Abolished by a Sultan[a]

It's not the first time I've been awakened by the police, but this time was different - this time the Sultan himself had ordered them to get rid of us...

Finally, after 6 weeks of dust, sweat and [painted] tiers, the day arrived for us to put the Fiddler where she belonged - back in the water - a boat yard is no place for a sailing vessel of her distinction.

Finally being hoisted up from our birth in the Kudat boat yard

Evidently I'm better at getting paint on my face than the boat

Oh the exceitedment of finally becoming a sea gypsy

We had to say goodbye to some friends, the cat, not the captain

and found some new friends aboard

But it was time to finally launch into the ocean

The boys had just about become permanent residents of  Kudat, which made an embarking party all that more necessary. So, with a boat load of vegetarian dishes and fellow boat yard dwellers and painters and friends, we celebrated our last night as boat people in style before waking up sailors.

There were party hats and everything

Fiddler, finally out on the water

Teddy taking up his place in the pilot house, he may even be a better driver than I am

It was great to finally feel that ocean breeze and see the sails in all their splendor and be on the move again and... I interrupt this sentence to blaggggggghhhh - Port side and I have become well aquainted... In fact it took only 4 hours and 24 minutes for my first vomit, and I repeated that another 18 times before first light. I think (although I may have confused their facial expressions with disgust) that the rest of the crew are quite impressed by my projectile vomiting abilities and jealous that I get to detox so effortlessly!

With the morning came a perfect sunrise over Mt Kinabalu and calm seas and life was all as it should be - sailing's an incredible way to travel when the ocean behaves!

Brunei seemed a logical first destination given that we'd be needing close on 2000 liters of fuel. So we wrong directioned 189 nautical miles.

Unfortunately we arrived at the same time as Hari Raya (Muslim new year, the holiday that comes after a whole month of Ramadan fasting), which was great for chanting mosques and fireworks, but bad for fuel!

We sailed up the Brunei river in the name of exploration and anchored in a quiet river segment to avoid being hit by crazy water taxi drivers. It was a pretty spot and also happened to be right across from his imperial highness, the Sultan's, palace.

So when the Sultans personal police representatives kindly requested our rapid relocation on Sunday morning, we probably should have been expecting them. Although it was hard not to stifle a giggle as they informed us that "The Sultana has asked that you leave immediately". So we did. Technically we were running from a raisin...

We carried on all the the way back down stream to the yacht club and then, because we could, we slipped past immigration and we carried on all the way back to Labuan, Malaysia where basic necessities like beer and cigarettes (no mom, I don't smoke) abounded along with Indian food and livelihood and while I'm sure that Brunei is an awesome country, it's really nice to be back in Malaysia land! Even if we have to head back again at the end of the week. And this time I'm going to actually attempt to lick the Sultan[a].

Becoming a Vegetarian : The Bottom of the Food Chain

For 8 days, 8 hours and 16 minute I've resided at the bottom of the food chain. I've become a vegetarianist.

What used to be dinner:

Hanoi, Vietnam... and no, I didn't actually eat this...

Now feasts on  me:

And I'm sure you're thinking that I'm overreacting, but it took less than 3 days to get this:

And there's nothing that quite makes you reconsider your life choices as a good chomp at your man size calves...but I did get a free tetanus shot and antibiotics and pain killers out of the indecent (maybe even free rabies) and they say the best things in life are free...

After all, I came to Borneo to be a vegetarian, and a vegetarianist I shall at least attempt to be. 

Along with my new found [mandatory] love for veggies has come other lifestyle changes too:

(because if you're going to change, you may as well do it drastically)

Some of them temporary:

A vast increase in luggage

Reverting back to conventional transport - it broke down an hour later. It didn't get fixed!

And some of them long term:

 (and by this I mean months... not days or hours - MONTHS!)

I'm no longer a homeless gypsy

 I no longer have only a dirty Teddy for company

I no longer lurk in brothel-like accommodations

That is actual poo running down the pipe of our 'delux' en-suite bathroom in Uzbekistan

An email I received a couple of months back made me reroute my quest for Spain land (http://barefootedgypsy.blogspot.com/2010/11/bringing-gypsy-back.html)

And led me to a life of luxury (albeit currently in a boat yard) aboard my new home, the Fiddler

She's headed West, via South Africa, to the Caribbean (which is only a minor detour really).

And aboard her I will hopefully learn the art of sailing and deck handing and overcoming sea sickness and see a world of beautifulnesses that few have the opportunity to see .

And even though I'm required to be a vegetarian whilst onboard (which I'm trying out properly - if you're going to try something, you may as well give it a real go) it's an incredible opportunity I couldn't possibly pass up.

And it gets better too, the crew's amazing and they don't even slightly appear to be human traffickers or psycho-killers

Captain Kirk's the bearded wonder at the back, and Jim's  the crazy face at the front
The rest have been hard at work painting, scraping, washing and ensuring I won't be shipwrecking a second time in a year 

And that's a lot of change rolled into one, but exciting things lay ahead and if I can survive 8 days as a vegetarian without even being a little bit dead(apart from the hole in my leg), I think I'll be okay - now I just have to adapt to a life of luxury

And seeing as it's just gone 02h30 I really should be getting to bed - today's [hopefully] launch day.