Nice Blue Sky and White Clouds

Finally, it is able to see the blue sky and white cloud again as well as breathe in fresh air. So many months of haze, smoke and depression, humans are really great destroyers of the environment.

Pre-fabricated Shed

It costed about US$20 and could last only 6-7 months, this China made prefabricated shed had been provided shelter for me in the farm for the last two years.
It is not designed for strong wind neither the plastic material can stand the ultra-violet light of the tropical sun. But it is convenient to be brought the hilly and remote site.

Look like have to build a more lasting shed.

The Local Pig

The fat mother pig finally appeared and made some grumbling noise as she looked for food. She also gave me a cautious look, keeping an eye on the two piglets. She looked dirty, with dry mud all over the body, she must have a mud bath not too long ago.
When I made some noise as I stopped the car at the road side, she quickly disappeared into the bush and I could see the bush rumbling. Soon the two piglets also followed and disappeared from my view.

Hiding In the Bush

What are these two standing-still animals doing in the bush? Small tails, strong legs, ha, these grey piglets are searching for food! 
These are the local (Sarikei/Jakar) domesticated pigs, free to move around during the daytime at the countryside, but will go back to the human master at the evening after enjoying freedom. They are not given much food but their bodies are devoid of chemical substances.
As for those caged pink pigs  at Kuching, they are very well fed and injected with growth hormones so that they can grow super fast, which also means the end of their lives in short time. 

Autumn in the Tropics

We often admire the beautiful Autumn Season of the temperate countries where orange and red leaves are flourishing and dropping in the cool winds. We have many shows depicting the beauties of this season.
But the Tropical forests do have some beautiful red trees such as those no far from my farm. 
In fact, these trees turn into red only recently, making them very obvious among the green lush.
If we can plant ten acres of these red trees, I am sure it will become a nice piece of landscape.

Saving the Fruit

There was only one jack fruit left on the two trees. So I wrapped up with red plastic bag. Let see next month whether I have the fruit or not.
It is not easy to be a farmer.You may be working hard in tilling the land, planting the fruit trees and maintaining the land, applying fertilisers, etc. But when the fruits come out, somebody may just come and has free feast. 
Some people call this live smart, something like work smart. Let other people do the initial donkey jobs, then you kick them away and take the credits.

Enemies of the Fruit Farm

I was thinking to collect some jack fruits from my farm this coming December. But someone came earlier, eating up most of the fruits. These were what had been left.
Who were the culprits, the birds, the squirrels, the insects or the humans?

Long-House Under Moonlit Light

Long-house in Borneo refers to the dwelling house built and stayed by the Native people, the Dayaks. Sometimes, it can be as long as 20 units or 20 families which means a population of more than 100 people. It always began with less than ten families and extended as the family grew. It is  no necessary these people are closely related, but somehow related. This long-house has a chief who oversees the daily affairs related to his people and therefore can be a political force. 
In the past, the houses were mainly built with timber obtained from the forest. But fire was always a problem. Nowadays, concrete is used more often.
Near my farm, when we built our farm house 38 years ago, there was no long-house nearby. Then suddenly, three to four long-houses were built near our land bringing in more than 100 people from other places to the area. Do not under-estimate these "migrants" force, as they can change the political landscape of the equally contested election.

What is democracy then? 

Blue Dragon Fly

I had seen green, maroon and brown dragonflies, but this blue one was first time. It was found in my farm.
How do different colours emerged or evolved for dragonflies ? 
They do not seem to need the colours to hide themselves.

Starvation

In this country, starvation is an unfamiliar term. 
You can find food as long you are willing to work. The same applies for animals as well, People would feed the domestic animals as long as they are useful to the owners.
But this cow is obviously starved with the bones protruded out so obviously.The land seems to be covered with grass, then why? Sickness ?

Cow Formation

I still could not figure out why these cows arrange in such a way that they face in all directions. They laid still there for more than half an hour! 
Safety precautions, protection, or was it that just a random formation ?

Painted Copperleaf (Acalypha Wilkesiana)

After replacing the Flaming Dragon Trees in front of my house main door with the Copperleaf plants, the front part of my house in now becoming bushy with copper red colour. Certainly they are more outstanding than the slender half death dark pink dragon trees.

The devil fingers

If you sit underneath a tree in the dark jungle and then you see these orange fingers coming out from the ground, I am sure they will scare the wit out of you!  

Don't Worry, these are just rare fungi!

Crown of Thorns Plant

The flowers of this variety of plant is very red though small in size. You have to look very closely to appreciate. But do not go too near, the plant has numerous thorns and its white sap is poisonous.

Yellow hibiscus

There are not many yellow hibiscus flowers in Kuching. This one certainly looks outstanding. 

Spotted Dove

This bird's neck seems to be slightly longer, what is he looking or expecting?
The white-spotted black collar at its hind neck does not match with the dark brown dull black-spotted wings. But it has a nice pinkish brown head and belly. The legs are pinkish.
This pigeon is one of the most common birds in Kuching.



The pigeon at London is quite different, not only in colour. This variety of pigeon is sometimes seen in Kuching too here but not well fed and smaller size. It is also very relaxing with people, who often feed them. 
It is rare for people to feed the pigeons in Kuching.
 

Asian House Martin

This bird is rarely seen in the Kuching Park, perhaps becuase I do not stay there the whole day. I like its beautiful and clean white belly. It has blackish face and cap which extends down the throat with a neat boundary with the white underside. The wings are black too.

Long-tailed Shrike

It has black facial fur extending from beak to sides of the head. The legs are thin and long, out of proportion compared to its rather large body. The under part of the body is white and yellow colour.

This bird is quite often seen in the Friendship Park, but is not a common bird in the Park.

Deep Pink Bougainvillea

Even Bougainvillea plant is happy to see the clear world by displaying numerous deep pink leaves and tiny white flowers.

NICE SKY!  NICE SUN! NICE AIR!

After depriving of the world by some dumb people, every thing seems to be NICE after seeing them again, like seeing lost old friends!
I felt imprisoned for the last two months (luckily I was travelling in Europe for 3 weeks) for not being able to breath freely in the open.

Three Colour Leaves Plant

The plant has outgrown other flowering plants in my garden and occupy a lot of space. Nevertheless, this plant is still the most outstanding plant despite not having flowers.

Clear Sky and Butterflies

The haze just disappeared three days ago and rain started to fall in Kuching.  It was due to the wind turning east. So the Kalimantan Smoke is now blown away from Sarawak to other places. Sarawak people are happy to  breathe in fresh air again. It is a great relief but I feel sorry for other people. 
What to do, an Indonesia high Officer said we should thank them for having ten months fresh air. Well, now you know why such country finds difficulty to progress. Hopefully the wind does not change back the direction again.
Ha, start to see butterflies flying round. They are happy to fly round with clear view and bright sunlight. Fruiting season which produces a lot of flowers, is already due. 
But they moved so fast that I could only have a glance of some of them.

Green Dragonfly

This dragonfly is beautiful but I cannot understand why it needs such a long and thin abdomen. There are four segments at the abdomen, isn't two sufficed? Imagine what will happen if we have a helicopter with such a long tail? Any advantage?


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Light Yellow Emigrant Butterfly

If you do not look carefully, you would think that it is just a light yellow leaf. 
It looks like Lemon Emigrant butterfly, except that it is light yellow and appears to have a lot worm-like engravings.
The butterfly is strongly attracted to the red hot Ixora flowers.