I Danced In The Jungle

I danced in the jungle this morning, I am not joking.

I did this in my playground without the presence of anybody. Nobody knows my secret except you. Yes, please don’t try to look around, it is you that I am saying.

I have told you before that I had mistaken a bat as a bird that kept circling nearby me. This was a very creepy experience. I met it again this morning by then I started to dance with a bat; I waved my camera, I made some heel turns, I swung my head and I was MJ.

I am not a good dancer, it was not easy for me to catch up with the fast rhythm. But its echolocation system was good enough to guide the bat from stepping onto my foot.

I am not a good dancer, but this cannot stop me from showing you some pictures of the bat.

The bat was a total mess in the picture, you have to try your luck and is interesting for you to find where it is.

A bat is a symbol of darkness and forbidden nature, I just cannot imagine I had danced with it.

The second picture is no much better than the first one, but I was improving.

If you are fed up with my searching game, the improved last picture shows my mysterious dancing partner very clearly. It was still circling, and trying to "fly into" me. I flashed at the bat, but its eyes are small and poorly developed though none of them are blind, I still do not know how effective my acts were, but I definitely know my camera was both a weapon and an equipment.

Lastly, please tell nobody that I danced in the jungle. This is a ridiculous thing to get mentioned. I am just a stiff dancer.

This Is Not My Story

I waited below an Albizia tree this morning. I had a sense that birds would stop by and posed for my photographs. And I did a few random shots to ensure my camera was ever ready before the moment arrived.

Albizia flowers are one of those flowers with no petals but a bundle of glorious white and pink mustaches, but many people would rather say they look like silky threads, and thus Silk Tree has become one of their nicknames.

As time passed by, there was no arrival of any birds yet, I spotted a moth instead. This was just a place for transit, and it left in a hurry, but not me. I made up my mind to stay further.

The broad crown of a mature Albizia tree provides a form of good shade. Why must I be in a hurry?

My random shots continued as no birds bothered to drop by, except this red headed couple. They thought I could have at least something to tell my blogger friends.

So this day is belonged to them.

A Scrying Pool

I still get too much carried away by the fortune and crystal balls. Those little critters certainly want to know their fortune if they are able to.

What if you are able to scry your future, will you proceed to do so?

I found another crystal ball just beside the habitat of those little critters. It is tremendously big to tell whatever fortune we would like to know.

It is a scrying pool that happens to be a dam at this place.

These two little dragonflies might have found the secret that help to predict the future.

They flew high and low. They perched on a twig and stayed still in the air. They circled and they danced. They made the mystical humming calling. This looked much like a ceremony whereby something great was going to happen.

As it continued, the calm surface of water was disrupted, ripples started to spin and spin, grew bigger and bigger.

Yes, besides the dragonflies, are you wise enough to interpret the images?

Crystal Balls and The Fortune

They are forced to leap to safety or to crawl madly fast for their survival every time I make my presence. My foot size is only eleven inches long, yet this is already too good to tread thunderously wherever I go. In the other way, their bodies are mostly less than half an inch in length.

They certainly do not know why this monster keeps coming back to their habitat week after week. Observe the cricket that had narrowly escaped death carefully, and you will find it was too terrified to such an extent that it stayed frozen in front of my camera. And it was only one of them.

They are eager to know their fortune. As when I squatted down, to my surprise, they were having so many crystal balls on the grasses. They must think that the more crystal balls they have, the clearer they see their future,

but I do not know whether the more they will be confused by the different images and different interpretations.

I thought I could find the answer myself, but the longer I gazed at the crystal, the longer it grew. How could a distorted crystal tell an accurate fortune!

I moved to another one, but it simply disappeared into the ground the moment I got closer. The crystals were of no help to solve their woes at all.

I was in a state of confusion. I believed that the critters should have experienced the same.

I would rather put on a bell on myself so that those little critters can be alerted whenever I am around.

Jungle Trekking

This is the beginning of a new day. I have been given this day to use as I will. And I used it in a jungle this morning.

I hiked, and as usual, I also pondered. I pondered over my addiction to trekking in a jungle in this morning. Other than the physical thing, what else has made me feeling so great to visit Cerok Tokun every week?

I knew I had the answer when I started to shoot the silhouette of a butterfly. I have indulged myself in the mysterious world of a jungle.

I have long mistaken a bat as a bird that always circles swiftly around me. This was corrected only when I managed to watch a bat flapping its wing and flying towards me. It looked stationary for a flash of a second in this direction. It is very weird indeed to feel a critter keep flying past me. Yes, I always feel an instantaneous air pressure on my face and I usually see dark images of those critters.

And I have seen bigger butterflies hovering above and in front of me on and off for a long time. I used to think that they were showing me the way. I have yet to identify who they are, but I happened to stumble upon this small one this morning.

It is a Euploea tulliolus koxinga (小紫斑蝶) that turned from a silhouette into a picture with a fine touch of the sunshine. I actually saw two, but only this one was in a right photographic position.

I like hiking, and I keep pondering and murmuring over the mystery of a jungle over and over again. You may have overheard.

A Bird in the Lush Green

Do you like stories? I like stories very much. I like listening to songs too, and those are gifts by the Nature that I cannot refuse.

Like other Fantail species, Pied Fantail used to sing in the wild, but it lurched quietly this time and disappeared promptly into the lush green, and was then encountered foraging on the ground, took a shower on a puddle before flying off again.

I managed to fire a few shots but only one picture speaks its identity. It shows the white throat and white belly clearly. I just missed the shot when it was having the characteristic tail fanning out actions.

You may be wrong to think that it was posing for me, this Fantail actually perched on the branch for just a second, and I was never as quick on my finger; I had borrowed the earlier second for my click and captured this agile creature in the next second. Kind of complicated?

Yes, it was. When I thought it would never come into sight again, its hide and seek game had sent the Fantail to a nearby river bank. It would rather sing together with another Fantail than sang for a man. And it was then a trainer that trained unintentionally the Fantail inside the cage for a singing contest.

Ugh, I never seem to win any admiration of a bird. I was just an outsider this day.

A Plantain Squirrel in Action

Where can we see squirrels other than in a jungle? Yes, We can find one or two over here and there, and more are even barcoded and labelled at this place.

They are kept like pets which I always like to do. I got an offer by the Nature this morning, and it was a real good offer. I was able to watch a squirrel more than a mere silhouette.

Looking at the chestnut belly, the white stripe and a touch of red on the bushy tail tip, it is definitely a Plantain Squirrel. The same force of gravity which had brought down an apple in seventeeth century seemed to have no effect on him. It managed to maintaine an elegant pose while snacking on fruits.

The quantity of fruits proved to be very useful to me, the number must be inversely proportional to the degree of alertness of this squirrel, or it had been taught about the function of a camera, and a man who armed himself solely with a camera.

Don't you think it really enjoyed the snack? I would like to taste a few if I was as tall as this tree. And I do not think it was selfish enough to refuse me.


Anyhow, a squirrel is still a squirrel, it never forget to perform some spectacular stunts. It scampered from one branch to another at the speed of lightning, and it ran over a narrow "rope" without a pole.

Why not it performed a vertical drop like a parachute, or let's have a round of applause first?

At the Railway Station

This is a place that we have long abandoned. It ever led us to some other places that we had wished to. It did enjoy its moments of glory during which many languages had been overheard in either happy or sad tones, and from the young or the elders.

We have long abandoned this place, but it is not true as to these little yellow flowers. Both of them never catch the eye of the passers-by, but this place is now a paradise of the later.

"I am very much happy even though I am nameless. I am pretty."

Zebra Dove

Zebra doves are frequently heard with a series of soft and staccato “croo-coo” calls at the roof top in my neighbourhood. They also like out strolling on bare ground or along a quiet road, and never hurry to fly off while we are driving towards them. They always manage to keep cool and be relaxed in most of the time.

I saw a couple of them perching on a cable line at Bukit Mertajam railway station.

People come people go; people feel excited going for holiday or coming home for their long missed family; people sorrow over the end of their holiday or sad to leave their loved one.

They witness all these day in and day out, and continue to keep croo-cooing softly on top of the cable.

They are always so calm and peaceful.

"Croo-coo, croo-coo."

The Grass Yellow

I always complain because butterflies are too fast to be photographed, but I can rejoice because their speed brings excitement to me.

This happened in the morning when I started to play with this Chocolate Grass Yellow. It played to fly faster than the speed of lightning, I played to capture its soul at the speed of an old man. I laughed at myself in the midst of the game for being not able to flatten its soul as a piece of decent picture, but a loser may not be a total loser at the end.

I somehow won sympathy of the Grass Yellow. It perched on the pathway, waited for my camera,

then moved not too far away, alternated between its few favourite poses until I had had enough.

I am a hundred times taller than this butterfly, but we had no difference when talking about playfulness.

It posed at the side wall of the pathway, and acted like a cliff hanger. I crouched like a big cat looking for a suitable Vantage point...

When I tried to have a peep at the inner secret, it told me this was an exit door. I just could not always be successful as a peeping tom.

But I learn everyday; I learned "not to refuse any advance of friendship, for if nine out of ten bring you nothing, one alone may repay you" by today.

What Were The Monkeys Doing?

I saw only silhouettes of monkey when I got closer. Moreover, I barely heard anything at this distance. In fact, I had not found my answer yet.

But out of a sudden,

a couple of them came rushing out. This had caught me off guard. Before I could response, what they did next even put my hands in a great bustle.

"What a racket. I think the male was trying to get at the female and she wanted no part of it."

She really wanted no part of it.

This lasted less than half a minute, and they left the "crime scene" as quickly as possible into the woods by the other side of the walkway.

Why did they run one after another? And why did the one in front keep looking back?

The one in front must be a female. She tried to escape while looking back to confirm the male was not right after her.

I do not know whether my presence had helped to reduce the "crime rate" of the monkey kingdom by one case, or I should not be there at all.

By the way, it was so happen that I had witnessed their story.

Run, Run, and Run

When I arrived at the abandoned dam at Cerok Tokun, I seemed to occupy the entrance to the walkway, while the monkeys were gathering at the other side. They were blocked.

Though monkeys are fierce, my previous experience ensured me that they would never get past me in this narrow walkway. They did test my response but I continued to stand still which made them giving up finally. They came back with a leader later who repeated trying the same, but decided not to take the presumed risk.

When I saw two monkeys dashing towards me this morning, I knew somehow they would stop before me. I was armed. I was armed with a camera which might mean a pistol to them.

I did not know why the monkey running in front kept looking back. I only knew my hypothesis was right.

They had then returned to the weathered and worn control tower. I waited for a few minutes but they never come out, so I decided to get closer to have a peep.

Oh, I guessed I had the answer.

I had the answer on why the monkey kept looking back while running, and why they were running. I shall tell you in my next post. But before that, what is your guess?

An Eye on Me

I do not know why, but always believe that somebody are there following and keeping their eye on me. They watch my moves. They measure my steps. They count my good and bad. They come in different identities at different moments.

I felt that it was there while I was having my session with dragonfly the predator. I saw it as a male House Sparrow this time. It stayed on top of my neighbor's window and followed me all the time.

House Sparrows often form flocks with their groups or with other types of bird, and always noisy with their singing or chatting. These obviously indicated this lonely and silent sparrow was having a special and secret mission .

It never bother after I have noticed its presence. It would rather prefer to pretend as nothing was happening at all.

It continued to observe, recorded down everything it had seen and to report back to its "office". It belonged to the forth dimension that forms a part of our universe.

And "the universe is the echo of our actions and our thoughts".

Dragonfly the Predator

I happened to have spotted a dragonfly catching a housefly, and then followed it all the way until nothing else left to eat. This predator, though likes to stand still in the air occasionally, flies at a high speed and easily out-flies their preys and gives them no second chance at all. But my pictures tell me a different story later, this predator actually ate another dragonfly species.

It had its lunch on my tomato tree which unfortunately became a battlefield in this day. One has to out-fly another in the air, and one needs to out-run another on the ground too.

This is an Eastern Pondhawk which has black stripes on the abdomen and white appendages at the tip of its tail. Remember its green face, keep this critter which killed and ate its own species in mind. I am not quite happy with this predator. You see, it left behind the pairs of wings that never taste like potato chips finally.

But at the same time, I had been scanned by those thousands tiny eyes that were hidden in its compound eyes. It would surely remember me far more better than I do.