If you love the idea of slow travel through SE Asia, join me on my sailing boat Yana de Lys.
I live aboard and cruise with my husband (the other captain). It’s always slow travel, whether we’re sailing, or exploring inland.
Visit deserted tropical islands and exotic anchorages with me in my sailing blog
Come floating around the stunning 99 islands in the Langkawi group on the west coast of Malaysia in my sailing blog Holed up at the Hole in the wall.
Or sailing round the spectacular karst islands from Langkawi to Phuket in Thailand.
Perhaps you’d like to explore the islands around Tioman on Malaysia’s east coast? There are three sailing blogs about that trip beginning with Are we nearly there yet? (You’ll also learn how kids just don’t get slow travel.)
Discover backstreet secrets in my travel blog
Sometimes we just hang around, living aboard, catching up with yacht maintenance jobs, pretending to be locals.
Other times we head off and explore. In my travel blog you can read about our adventures in Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, Penang, Singapore and more.
Umm, and Australia. Occasionally we go home to visit family and friends or just earn Aussie dollars.
If you like road trips check out the 100 Miles of Solitude in the Aussie outback? travel blog, and Road Trip to Malacca.
About Yana de Lys
Yana de Lys is a French princess. A 39’ fibreglass Wauquiez Amphora ketch built in 1978.
When we bought her in 2010, she had been languishing on Rebak Island (just near Langkawi Island) in Malaysia for six years. She needed a lot of work. New decks, rigging, windows, engine overhaul etc etc. We never intended to buy another “project boat” but we fell in love.
You can glimpse how much work we needed to do in my sailing blog Third World Lift out, First World Touch Down. And how some of the repairs went horribly wrong at sea in Sailing Again.
Where are we now?
Now we’re in Johor Bahru in southern peninsula Malaysia, near Singapore, waiting for the winds to change and the funds to accumulate before we sail on to the west coast of Borneo. I hear you can sail up the rivers and still see pygmy elephants in the wild…
But there’s no rush. Plenty to see around here. The food is cheap and delicious. The people are friendly. Gotta love slow travel!
January 2023 Update
So. We packed for a three week trip to Perth in February 2020. A quick catch up with family and friends and to stock up on Vegemite.
And got locked out of Malaysia two days before we were due to fly back to Yana.
We spent three years in Perth while Covid changed the world forever. Yana is for sale now and we’re figuring out what our next adventures are going to look like…
- Lost in Bangkok – and how we found Jai Fai’s legendary crab omelette
- Hanging Out Like a Local in Hat Yai
- Stranded in Paradise eBook
- Slow Train from the City of Angels to the Southern Border
- Seven Days in Saigon, Vietnam
- Lost in Bangkok – and how we found Jai Fai’s legendary crab omelette
- Hanging Out Like a Local in Hat Yai
- Stranded in Paradise eBook
- Slow Train from the City of Angels to the Southern Border
- Seven Days in Saigon, Vietnam
- Lost in Bangkok – and how we found Jai Fai’s legendary crab omelette
- Hanging Out Like a Local in Hat Yai
- Stranded in Paradise eBook
- Slow Train from the City of Angels to the Southern Border
- Seven Days in Saigon, Vietnam
- Lost in Bangkok – and how we found Jai Fai’s legendary crab omelette
- Hanging Out Like a Local in Hat Yai
- Stranded in Paradise eBook
- Slow Train from the City of Angels to the Southern Border
- Seven Days in Saigon, Vietnam
- Lost in Bangkok – and how we found Jai Fai’s legendary crab omelette
- Hanging Out Like a Local in Hat Yai
- Stranded in Paradise eBook
- Slow Train from the City of Angels to the Southern Border
- Seven Days in Saigon, Vietnam