time here.
Every day the sun has shined on us, but we must say goodbye to our little chalet home and the amazing hornbills in the beautifully manicured garden by the sea.
We have traversed the island daily, finding secluded beaches, monkeys and monitor lizards and searched out places to eat choosing where to watch the sunset.
Life has been easy here so thanks Pangkor, C’est si bon!…
We said goodbye to Kevin before the 10:15 ferry took us back to the mainland where we arranged a ‘grab’ to take us to Ipoh for the day.
Enjoy the harmonious ‘Say She She’ with a video featuring a Silver Shadow!
Bit of an action packed water sport fest next to report.
To mark surviving 58 years on this planet I thought I’d turn the heat up a bit as Iv been told that life can get a bit fusty if you let it, as you get older, so a bit of crazy stuff every now and then should be just the tonic.
So I booked myself for half an hour on Great Big Mable….Hey!, Steady!…don’t make up ur own jokes, it’s MY blog!
She was ready and waiting for me on the beach, looking radiant in her bright red livery.
Strap yourself in for da ride..
I climbed up and fastened myself in, it was going to be one helluva birthday ride…she set off like the clappers and all I could do was hang on for dear life, bouncing up and down I yelled for her to stop but she had got a grip of me now and all I could do was to close my eyes and wait for her to finish….#ifuwannagofasterjustscream!
Next stop, a throbbing Yamaha 700 jet ski was wheeled out by my water sport ‘fixer’, Mr Kunabalan.
His only instruction was…” just clear the boats before you let rip”
I manoeuvred slowly around the moored craft and when clear, hit the accelerator. My arms extended about six inches as the Gforce locked out my elbows as I clung on while maintaining suction on the seat with my limpet like bum.
At top speed and flat out I was out to see what this thing could do as I blasted towards the distant island. Best of all, no-one could hear me shouting in my head “we are the mods, we are the mods, we are, we are, we are the mods”….
A few doughnuts and figures of eight around the bay and my old bones had been subjected to enough of this craziness, it was time to winch it back in.
It was AWESOME, dude!
The winch man
Next was a more sedate kayak trip over to Coral island 🏝️, a spot we were already familiar with that was great for a spot of snorkelling.
Coral island
All in all it was a great fun and exhilarating day and finished off with an BBQ on the beach looking at what we had achieved….
Oh, yeah, And…I’m off the see ‘The National’ at Edinburgh Castle…Yip, Yip!!
To accompany please find ‘The Gossip’s new single ‘Crazy Again’, great new song and must watch bonkers video!
Sometimes you get the ‘need for speed’ so now we need to talk about Kevin…
Meet Kevin ‘Spacy’, our rented ride.
It’s the perfect way to bob about the island visiting beaches and calling into foodie spots and visiting the gin emporium. This is our second set of wheels for visiting Pangkor Island. There’s only one road and takes about 20 minutes to circumnavigate if you lean into the bends and avoid the monkeys 🙈 🙉 🐵
The ‘Spacy’ features a subtle design that puts functionality at the forefront. Powering the Honda is a 108cc engine that makes 8.64 hp of raw power at 8000rpm. Iv not been allowed to get it up to full speed due to the back seat driver clinging on like a crab 🦀 and tensing up at the sight of a sweet tight right-hander…
To rent a bike you just need to confirm that you can balance adequately with a quick test ride around the block then pay with cash the negotiated fee (30 dobbers/5 quid) for the days you need it for and off you go, max 4 minutes. Thankfully no messing about with licences, passport details and pointless forms.
Now you need to be aware of some of the rules around here.
Wearing helmets ⛑️ is COMPULSORY but if you don’t want to that’s ok.
In fact lots of things are ok, like don’t worry about stopping to give way, just keep going and someone will make room for you. Stopping for a chat in the middle of the road is fine, going in the opposite direction to traffic, also ok. Overtaking can be either side and you don’t need to bother too much about road markings, non importanti, as they say around here.
Parking is also easy, just get as near as you can to the place you need to be at and stop.
Bulky items such as wheelie bins will require the rider to be able to operate the bike using only one hand while maintaining the same speed with the bin in the other.
Maximum 5 on a bike though…I’d love to see 6 but 5 is very impressive!
5 ring dings usually fills the tank at the local gas station.
Enjoy a bit of the ‘Manics’ here with ‘Motorcycle Emptiness’
I thought I’d try my hand at snorkelling today so booked on a boat trip to visit some pristine uninhabited islands with a promise of one of Jaques Cousteau’s famous quotes…
“ The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever”
We got a cheap deal with a kindly local seafarer, Mr Kunabalan, who got us to choose a life vest from the rack and gave us a choice of craft…
I’d watched all the episodes of the Blue Planet so had a good idea what to expect and it all looked very promising.
We chose the bigger 06 Happy Island Service boat and climbed aboard just after breakfast.
As we powered into the snorkel zone, I could see the inviting turquoise waters and stood up in anticipation and donned my mask and snorkel in readiness.
As the keen pilot swung the boat round with the powerful ‘Mercury’ outboard, he dramatically applied the brakes and as the boat lurched, I fell backwards sharply and got physically jammed between the rib seats and large American lady tourist from Texas.
Because I’d lathered on the factor 50 liberally, in anticipation of being submerged for a few hours in the blazing sun, I was now as slick and oily as a seal, so as she jumped up in surprise, I was catapulted into the air like a wet bar of soap. As I landed back onto the slippy PVC vinyl seats, the craft came to a sudden halt and I slid dramatically across three cushions and plopped over the side, head first into the sea like a drunk penguin.
Now with the temperature of the water lower than the air, it was at this point that my mask decided to fog up, causing zero visibility, which impacted on my coordination. It didn’t help that my unsecured, flimsy, orange life jacket had risen up over my head and had snagged itself on my snorkel. 🤿 . Snorkels aren’t designed to work very well underwater and I found this out as I took a deep breath and instantly filled one lung with salty water, this reflex prompted my breakfast bowl of noodle soup to start travelling up the pipe the opposite direction..
At that point my head hit the coral below…
Coughing and spluttering like an old lambretta on a Bank holiday, I emerged once again into the daylight and as I was hauled back into the boat, with snot streaming from my nose, I realised that I was probably more Jack Duckworth than Jaques Cousteau when it came to this particular pastime…
This is what I would have seen…
Instead, enjoy a bit of Biffy Clyro with ‘Bubbles’.
