Orthosiphon Aristatus (Cats' Whisker

There are no more Cats' Whisker plant in my garden, but outside the fence wall, the plant is flourishing well, producing plenty of flowers never seen before. This plant needs freedom to grow well!

Wild Asplenium nidus ( Bird Nest's Fern) 

This plant is quite common in the forest and now it is often grown as ornamental plant in the garden. My farm has many of these wild plants up the old trees.

Spider Lily

Spider lily flowers are quite unique and outstanding, but their beauties are often spoiled by the yellowish and wilted leaves. 
High maintenance plant.

Red Bottle Brush Flowers and Bees

These flowers often attract many bees to extract the nectar, well, flowering season but there are actually less flowers this season compared to last year. Bees share the food, they do not fight to own the territory, but humans are just opposite!

Asytasia Chelonoides

Despite not attended, these small grey purple trumpet flowers and buds with white borders are blooming well at the backyard. 

Suffocation of Fish- Oxygen Deficient Lake

Just look at the fish behaviour, you will know whether the pond is healthy for living. This fish is floating on the surface and grasping for oxygen! Perhaps too much algae has reduced the oxygen content. The solution is to aerate the water or cut down the algae content so that more air will dissolve into the water. 

Pinkish Helionia pendula

This is the only pink heliconia pedula flower found near the pond in the Penang Butterfly Farm. It looks pretty. I remember seeing once at Kuching City South Park, in fat quite a rare variety.

Small Powdered covered flower buds and Purplish Flowers

The oblong leaves are similar but smaller compared to the Canna Plants and flourish plentifully at the ground near the Lake of Friendship Park. The stalks and flowers are few, swinging slenderly out of the leaves. Very seldom, they flowered, but last week there seemed to be a number. The external surfaces are covered with white powder which is found in Canna buds too. 
Not be able to find the species name.

Wishbone Flowers

Somehow, I notice the obvious difference between the West Malaysia Wishbone flowers with the Sarawak Species, they do not LAUGH as much as the Sarawak species.
Similarly, the people there also appears not as HAPPY as the people of Sarawak. Life has to be simple in order to become happier. The price of so-called advancement and having a lot of materialistic things, often brings unhappiness due to the pressure of stressful work in search of more money.

Creepy Creatures

I did not know that millipedes like fresh vegetables, sucking juice from the cucumbers. I thought they only like the deayed wood or organic earth.
Don't know why, even though from young I was in touch with worms, using them as baits for fishing, the sights of these wriggling creatures still make me feel creepy.

Pretty White Lily Flowers (Nymphaeaceae)

There are not many white varieties around in Malaysia. More common colours are the pinkish and bluish. The white flowers look pure and beautiful.  These white lilies were seen in the Penang Butterfly Farm.

Plumeria Rubra

There are many varieties of Plumeria plants at and near the Penang Museums compound. This pink variety flowers are just one of those beautiful flowers.

Yellow Holy Flowers

Plenty of the yellow flowers opening up at my backyard, but where are the bumpy bees and the butterflies? 
I saw a lot of butterflies visiting these flowers at the Penang Butterfly farm, but not here at all !

Acalypha wilkesiana (Jacob's Coat, Beefsteak Plant, painted copperleaf)

This Plant needs a lot of sunlight to produce deep copper colour. If you put the plant under the tree shade, then you will get only the light green/yellow/pinkish leaves.

Whitish yellow Lantana Flowers

The flowers are now blossoming in my Kuching garden, but where are the butterflies? I hardly seen butterflies in Kuching nowadays, including the Friendship park. 
November supposes to have a lot of butterflies!

Pointed White Flower Bud

Which plant is this unique flower bud belongs to ? It looks like an electrical bulb. The lower stem is already entangled by spider web, so beware, do not get rapped and become spider's food!

Bidens Pilosa (Railway Beggarticks)

It grew out in the wild among the tall grass. 

I dug it out and planted into the farm's flowering plants area. The flowers can attract many bees and butterflies.  

Demise of My Lovely hibiscus rosa-sinensis

My maid unintentionally threw the cement residues collected from the nearby drain on the plant base when I was travelling, this is what the lovely plant became. I tried to save it by cleaning the roots, look like this is the demise of my only special hisbiscus rosa-sinensis plant in the garden, no more the beautiful red hot flowers!

My Poor Ugly Dog

Now, he is imprisoned inside the den, but recovering. The moment he saw me, he made a lot of noise, wanting to be out. Never learn from the lesson, uh! 
Just like humans, never learn from history!

Police Patrol On Bicycles

This is the first time I saw Police patrolled on the bicycles, probably only in Penang. 
I remembered during the old time, riding bicycle was very common, I rode bicycle to school everyday too.
The presence of them brought security to the people around. 
As they carried out their duties under hot sun, they should be respected.

Old Buildings near the Beach Street

Along the Beach Street, this private owned building marked the year of construction as 1923,  ninety-one years old ! It is a classical architecture of the British. 
The clock tower building at the back is nearer to the sea front, it means the building is likely to be more than a century old!

Penang Ta Kam Hong

First impression, I thought it was an old temple. It has the outlook and features of the temple.
Further research revealed that it was initially Goldsmith Guild Hall, first built in 1903, and then turned to Temple to worship Wu Chin God (The Patron God of Goldsmiths). This Penang goldsmith Association was formed in 1832 and is still the largest association in Malaysia.
Somebody put a Modern Street Art on the right wall, changing the view of the landscape. Ancient cultural heritage plus Contemporary Art, cater for every body.  

Artistic Gate

In the past, the owner had artistic taste and the builder was imaginative, therefore the steel gate also came out classic; seven rows of curvy patterns with two repeating.
Nowadays, the gate will preferably of only strong vertical pipes at 100mm centre to centre upto 2m high, and with no horizontal braces, why?
Robbbers, thieves, etc., will step on the bracer and there they are, enter the house, and you know what will happen next!
Your design main consideration is Safety, not Beauty!

Fiery Skipper in my garden

This butterfly seems to be no difference to that seen in Penang.
The flower is dead, why this skipper is still holding onto the ovary? There is no nectar to extract!

Bluish Bumpy Bee with Yellow Band

The bee is busily extracting nectar from one pink butterfly flower to another in my garden. But there are too many flowers on the tree, so it stays less than 30 seconds on each flower. Where does it store the nectar ? Look like in the big belly!

Wrightia religiosa

In the middle of the busy Penang Street, it is nice to see these pendulous flowers, but I could not smell the flowers' nice scent !

Light Brown Fiery Skipper and the White Flower

The small  butterfly appears distinct on the snow white flower. 
Well, not easy to find the butterfly at the centre of the Penang City. I cannot see as much green in the City Centre compared to Kuching.

Penang Old Shop Houses

This row of shop houses indicates the time the building was constructed, 1952. It was still under British rule until Malaya independence in 1957. But be aware, the corner unit has been renovated with different architecture and obviously windows. But I do not think the owner would change the original year of construction especially inherited. 
From the year indicated, the masonry buildings near the Penang Road are generally about sixty to seventy years old, likely being built after Second World War. Older historical Buildings, such as churches, museums, administrative offices and forts are found nearer to sea shore facing the mainland.

St George Church Penang

This oldest Anglican Church in South-east Asia was built in 1818. 
Frankly, I do not know much about the divisions and differences of the Church, Anglican, Methodist, Seventh Day adventists, Orthodox, just to name a few. 
Whatever, religions are supposed to bring out the goods and peace to the people, not conflicts and killings. 
But humans, being member of the animal kingdoms, no matter how they are taught, the instinct of killing is always there.

Church of the Assumption

What a name and Why!
288 years old! This Catholic Church was founded by British Captain Francis Light who also colonised Penang Island during the eighteen century. It is a World Heritage.
Normally, the Catholic Church is named St. Joseph, St Peter, St. Anthony, St Thomas, etc, in according to the Jesus great followers, but this Church has the name Church of the Assumption, which I do not know why. 

Noise Adaptation of human

Is it a dead body lying on the traffic island in the middle of the City? 
No,no, this is a human adaptation to the severe noise pollution ! This man took opportunity of the lunch time and slept soundly on the traffic island oblivion of the buses, lorries, cars and people passing by! He is a clear example of the human ability to adapt to any adverse environmental change.

Penang Komtar

This 65-storey highest building was Penang people's pride when it was completed in 1988, the second highest building in Malysia after KL Maybank. Today it is the sixth tallest but its Architecture cannot keep up the modern era. To me, it looks like an old cannon pointing towards the the sky. Anyway, it does not matter as long as the building is fully utilised. 
It is a pity to see many buildings having big offices with few people round and the air-con is fully blasting. Such wastage is a doom to the owners.

Crepe Ginger (Costus speciosus)

The wild plants in my farm are seen in front of this Penang Shop as the ornamental plants. They are growing well with plenty of leaves and flowers.

Little Red Praying Altars

Penang has the most little red praying altars in their houses, at the backyards and road sides. Many traditional Chinese people believe that there are spirits everywhere, in order to appease the spirits and to ensure smooth construction of buildings and later peaceful living, they build these little red sheds/altars and offer food/prayers. This practice is also seen in Sarawak but less frequent, because many Sarawak Chinese are Christians and have discarded most traditional beliefs.

Lunch at Penang

When I saw people queueing up to buy lunch like in this picture, sweating profusely and looking eagerly, my immediate respond was the food must be nice. So, I also ordered my lunch from the stall, the barbecued pork rice. It costed RM5(US1.50). 
Although it was not the best that I had eaten somewhere else before, the food was quite satisfactory.

The Standard of Hygiene in Penang

The standard and quality of living in Penang has improved substantially compared to the time in 1979 when I was staying there six months for my engineering training. I remembered the people are generally quite poor in hygiene and simply spit everywhere at their convenience. They were many dirty looking beggars along the streets lying around. Now, I hardly see that. 
But there is certain habit still need to be improved, for example, throwing the dead Rat on the middle of footpath. 
I did not know who this person expected to collect the rotten rat for him, while many unaware tourists walked by!

Penang Old Shop-houses

This row of shop-houses is one of the oldest buildings on the Penang Island, probably built after the Second World War. While one of them had been renovated, others still retained the old look and materials. Some of them are no more fit to stay and hence not occupied. It is not easy for materials, especially timber, to last more than 60 years in the tropical climate, even the roof tiles are disintegrating.

Penang Triashaw

Business is hard to come by nowadays as cars/taxis are abundant. This old man waits patiently for the passenger. Anyone wishes to sit or tired on walking, this old man will be willing to serve you. 
Mind you, in another ten years, this Triashaw will be likely becoming history.

Street Art

Street Art attracts a lot of tourists in Penang, especially the young people. But I would rather go for the natural scenery, history and heritage. 
Natural Scenery such as the Blue sea, plants, insects, birds and green mountain makes me feel free, relax and relief. History and heritage such as Museums, Forts, churches, temples, old streets, etc. teaches me how this place has come about. 
Well, what do you learn from this street art, birds still flying about in the moon-lit night? Perhaps, the meaning is too deep for me to understand.

(Aix Sponsa) Wood Duck

Some people say this colourful bird is beautiful, but I call it colourful only. Other than the brownish feathers around the neck, it is quite similar to the white graceful bird previously posted, so the beautiful white bird is likely to be wood duck too. Except, in the bird's world, the male is often colourful in order to attract the opposite sex, while the female is generally dull. 
But I feel that, this white bird is more attractive!

Graceful and Beautiful White Water Fowl

This is the appearance I like, the graceful white Bird! 
It looks like a swan but does not has long neck. It looks like a duck but it does not have long ugly beak. It lazily rests near the pond edge in the Penang Butterfly Farm together with other colourful water birds.

Pond Lizard

This multi-coloured lizard came out of  the water pond and was looking for food. He patiently waited for the flying insects, perhaps also butterflies, and would attack using its long tongue to get the victims. Uuh, still cannot stand the ugly and fierce appearance!

Oriental Bearded Dragons

These green bearded Lizards are residing in the Penang Butterfly Farm. Frankly, I do not really like lizards especially these ugly looked dragons. They seem to be out of place in the modern world and more suitable to the ancient Dinosaur World. 
But don't be misled by the colour, they can change from lighter to darker colour according to the environment! They can stay there like statutes without movements for hours!
I also saw these dragons being sold as Pets in Kuching, but the appearance put me off.

Penang Street Chendu Stall

Every time I visited Penang. I could not resist the taste of this Chendu and ended up queuing up like these people just to get a bowl of ice Chendul. 
Simply DELICIOUS!
Don't miss, long history and one of the best in Malaysia!

Motor Bikes and Status

In Penang, more people use the bikes compared to that of Kuala Lumpur and Kuching. At the Komtar Car Park, I was able to see this characteristic. Penang people are more realistic, thrifty and perhaps poorer compared to other Cities.
In KL and Kuching, people are concerned with the status and perhaps safety, and they borrowed money to buy cars, ending up many became bankrupts and full of worries.
Sarikei people also use a lot of bikes and cars are used only during raining time, necessity and long distance travel. These people always end up free of debts and happy!