October 2003 Anna's story of Tanjung Tuan

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The Lighthouse of Tanjung Tuan

By Anna Woods



  ‘Checkmate, Dad!’ Leon shouted with happiness as his eyes scanned the

chessboard.

  Leon’s father, Mr. McMillan threw up his hands in defeat as he saw it was true.

  ‘Leon, now can we go?’  Leon’s older brother, Darrel and older sister, Jade had found a path, which they thought led up to the lighthouse on the hill above them.

  ‘Alright, alright.  But don’t say I’m lazy, and have you asked Mum if it’s okay?’ Leon asked.

  ‘Yep, yep, yep and yep.  Asked ages ago,’ Jade answered.  ‘Well, are we going to go or not?’

The McMillan family were living on their sailing vessel, Team Spirit, and were anchored at Tanjung Tuan on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula.  They were ashore enjoying a nice barbecue on the beach.

♦♦♦

  Jade, Darrel and Leon were off exploring the path, when Jade called, ‘Leon! Darrel! Look!  This cloak made my body invisible!’
   Darrel and Leon had been looking outside a well they had seen while walking up the path and were examining it when they heard Jade yell from across the path.  When Darrel looked across all he could see was a round concrete wall and Jade, holding a silvery cloak in front of her.

  ‘What, is this some kind joke, Jade? Darrel asked.

  ‘No,’ Jade replied angrily.  ‘No.  It isn’t, watch.’

  ‘Okay then.  But first come over to this well.’

  Leon was still busy looking at the well.  ‘Hey, Darrel, look at this old key! Isn’t it awesome?  I found it right here beside the well.’  Leon took his key collection out of his backpack and added the ‘new’ key to the collection.  Then he proudly turned to show Jade and panicking aloud, cried, “What the?  Jade.  Jade!  Where on earth are you?”

  ‘Leon, chill.  I’m right in front of you,’ Jade replied.

  ‘Leon, she’s playing a joke,’ Darrel said, getting annoyed.  ‘And Jade. Wherever you’re hiding, come out.’

  ‘Okay then, Darrel,’ came Jade’s cheerful reply.  ‘Just keep lookin’ in front.’

♦♦♦

  Later back on board Team Spirit, Darrel cried ‘Ow!.  ‘Ow, ow, ow.’

  ‘Darrel, stop being a cry-baby,’ Jade said.

  ‘But Jade, dropping a wok on your feet really hurts.  Even you can’t disagree with that.’  Darrel retorted.

  ‘Yes I can.’  Jade replied meanly.

  ‘Jade, Darrel stop fighting.  You guys will wake up Mum an’ Dad at this rate,’ Leon said in hope that they’d stop fighting.

  Leon, Darrel and Jade were getting ready to sneak out and go to shore.  That way they could go into the lighthouse that they had seen earlier that evening; using Jade’s invisibility cloak, they wouldn’t be seen by the guards.  

♦♦♦

  They rowed ashore so as not to wake up their parents, and headed up the track towards the lighthouse.  ‘Jade, what was that?’ Leon asked, feeling quite sacred after hearing rustling noises through the trees.

  ‘Leon, it’s only some monkeys,’ Jade replied, starting to get creeped out herself.

  Darrel, however, had heard a voice that didn’t belong to him, his brother or sister.  He only heard a man’s voice saying, ‘This way, Reads.’  Leon thought he had seen a torch light ahead and said so.  But Jade didn’t believe him even after Darrel related hearing a man talking to Reads.

  ‘You guys are just making it up ‘cos you’re sacred,’ she accused them.

  ‘We are NOT making it up!’ Darrel and Leon said in unison, becoming angry.  They quietly continued on towards the lighthouse.

  ♦♦♦

When they were inside the light house, they all heard someone yelling,  ‘Reads, you idiot!  Shut up!  Those guards will hear you, and right when I find the place to hide the loot!’

  Leon, Darrel and Jade were silent for five minutes until Darrel, feeling superior said, ‘See, Jade that was the same voice that I heard before.’

  ‘No way, Darrel you were just as scared as I was,’ Jade argued.

  ‘I was not!’ Darrel protested.  Then he added triumphantly.  ‘Anyway, Jade the Brave admitted that she was scared.’

  ‘You know, those smugglers will hear you guys if you don’t keep your voices down.’   Leon said quickly, before Darrel and Jades’ argument got out of control.

  They decided to start going up the staircase to explore the lighthouse.   The first room that they came upon was a room where a large generator was kept. The next room had piles of spare bits and pieces for the lighthouse and even some old cookie containers.  They continued on.  The third room they passed held the largest winch they had ever seen.  It was only in the last room that they saw two shadowy figures, hiding what looked like some glinting treasure.  The smugglers were starting to turn around when Darrel gasped too loudly.  Darrel, Jade and Leon turned to run down the stairs, but Leon was not fast enough.  Lunging towards him, the smugglers grabbed him and closed the door.  Darrel and Jade meanwhile were racing down stairs at top speed.  When they reached the bottom of the stairs, they turned around and realised that Leon wasn’t following them.  They instantly threw open the door and ran outside in hope of finding help.

  Back in the lighthouse, the smugglers have locked Leon in the storage room below. Leon was now searching his backpack hoping to find something that he could use to escape. All he could find though was a torch, a piece of rope, some matches, his pocket knife, the cloak and his key collection.  Leon huddled against the wall with the cloak wrapped around him and looked at his toes.  But he didn’t see his toes, instead he saw the floor.  His heart began to race as he came up with a plan to escape.  He grabbed his key collection and tried every single key in the lock.  The last key he tried was the key he had most recently added to his collection, a big, old rusty key.  As soon as he heard the click of the lock, he opened the door and ran straight down the stairs without a moment’s hesitation.  When he opened the outer door he started to slow down and went straight to a bush from where the sound of two familiar arguing voices was coming.  Still invisible, he snuck up on them and whispered softly, ‘Shush up’.  Darrel and Jade instantly stopped arguing and looked up in bewilderment.  Leon then took off the cloak and said, ‘Can we go now?’ Relieved that they were all safely back together again, they quickly made their way back to their dingy.



Once they were back at Team Spirit, they feasted on chocolate and soft drink and where talking excitedly of their lucky escape when their parents awoke.  Their dad said, ‘So, what are you three up to?’ Leon looked at Jade and Darrel who nodded at him. Then Leon told their parents the whole story. Their parents called the police and the smugglers were caught leaving the lighthouse. After the police had left with the smugglers and the smugglers’ ‘loot’, Leon turned to his father and said, ‘How about a game of chess, Dad?’



The End

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October 2003 - Singapore to Port Kelang

Photo SlideShow

Johor Baru & Singapore
While anchored in Johor Baru we met many interesting people. But the highlight was seeing a catamaran come in with the distinctive name of "Dave the Cat" written on the side with a black cat forming the 'h' in the name. On each bow was a kid. So as they passed us I shouted out "kids!". Courtney and Anna rushed up and so they were over on the cat meeting Shannon (10) and Simon (9). Roy & Libby have turned out to be great company for us as well. Also a Japanese man and his little boy came in. With Liz's Japanese skills we made contact with him. His story was very different one with the man buying the boat and aiming to sail it back to Japan. With not a lot of experience and a three year old aboard we felt concerned for their safety.

We did a few more tourist runs in Singapore, visiting the downtown area with Raffles hotel and a day at the excellent zoo. Another took us to the Applied Science museum, which also was excellent but overrun with young children madly running about and pressing buttons on the exhibits.

Heading out of the causeway we again were awed by the vast amounts and sizes of the shipping about. Once back in the Singapore strait for the third time we felt more comfortable as we held the edge of the shipping lane and made our way along. An interesting thing is watching the Singapore Air Force that seem to go round and round the island. With such a small country to fly around they must get there turns well practiced!

   

Kukup Island
A few miles into the Malacca straits we came to Kukup Island and anchored in between it and the mainland. This is a 'saltwater village' with most of the town, including the community hall and school, built out over the water. Large fish farm rafts skirt the waterfront and while anchored we watched the continual procession of workers dragging buckets of food and dropping it into the tanks.

As we left Kukup and very severe electrical storm passed us and we watched the 'real bad black end' of the storm pass slightly to the south of us. This was the start of lots of severe storms that we were to see in this area.

Coming up to the Water Islands, just south of Melaka, we decided to push on to Melaka and anchor off the town and go ashore by dinghy. No good - the steady onshore wind kicked up a steady wave and the idea of dinghying in was not appealing, given the hassles with leaks and motor unreliability plaguing us. So further north a mile or so we found a small island and anchored in the lee for a reasonably calm night. better to visit Melaka from another port.

Tanjung Tuan
From there we headed towards Port Dickson with a very pleasant stop at Tanjung Tuan for a night along the way. Ashore here we found a cute little beach with a basic picnic area in the bush. Following a trail up to the headland we passed a very old well and then came up to the lighthouse. A lighthouse has stood on this point for 600 years. Later Anna wrote and wonderful story set at this location called The Lighthouse of Tanjung Tuan.

After Tanjung Tuan a short trip of ten miles brought us to Admiral Marina, Port Dickson. This is a high class marina with all the trappings - pool, showers, water (drinkable) & electricity. This was the first berth we been alongside since Bali in March, and the first 'real marina' after Port Douglas in Australia. So easy just to step off and go for a walk!

Port Dickson & Melaka

From here we hired a car from one of the staff and drove down to Melaka. This is a classic historical town which has it's origins in the Portugese & Dutch Spice Trade efforts in the 16th century. Elizabeth and I had read a fascinating book called 'Nathaniel's Nutmeg' which gave great insight (from the english point of view) of the Spice Trade. Constructing your own walking tour is the go to see the different churches and museums. The maritime museum, built in the shape of an old dutch ship was a highlight.

The dinghy got more work with one side of the transom and the floor being re-glued into place. But at the same time we started to look at buying a new dinghy. After three days we left the marina and moved seven miles up the coast to anchor in four-five metres just behind a small island. That night a really savage storm blew through and for two-three hours we had lots of wind and the odd wave getting over the deck. later another yacht said they recorded 47knots on their instruments.

   

Port Klang & Kuala Lumpur

Port Klang is the main shipping port for Kuala Lumpur (KL) and as we approached the harbour we found huge amounts of rubbish and logs coming out. Without doubt this is the dirtiest harbour I have ever seen. The Royal Selangor Yacht Club is a fancy name for a yacht club which has a very stylish clubhouse and very basic boat facilities. Beside a series of pontoons at the front of the club, there are several large floating pontoons about 200 feet. The tides here are five metres which gives a tidal current of up to four knots, making docking and manevouring very difficult. We tied up on the outside of one of these pontoons and set about to visit KL. This is easy from here as the modern commuter trains have a station nearby.

Next to the yacht club is a large cargo port with lots of large timber cargo boats that ply between Indonesia and Malaysia. We watched many of these boats swing round madly as they rushed past on the current.

We met Nerthus a Swedish boat with Kent, Annica and their two daughters Emma (14) & Amanda (11) in Port Dickson and set out with them to see some of KL. We had a nice day and quite enjoyed the sights of KL. The twin towers of the Petronas building are the main attraction and we went up to the skybridge which links the towers on the fortieth floor. Chinatown and a Hindu temple were also excellent 'wandering material'.

We were soon joined by Dave the Cat, who had plans to visit the Highlands areas inland from here. After a few days we were sitting in the boat discussing whether to join them or move on when all plans changed dramatically.

These events warrant a new page