A Detour

They are monkeys. To be precisely complicated, they become long-tailed macaques, crab-eating macaques, 长尾猕猴, 食蟹猕猴，etc.

They are as invasive as humans, or vice versa, but they can always disguise themselves as The Thinker at the same time, 

or show their disdain for the uninterested DSLR.

They are very common in Malaysia, I meet them every time I visit Cerok Tokun, and this time at Batu Caves.

"Batu Caves is one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India, dedicated to Lord Murugan. It is the focal point of Hindu festival of Thaipusam in Malaysia." (Wikipedia).

We made a detour to visit this place during the last trip to Bukit Tinggi.

Bukit Tinggi, Photography Experience

My family had a one-night stay in Bukit Tinggi, Pahang this Hari Raya Puasa Holiday. Why Bukit Tinggi? Because the missus planned this solely for me.

So I experimented with over three hundred clicks, and set some exposure times to twenty seconds.

I continued practicing as early as six o'clock in the next morning,

carrying a tripod around, and setting self timer to two seconds at the same time to prevent from any camera shake.

Where is all my joy at the end? It can be found in every of these pictures.

Penang Cultural and Heritage Celebration (3)

Today is a gift.

We were gifted to go back to the old Shanghai, with the newest and coolest camera gadgets.

We were gifted in such a way to shuttle between the romance of the olden days and the excitement of Chingay performance, just within minutes.

So I looked around. Looking carefully for the extra-ordinary gadgets around me, and looking for the people for what they chatted and acted did not belong to the present moment. Someone must have come back from the future.

For the future is gifted in the same manner in its time as well.

Bitten by Red Ants

While spending much effort on a soaring eagle, I landed on one fire ant nest. But I told myself this is the best eagle picture I have ever captured.

"Human always stomp their feet when they are happy." A zebra dove coo-cooed a comment. 

"Oh no, there is too much insanity in the dance." A black-naped Oriole exclaimed.


Whatever it is, me and the birds were mutually entertained.

As what we can find in Your Sunday Best.

First Date of My Feathered Friends

I meet two very excited Brown-throated Sunbirds. They are excited not due to me, not about nectar, but because they have a date in the morning.

Birds never date in the moonlight, and candle light dinner never comes to mind.

The male is too excited, and misjudges a landing. A poor little flower fails  to hold this heavy excitement, that sees him flapping hard to get himself back in balance. 

Do first dates always flop? 

He keeps chirping to hide embarrassment. Somehow, she sings like nothing has ever happened. 

Love has shut her eyes, but never her day, this lovely day. 

Water Droplets

Water takes whatever shape, and reflects everything it sees. It is crystal clear, yet so colorful. We are gifted.

But we must first immune to the temptation of our bed in the morning, during which sun always shines like a gentleman. Vaccines are not mandatory, because willingness is free. Exploring Nature requires eyes and time that everyone of us seems to have, but always finds lacking. Spectacles would not help, the eyes of a child will do, though those cannot be transplanted. Our time looks like a piece of cake, how much of it has be allocated to Nature?

We are not yet ready to accept the gift by having all these. We need something called Luck. We may brush past and miss the droplets since they would never stop us, or we may wander into a wrong path and end up busy talking to only trees and critters.

We can then relax and enjoy finally as water droplets reflect whatever they see. If someone happens to see something ugly or bad inside, that is not a problem at all. Sun will help to erase it, and undo is impossible, even with the most powerful software. 

How kind Nature has offered these to us.

Birding in a Busy City

There exists cultural differences between the urban and rural area, and I am not talking about those related to us.

If I have missed my feathered-friends at Fraser's Hill, their cousins returned ironically to me in Mines City.  City folks must have lost their minds living in a fast lane, no holiday was celebrated.

What's up? I saw white Egrets, Storks, Common Kingfishers, Pond Herons and more working through Christmas Eve. This was certainly good to me.

And they were never as relaxed as shown in pictures that always deceive us, but busy concentrating, waiting, watching, diving, and catching, and those daily routines repeated again and again, as to entertain us, the visitors.

One of the Pond Herons was found perching on a branch. It moved further up clumsily, trying to keep hidden behind some leaves upon seeing me.

It never flew away, and that seemed odd. 

It might need a doctor. Can the charge be double, triple or more during holidays?

City folks lose their minds living in the fast lane.

Only One Bird at Fraser's Hill

I admire people and their great works, and that often inspires me, hence I visited Fraser's Hill, a dwelling place of over 270 species of birds, recently. 

It was seven in the next morning, 15 degree C, drizzly, windy and foggy when I was wandering around. It was quiet, and I was alone.

Birds of Fraser's Hill are over 270 species, I reminded myself. But then only one representative greeted me in the whole morning, the rest might be busy preparing for Christmas. They deserve holiday as we do, I thought.

The photography session proceeded on a flowering plant near the ground, simply because my gears never match those that professional bird watchers used to carry. 

The bird tried its very best feeding on nectar in different positions in order to satisfy my need, not to mention many other interesting plays that were wasted due to my inadequacy. It must have met many similar dummies before, the routine was continued until I had had enough.

History of Fraser's Hill can be traced back to more than one hundred years ago, birds of Fraser's Hill are over 270 species, somehow I was saved from the embarrassment of leaving without shooting a bird. 


Thanks for your sacrifice, my feathered friend- a grey-breasted spiderhunter.

Happy New Year to you.

Travel to Terengganu

I am back after a 6-day, 1,600km road trip covering two of the thirteen states in Malaysia: Terengganu, and Pahang, and one Federal territory: Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, with my family.

I left home at 4:30am, when I met this tree along the East-West Highway, it was shivering in 21 degrees C, and at an elevation of 1,050m.

The rain had stopped when we reached Kenyir Lake (point B). We took a boat ride under the midday hot sun. We found no others except a few lonely trees standing in the water during this fasting month for muslim.

The Terengganu State Museum is the largest museum in Malayisa. The vastness of the history simply shows how small we are, especially when there were only a few of us wandering inside the building.

The night and day view of the Crystal Mosque:

If You Are Reluctant To Tell Stories

It is fun to see a bird on the jungle floor. It is even more excited to walk along with it.

We walked for about twenty feet, just like old friends do. And it went foraging occasionally while I was a mere spectator.

I did not talk for all the time, but this Puff-throated Babbler seemed to lean its head in such a way wanted to listen from me.

"I am too shy to tell stories outside my blog; sorry for that, my friend."

" No, no, not again. My stories always stuck when coming face-to-face with somebody. You will not succeed with your trick. "

"OK, I fully agree. You have a good voice to sing me a sweet song, and you are a brave bird."

(And somehow I know by now those were your songs that I used to listen in the jungle).

Gunung Lang, Ipoh, Perak

It has been a tired weekend. Me and my wife have driven back and forth for nine hundred kilometers sending my son to Bangi, a small town nearby Kuala Lumpur, where he will spend his next three years in the university over here.

Slept late at twelve midnight after watching the match between Argentina and Germany and woke up at three o'clock in the next morning had torn me apart.

On the way home, we dropped by at Gunung Lang, Ipoh, for a brief visit. I found these cat fish were not much better than me. They were squeezed inside a sandglass, whereby time was a total jam.

I felt easier only after moving away and had this pond view.

We took a short boat ride under the two o'clock burning sun. F/9 and 1/250 sec exposure time may show the other way, though the tree that stays atop has surrendered itself for a long time.

There is a stony face trying to put on a forest as its shelter. It must be too comfort over there so much so it has not make any movement for a few hundred years. I leave it to another blogger for his story another hundred years to come.

I shall not read this, same as this mushroom.

You? I do not think you are any better than us.

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."