Hiked with My Poodle

This is my Keke before its hair was fully trimmed. It is a cute little one year old Poodle, isn't it? But do you ever think it can hike?

Please don't laugh, it certainly looks very funny without most of the hair, but more importantly, hair trimming is nothing to do with hiking, otherwise, I have to go bald.

Keke is a good hiker, I discovered this for the first time during my last trip to Cerok Tokun. It ran and jumped without much effort, and learned too through slipping down from the first slope.

It must be very excited and curious as to sniff all the way along the trail. Did Keke sniff those noisy monkeys atop the trees? I do not know, anyhow nobody bothered to chase after anybody.

By the way, Keke had "marked" its territory at many places. Cerok Tokun is belong to my Keke now.

Dragonfly Parasite

I examined and finally detected no parasites on my dragonfly. Yes, I am not a dragonfly doctor nor a scientist, but just a curious hiker at Cerok Tokun.

I came across this interesting fact in Gallicissa: Dragonflies do serve as hosts for a parasite. This may, according to study, affect their ability to fly, their ability to reproduce, and their ability to defend their territories.

I observed my dragonfly under a microscopic view, and did not see any parasite under the wings.

It was then still a hero and a strong predator in the jungle. As a hero, it looked at me cautiously for this was only our first encounter. And it would never know that once upon a time, there was a guy who took the effort to confirm its health status.

Can you see me?

I have scrapped all those that were written earlier, and keep only the photo.

I don't feel to write anything. I want to be that little one, just floating on the water.

What do you think if I am?

But please don't get me wrong. This is only one of my wild thought. Sometimes I am too deep into my craziness.

They are There

It had been drizzling the whole morning. I did not remove my camera from my backpack not for this reason, I was simply not inspired. I let free my huff to chase after the puff, my sweat to race with the pumping pulse.

It was still drizzling when I reached the car park. I wanted to visit the dam for a look at the ripples which start small as a dot. There must be many dots and circles right now.

Not until then, I sat down, stared at the water, I withdrew my camera as though I was preparing my pencil and paper. I had seen something in my mind.

I was asked again in the comment box, and I am fond of answering you that when I am alone in the jungle, someone who is invisible or not is actually accompanying me. When I stared at the water, I had found this little plant. It was little but big enough to soothe my mind. It was ordinary but special enough to be painted in my eyes.

And when my camera moved along, the nature talked to me silently, through a tiny flower. I talked without speaking a word, through my mighty camera.

If you think we had only a short conversation, then you were wrong. The nature replied me with some droplets on the leaves. What had I said? That's is my secret.

By the way, they are everywhere. I am not alone.

I am not Alone

When I hike alone, it is actually many hikers are walking on the same trail. And when I feel eerie about the darkness in the jungle, then just after another turn, the scene change.

At the time I watch the sky, many others are doing the same, only at some different corners. I am watching, but I may be watched too. It sounds eerie.

This is the sky I watched last week. I went back to the same corner this morning, the sky was not the same one anymore. Only change itself will never change. In the end of a complete cycle, there is a possibility I shall meet my familiar one.

When I watch with my own thinking, one of the others is watching too. I am not a Kingfisher, I cannot tell how the sky is as in its eyes.

Even a piece of dead tree would like to go after the bright part of the sky. If you ask whether I really just hike alone at the place that looks so eerie, I want to say, I am not alone. There are people with me. If I choose a quiet one, the birds or the trees may lead me to the brighter part of the trail.

Otherwise, there is some other else. I saw a wild boar for the first time at cerok Tokun this morning. It was just ten feet away from me.

The World above me

I am murmuring, and you surely cannot listen at that frequency, if you can, you must be abnormal.

I am murmuring to the sky. And am I murmuring to the sky in front of me or above me? This is a simple problem but I have made it too complicated. It must be the mistake of my beloved politicians.

I try to "squeeze" the trees and leaves out from my pictures, they then make me look like living in the heaven, or so near to the heaven. And in this distance, you must have not listened too much from me. Sometime the politicians would like to murmur as well. They murmur the things that they would not like us to know.

But I am actually standing at Cerok Tokun in this morning, the "mountain" in the foreground of the above picture is Mengkuang Dam, where you cannot find the dam at this moment. It is the best moment to hide the truth.

Do you enjoy these layers of colour? I do. Hopefully these layers do not mean the existence of hierarchy in the world in front of or above me.

I enjoy taking these pictures, and playing with the shutter speed. I have taken many of them. I mean, I shall show you some more in my next post.

Hidden Pavilion

I have not added much greenery to my post for a long time. It should not be right for me to keep pretending as though I am in the winter by showing some clever images. How can I keep pretending like a beloved politician.

This is the early part of my hiking trail at Cerok Tokun. My stamina and strength are tested at this very beginning before the muscles are thoroughly warmed up. I am usually too naughty to try running up the pathway within a single breath.

Every part of the staircase that is tarnished looks like originating from an ancient time inside a very old rainforest. The color will get darker and darker, but our pictures will be faded by time, and our memory will loss part by part. How can I blame my beloved politician who claimed he has forgotten most of the past events?

Upon reaching the end, I can see the roof of a pavilion which has never managed to convince me for a stop over, but not the broken hanging bridge. The ruin of this bridge which has once been visited by Indiana Jones was dismantled and will not be seen anymore when he emerge from the bushes with the lost Ark one day. Luckily Indy is not a politician, otherwise he must have lost in the jungle.

A glance into the pavilion may have concluded that though I have not spent anytime time over here, but if Indy is there one day, I shall not stand firm by my decision.

Birds' Talk

I do not have a high-end telescopic lens, to present my pictures of birds differently is then the only way to compensate for this shortcoming, and I make them look as watercolour painting.

I begin to hear birds' chirping along my hiking trail recently. Isn't it strange? I did not think there were many birds at Cerok Tokun last time.

Actually they were with me all the times, and nowadays, once I open my pair of ears, I start to see them. And some of them do not necessary coming near to say hello to me anymore.

You see, this one even tried to add some actions to my picture by shaking its fluffy body. I know you may not see this, but please, make a try, feel it. Yes, use your sense of feeling.

Before I had enough with this bird, I heard this next one calling just above of me. By the way, the speed of light is 299,792,458 meters per second, whereas that of sound is 343 meters per second. All my birds seem to be talking in a pace faster than the traveling of light. I hear their sweet voice before they are visible to me.

Before I end my post, I would like to know whether I have successfully presented my picture in an attractive manner. If not, this is not my mistake.

I have learned to hide my shortcoming from my beloved politicians. They must have done this much more better than me in such a way I should have missed out a few important tricks. Sorry for that.

Weeds and Webs

I have no idea how to describe them. Are they beautiful, ugly, awesome, weird, unique, indifferent, extraordinary, or simply nothing at all? But I am fond of them.

They were standing besides the pathway at the paddy field, and were so near to me, yet I had almost overlooked them. My focus was on the distant view, looking for birds, birds, and birds, and not until the butterflies and dragonflies got my attention.

I have spotted one, I have spotted two, and started to look for more, thus this is then my collection on weeds and webs.

The synergy of the bend, the straight, the fluffy brown, the skinny green, and of course, the webs with scattered preys have converted a normal look into something that worth a record in the blogosphere.

Please don't tell you find squirrels over here, only because their tails are shown unintentionally.

This is another interesting one. It may look like a horse tail or a whip (Indiana Jones is back again), or your views are all welcomed. Spider web may look dirty and messy at one time, it adds zest to the story along the journey at the other time. If you are not convinced, let's follow me to the next one.

The layers of green look beautiful, but I like the preys on web more. How can my picture comes without them? The white mesh at the end should be a cocoon or something similar.

The walk at this paddy field did not promise me many photos of birds, but on the other hand it gave me plenty more experiences. Look at the last one, the creation of nature simply makes me ponder, there must be no way I can discover all the goodness of nature in my lifetime, and everyday is always a day with new wonders though I shall continue on the same journey.

They are Dragons, They Fly Around

Butterflies would not fly without the presence of dragonflies. Whenever I see butterflies, dragonflies are there. They are either hiding in the bushes, or flying around like helicopters.

But the more I know, the less I understand. Thus I can only talk about what I have seen recently and during my childhood. These dragonflies have somehow disappeared since I have grown older and older, and now they return, after I have started to see things through my viewfinder. This is my macro piece of eye. It should be good enough, but not good enough if compared to the twenty thousands pieces of eyes of the dragonfly.

Dragonflies are not easy to be caught by hand, as suggested by the name. They are dragons, they are quite alert to any movement in the surrounding, and fly away swiftly, but they will come back to the same spot immediately. Though they will come back, it is still not easy to capture them in pictures.

"The eyes on a damselfly are apart; in most dragonflies the eyes touch." Thus, the next two stars are surely damselflies that had challenged my capability to handle them.

They can also be differentiated from the dragonflies by the way they hold their wings vertically and together when at rest.

This dragonfly has landed in front of me, and blocked my way. If I was in a miniature world, I should take a ride to visit Alice in the Wonderland.

And if you miss your autumn, come here often. By the way, Alice has always appeared during autumn time.

The Wonder of The Little Lifes

My instinct guided the camera, and butterflies showed me the way. Pictures of butterflies were the extra joy I have harvested from the paddy field.

My zoom lens helped to take these pictures in a distance, which in turn did not require my eye-to-eye or face-to-face interaction with the butterflies.

I love the first one, and you must say it is your fave too. The background was actually a small river that turned out to be the mysterious dark grey setting under glaring sunlight. The painted sunshine on the wings was a surprise wonder. Morning is always beautiful, and I am gifted.

But I am wrong to have said there was no eye-to-eye interaction. How could I avoid them from staring at me?

The eyes looked at me even from underneath the wings, or to be more accurate at this moment, they took a side look. My eyes, though with sunglasses, had to shy away from the hot sun, but not these few.

They are actually small butterflies in comparison to those I have hunted in Penang Butterfly Farm. They may look less charming at a glimpse, but their pictures certainly tell a different story.

The stripes and the extra little bit of colours, either on the wings or the antennae, hinted me on the wonder of these little lives.

I had not seen golden rice stalks, but I found this paddy field entertained me in the other way.

Sunday Morning at A Paddy Field

This is the place I pass by everyday on my way to work, but it manages only to catch my fleeting glimpse at the speed of 90km/hr. I have seen many pond herons wandering around over last few weeks, and am sure a glimpse must not be enough.

It is half past eight in the morning. I am feeling the burning heat, in such a way very different from Cerok Tokun, at which I am fully sheltered by the dense forest.

And I am seeing a farmer at work.

This very crude scarecrow seems to be not frightening the white-throated kingfisher away. You may want to know where is the bird, the answer is right in the next picture.

But there must be more birds hiding themselves in the paddy field.

Yes, here come the lonely pond heron looking for its early meal, but flocks of herons have gone missing. I am too late for the gorgeous season.

Anyhow, one or two are still entertaining. Catching them flying is just like catching the seconds, they are simply too fast for a amateur like me. A pretty good excuse, isn't it?

I am coming for the flock of herons, but receive many others in return. Some are dynamic to attract my attention, the others just stay besides the pathway quietly. I am so lucky to have spotted them.

But the morning moon is certainly not one of those, because though it is a single moon, everyone is always able to see at everywhere and in everyday.

Story started from 7am

It was exactly 7am when I reached Cerok Tokun this morning. It was a quiet moment before hikers started to pour in, and this was the silent corner where I started my hiking.

To start hiking at 7am is nothing early, some hikers come with torch lights at 6am. This is the moment nobody can recognise each other, and the moment we keep walking without knowing where we are, until the first sunlight appears.

My camera tells the story today which happened under an umbrella, and which happened after 7am. This heavy tropical rain lasted for a short moment, but not its traces.

It never bothered to hide what it had done to the jungle, after all, only time could help. And before the time came, this was the moment I enjoyed the most, the tranquil hiking trail, the wet morning, the cool feeling and the lovely experience.

Even the water would like to record a part of the story, started from tiny dots, spread into circles and ended into invisible infinity.

These trees tried to trap this part of the trace, which was the weakest but yet the prettiest, before being removed by the sun.

The story continues to repeat, as tropical rain will always come, suddenly and heavily in some of the days, and its trace can be found everywhere you can see on our body.

Let It Bee

I was searching for birds that chirped behind dense leaves  at Cerok Tokun, but those humming sound was loud and irritated.

I had a big and colourful bee accompanying me! It might be signalling me for its pictures to be shown in the Internet. "If Kingfishers can, why not me?"

It never went away once I started clicking.

"Just keep clicking for your award-winning pictures."

The bee was very talkative and persuasive in order to gain more exposure in the virtual world.

Let it bee.