My first week aboard SV Millennium was spent constantly questioning my decision to come to Malaysia to work in a shipyard for 40 hours per week for free. Although I enjoyed meeting everyone onboard, it’s always a bit awkward being the last person to join. Nate was busy as the captain, Amy spent her days at Starbucks editing YouTube episodes for Expedition Drenched, Rob and Aitor worked in the engine room, Will was busy with his projects, and Joni and Angi had already created a close friendship. Although everyone made me feel included, I still felt like I was the odd person out and looked forward to having new crew join. All in all, I wasn’t loving it.
After a long day of working, we wrapped up and headed to the showers. The bathroom facilities in the Langkawi shipyard left much to be desired. The only nice bathroom was located in the office and was only open until 5:00 pm, leaving four other showers open with varying levels of grossness. None of the bathrooms had toilet paper because this generally isn’t used throughout Malaysia, instead, they have a hose next to the toilet to use as a bidet. As a result, the bathrooms are always soaking wet with puddles on the floor. The shower was typically just a pipe sticking out of the wall and the water temperature depended on how much the sun heated up the water tank. Taking a shower in the hottest part of the day meant the water would be scolding hot.
Caked in sweat, dirt, and metal shavings, I looked forward to the rush of water hitting my skin but was quickly disappointed when I found no water coming out of the pipe end. It seemed there was an issue with the water main coming into the shipyard leaving most of the property without running water for the day. Luckily, two of the showers still worked so the 9 of us formed a queue, along with the other shipyard workers finishing up their day.
After we were all showered, we pack into the rental car only to hear the engine failing to turn over. It seemed the battery was dead and our day’s misfortunes started to feel comical at this point. Luckily, we were able to flag down a car in the shipyard to jump the battery and be on our way. This was just the first of our problems with the rental car whose battery became less and less reliable, often leaving us stranded. I asked why we wouldn’t just ask for a replacement car but it seemed the rental car company only had two large cars and the other one was infested with cockroaches.
Once we had the car started, we headed over to a beautiful resort called Temple Tree which was located near the airport. After growing accustomed to the shipyard, it was easy to forget that Langkawi was a tourist destination. Both Temple Tree and its neighboring resort Bonton were beautifully constructed from traditionally built Malaysian structures and both resorts had restaurants and pools which quickly became our refuge during our time off.
We ordered dinner and waited for Nate to return from the airport with the new crew member, Candice (22) who had grown up in Hong Kong until she was 13 when she moved to boarding school in Australia. After welcoming her, we all introduced ourselves, and Candice and I developed a quick connection being the last two people to join the group.
Candice was lucky that the next day was our first day off since neither of us arrived. We packed into the car and drove to the west end of the island to spend a little time in nature. One of the main tourist attractions on the island is the Langkawi Sky Bridge and Cable Car but we decided to take the more difficult route up the mountain and hike. After a couple of hours of scrambling up a steep incline, we made it to the top of the mountain then ended the day with a swim in the waterfall at the base.
A few days later, we were joined by another crew member, Chili (24) from Denmark, followed by the final crew member, Jules (22) from Canada. Although, Chili was quick to assess the situation onboard and left after just two days. So, with 10 crew members, the team was finally complete and we could get working on finishing up the boat to splash.
