Dark Brand Bush Brown and a Dream

不知周之梦为蝴蝶与？蝴蝶之梦为周与?

Butterflies symbolize peace and love and hence they are always a legend in the Chinese literature. What did I say? Did I mention that Cerok Tokun is a form of literature as well?

I saw a butterfly fluttering high and low freely while wandering around the undergrowth this morning. My mind theater started to play a scene whereby Zhoungzi, an ancestral Chinese Philosopher, had aroused from his dream.

“Am I Zhoungzi who dreamed as a butterfly just now? Am I a butterfly that is dreaming as Zhoungzi in its dream right now?”

I am a hiker and a fake philosopher. A slight twist and turn between the lines easily confuses me. And I know the world is real, the butterfly that I had met is for sure a butterfly and not more than a butterfly, and I am still Rainfield the hiker who spend his weekend sweating at Cerok Tokun with a DSLR in his hand.

Blue-winged Leafbird

I thought I heard the husky call of a Stripe-throated Bulbul in the forest; when I traced back to the source in between leaves and branches, it was actually a colorful Blue-winged Leafbird.

I thought I had been fooled in this early morning when it raised its head high and arrogantly by showing me its black beard; it likes to imitate the calls of various other species of birds.

I thought it had flown away when I zoomed in but could not find in the viewfinder, it actually mixed very well with the colors of the surroundings.

If not because of the straight beak, I may have mistaken this leafbird as a parrot. Most parrots are predominantly green with other bright colors. Am I right?

It is another lifer in my life list.

The Dancing Butterflies- Yellow Glassy Tiger

I stumbled upon these dancing butterflies when I had a chat with a friend on the jungle track this morning. I was very much distracted since then. I had not seen theses many butterflies at one place at the same time in the wild. They were dancing above me, on a stage atop a tree.

When we talked about Intel inside, I told him butterflies fly very high inside my desktop wallpaper, the resolution is excellent and they are beautiful.

He asked about the best notebook in town, I replied with one whose screensaver can fly butterflies from one slide to another the best.

When we touched something regarding Foxconn China, I moved my eyes to a spot where the scene became green and bright.

And I could not help but to tell him I was seeing many butterflies above us, but he asked where I am working currently. I saw a butterfly flying from his back to the top of the tree when our conversation continued.

I told him I had to make a move now, but immediately armed myself with my DSLR after he had disappeared behind a turn.

Faces (Dusky Langur)

I replayed the recorded sound of my friend the Puff-throated Babbler this morning, I thought this could train the babbler to come over whenever I am here. Unfortunately mutual understanding was not achieved, and it only responded at the far end of the canopy.

On the other way, I found that these Dusky Langur were spying at me at the same time. They must be seeing a real weird maniac.

During the process of staring back and photographing them, this one rushed up a tree, rubbed against leaves and berries, and stopped by to peek at me at its presumed safe distance.

Focus of this one was purposely aiming at blank. Both of us knew, but it would rather prefer to pretend seeing nothing.

This one lowered its head away. It was a paparazzi just now but looked like a thinker right now.

I like this one. It stayed not too far away and never bothered to make a move. It listened and was trying to locate the babbler too.

This juvenile Dusky Langur might be the only one who knew nothing about the happening. It might not know that though weird, the world is full of fun.

The Story of Black Dots

My hiking trip had to be cancelled as it was a rainy Sunday morning accompanied by occasional lightning. I managed to take a series of pictures in front of my house, and re-arranged them in a Charlie Chaplinish way. This could drive my and your gloomy mood away.

"I had no idea of the character. But the moment I was dressed, the clothes and the make-up made me feel the person he was. I began to know him, and by the time I walked onto the stage he was fully born." -- Charlie Chaplin

Flowing of Time

This is the place where I found two spiders that led two different lifestyles. I always come back, they still go through the same cycle, but this was not my focus today, though the hard rock music from one of them sounded very strong.

Time is like water flowing, when I think I had managed to freeze it, it was actually tickling away between each of my click and snap.

And it transformed into an embedded face on the left hand side of the water. It swirled in the turbulent. It was twisted. It disappeared shortly after having a quick glimpse at me.

Time is like flowing water, like it or not, it continues to slip through the rocks. I happened to read that a piece of rock has three lives; I can dream about my past and future life if I lie on it.

Hunchback Caterpillar

Not far away from the place where the ants are busy carrying some tiny bugs, a caterpillar is seen crawling silently towards the edge of a lime leaf.

It bites and trims the leaf while one of its legs is clinging to a small hole. I can never feel comfortable staying so close to this caterpillar. Its hairy body and creepy outlook make goose bumps "mushrooming" on my arms. I decide to carry on as I shall miss one hundred percent of the shots I do not take.

I squeeze myself under the tree for some good angles just hoping that no other caterpillars are hiding between the leaves nearby me.They are too quiet for my ears.

The caterpillar keeps biting the leaf; the ants keep moving the bugs.

The early morning looks very quiet and relaxing, but is actually very busy under a macro view.

Ants, Rain and Maniacs

It is nine o'clock in the morning. The weather is good after a few days of rain, but thunderstorms may come again in the next two days.

Many jokers love to hike in the rain, they think it is so nice to take pictures of the rain and critters in the rain. One maniac even tried to use his umbrella to mesmerize us.

They think they have fun in the rain.

I cannot,

and we cannot, but it is so much fun to see how crazy these maniacs are through the windows.

Mesmerize

I have an incredible discovery: I own a magical umbrella!

Everyone knows that both grasshoppers and butterflies are hyper active critters. They are quick to move away whenever we get nearer to them.

I brought along my umbrella during my hiking these two weeks. In order to free my hands for the camera, I had to put it down on the floor. A grasshopper and a butterfly were purposely kept underneath in two separate occasions.

Here come the magic. Both of them are somehow mesmerized. They stayed as quiet as a fast asleep baby under my powerful umbrella. I moved my umbrella, I moved myself, and I moved my camera, but they never moved themselves.

In order to confirm that my hypothesis was right, I shook the surrounding grasses, and I tried blowing air and the rain drops. Wow, they were certainly mesmerized.

"xyz747+-x¸§¨©ª«¬­®¯!@#$%*, do enjoy your day under my umbrella. You will be very safe over here.”

Delicious Rambutan

I always hesitate to make a decision when provided with too many choices. This happens too to a Brown-throated Sunbird. It looks skeptical in front of an abundance of Rambutan fruits, although never takes too long to settle down.

Once get started, it never stops; I wonder how big its stomach is for an hour long eating.

There is actually another one staying behind the fruits. They reciprocate their head in a same manner for all the time. I follow them in this same place for this one hour without any hesitation.

It must be feeling very satisfied when it is finally done and is too lazy or heavy to move around, except singing occasionally. This is its day.

And this is my Sunday morning during when I further my ability to see beauty in order to prevent from growing old.

I shall never hesitate to do so again and again. How about you?

Peacock Pansy

It is named Peacock Pansy.

The eye-spots on a peacock's tail help to attract a mate while performaing a courtship dance, but those found on a butterfly mean to intimidate its predators by resembling the eyes of their enemies.

I do not have any enemies, so I never get frightened.

This Peacock Pansy is another magicain that can change from orange-yellow (upperside) to ochraceous brown (underside) in a flash. Furthermore, it is fun to know that the eye-spots on its underside will disappear during the dry season thus to camouflage themselves in the brown brush.

Those eyes alternate during each fluttering. What happen if the mask of Zoro shows up in between?

Will the predatory birds be caught by this greatest surprise? Or only Batman is better known to them?

I am lucky

I woke up when the rain was falling, but it stopped immediately the moment I made up my mind to go ahead with my weekend hiking. Wow, what's a good lucky day.

Yes, I told my son who else can be luckier than me to have a four-feet long wild boar banged on the side of my car this morning. It must have not learned to look right, left and right again before crossing a road, or it might think it could make it with a lightning speed.

It bounced back to the roadside, its back on the road, its four legs struggling in the air, and then was the moment of silence. It must only be fainted. It was no more there when I made my way home.

Yes, I am a lucky guy as was rewarded with surprises continuously.

I chatted with a wise grasshopper after the hike. It told me that "you can complain because roses have thorns, or you can rejoice because thorns have roses."

I do not know why. I see the grasshopper more like a little fish. Is it due to the thick black line at its back?

It was a little fish in disguised. It was here merely because of me. I am lucky all the way until the end.

We are going gaga.

David Ogilvy told me to "develop my eccentricities while I'm young. That way, when I get old, people won't think I'm going gaga" yesterday. The problem is that I only develop mine while I am old, now.

I must be gaga right now....

I do not know how old this six-legged little thing is; it sure thinks that it is very much younger than me to develop its eccentricities, and it does these with all its legs.

The more it does, the more it confuses me. It is finally trapped by the so-called eccentricities which grow bigger and bigger. They cut across each others, and cut across my brain wave.

I am an eccentric because of these "eccentricities".

I am gaga, and so the little one is.

A surprise always hides itself

Sometimes accidental shots do bring unexpected surprise and joy.

When I thought I had capture another butterfly, a Narrow-banded Velvet, nectaring at a flower, it turned out that it left the spot faster than my click.

But I somehow managed to capture it flapped to a full wingspan in my picture later.

I heard their singing and went tracing those little cicadas in the jungle. It is a very difficult task because of their size, colour of tree trunks and darkness inside the jungle.

They are remarkable alert; their always stop singing and disappear immediately while I am still searching for them. I managed to see one this morning.

When I thought it must be a failure this time since it flew away the moment my camera started to flash, but somehow my clicking speed was fast enough to retain this flying cicada permanently in my picture.

I realised then a disappointment is not always a good friend of a failure. A surprise always comes in disguise.

When Fern and Spirits Intersect

(I wonder why hiking never tear me down, but has me murmuring instead).


Episode 1

A reincarnation is in embryo while taking in the essence of morning light. The fern is unfolding. There will not be any shaking of the Earth, or cracking of the sky.

Tokun Hill will be as quiet as now. Reincarnation is a silent simplicity that happens now and then.

What can I see through the center of the "coil of fortune"?

Episode 2

Are the silky threads holding the fern, or is the fern providing the webs a foot-hold?

We are not Independent, somehow or other.