A Story

Beautiful moments are lovely but momentary, only pictures keep them until I get old. I can tell then what a wonderful time I have in all the mornings at Cerok Tokun. Trees do find their own way, they save these on their receptacles.

It is interesting to embrace beauty in many different ways, and every story starts from here.

But a story can be very messy when excitement is gigabytes in size, especially when a spider tries to help in an aggressive way.

Seeking light

And I found it kind of funny to go seeking "light" for the past two weeks in the jungle. I am certainly gifted with abundance.

But then, its presence is only "felt" when the morning light is sifted through the dense leaves, silhouettes are traced, and shadows are projected.

And this is the moment I see myself, and I am part of a story the rock will tell in the future.

Silent Talk

There were then some very busy weekends before start of Chinese New Year: touching up rusty parts of doors and window frames, cleaning up whole house, and putting up lanterns and other decorations.

Spider webs were cleared and spiders had been seen running away from me, but they were definitely psychologically imbalance if knowing I am showing pictures of cobwebs at Cerok Tokun.

These may not be quality photos, yet they show the beauty of light and shadows, and even a blurred image of rainbow.

I always enjoy this silence talk when I am inside the jungle.

Born Fighters

The dragons continued to fight when they were rotten. This was an issue of perspective and they thought they could fight forever, from deep under the sea, mounting the clouds in the sky, to coming down to earth. They thought they were good and born fighters.

The dragons were now locked in a face-off, and this might carry on as time goes by. That was why a passer-by like me could hike without worry.

Are there any born fighters? I was not told the answer.

But I saw a lonely one later on my hiking trail. Was it a winner of the fighting game?

A Short Note About A Morning

After a long night wait, sun rose to apply make-up on her face. Earth started a speedy joke, hence a slip of the hand made Cerok Tokun spotlighted.

Laughter was from the rustling noises among the leaves.

Except Puff-throated babblers continued to sing.

A Gecko

I jumped spontaneously when seeing a dark slender thing beside me. Huh! It was just an ugly gecko anyway. It is ashamed that herpetophobia never makes me a real adventurer. And how a complicated and silly little old man I was to end up taking shots after shots.

Some people are inspired on what the winning combination of numbers is by the number of times a Gecko calls. I was very lucky that this Gecko was totally silent. Yet it seemed to look at me from every angle, just because I was thinking so.

I hope Nature will send me a green beautiful Chameleon next time, but without giving me in shock, please.

The Story of An Old Rogue

When I arranged the pictures I had taken last morning, I did not know what else to write. I decided to leave them behind before symptom of Alzheimer came back again.

That issue returned when I was trekking at Cerok Tokun this morning. The thought did not flow as smooth as my pace, it slipped here and there between my huff and puff. But not then when those girls were obstructed by me on the narrow jungle trail. They needed to kept their patience or I might be squeezed down the slope.

The story of an old rogue who did not even give them a run for their money struck my mind. We and Nature are alike, and queues are not avoidable. But this never helped to ease my mind. I started to ask myself who were be the old rogue: the one on the far left or the right end. And were they descending or the other way round?

Stopping someone from climbing up is sort of not right; Is preventing them from getting down not a good practice either?

By the way, those girls had already overtaken me silently while I was struggling in the sea of thought.

Cerok Tokun

At 6:50am, we looked too vague to each other.

At an elevation of 473m, I had been huffing and puffing for 2500m, Cerok Tokun had then awakened. We thus started off with some trivial things about daily life, and gossiped about girls who used to overtake me. I am not going to bore you with the details.

We also touched upon Mengkuang Dam that looks different every time I am here. The view can be misty, hazy, bright or gloomy.

I played back“The Butterfly Lovers' Violin Concerto” that I used to listen while winding through the jungle trail. “We will rock you” is nice but we were not ready for that.

And sunrise was beautiful with a portion of her shoulder being shown.

Life was even greater if I did bring along a thermos flask of green tea.

Beside a Brook

I was attracted to a brook which led to the waterfall I had found recently; I thought I could discover something interesting.

But then I found nothing that worth mentioning. Yes, I thought I had found nothing.

A spider thought the same. It thought it had built an invisible web. A web that was able to trap everything that ever came in, though miscalculated that I could be one of them.

But it should not be a disaster to me. And to you, to be trapped over here. No cry for help.

I Was The Third Party

(吹皱一池春水，干卿何事?)

I am not fond of voyeuristic business. The lack of a private place was a real problem to them.

And I was not alone. Though holding no camera, this moth stayed side by side with me to witness this happening.

I live just a simple-minded life; I did not know what it was thinking. It might be a philosopher, or just another peeping Tom.

The couple might be done, too shy, frustrated, or angry. They separated.

One of them left abruptly.

I continued to picture the other half, but it left immediately after a brief rest.

When turning around, I found no company. I was the only third party.

New Experience

I spotted a spider at Cerok Tokun, but I did not know what had happened.

I pulled a piece of leaf hoping the spider could move for my better view, and for its blue eyes to be in my pictures. It was then pulled towards my direction and never bounced back.

I did not know what had happened, but it did not seem to be a dead body.

So I asked the Internet. Gosh, I should have killed this vulnerable Jumping Spider due to my ignorance. It was actually undergoing a molting process.

And if this was a successful one, it should shed away its old exoskeleton like the one I found nearby.

There are still many things to be learned from the Nature.

But talking about all those New Year's Resolutions, I am thinking of this shedding of old skin.

Infinite World

The real world is limited. 1+1 can never not equal to 2.

A photograph can never come alive without a "Martian" narration, but this insect challenged my theory with its crystalline secretion.

It was better then to blur the back side when it turned to me by purpose.

Failing to get any concurrence, I moved to a dragon-like critter in the neighborhood. It shook its tail like my dog always does.

In the end, there are always someone to stand by my side, and tell me that "only the world of imagination is infinite".

And tail shaking still carried on.

A Hidden Waterfall

Just like many others, I have never stepped into this gazebo before. It was off the trekking trail and looked shaky. That must be why a Plantain Squirrel looked uneasy and suspicious the moment I went inside, this morning. But then I knew it sure had another reason: there was a small waterfall being hidden from the outer world.

I was still restricted by my thought.

Alright then, I rested my camera on the backpack, and kicked off an uninterrupted photo session again.

Let's tell the squirrel that its world looks very different and much beautiful in the eye of a camera, but can it understand?