Year 2- 12th November 2025 –Langkawi- Malaysia – exit to Thailand

It rained again in the night and I seem to be writing this fact every day!! However, as we had breakfast (scrambled eggs on toast) it started to stop and began to get warmer and the sun began to come out. We planned to get the 9.00am ferry to Cenang and then a grab (like Uber) to Immigration at the ferry terminal next to the RLYC. We all went to get the ferry and it had left at 8.45am. The next one was not until 9.45am which would make timing a bit tight. However, the marina guys said if we wait 10 minutes then they would take us. We therefore waited on the pontoon and saw otters playing on the far bank which was nice.

We all had to go to Immigration as they had to take our index fingerprints. We got on the ferry and we had it to ourselves. This took 7 minutes and we then got a grab to the Jetty ferry terminal and were able to get a coffee before we had to meet the agent. We waited outside the Immigration Office and Sheila, our agent came and we did all the formalities including giving our index fingerprints.

Once done we got another grab with Ruth using any money we had left to buy chocolate. We managed to get back to the ferry terminal with 5 minutes to spare and we got the 11.30am ferry back to the Rebak Marina. Steve took the electric adapter off and I then went to the office to clear out and pay the bill.

In the meantime all the crew prepared the boat and out away the electric lead etc. We then put on our life jackets, arranged the lines and slowly slipped out of the mooring and out of the marina.

Once out of the channel we turned west and of course the wind was mostly on the nose. We then decided to put out the sails and see how we could sail. This meant at the angle that we could sail that we were effectively going in the wrong direction and away from our planned route. We would have to go some way until we could tack back the other way but this would mean that we would not be there before dark. We decided that although we would love to sail we needed to make some miles in the right direction.

We therefore motored and it was almost into the wind. I had planned that we would got to an island (IN Thailand) some 35 nm away and North of Ko Lipe, which has a customs port so we did not want to go too close (as they may want us to check in there) and so I decided to anchor off Ko Rawi some 5 nm North.

We motored along and did 2 hour shifts again. The rain held off and it was quite warm and there was a bit of swell which we rode up and down. The miles counted down and at some point we left Malaysia and entered Thai waters although the border was not clear. I decided to bring down the Malaysian courtesy flag and put up the Thai flag. We ended up seeing Ko Lipe with some yachts anchored in the bay. We motored on and then came round the Island and then went North and by about 5.00pm (the clocks had gone back an hour) we came into the anchorage we found on No Foreign Land.  We anchored in about 17m of water. The holding was not the best but it seemed solid enough with the anticipated weather overnight but I put the anchor alarm on.

Steve and Ruth went for a swim and Steve went to clean the log. We had a beer on the aft deck and we were anchored off a beach and the island had jungle and large trees and palm trees in it. It did look quite attractive. We chilled and relaxed and happy to have reached Thailand.

Andy made a chilli for supper with rice and pat choi which was good and then the motley crew played cards whilst I did the blog. We will move on up towards Phuket tomorrow.

Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand, and formerly known as Siam until 1939, is a country located in mainland Southeast Asia. It shares land borders with Myanmar to the west and northwest, Laos to the east and northeast, Cambodia to the southeast, and Malaysia to the south. Its maritime boundaries include the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea, as well as maritime borders with Vietnam, Indonesia, and India. Thailand has a population of nearly 66 million people, covers an area of approximately 513,115 km2 (198,115 sq mi). The country's capital and largest city is Bangkok.

Archaeological evidence indicates that humans have inhabited the area of present-day Thailand for at least 40,000 years. Indigenous ethnic groups include the Mon, Khmer, and Malay people. The Tai people are believed to have originated from the Điện Biên Phủ region since the 5th century and began migrating into the territory of modern Thailand between the 8th and 10th centuries origin of the Tai people.

Following the Siamese revolution of 1932 by the Khana Ratsadon (lit. 'People's Party'), Siam transitioned from an absolute monarchy to a parliamentary constitutional monarchy and was officially renamed Thailand. During World War II, the country was under the military dictatorship of Plaek Phibunsongkhram and allied with the Empire of Japan as part of the Axis powers, but Thailand did not become a defeated nation due to the underground Free Thai Movement's "Declaration of Peace", which was recognized by the Allies. During the Cold War, Thailand became a key major non-NATO ally of the United States and played a major role in countering communism in the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and other proxy wars. Thailand also joined the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO). Despite brief periods of liberal democracy in the 1970s and 1990s, Thailand alternated between liberal democracy and military dictatorship.

Since the 2000s, Thailand has experienced political conflict between supporters and opponents of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra (in office 2001–2006), leading to the 2006 and 2014 coup d'états. Today, Thailand operates under the 2017 Constitution and a coalition government following the 2019 Thai general election, as well as political demonstrations demanding democracy and monarchy reform. The current constitutional structure still allows de facto political influence by the Royal Thai Armed Forces. Thailand has also faced border tensions from the 2008–2011 Cambodian–Thai border crisis extending to the 2025 Cambodia–Thailand border crisis involving territorial disputes and military clashes.

Currently, Thailand is recognized as a developing country and holds significant geopolitical importance in Southeast Asia. It is a unitary state governed under a parliamentary system with a bicameral legislature comprising the elected House of Representatives and the appointed Senate. Thailand is a member of the United Nations, a major non-NATO ally of the United States, and a founding member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as well as a regional power. The Royal Thai Armed Forces are among the largest military forces in Southeast Asia. Thailand's economy is the second-largest in the region and the 23rd globally by purchasing power parity, ranking 29th by gross domestic product. Thailand is classified as a newly industrialized country, with manufacturing, agriculture, and tourism being the main economic sectors.

Totalling 513,120 square kilometres (198,120 sq mi), Thailand is the 50th-largest country by total area. Thailand comprises several distinct geographic regions, partly corresponding to the provincial groups. The north of the country is the mountainous area of the Thai highlands, with the highest point being Doi Inthanon in the Thanon Thong Chai Range at 2,565 metres (8,415 ft) above sea level. The northeast, Isan, consists of the Khorat Plateau, bordered to the east by the Mekong River. The centre of the country is dominated by the predominantly flat Chao Phraya river valley, which runs into the Gulf of Thailand. Southern Thailand consists of the narrow Kra Isthmus that widens into the Malay Peninsula.

The Chao Phraya and the Mekong River are the indispensable water courses of rural Thailand. Industrial scale production of crops use both rivers and their tributaries. The Gulf of Thailand covers 320,000 square kilometres (124,000 sq mi) and is fed by the Chao Phraya, Mae Klong, Bang Pakong, and Tapi Rivers. It contributes to the tourism sector owing to its clear shallow waters along the coasts in the southern region and the Kra Isthmus. The eastern shore of the Gulf of Thailand has the kingdom's premier deepwater port in Sattahip and its busiest commercial port, Laem Chabang. Phuket, Krabi, Ranong, Phang Nga and Trang, and their islands, all lay along the coasts of the Andaman Sea.

Thailand's climate is influenced by monsoon winds that have a seasonal character (the southwest and northeast monsoon). Most of the country is classified as Köppen's tropical savanna climate. The majority of the south, as well as the eastern tip, have a tropical monsoon climate. Parts of the south also have a tropical rainforest climate.

A year in Thailand is divided into three seasons. The first is the rainy or southwest monsoon season (mid–May to mid–October), which is caused by southwestern wind from the Indian Ocean. Rainfall is also contributed by Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and tropical cyclones, with August and September being the wettest period of the year. The country receives a mean annual rainfall of 1,200 to 1,600 mm (47 to 63 in). Winter or the northeast monsoon occurs from mid-October until mid-February. Most of Thailand experiences dry weather with mild temperatures. Summer or the pre-monsoon season runs from mid-February until mid-May. Due to their inland position and latitude, the north, northeast, central and eastern parts of Thailand experience a long period of warm weather, where temperatures can reach up to 40 °C (104 °F) during March to May, in contrast to close to or below 0 °C (32 °F) in some areas in winter.

Southern Thailand is characterised by mild weather year-round with less diurnal and seasonal variations in temperatures due to maritime influences. It receives abundant rainfall, particularly during October to November. Thailand is among the world's ten countries that are most exposed to climate change. In particular, it is highly vulnerable to rising sea levels and extreme weather events.

The population of Asian elephants in Thailand's wild has dropped to an estimated 2,000–3,000

National parks in Thailand are defined as an area that contains natural resources of ecological importance or unique beauty, or flora and fauna of special importance. Thailand's protected areas include 156 national parks, 58 wildlife sanctuaries, 67 non-hunting areas, and 120 forest parks. They cover almost 31 per cent of the kingdom's territory. The parks are administered by the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department (DNP) of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE). The Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Chonburi is the second largest zoo in Asia. The largest national park of Thailand is Kaeng Krachan National Park.

Thailand has a mediocre but improving performance in the global Environmental Performance Index (EPI), with an overall ranking of 91 out of 180 countries in 2016. The environmental areas where Thailand performs worst (i.e., highest-ranking) are air quality (167), environmental effects of the agricultural industry (106), and the climate and energy sector (93), the later mainly because of a high CO2 emission per kWh produced. Thailand performs best (i.e., lowest-ranking) in water resource management (66), with some major improvements expected for the future, and sanitation (68). The country had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 6.00/10, ranking it 88th globally out of 172 countries.

The population of elephants, the country's national symbol, has fallen from 100,000 in 1850 to an estimated 2,000. Poachers have long hunted elephants for ivory and hides, and now increasingly for meat. Young elephants are often captured for use in tourist attractions or as work animals, where there have been claims of mistreatment. In 1989, the government banned the use of elephants for logging, leading many elephant owners to move their domesticated animals to the tourism industry.

Poaching of protected species remains a major problem. Tigers, leopards, and other large cats are hunted for their pelts. Many are farmed or hunted for their meat, which supposedly has medicinal properties. Although such trade is illegal, the well-known Bangkok market Chatuchak is still known for the sale of endangered species. The practice of keeping wild animals as pets affects species such as Asiatic black bear, Malayan sun bear, white-handed lar, pileated gibbon, and binturong.

The economy of Thailand is heavily export-dependent, with exports accounting for more than two-thirds of gross domestic product (GDP). Thailand exports over US$105 billion worth of goods and services annually. Major exports include cars, computers, electrical appliances, rice, textiles and footwear, fishery products, rubber, and jewellery.

Thailand is an emerging economy and is considered a newly industrialised country. Thailand had a 2017 GDP of US$1.236 trillion (on a purchasing power parity basis). Thailand is the second largest economy in Southeast Asia after Indonesia. Thailand ranks midway in the wealth spread in Southeast Asia as it is the fourth richest nation according to GDP per capita, after Singapore, Brunei, and Malaysia.

Thailand functions as an anchor economy for the neighbouring developing economies of Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia. In the third quarter of 2014, the unemployment rate in Thailand stood at 0.84% according to Thailand's National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB).  

As of 2024, Thailand struggles with low productivity, poor education, high household debt, low private investment and slow economic growth, with an economic research group forecasted an annual GDP growth of below 2% in the next decades without structural reforms.

Tourism makes up about 6% of the country's economy. Prior to the pandemic, Thailand was the world's eighth most visited country according to the World Tourism rankings compiled by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation. In 2019, Thailand received 39.8 million international tourists, ahead of United Kingdom and Germany and was the fourth highest in international tourism earning 60.5 billion US dollars.

The picture of the day is our first view of Thailand, our anchorage.

 Need/Opportunity Year Three

In year three I will be going from Thailand to Sri Lanka, India, Maldives and then on to Chagos, Mauritius, Reunion, Cape Town, St Helena, Azores and back to the UK.  I am looking for crew from Mauritius/ Reunion Island to Cape Town and from Cape Town to the UK. If of any interest do email me.

The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com