Duck 'n Fiddle: Phuket or Bangkok? Marco manoeuvres east

By Murray Stewart

This being the last edition of the month, we continue with the highs and lows of Marco Polo’s journey to the Far East to find Pa and Kubla Cohen in Xanadu. Grateful to have scored a free ride with the Sultan’s fleet, we left Marco last month as he happily knuckled down and high-tailed it eastward via Sumatra.

The last time Marco sailed on a dhow he was a slave in shackles, bound for the spice island of Zanzibar. This time things were somewhat different though. He was now ensconced in the flagship of the Zanzibari Navy and, being what can be modestly described as the Sultan’s personal valet had its perks.

The two-month voyage across the Indian Ocean was spent in relative luxury, so Marco soon settled into the dhow’s bump-and-grind and the Sultan’s wishes and whims, and often bent over backwards to fit in. The trip however, was educational in more ways than one.

He was taught how to play chess by the Sultan, whose priceless, hand-carved set had green jade pieces for Saladin’s army against the pale ivory of the Infidel. Marco soon learned to lose graciously. He was also taught to navigate by the stars, prepare oriental cuisine, and how to curse fluently in Arabic, Swahili and Tagalog. (Always useful.)

As in some previous encounters, details of what actually happened during the eight-week trip are virtually non-existent, but suffice it to say, the Sultan’s lookout eventually spotted the northern tip of Sumatra – much to Marco’s relief. He had a feeling in the bowels of his heart that the Sultan was tiring of him, and realised that unless he plotted an escape, he might well be peddled off to some sweaty pimp and end up as a ‘lady-man’ in Bangkok.

Click on the newspaper below to read more (see page 4).