My Ugly Black Dog

The eyes are big and fast moving, eager to get out of the kennel and of the house.
Give me freedom! Isn't that everyone looks for, including us and our children ?

Stealth Plant

There are six stems now and begins flowering.

Cucumis Melo (Rock Melon)

This is an annual creeping plant with heart shaped leaves. The fruit flesh is nice to eat.

Bidens Pilosa, Composita (Railway Beggarticks)

This is an annual plant of about 1m height. It is not noticeable until the flowers bloom. Bees and butterflies will then visit the flowers.

Red Tail Dragon Fly

The wings are transparent and the size is larger than the other more common reddish dragon flies.

Giant Aloe Vera

This plant at my Sarikei Home is at least fifteen years old. The amount of juice to be made into herbs or drinks will last for many months, may be a year ! Ladies, the juice will make your skin smooth.

Grey Colour Sunset

Can't expect every evening to have a bright orangey red sunset. 
Just like our life, we can't expect everyday to be successful; sometimes you gain, sometimes you lose. 
In fact, about half of the year in this tropical country, the sunset will be grey after rain or cloudy. But it is another type of beauty as long as you know how to appreciate Nature.

Dillenia suffruticosa (Elephant apple)

This plant is commonly found in the secondary forest. It has large leaves and yellow flowers. But the outstanding part is the berries open up like flowers and contain a lot of seeds. These seeds will drop down and form another new trees.

Annona Muricata, Annonnaceae (Soursop, Dutch Durian)

It looks a bit like durian but is not. I planted six month ago.  It is still less than 1.5m height, but it is producing a fruit now. This fruit is quite nice to eat, white in colour and sometimes it is used to make juice.

Averrhoa carambola (star fruit)

It ia a small fruit tree with dark green pinnate leaves. The flowers are small small purplish pink and are borne in branched inflorescence on the twigs between the leaves.
The fruit can be sour or sweet and has high fibres, good for people who have constipation.

Dark Pink Bougainvillea magnifica

This is considered the best variety of the bougainvillea family, very bright pink and large bracts brighten up the landscape.

Peat SwampForest

This is the typical Peat Swamp Forest along the lowland plain and river banks of Sarawak. Some of the most common plants are Nippah Palms, Bakau trees and Mangrove trees. These plants actually help to protect erosion once fully grown. 
Bakau poles are often used as the foundation of many light structures, even houses or shop-houses.

Brown Tree Gecko (Lizard)

This long reptile was found crawling on the tree actively. The eyes appear to have no black part in the middle, can the lizard actually see in the daytime ? The toes are unique, like fine hairs ! There are at least 2500 species of lizards. The tail is especially long.  Just wonder whether it can shed off easily like the house lizard and regenerates.

Yellowish brown Grasshopper with black spots

I just wonder whether this grasshopper is harmful to the fruit trees and flower plants. I saw a lot leaves being eaten up, are they the culprits ?

Melastoma Candidum

This light violet flower is very common in the secondary forest with bees flying around. It can be used as herb for many illness.

 

Reddish Dragon Flies

More and more reddish dragon flies were seen near the stream in the farm.

Ding-dong

I am a Good Boy, but where is my egg cake ?

Greenish Body and golden head Fly

Have you ever seen such a fly ? The back has some black hair standing up.

King of Tropical Fruit - Durian

Other fruits pale the moment the Durians surface.
The Durian is the King of fruits in Malaysia. This year the hotter climate favours higher production of durians and everywhere along the pan Borneo trunk road, you can see the durian sellers. I bought 3 numbers at RM10 and I ate one in the farm.  Well, it tasted fantastic (foreigners may not like it) and luckily the fruit was partly spoilt, otherwise,  I would not be able to eat any other meal.

Oh, I hope I did not eat the burrowing insects!

Front View of  the Multi-coloured Beetle

Another view of the beetle, sturdy and solid, just like tank.

Bright red small Euphorbia Milli (Crown of thorns) flowers

This variety of plant has small bright red flowers on the crown compared to the other variety which has flowers below the leaves.

The flowers are bigger but the colour is dull.

Red Salvia splendens (sage)

This herbaceous plant has large leaves compared to the flowers. The long series of flowers are brilliantly red and can last for a few months

Costus globosa (crepe ginger)

The stem is violet red and grows up to 2m height. The long inflorescence comes out at the top and the flower is thin and white.

What are these birds ?

The beak is solid and white. The head is black and the body is brown. The birds are small. I found them flying near the fence in Miri. 
Too far away, the picture is not clear.

Euphorbia tirucalli (green coral or iron plant)

This is a strange plant without leaves, only branches. Such features cannot be from tropical countries, but the deserts. But it grows well in my garden.

Urena Lobata, Malvaceae

This attractive dark pink flower has lots of veins with short stamens. 

Amaurornis phoenicurus (White breasted Water-hen)

Do you know that the chicks of the water-hen are black in colour ?

Zinnia elegans

It appears to be flowers within flower. It can be grown from seeds, but easily subjects to bacteria wilt. Not hardy enough to survive easily in the hot and humid tropical conditions.

Red Gerbera Jamesonii (barberton daisy)

This perennial grows well in cooler climate. I tried in my garden from bought seeds and it did grow. But it did not survive when I did not maintain. 
The flower is adorable. 

Leech ! Leech !

What is this crawling on my tiled floor ?  Actually, I saw it climbing over the fence wall from outside. I used a tissue paper to catch it and put on my tiled floor. 
 Do not let it crawl on your feet, the moment it senses blood, it will suck until it becomes huge. If you walk through the tropical forest, you will likely encounter these leeches crawling into your legs looking for your blood! So, make sure you wear proper gear !

Lost Baby Bird

It flew into my verandah after a heavy storm at night, wet and shivering. I dried it up before putting inside the cage to prevent neighbouring cat accessing it. I could not identify this bird, it was still a baby, but it had a wide beak. The bird continuously called for the mother, I supposed. 
The next day I released the bird and it flew to the neighbouring bushes.

Beloperone guttata (shrimp plant)

This unique plant produces unique shape of bracts, like the red shrimp. The flowers are small and white.

Flowers of Stealth Plant

The flowers are small and are slightly pinkish before opening up and become white after full blossom.

Phosphorescent Butterfly

I did not know Butterfly phosphoresced until I saw this butterfly under the dark shadow. But I knew of many types of leaves illuminated at night after I got lost in the forest and stayed in the darkness.

Danella ensifolia

The leaves are prominent and propagate easily. Flowers do not serve much purpose and therefore small. But if you observe closely, these flowers are magnificently designed.

White angel trumpet flower

Why is it called angel flower ? Actually the flowers and seeds are poisonous and shall not be grown near children. It should be called devil plant to stop children going near.

Yellow Codiaeum variegatum

Why this variety is so curvy ? I could not stretch it straight or flat !

Dancing Leaves

These leaves danced very gracefully in the wind . I enjoy watching them dancing. Can you guess what is this Plant ?

Pink Water Lily Flower

This is one of the most beautiful flowers I have come across. It was in a pond at Supok Primary School at about 50 kilometres from Sarikei.

Green grasshopper

By just looking at its armoured structure, it is a bully.

Solanum melongena (eggplant)

A common type of vegetable food in Sarawak, but I don't like it. It tastes so-so.

Small White Butterfly

It is nice to watch this butterfly flying around in the garden, busy and full of life. This one is almost fully white if not of the two patches at upper corners. There are no circular marks on the wings.