The water droplets are too heavy

I have a pair of sharp eyes, that is why you are not able to hide yourself from me. I like a butterfly more than you, though both of you are from the same family. You look so ugly and bare the trees once you are there, so fast.

What have interested me more are the water droplets that are found on your tiny hairs. They are for sure not your tears, you have no reason to cry. What do you want to cry for?

It rained last night but you have yet to get rid of them until now. Do you enjoy the crystal-like adornment, or simply find no way to shake them off?

I think of you again when I am seeing this piece of grass. It starts to bend its body due to the gravity force. It cannot help but has to bend itself.

I am afraid that you will fall due to the gravity force, the water droplets maybe too heavy to you. That's nothing to do with Newton and his apple, but the law still applies.

Will you fall like a parachute?

Runaway Spider

I thought all animals hibernate in the winter time when I was a kid. It seems to be not right, not because I am a little wiser right now, only because I surf Internet a little more. Somehow I still don't know how is a spider in the winter.

I only understand those live at my place, at Cerok Tokun.

It looked like I had met another sleeping critter when I was seeing the zzzzzzzzzZZZZZZ in this very beautiful early morning. "Come on. What a waste to spend time sleeping."

I went to the "backyard" for a different view, but found myself feeling dizzy by the puzzle-like web, and had awakened the spider. It started to move downward, to run away from me in such a hurry and forgot to keep all the zzzzzZZZZZZ.

Did I look scary from his perspective? I thought the other way round.

I followed him all the way. I even tried to block him with a stick and managed to have a close up on him. You must agree that he looks more scary than me!!

I had to let him go away and disappeared in the grasses. A big guy like me should not bully a small critter.

Anyway, I was not left empty-handed. I have collected all the zzzzzZZZZZZ and would like to auction them in the Internet. Do you have any interest in them?

I found another squirrel

The Retired one is right. I have been influenced or mesmerized by Ratty. Right immediately after seeing the Plantain Squirrel, I saw a different species of squirrel again.

This was a real close encounter. I found him when I was wandering around near the dam. He stayed quietly behind a piece of rotten wood with his eyes closed, and be very safe by disguising himself very well as part of the wood. I wonder how I could see him as only his head was visible. He had never made any movement, not to mention even for a fast one.

When I reviewed through the pictures I had taken, it is ironically to say that I took only a few of his pictures in comparison to the countless clicking on the fast moving Plantain Squirrel. What a shame, anything that can be accessed easily by me are always not valued much.

Please say hello and see him a little bit longer before you leave. This can then make me feeling better because of my negligence.

I Smelled A Squirrel

I had been smelling you, Ratty. I did not know why until a squirrel created havoc right above me. It intended to catch my attention. It sure did. And my camera was always ready, but me not.

I hesitated as wanted to observe a little more about that little critter, but I then changed my mind and started countless clicking before the squirrel quickly move into the bushes.

I had been smelling you, I knew then it was solely because of the squirrel.

I thought my camera was ever ready, but I managed to frame only its silhouette. It was surely not a black squirrel as how I smelled you, though both smelled the same. The last glimpse from the corner of my eye told it was a Plantain Squirrel, the most common squirrel in Malaysia.

As I was too busy clicking blindly, I did not aware that this squirrel stared at me as how the black squirrel looked at you. They really did not know who we were although they do have good eyesight. Hah!! Those critters.

With the help of a long counterbalancing tail and those sharp claws, it went back very fast to where it was, but certainly not to your hard disk.

Since you had lost many of your squirrels from your corrupted hard disk, I optimistically think that I shall see some of them over here at Cerok Tokun. Wait and see.

Yellow Vented Bulbul

I failed to catch you many times before, but not this time. I was by chance to be at the back of you. My camera reacted, zoomed in and have you in my post now.

I was good enough to continue shooting. I had surely sneaked up on you like a cat.

But you turned your head back, and teased me, "Have you had enough of me?"

I was so wrong by then, somehow I had captured you for the first time.

The Torch

I came back to this jungle trail again this morning. It was really not a special day for me to make that choice. I think most of us may sometimes make spontaneous decisions. Aren’t we, and why not?

The trail was the same trail as before, it did not change just because of my return. Nobody changed after all these times. The jungle is reluctant to change without any change in the season. My tee shirt and short pants are perfectly good for the whole year long.

The jungle was still always eerie to the newcomer.

The bridge remained leading to a mysterious end to me.

By then, have we not changed at least for a little?

I had a new finding about the jungle during my hiking. Someone seemed to be burning this “blazing torch” last night. They danced with a spear on hand, and they danced with a skull hanging from the neck.

Dr. Jones was tied up and the woods were put into fire.

Woods were in fire. He needed help. He needed my help. A friend in need is a friend indeed.

By then, I had a new finding during my hiking. Dr. Jones was actually safe at home.

The "torch" was actually one of the nests of termite in the jungle.

Sky is a piece of paper

The blue sky this morning was drawn with white lines by some jet planes which started to disperse after some times, and disappeared very soon. These were not clouds, but I could see some resemblances between them. They changed in form within minutes.

We can draw, and the sky is the piece of paper.

Why not?

This little butterfly came in sight. It thought the same but left behind invisible colours.

Oleander Hawk-moth

Your dark green body had almost tricked me if not seen you stopping by when I was doing my gardening work. Those were not your real pair of eyes but you had them in such a way always stared at me, and although that was not your mouth, I still tried to read your lips unconsciously.

You were very inactive. My experience insists me on taking instantaneous shots of butterfly, no waiting, but when I returned with my camera and start shooting, you never looked like being annoyed, even we were finger pointing at you.

I did not know you until my son showed me your identity in Chinese, "夹竹桃天蛾", that he had learned from an encyclopedia, only then I knew you are named Oleander Hawk-moth.

One's poison maybe other's favourite, and your caterpillars are immune and highly enjoyable to the highly toxic Oleander plant.

This was my uninvited guest today.

"Knock, knock, knock."

"Yes, I'm coming."

(It is not proper and impolite to tell how beautiful a girl is in front of another girl; but I set a target to look for a lunar moth when found her accidentally in the web just beside this Oleander Hawk-moth.)

Damsels, with SpongeBob

I used to see Alice at Cerok Tokun during my weekend hiking. But it was slightly different today. I met my kid's best friend, SpongeBob SquarePants. He was having a short break from The Krusty Krab and spending a warm holiday over here. He would like to join me in exploring the interesting parts of the Nature.

So I took him to my favourite spot again. I was quite lucky this time for not being teased by the well-educated Kingfisher in front of this energetic SpongeBob. I kept listening to his repeated "Oh, blow the man down, bullies, blow the man down. Way aye blow the man down. Oh, blow the man down, bullies, blow him away. Give me some time to blow the man down!"

"Come on, give me a break. I'll show you some pretty young damsels that you had chanced after for a long time."

This was the first encounter.

"You must not blow me down anymore after this interesting one, though I fail to explain what they are actually doing. My blogger friends will be able to suggest a better one to you later."

This one, as suggested by SpongeBob, was named The Black Knight. And this marked the stop of the song. What's a relief.

SpongeBob could not stop laughing upon seeing this blue damsel. I asked what was the joke behind.

"The damsel is talking to a droplet, that reminds me about "Good morning, Krusty Crew!" by my best friend, Patrick."

Oh, I see. Good morning, my friend.

I knocked at each of their door

I left home at 6:45 am as usual. I left home, and I went knocking at others' door.


"Knock, knock, knock. Is anybody home?"

The owner of this first one was not around, but had hung a message telling that "Go shopping at nearby supermarket. Will be back soon". I could not calibrate its "soon" with my "soon", so I just moved on.

"Knock, knock, knock. Is anybody home?"

The second one seemed to be an empty home with the signboard telling "to let/for rent".

My journey continued and I met the third one. The owner must have some knowledge on Chinese "Feng Shui". It has its home to enjoy the sunrise and lake view everyday. Somehow, it never left any message on its whereabouts.

I met this last one while following the chirping sounds to locate some birds atop a tree. The spider seemed to have an early nap after a heavy break first. I did not knock at the door. It was not locked.

I moved away quietly in order not to disturb him.

So I left Cerok Tokun and went home. I did not knock at my door. I just pressed the doorbell button.

"Ding Dong."

My wife opened the door. My family was at home, waiting for me to come back, and same to my little pet dog.

And It Was Gone

"Time is a teacher, oh it's taught me well."

And when I came back to the quiet corner, I saw nothing at all.

I saw no dead wood, no statue, and no dead or living monitor lizard on that piece of dead wood. That "thing" had moved away. It was then proven to be a living thing. Was it a monitor lizard or simply a crocodile? I rather say it was the former since I used to see monitor lizards, either swimming inside the dam or just wandering around, like me. I have yet to see any fight between these two animals. If both of them do exist, the fight must be as fierce as the shooting of my camera.

And I continue to scan the surrounding during and after my hiking.

The surrounding may sometime look mysterious or eerie? Eerie, according to Cambridge Dictionaries online, is unnerving or unusual in a way that suggests a connection with the supernatural. I always have the eerie feeling here and there, now and then inside the jungle. I always ask for confidence from my Protector. We need higher level to help resolving this supernatural feeling.

And then I am ready to travel again.

The other side of the dam

I have the feeling I am a spy or paparazzi when equip with a camera. I zoom in and zoom out to scout the surrounding for new discoveries, or to disclose the secrets of the Nature. Isn’t that exciting to know secrets?

When I sat beside the dam playing with my camera last Sunday Morning, I thought I saw something weird on the other side of the dam. I zoomed in. I could not conclude whether it was a piece of dead wood, an abandoned statue, a dead or living monitor lizard.

It stayed still like a piece of wood, but was shaped like a statue, pale beige in color, and never looked like a living lizard at all.

It was too far away for me to throw stones, and I found no way to go over there in order to clear my doubt. As long as I could not find the answer, my uneasiness continued. I kept focusing my camera at this “thing” hoping that it would move, but this tug of war was far too long and tedious for me to go through before knowing something extra.

What is your best suggestion to solve my, again, trivial problem? To help myself, I shall come back this weekend. A week period must be long enough to decide whether it is a dead or living thing.

Time will give me the answer, or you yourself maybe the time if you can. Can you?

Orange-headed Thrush

When I was pushing myself hard during hiking, my pair of ears were always kept wide open, to be alert of the surrounding, and to catch up with any whisper of the trees, but my pair of eyes were only stayed focus at the trail, just to watch my steps.

My ears did not help this time, but my eyes caught something moving in front of me, on the ground, and then flew to the bushes.

It was no way for me to spot this Orange-headed Thrush if it just stayed quietly in the bushes. And it was 7:20am in the morning, inside the forest, with not much sunlight.

"The adult male Orange-headed Thrush has an entirely orange head and underparts, uniformly grey upperparts and wings, and white median and undertail coverts. It has a slate-coloured bill and the legs and feet have brown fronts and pink or yellowish rears."

This was the first time I came across a Orange-headed Thrush, but they must be very common over here at Cerok Tokun. Why do I make this conclusion? I could always hear the soft tchuk calling which kept me guessing who was actually out there. It was silent this time but the clues on the voices and colours from the searching works led me to its identity. I must be very right this time.

It was not so shy, at least to me. We kept a distance of not more than five feet away. It allowed me to take shots after shots. And until I noticed I could have a choice to use my zoom lens, it waited for me during my panic changing process.

It looked as if we were closer, in distance and friendship after this, but not until, again, the interruption by a passer-by.

Oh yes!! I have seen an Orange-headed Thrush. What can I say? "Every day does seem the same, but the memories of times, and years past make all the difference."

Mighty Butterflies

To be a butterfly, one must fly. This is as simple as we have to walk, though not necessary to hike.

And you show me how you can fly like others, but with a broken wing. A broken wing makes no excuse to you, and life goes on.

You has a seriously damaged wing. The challenges maybe far too tough than I can imagine. The strong wind, the heavy rain, the predators such as spiders, frogs, lizards, and birds are your main enemies during days and nights. You are handicapped, you are strong.

You are not the only one. The butterfly that I have found nearby facing the same fate, and there must be many more. I do believe.

Honestly, I am attracted initially only by your beautiful and colourful spots, before knowing more about yourself. Everyone of you were beautiful, and brave.

I have learned a simple but valuable lesson from you, my friend.

Today, and Tomorrow

My family took a bus, which we had not taken for years, from jetty to Kimberly Street for dinner before we walked to Esplanade to start countdown. It was New Year eve, and the temperature was high at that place, driving to there was not advisable.

Street scene from inside of a bus

We thought of a different new year, but the moon was revolving in the same manner, quietly in the dark sky, no matter it was 31st of December, 2009 or 1st of January, 2010.

The moment Jubilee Clock Tower struck twelve o'clock, the mynas started to scream and fly wild, not to celebrate new year, but were disturbed by the explosion sounds of the fireworks.

And then we started off 2010 with flying colours.

Will there be any difference between today and tomorrow? Or tomorrow will just be another continuity of today?