We upped anchor at 5.30am and slowly motored our way past Moonlighter. It was pitch dark and kind of tricky negotiating the passage out from amongst the many small islands. Jim and Lindy were awake as we motored by and said our goodbyes yet again.
With eyes on Maxsea and our 1 million candle watt spot light shining on the shoreline, we slowly made our way out of the fiords and into the open seas. With Langkawi fading into the darkness behind us, we settled into the motion. Within 2 hours we were sailing, and thoroughly enjoyed the cruising as we got Shayile up to 8 knots. We reached the outskirts of Penang within 9 hours and, as the wind died, we motored down the channel towards Panang Island.
B & Lindi - Farewell time from Langkawi
B; on our way to Penang
Penang (Pulau Pinang)
We made our way down the east side of Georgetown, the city on Penang Island and soon found the marina. Within minutes we were tied up at Tanjung Inner-city Marina. This marina is known for its roly action. With no breakwater, the ferry dock virtually next door and cargo ships in the channel, the wave action was terrible. The yachts, especially the mono hulls, pitched and rolled all day! The good news was we were virtually in the center of Georgetown with easy access to a beautiful island city!
Penang, affectionately known as the Pearl of the Orient, has a very large Chinese community, and a distinct character all of its own. It is home to the largest Buddhist shrine in Malaysia and really is a city of mixed culture. Georgetown is a bustling, colourful city with impressive colonial architecture, shops, trishaws that ferry tourists about and food on every corner! It is a fascinating city to wander through with China Town and Little India particularly interesting.
Once tied up on our berth, I went up to the marina office and checked in. With dinner on the cards, we then set off to find the "Tree Restaurant" During our previous visit to Penang, Lindy had taken us to this restaurant and we really enjoyed the experience. We walked for about an hour looking for it before deciding to head back towards Shayile and find a restaurant closer to the Marina. 2 minutes walk from the marina, we walked passed the tree restaurant! It was virtually a stones throw from the marina! In we went and tucked into a great meal! What is so amazing about this restaurant is its "personality!" There is no door but these huge roller doors that open up onto the busy road. At the entrance of the restaurants is this huge tree that is growing up through the roof. Once inside, the food is laid out on tables, displaying both live and prepared seafood and all the raw ingredients required. The assortment is unreal and ranges from your normal seafood selection to slipper crabs, mud crabs, shark, scallops and prawns! The tables, chairs and decor of the place leaves a lot to be desired! Infact there is none! Surrounding the tables are fridges, stacked chairs, the kitchen and counter all spread out within! This of course all adds to its attraction, but topping the bill is the food and the speed with which it arrives at your table! Once having selected your food, it is then cooked up in a huge wok, one of many behind the displayed food. At the "controls" of the woks is one very entertaining and specialised chef who must be cooking up to 6 meals at any one time on these huge woks. Really interesting to sit and watch as he cooks, flips food, adds spices, etc and then cleans the woks out ready for the next meal. Really amazing! Once dinner and a few drinks have been had, the "custom" is to leave immediately! This is no “sit and chatter” restaurant. Arrive, choose, eat and get out - others are waiting! With dinner done and dusted, it was back to Shayile.
Penang Marina with the ferry's in the back ground
Daniel and Jenna with their bikes at Penang Marina
The next 2 days were committed to dentistry work and visiting the sites of Penang. As the cost of visiting a dentist was extremely attractive, we all visited one for check ups. B needed a few caps which would take a week to get done. This would allow us the opportunity to explore Penang. With the bus service covering most of the island, we were able to hop on and off busses at our convenience. One day we caught the funicular railway up Penang Hill which overlooks the city of Penang. The "tram" takes you up this 40 degree hill and at the top, a bit like Table Mountain in Cape Town, there are restaurants and stalls where souvenirs can be purchased. It was an interesting outing for the whole family.
Back at the marina, we met up with the yacht "Sunburn" with Di and Brendan and kids Sophie and Finn. The kids, again, had a great time together and one afternoon we all went off to the Toy museum in Penang. Jenna was in her element amongst all the Barbie dolls produced over the years and Dan enjoyed the action toys and the haunted section!
The Funicular Railway up Penang Hill
Lucy Lee - B's new Chinese "Mother"
With B's caps in the making, we decided to take the opportunity to head off to the Cameron Highlands for a few days. We packed our bags, locked up Shayile and caught the bus out to the Central bus station. From here a coach took us up to the Highlands, a journey of some 6 hours.
The Cameron Highlands
Having been told so much about the highlands by other yachties and having read all about it, this was a definite on our places to visit in Malaysia. At about 1500m above sea level, this area of rolling green hills, tea and vegetable plantations, and a cool climate attracts thousands of tourists each year. Being an extremely fertile area, vegetables are grown in vast quantities, along with flowers and tea. Tea was first grown here in the late 1800's and is a major crop of the Cameron Highlands. However there is an underbelly to this beautiful part of Malaysia. In recent years, development has increased tremendously with high rise buildings, apartment blocks and hotels having been constructed in the area. Tragically, massive indiscriminate land clearance has caused severe damage to the environment. Hills have been leveled or terraced, streams filled in and land reclaimed for farming means. This in turn has lead to landslides and serious soil erosion. Although the federal government has supposedly introduced tough legislation against water pollution, little has been done to curb the ongoing destruction of a beautiful part of Malaysia.
We arrived in the town of Tanah Rata that evening where our Guest House transport was waiting for us. (B had booked us into Fathers Guest House for 2 nights and 3 days) With the temperature having dropped considerably, we hopped into the mini bus and went to the guest house where we checked in, had dinner and off to bed.
Next morning at 8.30am, our tour operator was waiting for us. We had booked a small day tour out to the tea plantations and surrounding areas. Our guide, Satya, was a delightful chap and he made us most welcome. Our first stop were the tea plantations where we were able to walk amongst the tea bushes and learn all about the different teas and how they are grown. We had never seen tea plantations before and what a beautiful crop they are. Almost bonsai like and very structured! At the tea factory we were given a quick tour through the process from picking to packing.
Dan next to a tea plantation
The family in the Cameron Highlands
Next up was a short hike through the rain forests beginning at the highest point in the Cameron Highlands. Satya was excellent and we learned a lot about the different leaves, trees, plants and insects that inhabit this terrain. Of particular interest was the Pitcher Plant. A crafty flower that captures insects by drawing these unfortunate creatures into their tasty "lid" type part of the pitcher. The insect tucks into the nectar, overloads, gets disorientated and drops into the pitcher, to be consumed! This plant is NOT the trap door variety and does not close. A very interesting plant and we got to see many of them as we walked through the forests.
A Pitcher Plant
Worker houses in the tea plantations
After a hearty lunch at an Indian restaurant, we set off for the indigenous village out in the forests. On the way out it pelted down with rain and then we witnessed the true extent of the kind of soil erosion taking place. It was frightful! The water running off the cultivated "fields" and roads ran red with top soil. The little rivers cascaded down the valley, carrying everything not attached to terra firma with it! It was carnage as roads were turned into little rivers and dams. We battled on through it all, slowly making our way down into the valley towards the indigenous village.
Grading water off the roads Soil erosion waiting to happen!
Satya informed us that the village we were going to was virtually the last of what was now left of the Orang Asli tribes people. He painted a rather bleak picture on how modern trappings of civilisation had slowly absorbed the Orang Asli into towns and cities.
Once the land rovers were parked, we walked a short distance to the village. There were about 15 huts built on stilts and perhaps no more than 50 people lived in the village. We walked amongst the huts, taking pictures and getting a feel for everyday life. I felt like a tourist in a zoo! We soon joined some kids who were playing a form of marbles with old coins. Next up was the blow pipe tutorial! This is a weapon used for hunting in the jungle with birds, monkeys and other small animals, the target. The actual pipe was some 2 meters long and the dart about 20 cm long. After Satya gave us a quick demonstration on how the Orang Asli used it to hunt, it was our turn to give it a go. Surprisingly enough, it was not too difficult and we all practiced at a target some 15 meters away. Even Dan and Jenna hit the target! Once everyone had had a go with the blow pipes, we were ussered up into one of the stilted huts where we all sat around a fire place and learned a bit more about the culture. On the "menu" was tapioca, a form of potato or "madumbe" as us South Africans might associate with! This was washed down with locally brewed tea. All in all it was a very interesting afternoon and it was great to be able to expose Daniel and Jenna to such an ancient way of life.
Jenna with a fishing trap Typical home of the Orang Asli tribes
We got back to the guest house at about 8.30pm, quite tired after a long day on the road. I walked down to the local town and bought us all some Indian food for dinner. We all climbed into bed, chatted about the day and then read ourselves to sleep!
The next day after breakfast, we caught a bus out to the bee farm. Unfortunately it turned out to be bit of a let down. No tour, no demonstration about the bee farming, nothing! Just walk about and look at the hives. We left after about 10 minutes and slowly walked back along the road. We came across some road side stalls where we sampled some fruit and bought some veggies. Certainly no "home grown price advantage" here, infact it was quite expensive. Once back at the guest house, we spent the rest of the day chilling out reading and relaxing. How times have changed! Both Daniel and Jenna are now excellent readers! B and I smiled at each other and pride ourselves in their ability to read for hours on end! Daniel gets through books at a rate! The Hardy Boys, Goosebumps, Mr Midnight and others! Soon it will be Harry Potter. Buying books for them is costing us a fortune, only to be told in 2 weeks that they need more books! Fantastic none the less!
Our time in the Highlands was done and early the next morning we caught the bus back to Penang. Shayile was waiting for us as we boarded her that evening!
Over the next few days, I stocked up on a few essential boat spares and a new fishing rod! B got her dentistry work done and we ready to move on! On our last night we had another great meal at an Indian restaurant, (I was slowly getting addicted to Roti and Tandoori Chicken!) Even the kids were enjoying Roti and deep fried chicken. With our time in Penang complete, early the next morning we motored out of Penang and headed south. About 3 miles south of the marina, we motored under the huge bridge that spanned the channel between Butterworth on the mainland, and Penang. It was like going under the Golden Gate bridge! We only spent a few hours cruising, before we anchored up behind a small island just south of Penang.
Little India in Georgetown
The next day was a long sail down to Pangkor, an island off the town of Lumut, some 60 miles down the coast from Panang. It was a great sail with wind and current in our favour. Sadly it did not last the whole day, but as we anchored off Pangkor, we were pleased with a great day of "progress" using the sails!
To Port Dickson
Eager to get going early, we upped anchor before sunrise and motored out of Lumut. Again we enjoyed wind and current and must have averaged some 7 - 9 knots. We went so well that when it came time to anchor at our chosen anchorage for the night, we still had many hours of sunlight lift. We quickly made a decision to keep going! The wind increased and soon it was up to 25 knots. I looked at the barometer only to discover it had plummeted! Looking through my log book, I soon discovered it was at its all time lowest since leaving South Africa. With a "blow" warning on the barometer, we needed to know more. Coincidently the local fishing vessels were all streaming into their port! Were we in for a big blow? Not having access at that moment to any weather forecasts, I phoned Gary (Yacht Aquarius) to get a weather forecast. Fortunately enough he was on the internet at that moment and settled our concerns by reporting that nothing untoward was predicted. (Cell phones are great!!) With some relief, we thanked Gary and sailed on down towards Port Klang.
With the increase in the wind, the waves also picked up and we soon realised that we could not anchor off this coast. We needed to seek the protection of an island or inlet. With no island until Port Klang, we sailed on into the night. As sunset approached, I picked up what looked like a building in the middle of the sea! As we drew closer, we were able to make out a huge house built on stilts, some 3 miles off the coast! It was beautifully decorated and well lit up. (It appeared almost Chinese in its design) With no idea as to what it was, we sailed on, only to discover clumps of pylons protruding out of the sea every 3 miles or so. These may well have been the remains of more of these houses. Very strange constructions out in the Malacca Straits.
B and I came up with a new plan. We decided to do a night passage and keep on going through the night. It turned out to be the right decision as we sailed on down towards Port Klang.
I must admit, I had no idea just how big the port of Port Klang actually was! On our AIS system, we started to pick up many ships entering and leaving the port. Further to this there were fishing vessels to contend with. At about 1am, I went off to bed and B stood watch. I told her to give me a call if there are any issues. Some 4 hours later she woke me up. Little did I know but B had motored us down the main channel, had crossed the shipping lane and we were now virtually in the port of Port Klang!! I looked up to see huge tankers and cargo ships all around us! B had done a great job and she could not thank the AIS system enough in assisting her down the shipping channel. (We recommend this devise to all yachts out there!!) Over the next 2 hours we continued on down past the port and out the other side. As day broke, we left all shipping behind us and headed on in a southerly direction, now with Port Dickson (P.D.) our next marina.
Ships on AIS off Port Klang
Kids at play - down the Melaka Straits
Again we enjoyed the sail throughout most of the day. At times we had to put on a motor as the wind died down, but mostly the wind blew and we made good progress down towards P.D. In the afternoon, the tide changed and we had current against us which is quite frustrating! However we had a good days sail and that afternoon, Shayile entered the marina at Port Dickson. The plan was not to spend too much time here. With Shayile safe in a marina, we were going to venture down to the ancient city of Melaka.
Our visit to Melaka
After settling into the marina, we met up with Eric and Christi, an American couple on a motor launch. They were 9 months out of America and out to circumnavigate. They had a beautiful motor launch with all the mod cons possible. With Eric being in computer software design, he had all the computer toys, and now had a new best mate - Daniel!! Yes Dan, and Jenna, had great fun playing games on his big screen computer with Plat Station set up! We also met Kim and Mike, an Australian couple who were refitting a yacht on which to take them sailing. That evening they kindly took us up to a local eating house for dinner. We must have eaten at least 70 chicken satays and other Malaysian food.
Eric and Christie were also planning a Melaka trip so we decided to join company. We hired a taxi in Port Dickson and all set off down to Melaka. It was a pleasant trip although our taxi driver was all over the road, whilst chatting to us and on his cell phone! We entered Melaka and the taxi dropped us off at our Guest House. Eric and Christie had found their own guest house and they booked in for the night. Our guest house, The Yellow Mansion, was a pleasant establishment but more like a small hotel than the perceived description - a guest house! It was close to central Melaka and walking distance to most attractions in the city. The landlord was a pleasant Indian gentleman.
The Yellow Mansion!
Rickshaw rider taking a break!
Melaka's history
Melaka (Malacca) has a lot to offer those seeking a bit of history. It is steeped in history, a heritage of architecture, multicultural worlds and great food! Due to its strategic positioning on the Selat Melaka, (Straits of Melaka) the city was a wealthy centre for trade with China, India, Thailand and Indonesia. In the late 14th century, Melaka was just another fishing village, until it attracted the attention of Parameswara, a Hindu prince from Sumatra. When Parameswara was thrown out of Sumatra, he fled and finally settled in Melaka. Under his control, Melaka developed into port where ships could wait out the monsoons, and obtain supplies. It was half way between India and China and within easy access to the sought after spice islands of Indonesia. It soon attracted merchants from all over the East. In 1405 the Chinese Muslim Admiral Cheng Ho (an eunuch prince) arrived in Melaka bearing gifts from the Ming emperor and the promise of protection from the Siamese enemies up north. With that, Chinese settlement followed in Melaka. Melaka developed into a powerful trading state, adopting Islam in the mid 15th century.
St Paul's Church
Town Square in Melaka
In 1509, the Portuguese came seeking the wealth of the spice and China trade. Hostilities developed and eventually in 1511, under Alfonso de Albuquerque, Melaka was taken by the Portuguese. Missionaries, like St Francis Xavier arrived and strove to implant Catholicism. Portuguese strength was short lived, as Dutch influence in Indonesia grew. Melaka passed into Dutch hands after an 8 month siege in 1641. The Dutch went on to rule Melaka for 150 years. Next it was the turn of the British! In 1795 the British, (Dutch Allies against France) assumed administration of the Dutch colonies. They were opposed to the Dutch policy of trade monopoly, and saw the potential for fierce rivalry between themselves and the Dutch. They began a destructive policy against Dutch influence, but fortunately one Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles (founder of Singapore) stepped in before their destructive policies went too far. In 1824 Melaka was ceded to the British in exchange for the Sumatran port of Bencoolen. Over time Melaka was eclipsed by other straits settlements, like Penang and Singapore, and returned to being a quiet town, awaiting its renaissance as a tourist destination.
Melaka sights
Our first tour was by foot. Following a designated tour route, we spent 4 hours just walking the streets and visiting the many historical sites. Of particular interest was St Paul's church built by the Portuguese in 1521. It is situated high on a hill overlooking Melaka. . It was seriously old with tombs from way back in the 1600's! As we walked on further into the old city, we visited many old houses and even temples. In Chinatown, we entered the Cheng Hoon Teng Temple. (a traditional Chinese Buddhist temple) There was even a shrine to sailors and fishermen which caught our attention! Further down the road we entered a Hindu temple, the Sri Poyyatha Vinayagar Moorthi Temple, dating from 1781. Here we witnessed a priest taking a mother and son around from shrine to shrine, obviously performing a pray sequence as they went.
The Hindu priests
The Chinese Buddhist Temple
That evening we ate dinner at an Indian restaurant frequented by locals! We tucked into roti, curry, dhal, and Tandoori chicken served on a banana leave!
The next day was spent sight seeing again. After we all had a breakfast of Roti and daahl, we walked across town to the Maritime and Naval Museum. Part of it was on a replica of the old galleon, the Flora de la Mar, a Portuguese ship that sank off the coast of Melaka. It was very interesting and great to see how sailors lived, worked and even died on these huge big engineless sailing boats! Having read the book "1421", I was keen to visit the Cheng Ho museum. Cheng Ho was the intrepid Chinese-Muslim seafarer who sailed large parts of Asia and is reputed to sailed across the Indian and Atlantic oceans. Whilst I went off to the Cheng Ho museum, B, the kids, Eric and Christi went to the Baba-Nonya Heritage Museum. It is set in a traditional Peranakan townhouse in Chinatown and is a typical 19th century Baba-Nonya residence. (Baba-Nonya citizens were Chinese men that had married Malay women)
After an exhausting day of sightseeing, we went back to the Yellow Mansion, had a clean up and went out for dinner. We had looked up what appeared to be an interesting restaurant called Capitol Satay, which was just down the road, and decided to give it a go. Interesting, and different it was! We entered a hot and very busy restaurant and realised we were in the right place! After being ushered to a table, the meal was explained to us in broken English. All the food was prepared on wooden skewers (Satays) and laid out in huge platters. We selected a wide range of meats and vegetables and returned to our table. In the middle of the table was a cooker, filled with a boiling stock of type, to which was added spices and crushed peanuts, we think. Dipping the Satays into the pot of stock, we then went on to cook our own meals and did we have fun doing it! After many trips back to reload our plates, we wondered how the billing was going to be done? On completing a satisfying meal, the waitress came across, picked up the foodless wooden satays and counted them! Out came the calculator and a quick sum carried out. Based on the number of "sticks" we had consumed, we were billed!! That night we ate vegetables, chicken, beef and even King prawns. Each stick the same price and an honesty prevailed as to how many we had eaten! (Would that work in South Africa??) We stumbled back to the Yellow Mansion with full stomachs, ready for a good nights sleep!
Dinner at Capitol Satay
B and the kids outside a Chinese temple
Next day we put in one last sight, the Stadthuys museum. It was the governors residence and is a red imposing building in the center of town. It was built in1641 and is believed to be the oldest Dutch building in the East. Housed here is the History and Ethnography museum. A very interesting gentleman gave us a guided tour and told us all about Melaka and its diverse history and people. All "sighted" out, we returned to The Yellow Mansion, our time in Melaka now done. The landlord very kindly offered us a lift to the bus stop where we were going to catch a bus back to Port Dickson. After paying the bill at the Yellow Mansion, we headed out to the bus stop and within an hour we were on our way to Seremban, a town on route to Port Dickson. The plan was to do some shopping and restocking for the trip into Indonesia. Singapore was off the shopping list as it was reported to be expensive. Seremban had a Tesco outlet and we could buy most everything we required. Once off the bus in Seremban, we caught a taxi out to Tesco's. We got chatting to our taxi driver, Ravi, and once at Tesco's asked him to return at 6pm and give us a ride down to Port Dickson. He agreed and left. Over the next 2 hours, B shopped up a storm, whilst I looked after the kids. We even enjoyed a Mac Donalds ice-cream together. With 3 trolley loads of food, we realised that Ravi's taxi could never accommodate the 4 of us, plus all the provisions. I asked Tesco management if they could assist and deliver our groceries to Port Dickson, some 40 km's away. Fortunately they agreed and we handed over the trolleys for delivery the next day. Ravi picked us up and we headed on down to Port Dickson and back to Shayile. Ravi was a great guy and we enjoyed his company on the way down. He seemed a very genuine and generous guy. He told us all about his career as a football player in Malaysia and Singapore, his new wife and his life. On arriving in P.D., I tried to give directions to the marina, but we got a bit lost. No problem at all to Ravi and although he went way out to try find the marina, which he did eventually, he would take no additional money for his time and petrol. He helped us with the little groceries we had and stepped on to Shayile for a cup of tea. With his assistance and kind natured manner, we invited him and his wife down to Shayile the next day. Although we did not know it, it was his wedding anniversary the next day and he readily accepted the offer. He told us he would supply the dinner. With the excitement lined up for the next day, he left for home.
Jenna outside a Chinese Temple
Mathavi and Ravi on Shayile - their first wedding anniversary
At 11am the next day we received our delivery from Tesco's and set about finding suitable storage for it. There was a lot of food and it all needed to be taken out of the boxes, sometimes their own boxes, (potential cockroach infestation) labeled, and put away. Virtually the whole day was spent organising Shayile for the trip down to Singapore. I took the kids for a few bicycle rides around the marina and surrounding roads. We called in to the haul out facility where I got chatting to Mike on Capricorn. He was hard at work scrapping away, ready to apply a fresh coat of anti fouling. He had virtually re-outfitted the whole yacht and it was looking great. What a talent to do something like that! Later that day Kim, his wife, gave me a lift to the petrol station where I filled my jerry cans with diesel. With Shayile now fully stocked, we were ready to head for Singapore.
That evening Ravi, his wife and niece and nephew arrived for dinner. Ravi's wife had cooked an assortment of curries and other Indian delicacies. We all had an enjoyable evening chatting and learning about each others life and ambitions. Eric and Christie joined us and, to celebrate Ravi and Mathavi's 1st wedding anniversary, out came a beautifully decorated cake! Mathavi had brought it along and after a few pictures taken, we enjoyed the rest of the evening together. Here was a taxi driver that we had hitched a ride with and was now sitting on Shayile with his wife enjoying his first wedding anniversary! They both thanked us for a great evening as they happily departed that night.
Singapore
Next day, Shayile motored out of Port Dickson marina. Soon the sails were up and we were on course for Singapore. The trip would take us 2 days and, as we did not want to enter Singapore in the afternoon or evening, the last night would be spent anchored off an islands some 12 miles out of Singapore. The first evening, we anchored up off the coast. No bay or protected anchorage, we just dropped anchor in 5 meters of water and went to sleep. Next day after another great day of sailing, we rounded a group of islands called Pulau Pisang, (Bananna) where we were to anchor for the night. Just then B called out as she spotted something in the water. We all scanned the surface around us and soon spotted more activity. As it was nothing that we had seen before, it was tricky to identify, but soon it became obvious - there were Sea Otters in the water around us! Although quite shy, we caught glimpses of these beautiful animals as they surfaced and quickly ducked away under the water. We dropped anchor and soon a group of Dolphin swam by. It was a fitting day to the end of the day, and our last in Malaysia!
Next morning we were up and away early, all ready to tackle the shipping in and around Singapore. As we rounded the southern most point of Malaysia, we put the engines on and motored into the first of many ship anchorages. There must have been 40 ships at anchor as we motored through them. The AIS system was buzzing with more than 150 ships on screen and we both signed and thanked Joao Mendes for introducing us to such a fantastic piece of equipment! On we motored skirting the main shipping lanes and marveling at the different sizes and shapes of the ships around us. I personally have never seen such huge metal sea monsters. Hundreds of meters long and equipped to transport every conceivable item. For the next 4 hours we motored on, staying between Singapore island and the shipping channel. Our destination was the 1 degree 15 Marina on Santosa Island, (just off Singapore) but first we had to find the western quarantine area where Immigration would meet us. At the designated area, I called up Singapore Immigration on Channel 74 and within an hour they motored up alongside Shayile. I passed them a bag containing all our documents and within 20 minutes, immigration had been done! I turned Shayile and we headed on towards 115 Marina.
We entered the marina and motored up towards the walk-ons. Having called them prior to entering, we were allocated a spot and ahead we could see them waiting for our lines. I negotiated Shayile into its berth and tied up. We were in the most unbelievable first world marina we had ever been in! Looking around, we were surrounded by huge motor yachts equipped for royalty! We were rubbing bows with the rich and famous and, although Shayile looked like the poor cousin, she swayed proudly on her berth as if to say "Maybe small, but tough!!"
