Wong Chun Xing

MERRY CHRISTMAS from the Christmas Gecko

2011-12-25T23:03:00.001+08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS

to everyone.

I have posted these few photographs on my blog as my Christmas Special.

The Christmas Gecko.

My pet house gecko is happy with his huge present I gave him.

As you can see that he is smiling happily in front of the camera.

He is even thrilled when he found out that I have prepared a home-made Christmas hat for him.

The hat isn't well-made because my fingers are just too big to do something that small.
You can see those bits of sellotape pieces sticking out of his hat.
The hat is not perfect but he accepted it with with love because he knew that it was from my heart.

Just joking, it is not really my pet lizard.
It is a real gecko, not a fake one, but a dead one.
Since it is dead, I have decided to decorate it, give it some props and make it pose in front of my camera.
It's mouth was closed so I have to open it up so that it looks like he is happier.

The gift in the first photo was just something I removed from my small-sized decorated Christmas tree.

It's hat is made myself from papers.

The Christmas greeting plastic words with a missing "s" is taken from my mum's birthday cake.

It died just minutes before this photographs are taken.

Don't get me wrong, I did not kill it.

I found it paralyzed on my house floor, dying of unknown disease.

It is still too young to die of old age as it has not yet reached it's maximum size.

By the time I was studying his cause of death, it has stopped breathing.

This idea of making him my Christmas character came when I can't identify it's cause of death.

An ordinary gecko has passed away and became the CHRISTMAS GECKO, pretty scary but creative.

Spiders Website

2011-12-14T15:01:00.002+08:00

AUSTRALIA SPIDERS

A website created as a working draft for A field guide to Spiders of Australia by Robert Whyte and Dr Greg Anderson due to be published in 2014.

Spiders of Australia finally have their own website.

I can now use this website as a guide reference to help me identify Australian spiders.

Take a look at the website here in the link

http://www.arachne.org.au/default.asp

SOUTH INDIA SPIDERS

A website has been created to record the spider species of Southern India.

There are many Indian spiders spotted and uploaded in Noah Project.

Many of the species are still left unidentified so now as I have found this website, I can use it as a reference guide to identify Indian spider species.

http://www.southindianspiders.org/south-indian-spiders.htm

SINGAPORE SPIDERS

Singapore might not have many spider species compared to other countries but there are lot of spider photographs uploaded into the Internet from Singapore.

Some species are endemic to Singapore only because Singapore is an island.

So I need some spider species guide as a reference to identify many spiders of Singapore that we don't have here in Malaysia.

http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/guidebooks/spiders/text/a-spiders.htm

NORTH AMERICA SPIDERS

North America is a large continent that that holds a lot of spider species

I found this online North American spider identification guide.

It can be very useful for me to identify the spiders there.

http://www.cirrusimage.com/spider.htm

EUROPE SPIDERS

Europe is located between Africa and Asia with Russia, so it might contains a lot of spider species from these 3 great continents.

This website shows the spiders of NW Europe.

http://ednieuw.home.xs4all.nl/Spiders/spidhome.htm

JAPAN SPIDERS

As one of the most modern country in technology and science, Japan should be able to identify and record most of the species of spiders there so I trust the spider website of of Japan.

http://www.cyberoz.net/city/sekine/zukax00.htm

CATS & DOGS

2011-12-09T21:41:00.002+08:00

Dogs and cats are always known as natural enemies.
In the televisions, Internet, stories, cats and dogs seldom cope well with each other and are always fighting.
I know that this is shown commonly in Cats and Dogs, Tom and Jerry.......
I do not agree that cats and dogs are NATURAL ENEMIES !
Yesterday, while eating in a local Chinese restaurant, I saw a hungry street cat and a starving stray dog begging for foods together from outside the restaurant.
2 years ago, I saw a young adult puppy and a cat sleeping peacefully and comfortably with each other placing their heads together.
These are some proofs that cats and dogs are not enemies naturally.
But what about the dogs and cats that are seen fighting.
I think humans are responsible for those.
I believe that dogs reared by humans are aggressive towards other animals more than stray urban dogs.
This is because the dogs owned by people have become fierce to guard their master's house.
So naturally, the cats in the neighborhoods are always been barked by the dogs and naturally develops the hatred for dogs.
So if a tamed dog who lived with their master without other animal species has a chance to go out from their owner's house, they will chase smaller animals (usually cats) that they saw.
As for stray dogs, once, one came into the neighborhood and saw a tame cat.
The tame cat who has lived a life in fear of the neighbour's dogs switched itself into defence mode and started to meow aggressively with it's fur all upright.
The stray dog however, showed no interest in the cat and continued it's mission to find garbage foods while still being confronted by the fierce cat.
Who says that Cats and Dogs are natural enemies?
I know that many of them says that, believed that, but I am not convinced.

the RESULTS are OUT

2011-11-09T09:00:00.027+08:00

http://wongchunxing.blogspot.com/2011/07/vote-my-insect-photographs.html

I have recently participated in a Photography Contest organized by the Photography Club.
The topic of the competition is "INSECTS". (Spiders are allowed too)
I have prepared five of my best photographs but I can only submit one picture so I asked for votes through Facebook, Blogspot, Flickr and real life.
Based on the votes I collected, I submitted the spider picture because it has the most votes.
The competition results came out at last on the 9th November 2011.
I ended up as the champion of the senior participants. Not bad huh?
The first prize is a lovely little trophy with a couple of certificates.

MY THOPHY

My submitted photograph

The 5 photos to vote from

My Wallpappers

2011-10-23T14:56:00.009+08:00

Photographs I took that are good enough to be made into wall pappers.

Spider on a plant at Luanti River side.

Plant bug on top of a red flower.

An Orthoptera hopper standing on a flower.

WAIT, theres more!

Come back every month when there's update on this page.

Panoramic view of Kundasang

2011-10-23T14:27:00.007+08:00

This photograph is merged together by several photos of the panoramic scenery of Kundasang from a hill.
As you can see, Kundasang is made up of mountains and hills.
The highest spot on this highland is the Low's Peak of Mount Kinabalu.
See http://wongchunxing.blogspot.com/2011/09/do-you-know-who-am-i.html for more information about Mount Kinabalu.

FLIES, the DIPTERA Super Order

2011-10-06T16:07:00.001+08:00

Diptera, or commonly known as the flies family, is a diverse order of insects that contains hundreds of thousands species.
The variety members of this order are spread around the globe.
Many of the species in this insect order spread diseases.
Common pest of this order are Mosquitoes and House Flies.
Each of them were evolved to live in different lifestyles - different habitat and different foods.
Here is a Family Tree for the Diptera Superorder.
http://www.inhs.illinois.edu/research/FLYTREE/superflies_v4.pdf

LIFE

2011-09-13T16:47:00.078+08:00

Life, the best thing that we ever have. Life is shared by humans, animals, plants and other living things. Life is difficult to be comprehended and defined. We do not need to work to be born but we must work hard to live. Let us look deeper into the meaning of LIFE.

Life on Earth started as microscopic microorganisms, few billion years ago. It is still a mystery yet to be solved on how life began. It takes an unbelievable coincident for the molecules on Earth to collide with each other to form a strand of DNA or something that "lives". This makes the probability of life almost zero. Until now, scientists are still battling to figure out what causes life to began.

Religious people view "Life" differently. They believe in God as the source of life and our life is from the souls within us. Many religions mentioned about life in their teachings. Christians have a saying "What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world but forfeits his life?". As for the Taoism, they have the concept of "Yin and Yang" which means balance in everything in our life. Buddhist believe in another life again after death, people who dies will be reincarnated into another person or an animal. Muslim's belief is that there will be heavenly place - Jannah جنّة, for the souls to live after death. Different religion have different view and concept of life but they all share one thing in common, that is they are aware of the existence of life.

Life is important, in fact the most important thing of all. With life, we can experience, live and enjoy. but some people do not think the same way. Some people do not want to live in this world due to sufferings. They think that they being born is a mistake. Other people are willing to sacrifice their life because they think that there are other things much more important than life like family, love, etc. Some others have a different concept to life - to them, life is not the conscience that we experience, but about how we live.

There are a few strange cases and facts about life. We humans sometime underestimated life. Some people managed to survive in dangerous condition, this changed the view towards human's life. There are a few amazing and unbelievable cases like an Indian holy man called Prahlad Jani who is still alive today without food and water for the past 70 years. Another example is a 59 year old woman, Val Thomas who was declared dead by medical experts but she "resurrected" after they removed her life tube. These baffled us only to show how little we understand about life.

Astrobiologist are astronomers which specially look for life other than us in the distant space. They hope one day we will be able to point at the night sky and saying "That's where our neighbours live". But if Earth is the only place in the whole universe that contains life, then we should be grateful and really appreciate LIFE.

Do You Know Who Am I ?

2011-09-07T16:28:00.000+08:00

Guess who am I.

I am the highest mountain between the Himalayas and the mountain range of New Guinea
I am also the highest on Borneo, all the other mountains are at least 1,500m lower.
I have over 5,000 plant species which is the highest plant diversity globally per unit area.
I have the richest orchid diversity in the world with over 900 species.
I am one of the youngest mountain in the world, between 7 and 8 million years old.
I am still growing 5mm a year.
I am the 20th most prominent in the world.
I have the deepest ravines in the world called Low's Gully with vertical walls over 1,500m high.
I am not a volcano but the only granite mountain in Borneo.
I was covered in glaciers up to 10,000 years ago.
I am the richest place in the world for Pitcher plants.
326 bird species has been recorded within me.
I have the highest "via ferrata" in the world and the first in Asia.
I am a World Heritage Site declared by UNESCO.

I am MOUNT KINABALU, located in Sabah in Borneo.

http://dantruong.ws/travel-to-malaysia/mount-kinabalu-a-guide-to-climbing-life.html

Mount Kinabalu standing 4,095 metres (13,435 ft) above sea level.

VOTE my Insect Photographs

2011-07-29T17:09:00.013+08:00

I have recently participated in a Photography Contest.
The topic of the competition is "INSECTS". (Spiders are allowed too)
I have picked five of my best insect macro photography but I could only submit one photograph for the competition.
I could not make up my mind to choose which picture should I use.
Please help me choose the best photograph by voting the most artistic and interesting one.
You can express you view and vote by leaving comments.
Thanks!
See Competition Results

Saya baru sahaja mengambil bahagian dalam satu pertandingan bergambar .
Tajuk pertandingan ini ialah "SERANGGA".
Saya sudah memilih lima daripada gambar serangga terbaik saya, tetapi cuma satu fotograf boleh diserahkan untuk pertandingan ini.
Ia sangat susah untuk saya memilih gambar yang terbaik.
Sila menolong saya dengan mengundi gambar saya yang paling indah dan menarik.
Anda boleh memberi pendapat dan mengundi melalui meninggalkan komen.
Terima Kasih!
Lihat Keputusan Pertandingan

Here are the photos:

Photograph 1

A moth (Lepidoptera) under the night lamp in Sukau Bed&Breakfast in Kinabatangan.
I love this picture because it is one of my best clear photograph at night without flash.

Photograph 2

This Jumping Spider (Salticidae) owns a very unique pattern.
The photo looks magnificent because the beauty of the leaf patterns are uncovered by the sunlight.

I found this spider in a church in Kampung Kadazan, Kunak.

Photograph 3

This is the first bug I found when I arrived Sabah Tea Garden.
It is a little bit blur but this photo can reveal Nature's beauty.

Photograph 4

A nice photo for a fierce giant Dobsonfly.
This species of orange large Dobsonfly (Megaloptera), is common in the mountains of Kundasang.
I took this picture in Aristo "hotel" in Kundasang.

Photograph 5

This photo deserves to be here.
Two-tailed Spider (Hersiliidae) or also known as the tree trunk spider, is an expert in camouflaging.
I have chosen this picture because it brings out the "invisible" creatures of Nature.
Invisible, yes, if you do not look closer into Nature.
But now, here I bring it to you all through my camera lens.

See Results and the Submitted Photograph

Your Natural Intelligences

2011-05-07T14:59:00.000+08:00

Find out your strongest intelligences :

Score (1,2,3,or 4) or tick (ü) the statements in the white-out boxes only
I can play a musical instrument
I often have a song in my head
I find it easy to make up stories
I have always been physically well co-ordinate
Music is very important to me
I am a good liar
I play a sport or dance
I am a sociable person like being with other people
I find graphs and diagrams easy to understand
I find it easy to remember quotes or poems
I can always recognize places that I have been before
When concentrating I tend to doodle (sketch)
I find mental arithmetic easy; can do sums in my head
At school one of my favorite subjects is / was English
I like to think through a problem carefully
I love action sports and rollercoaster rides
I enjoy individual sports best
I find it easy to remember telephone numbers
I set myself goals and plans for the future
I can tell easily whether someone likes or dislikes me
To learn something new, I just get on and try it
I often see clear images when I close my eyes
I don't use my fingers when I count
At school I love / loved music lessons
I find ball games easy and enjoyable
My favorite subject at school is / was math
I always know how I am feeling
I love writing journal or blogging
My favorite subject at school is / was art
I really enjoy reading; usually get lost in a good book
It upsets me to see someone cry and not able to help
I prefer team sports
Singing makes me feel happy
I am happy spending time alone
My friends always come to me for emotional support
Total up at below to see your intelligence type :
Linguistic
Logical-Mathematical
Musical
Bodily-Kinesthetic
Spatial-Visual
Interpersonal
Intrapersonal

Gardner's multiple intelligences theory

2011-05-07T12:46:00.006+08:00

Howard Gardner claims that all human beings have multiple intelligences. These multiple intelligences can be nurtured and strengthened, or ignored and weakened. He believes each individual has nine intelligences:

1	Verbal-Linguistic Intelligence well-developed verbal skills and sensitivity to the sounds, meanings and rhythms of words
2	Mathematical-Logical Intelligence ability to think conceptually and abstractly, and capacity to discern logical or numerical patterns
3	Musical Intelligence ability to produce and appreciate rhythm, pitch and timber
4	Visual-Spatial Intelligence capacity to think in images and pictures, to visualize accurately and abstractly
5	Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence ability to control one's body movements and to handle objects skillfully
6	Interpersonal Intelligence capacity to detect and respond appropriately to the moods, motivations and desires of others.
7	Intrapersonal Intelligence capacity to be self-aware and in tune with inner feelings, values, beliefs and thinking processes
8	Naturalist Intelligence ability to recognize and categorize plants, animals and other objects in nature
9	Existential Intelligence sensitivity and capacity to tackle deep questions about human existence, such as the meaning of life, why do we die, and how did we get here.

Adapted from : http://www.wliw.org/edonline/concept2class/mi/index.html

Gardner's multiple intelligences theory challenged traditional beliefs in the fields of education and cognitive science :

TRADITIONAL VIEW OF "INTELLIGENCE"	"MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES" THEORY
Intelligence is a uniform cognitive capacity people are born with.	Multiple intelligences can foster learning and problem-solving styles.
It can be measured by short-answer IQ tests.	Short answer tests do not measure mastery or deep understanding. At best, they only measure rote memorization skills and one's ability to do well on short answer tests.
People are born with a fixed amount of intelligence.	Human beings have all of the intelligences, but each person has a unique combination.
Intelligence level does not change over a lifetime.	We can all improve each of the intelligences, though some people will improve more readily in one intelligence area than in others.
Intelligence consists of ability in logic and language – basically, the 3R's.	There are many more types of intelligence which reflect different ways the child interacts with the world – the eight kinds of "smart".
In traditional practice, all the students learn the same material.	Multiply Intelligences imply that students learn and are assessed differently based on individual intellectual strengths and weaknesses.
Students learn a topic or "subject."	Student learning activities are well-thought out around an issue or question, and go beyond the subject boundaries. Students use various strategies that allow them to demonstrate multiple ways of understanding, and their uniqueness is appreciated.

Adapted from : http://www.wliw.org/edonline/concept2class/mi/index_sub1.html

Lau Gek Poh

2011-04-10T22:47:00.002+08:00

Very seldom we drive pass Lau Gek Poh Foundation Building. If we do, the main gate was always closed

But today the gate is wide opened and we take the opportunity to drive in to have a look at his grand building and beautiful garden.

Lau Gek Poh was the founder of Gek Poh (Holdings) Sdn Bhd, the controlling shareholder of Hap Seng Consolidated Bhd and Malaysian Mosaics Bhd.

He passed away at the age of 92 in April 2008.

Lau was born in Swatow, Guangzhou and in 1936 at the age of 19 came to Sabah (British North Borneo).

His early works to earn a living including work as a fisherman in the Suluk Sea during which time he acquaint with businessmen and traders from Indonesia. Business talented, Lau Gek Poh worked his way up the social ladders.

By 1946 he has reach the fame of Timber King and owned Hap Seng Company in Tawau.

"......The astute entrepreneur, who foresaw the opportunities with the formation of Malaysia and the new political scenario, went into the timber business in a big way, becoming the largest exporter of round logs from Sabah and earning himself the title “timber tycoon of Sabah"....."

THE STAR April 2008

His previous involvement in the timber business many environment protectionists today blame as destruction of the virgin rain forests around Tawau.

With the money from timber as capital investment, Lau explore other fields of business including dealerships in the Mercedes-Benz marque, property development, fertilizer, general trading, financial services, and plantations.

During his time as dealerships in the German cars Mercedes-Benz, Tawau has the most Mercedes cars in Malaysia. This explains the questions of some visitors to Tawau "Why Tawau has so many old Mercedes-Bens?”

In his later life, in 1991 he founded Lau Gek Poh Foundation and contributed generously toward education, scientific and charitable activities.

By 2008 his Foundation Building at Jalan Durahman, Mile 1, Tanjong Batu, Tawau was fully completed and ready to host his funeral service attended by dignitaries and government officers.

Mount KInabalu

2011-02-06T10:40:00.008+08:00

6th February 2011

Mount Kinabalu in early morning view from Aristo resort, Kundasang.
http://wikitravel.org/en/Mount_Kinabalu

Kinabalu Park - a World heritage designated by UNESCO in 2000 for its universal values and important biological sites.

The Crocker Range streches all the way to the south of Sabah.

At 4,095.2 meters, making Mount Kinabalu the highest mountian in Malaysia and a landmark for Sabah.

On a clear morning, (see photo above) Mount Kinabalu view is majestic against the back drop of the sky. This huge blue granite mountain is a sight to behold.

Kundasang Town

2011-02-05T08:53:00.003+08:00

5th February 2011 Saturday

Farm houses in Kundasang Town of Sabah

Kundasang to Sabah, is like Cameron Highland to West Malaysia.

This little town consists only a few dozens of shop lots but the hills are highest concentration of farming community in Sabah.

The town is 6 kilometres from the Kinabalu Park Headquaters with an altitude of 1,500 metres above sea level. The temperate climate makes this valley an ideal place to plant temperate vegetables.

This is the main farming area of carrot, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, pepper bell, spring onion, and mushroom and exported to Brunei and Sarawak.

Acrobatic in 1Borneo Mall

2011-02-04T19:56:00.002+08:00

Acrobatic Show in 1Borneo Shopping Mall

A group of young acrobatic performers from Xi'an came to Kota Kinabalu city to show their wonderful talents. We watched them performed in 2 malls in KK city - 1Borneo Hypermall and Suria Sabah Mall.

Lion Dance in 1Borneo

2011-02-04T19:21:00.002+08:00

Chinese Acrobatics Show

2011-02-04T18:47:00.003+08:00

Chinese Acrobatics Show in Suria Sabah Shopping Mall

Lion Dance in Suria Sabah Shopping Mall

2011-02-04T13:39:00.003+08:00

Lion Dance in Suria Sabah Mall, 4th February, 2011 by Yick Nam Lion Dance Team 益南学校龙麒狮团.
Yick Nam Lion Dance Team won the 2009 Championship title in East Malaysia Lion Dance Competition in Sandakan. The competition was participated by 25 Lion Teams from Sabah and Sarawak

Jesselton Point

2011-02-04T13:09:00.001+08:00

Kota Kinabalu Waterfront is developing fast into a tourism zone.

1) Old Kota Kinabalu Port at Tanjong Lipat water front.

2) Jesselton Point - Formerly the Kota Kinabalu Ferry Terminal. One of the main city attractions situated north of downtown Kota Kinabalu. This scenic place has an historical feel complete with olden days snapshots of Jesselton and vintage red English phone booths. Jesselton Point serves as the main boat terminal for the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park and Gayana Island.

3) Kota Kinabalu Marine Police Jetty - between the new Suria Sabah Mall and the Jesselton Point jetty. This Marine Jetty is under planning to be moved to a new location more conducive for the operation of marine police and its vessels and boats.

Star on the beach

2011-02-03T20:53:00.002+08:00

"I found a star on the beach."

Low tide at Kinarut Beach

2011-02-03T08:07:00.001+08:00

Kundasang Stalls

2011-02-02T21:18:00.002+08:00

Stalls at Kundasang Road side

The wooden stalls at Kundasang's road side display a variety of fruits and vegetables. There are also mushrooms and plants for sale.

During the fruit season, the stalls will be filled with all sorts of colourful fruits. Some strange fruits like red durian, black durian-like rambutans and obese bananas can be seen.

Every holidays, these rows of wooden shops will be filled with interested customers and curious tourists. If you don't have the stomach for veges and fruits, you can also purchase their home-made sweet and crispy keropoks.

If you visit Kundasang, stopping at this tourist spot is a must.

Tuaran Town

2011-02-02T08:12:00.006+08:00

Tuaran Town - as view from a nine-story Chinese pagoda. This pagoda is a prominent landmark of Tuaran.

A view of new shop lots of Tuaran Town. The old wooden shop houses are in the middle at the background
These new shop lots are replacing the decaying old wooden houses built during British settlement last century.
Staying in Tuaran Town center are majority Chinese, ethnics groups stay at the hilly countryside.

There is no tourist attraction in this sleepy town. The only reason traveler come to this town is stop over for meals. Tuaran has advantage for being a stopover town for travelers to Kota Kinabalu City. From the north are Kudat, Kota Marudu, Kota Belud, and Tenghilan and from the East are Kinabalu Park, Ranau, Sandakan and Tawau.

We stop by Tuaran town for Tuaran Mee as lunch before continue driving to the city Kota Kinabalu 34km to the south.

The town has been expanding fast. Tuaran River borders the town on three sides, almost circling it.

Day 3 in China : Cave, lakes, Shang Ri La, Theater

2010-11-24T23:50:00.013+08:00

24 November 2010 (Wednesday)

Today is our third day in China. Today is also our busiest day in China too. We are going to visit many places today.

We check out and left the hotel and He Zhou right after breakfast. There are many dishes for breakfast. It is an "eat all you can" breakfast. Our first place to visit today is a beautiful lake which is made into a tourist spot. The park guide there dresses in pink traditional clothes talk to us about this place and the hills around us.

We are divided and are seated on two boats.

The panoramic scenery here is magnificent.
The clear water reflected everything, that is what makes the view so beautiful.

Can you see Sleeping Beauty Giantess ?

Fisherman taking out the fish caught by one of his fishing birds.
The birds are trained well since young to be loyal to their owner.

Our boat oarman or rowers can row the bamboo boat through this gap.

Our boats or rafts stopped in the middle of the lake to meet these guys.
These men are acting as the singers who compete singing with 刘三姐 Sister San Jie in her movie.
So these men also compete singing with us and our park guide.

This silk ball is awarded to one of our tour group member for singing well.

Caterpillar and spider I found there.

We continued our journey to another tourist spot. This time, a cave. On the way there, hills are a common sight.

We reached the cave park after about 10 minutes. We climbed up the stair to the cave up there.

The wine chamber inside the cave.
Barrels of wines are stored inside here to be kept cool.

The mini Great Wall of China.

Pine tree cone ?

This device only enables the park guides to switch on the cave lights.
I saw our park guide just scratch something to it and the device is activated.

We went to this restaurant for lunch after the cave.
My favourite dish here is the sweet yam. It is yam covered in sugary coverings.

After lunch, we are headed to another place to visit. It is called 世外桃源(shi wai tao yuan) or China's Shang Ri La. But on the way there, we stopped by at a Health Centre.

The Health Center is called 永康生活 YongKang Health Care. The health guide brought us into a room and talk to us about 负离子 Anion. She measured the anion in the room with a machine and it turns out to be 50 unit. She said we humans need at least 300 anion unit every time to stay healthy. There are incredibly old people over 100 years old in China, and they are still living healthily. She said they can live that long because of the high amount of anion they have at their environment. Waterfalls are one of the places that have high dose of anion. The health guide then introduced to us the health products they made from the extracts from this type of rocks.

She said that if we buy their health product - Anion jeweleries , anion statues, anion bed sheets and other things, we can feel more healthier after using it or exposed to is.

Cute little birds made from the extracts from the rock just now.

Sold for RMB 980, or 980 Yuen.

I did not buy any of their products because it feels like my health depended on it. The thing that I really want from this shop is their anion measuring device, so that I can measure which area have the most anion amount and then I will hang out there regularly.

After viewing at their products, we continued our journey to Shang Ri La. It is located in 阳朔 Yang Shuo. 世外桃源 originally is a Chinese idiom describing about a beautiful place almost like paradise. This Chinese Shang Ri La is a park that has a lake.

It was drizzling when we reached there. The rain and the wind made the weather very cold. That was the coldest place I had ever visited in this trip. We were brought around the lake on a boat by the park guide. The lake water there is blue and clear. From the boat ride, we get to see traditional Chinese style wooden houses.

We passed by people wearing fake animal clothings, holding sticks and doing their dance. I guess they are the Red Indians of China.

After our boat ride, a lady on the second floor of a building threw a few silk balls to us. She said whoever caught it can have it. In the souvenir shop, some locals are sitting down and working on their Chinese equipments and musical instruments.

After a several more snapshots, we left and headed to our next destination.

Dreamlike Lijiang Theater Show 梦幻漓江

2010-11-24T23:50:00.012+08:00

We We went to see the show Dreamlike Li Jiang 梦幻漓江 in Gui Lin on 24 November 2010 (Wednesday), our third day in China. This theater is built specially for this show only. The name of this show is named after one of the river that we are visiting, 漓江河 Li Jang river. This spectacular show is about the life in Li Jiang river. This stage performances consists of acrobats, dancing, arts and body twisting. And one more thing, NO CAMERAs in the theater. Unfortunately, photography is not allowed in there. Do not be afraid to miss the show when you really need to go to the washrooms. There are small televisions on the toilet walls showing the live telecast from there.

Pic from http://mknightquest.blogspot.com/2009/05/new-ballet-circus-dream-like-lijiang.html

The lighting effect is excellent, things appeared out of nowhere, for example a cardboard ship suddenly appeared out of the darkness. It makes me wonder where it came from. They also use laser beams to shine around and flat laser beams shined at the smoke they produced created an illusion of the clouds.

The first act is a storm in Li Jiang river. The storm clears and the background song becomes smoother. Then there is ladies in pixie clothings dancing.

Pic from http://www.chinatouronline.com/china-travel/guilin/guilin-nightlife/Dreamlike-Lijiang-(Meng-Huan-Lijiang)_1000498_p.html

There is another act about inside the caves in Li Jiang river, performers act as bats and the stalactites and stalagmites they show looked like real. Another act is about the sailors and fishermen jumping on a cardboard ship. As they dance with their tridents, a man with Japanese hair style came out to the front and spin his beautiful trident around his body smoothly. Another man dressed exactly like him came out to join him and together they roll the trident around their body. Another act is about a group of boys and teens juggling their hats.

Pic from http://shanghai-matt.blogspot.com/2007/10/rather-cool-show.html

The then formed a human pyramid and all of them juggled their hats at the same time without dropping a single cap. There is one new act only created recently. It is a comedy act about a young boy and a girl fighting to sit on a chair and end up they become friends. Another act is performed by couples flying in the air by grabbing a long cloth tied from the stage ceiling and spinning themselves around.

The performers showed themselves at the end of the show.

After the show, they gathered in the theater's entrance.

Each of them holding a CD/DVD video of this show for selling.

Some pictures during the show:

Using laser light beams to create the words 梦幻漓江 meaning Dreamlike Li Jiang.

The main character of the show.

Pic from http://tepikampung.blogspot.com/2010/11/blog-post_19.html

For more information on this Dreamlike LiJiang Show and our China trip, please visit

Wong Family Website, Gui Lin Trip

China's Shang Ri La, 世外桃源

2010-11-24T23:50:00.001+08:00

On 24 November, our tour group visited China's Shang Ri La in 阳朔 Yang Shuo, or also known as 世外桃源(shi wai tao yuan). 世外桃源 originally is a Chinese idiom describing about a beautiful place almost like paradise. This Chinese Shang Ri La is a park that has a lake.

It was drizzling when we reached there. The rain and the wind made the weather very cold. That was the coldest place I had ever visited in this trip. We were brought around the lake on a boat by the park guide. The lake water there is blue and clear. From the boat ride, we get to see traditional Chinese style wooden houses.

We passed by people wearing fake animal clothings, holding sticks and doing their dance. I guess they are the Red Indians of China.

After a several more snapshots, we left and headed to our next destination.

Travel to 贺州 He Zhou

2010-11-23T11:46:00.000+08:00

23rd November 2010 (Tuesday)

Today, we will be going to 贺州 He Zhou. But before that long journey, we will get a taste of Chinese breakfast first. This is our first breakfast in China for this trip.

He Zhou is a land of farming. Chinese government let them use the land if only they will use it for farming.

Our reason for coming here is to visit a cave there. The cave is called 七星岩 Seven Star Cave. This cave is famous around China for it's beautiful, bizzare and artistic stalagmites and stalactites.

This hill on the right is the hill that we are heading. The cave there is our destination in He Zhou. It is very colorful inside the cave. It is not the rocks that are colorful, it's the different colored lights that shines on it to make it beautiful.

There are myth, stories and names for almost every strange looking rocks in the cave. Here are some pictures I took inside the cave :

Stalagmites and stalactites reflecting the colorful lights.

This is the Dragon's Bed. This hole is very long, that is why the myth is that the dragon sleeps here.

Tiny stalagmites formed around the cave water underneath.

Hen turned into stone by Medusa.

After the cave, we stayed in 贺州国际酒店 He Zhou International Hotel.

We took a walk around He Zhou street after checking in the hotel. He bought some fruits.

The banana there is very delicious. As sweet as the good quality Malaysian banana and cheaper.

That night, we were brought to a park called 灵峰广场. Many people are exercising, dancing and playing. There is a lion dance nearby too. The park is illuminated by trees with bright bulbs on it's branches.
The hill nearby is lighted up brightly by spotlights.

That is all for today, tomorrow we will be heading for Gui Lin.

Trip to China

2010-11-22T23:50:00.005+08:00

22nd November 2010 (Monday)

We woke up early in the morning and met with our tour leader, Mr Frederic Cham in Kota Kinabalu Airport Terminal 2. We left Kota Kinabalu and headed directly to Shen Zhen, China in an AirAsia Airlines airplane. There are 16 of us joining this tour package. All of us are Malaysians. Two are from Kuching, Sarawak. The rest are from Sabah.
After about a couple of hours later, a man announced that we are reaching Shen Zhen Airport. We looked outside the window but we saw nothing. Everything is white. A building appeared, then came another. The view outside are blurred. I realized that it is hazy in Shen Zhen. The haze is very thick. I hope the haze won't ruin our trip.

After the plane stopped, a bus called cobus came to pick us. We were driven to the arrival hall. After passing the immigration counter, we are greeted by another tour leader. She is our tour leader who will introduce and tell us about the places we are going. Our tour bus came to pick us at the airport and we were brought for lunch. We ate in a Hakka restaurant called 机汤客家餐厅. The foods are delicious, especially the vegetables. They are more tasty than the veges in Malaysia.

I realized that in China, the car plate number is slightly different. There is a chinese word at the first place before the alphabet and numbers. In Shen Zhen, the first Chinese word on the car plate is 粤. In Gui Lin, it is 桂.

After eating, we had a few hours drive to our next destination, a Dumpling Factory in 肇庆 Zhao Qin.

The factory is called 肇庆裹蒸棕 Zhao Qin Dumpling Factory. There are all sorts of dumpling ingredients there. Different types of mushrooms, nuts and sticky rice.

After that, we visited 肇庆星湖 Star Lake in front of Dynasty Hotel. We took a boat ride around the lake. The lake guide talk to us about the lakes and the hills around it. She said sportsman came here for swimming exercise.

I found the common long-jawed spider at the lakeside. It is very common there, but we don't have it in Malaysia.

After our boat returned to shore, the sky is already dark. We stayed in 高要麗晶大酒店 Gao Yao Regent Hotel and ate our dinner there.

Some photos I took back in Shen Zhen :

"The 26th Summer Universiade Shen Zhen" countdown clock.
263 days more. Start next year, August 12th.

Shen Zhen building a new clock tower.

A beautiful roundabout telling us about the 15th China Humen International Fashion Fair.

Tinagat

2010-10-10T18:21:00.010+08:00

Tinagat Beach and Guan Yin Temple

Guan Yin Temple of Tawau.

Today Sunday. We made a trip to Tinagat Beach which we last visited was 5 years ago. On the way we dropped in to visit the Guan Yin Temple which we not visited even longer.

While the beach greatly disappointed we with its PVC pollution, the temple greatly amazed us with its newly completed garden and hall.

Guan Yin Temple is the 2nd oldest temple in Tawau. (The oldest being the Guan Ti Temple in the town centre). Almost 100 years old and almost forgotten by the young generation of Chinese, but this old temple surprised us with it recent colorful new face uplift.

Forgotten but still surviving strong. There are 2 main reasons : The local government few years ago allocated to this temple an amount of temple fund; with continues economy stability the people want a higher quality of cultural and spiritual life.

When ever passing by a Hindu Temple and Buddhist Temple, we will not fail to drop in to pay a visit. Thought the religious doctrines are different, we always find similarity between Hindu Temple and Buddhist Temple.

1) The openness of Hindu Temples and Buddhist Temple. Both temples always big door that almost always remain wild open to the public.

2) Both temples are rich in artistic expression in painting, craft and architecture designs.

3) Both Hindu and Buddhist temples often have garden and court yard where visitors could sit down for a quite contemplation.

Buddhist temples are constructed and managed with society in mind. Temples are children friendly places. It should be.

Guan Yin Temple locate in a quite location 30 minutes drive from the town centre.

Tinagat Beach is just 5 minutes drive from this temple. As for Tinagat Beach, we did not spend too much time on this infamous beach of Sabah polluted with PVC.

My Class Photo

2010-10-07T14:28:00.000+08:00

This is my class photo for 2010

2010 Moon Festival

2010-09-19T22:21:00.006+08:00

2010 Moon Festival on 18th September 2010

18th September 2010 6:30 to 9:30 PM Tawau Buddhist Temple

普照寺慈悲人間迎月會

This festival falls on Chinese Calendar's 8th moon, 15th day that is 22nd September 2010.

The Tawau Buddhist Temple celebrate the festival on 18th September 2010 Saturday.

The Mooncake Festival (Lantern Festival or Mid-Autumn Festival) is believed to have originated from the ancient ceremony of Sacrificing to the Moon Goddess for the year's end harvest. This is when families return to celebrate and give thanks for the year's bounty.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional festivity for both the Han Chinese and minority nationalities inChina.

The custom of worshipping the moon can be traced back as far as the Xia and Shang Dynasties (2000B.C.-1066B.C.). In the Zhou Dynasty(1066B.C.-221B.C.), villagers held ceremonies in preparation for the arrival of winter and to celebrate the beauty of the new moon. In the later dynasties, mooncakes were baked and sent to relatives as gifts of family reunion.Traditionally, thirteen moon cakes were stacked into a pyramid to symbolise the thirteen moons of a "complete year," that is, twelve moons plus one intercalary moon.

Tonight, we went to a Mooncake celebration in Tawau Buddhist Temple. There are dancing, singing, lucky draw, body lantern costume competition, creative lantern competition and most of all, the one-hundred dishes meal. We can eat all we can as long as we don't waste. We are encouraged to bring home leftover foods or to give to the homeless.

There are enough chairs for all of us. Early birds can take the front seat. The tables in front the stage are for the VIPs.

The Malaysian Astro Champion Miss Little Ant 小蚂蚁(her nickname) came and sing a few songs.

Such a lovely pond by the road side

2010-09-16T20:13:00.008+08:00

We drove our car around Kota Kinabatangan on our second day of the trip. We drove pass Hospital Kota Kinabatangan and along the straight clean road we saw a lovely pond . We couldn't resist the beauty of the pond and reversed to return to that spot. It is such a lovely pond just by the road side:

There are 9 lovely wild ducks lining up and floating on the pond. Kinabatangan is well known for its wild life. The wildlife of the Lower Kinabatangan River is acknowledged by experts to be the most varied and easily accessible in all of Southeast Asia. Such as this green lake beside the Kota Kinabatangan Road.

Travelers can't come to Borneo and not visit the jungles. Visitors can't pass by Kota Kinabatangan and not visit such a lovely pond.

Photo Above : Nine Lesser Whistling Ducks or Mandarin duck ?, resting at the natural pond behind Hospital Kota Kinabatangan.

Among our hopes is placed on the Government. Hope that this pond can gain the Government's protection from developers.

Seeing ducks resting naturally in waters in towns are quite rare in Sabah.

Try to save this place of heaven!

2010-09-15T14:57:00.005+08:00

Try to save this place of heaven! The Lower Kinabatangang River.

Above pencil sketch by Jonathan of Belgium, 2010. With following remark in his drawing:

TRY TO SAVE THIS PLACE OF HEAVEN!
SAY NO TO PALM TREE PLANTATIONS!
JONATHAN-BELGIUM-2010

This is SUKAU BED & BREAKFAST, the homestay accommodation we spent the 2 nights here in Sukau.

Cave Spider : A caring mother Psechrus of Gomantong

2010-09-11T22:08:00.003+08:00

Photo above : A Female Psechrus carrying her egg-sac in her chelicerae.

We found this female spider in Gomantong Cave during our visit on 11th September 2010. This Psechrus spider belong to Psechridae family.

With body lengths of up to 2 cm and funnel webs more than 1 m in diameter, they are the biggest cribellate spiders.

Female Psechrus carry their egg-sac in the chelicerae. They feature several characteristics normally found in ecribellate spiders, for example brood care behavior, and a colulus with no apparent function.

Psechurus is a cave dwelling spiders construct horizontal webs on the cave's ceiling and move below it. They have greatly elongated legs, with the last element being very flexible.

This Psechridae family are found around the Pacific such as in China, Myanmar, the Philippines and Thailand and Borneo Island.

How many eyes does a spider usually has ?

Spiders have 8 eyes. Some species have only 6 eyes. Some other species have eyes but are blind.

Photo above : Psechurus spider has 8 eyes in two rows. Both rows of eyes almost straight.

Photo Above : A close up look at the pattern of this female Psechrus we found in Gomantong Caves. We can only identify it to the Family Psechridae. No further clue to which species it belong.

We have found this type spiders in Madai Caves too. Scientists found them in Batu Caves too.

This is another cave spider of the same species that I found on my first time in Gumantong Cave.

It is feeding on a captured moth.

More about Psechrus Spiders : http://en.wikipeodia.org/wiki/Psechridae

White Cave Cockroach in Gomantong

2010-09-11T17:08:00.002+08:00

Visited Gumantong Caves few months ago.

I was excited at first because it looks like an albino.

But What's that Bug told me it is just a ordinary cockroach who had just sheded it's old exoskeleton.

An ant spider - Myrmarachne Spider of Gomantong Caves

2010-09-11T09:53:00.000+08:00

What is this ?

Most people mistaken this crawling creature as an ant with "6 legs" and " a pair of antennae" swinging in the air.

But this is a spider with 8 legs. The pair of it's front leg lifted up swinging in the air like a pair of antennae making this spider looking like an ant. It looks strikingly like a real ant from 3 feet away.

Myrmarachne is a genus of jumping spiders which imitate ants by waving their front legs in the air to act as an antennae. Spiders of this genus are called "Ant-mimicking Spiders". Many of the common ants in Malaysia have been mimicked by different species of Myrmarachne spiders.

An ant has only 2 eyes but a spider has 8 eyes. Photo above : Seen above are 4 front eyes of the spider, another 4 eyes are located on both side of its head.

Myrmarachne Spiders mainly occurs in the tropics from Africa to Australia. A few species occur in temperate regions.

South East Asia has about 80 described and many undescribed species, it is the most diverse genus of jumping spider in this region.

Borneo Island has many undescribed Ant-mimicry Spiders. This spider I found today is new to us. It was found on the way walking to Gomantong Caves. It is believed to be one of the many undescribed species in Borneo Island.

So far I have found more than 10 different species of Antmimicking Spiders for the last 3 years. And I am greedy to find some more.

Gomantong Caves

2010-09-11T08:25:00.001+08:00

Gomantong Caves located at Gomantong Hill inside Gomantong Rainforest Reserve.
The Caves consist of two cave complexes:
1) Black Cave (Simud Hitam)
2) White Cave (Simud Putih)

For centuries, both caves have been producing the prized birds nest for China.

Gomantong Caves entrance is only 3 hours drive from our house in Taman Semarak.

From Gomantong Caves main entrance, it is only a 10 minute trek to the Black Cave on wooden walkway. Surrounding the caves are green rainforest.

When you get the strong smell of bat guano you know you have arrived at the cave entrance of Simud Hitam (Black Cave). A circular wooden walkway goes around the main cave floor. The exit is the same way you entered. Almost all tourist visit the cave follow this circular walk way. But the adventurous will venture away this circular limitation. This is what we want to do in this 2nd visit to the cave - to explore further into the other parts of the cave.

The Black Cave measure approximately 30 meters wide and 100 meters high. Most young Malaysians today avoid this dangerous activity of climbing up a hundred meters to the ceiling of the cave using ropes and rattan ladders to pluck birds nests. This is when the more daring Pilipino and Indonesian come into a great demand in the Birds Nest industries.

Photo above : At the cave top opening, you can see carefully at the right hand side a rope extending all the way down from the hill submit used by birds nest collectors during harvesting. Birds nests harvesting is a risky job.

Most visitors said that it is more accurate to call this Birds Nest Cave a Cockroach Cave. Yes, at the end of the visit most visitors did not see a single birds nest nor even a Swiftlet bird but instead they saw thousand or perhaps millions of these undesirable creatures - the cockroaches. They are everywhere - on the walkway, the ground, the cave walls and on the handrails of the walkway.

After a visit to the cave, many once faint-hearted visitors had achieved a great breakthrough in life - the conquering of a long time phobia - the fear of cockroach. In this Cockroach Cave, the cockroaches there are harmless and afraid of us than we are more afraid of it.

The purpose of the three of us coming here is not to test our courage over the cockroaches. We came here with the hope of watching how birds nest harvesting are done by by the cave climbers. But we came too late, the officer said that the harvesting season had just finished, it was Hari Raya Aidilfitri already so the harvesting had to stop because Hari Raya is a special non-working day. The next birds nests harvesting will be in April next year.

Not anyone can come at any time to get some birds nests here whenever they want. Birds Nest Harvesting here in Gomantong Caves, like other caves, are regulated by the Sabah Wildlife Department to avoid over-exploitation. The collection is done only 3 times per year with licenses issued to collectors who gave the highest tender.

The middle man who won the tender and issued a license to harvest the nests usually has a team to work with. The team compost mainly young men in the early 20. The most highly paid are the climbers (the collectors). Today many of these young climbers are Philippine young men specially contracted from Philippines to do this dangerous job 3 times per year

Raw Birds Nest can fetch up to Rm 2,000 a kilogram. The best quality, the White Nest fetch Rm 5,000 per kilo. After cleaning and removing the bird feathers from the nests, the export price to China can reach as much as Rm 6,000 per kilogram (White Nest Rm 10,000 per kilo). The price constantly increase.

The WWF praised Gomantong Caves as the best managed edible birds nests in the world.

There are four swift species in Sabah :
1) Collocalia Fuciphagus - produce the white nest
2) Collocalia Maximus - produce the black nest
3) Collocalia vanikorensis - produce the moss-like nest
4) Collocalia Esulenta - white-bellied birds

Only 1) and 2) have high nutritional and medicinal value and edible.

Strange White Creature

2010-09-11T08:15:00.000+08:00

Among the trees at the Sukau Bed and Breakfast lodging house I found this white strange creature.
It is well camouflaged against it's white background. It usually put down it's back 2 long tails when it is calm. It will only raise it up when it is alerted.
If it's blending skill fails, it can just jump away.

Spiders on tree trunks

2010-09-10T11:53:00.001+08:00

Few people will notice spiders resting on the tree trunks when they take a walk in the forest.

Tree trunk spiders belong to the Family Hersiliidae. There are about 150 species in this family and many more undiscovered. I found one the afternoon we arrived at Sukau Bed & Breakfast Lodge at one of the trees behind the lodging house.

Photo above : The pair of spinnerets of this female Tree Trunk Spider is 10mm long. Tree Trunk Spiders have two prominent spinnerets that are almost as long as their abdomens. They are also known as "two-tailed spiders.".

Photo above : This female Tree Spider is 19mm in body length from it's chelicerae to the tip of it's spinnerets. When her legs stretched out, it's longest legs can reach 45mm.

They range in size from about 10 mm (0.4 inch) to 18 mm (0.7 inch)long including the "Tails"

Photo above : Tree spiders are beautiful with multicolor pattern that helps them in camouflaging against the tree trunks they live on.

Being very well camouflaged for life on the varicolored trunks of trees, they have an interesting way of capturing prey. Rather than making a web that captures prey directly, they lay a light coating of threads over an area of tree bark and wait hidden in plain sight for an insect to stray onto that patch. Once that occurs, they direct their spinnerets toward their prey and circle it all the while casting silk on it. When the hapless insect has been thoroughly immobilized they can bite it through its new shroud.

Photo above : How many eyes does a Tree Spider has ? Tree spiders have 8 eyes. 6 well developed and 2 smaller eyes.

They can watch your every move, but you cannot see the spider with only your 2 eyes.

More about Tree Trunk Spiders : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_trunk_spider

Chaming Kinabatangan River

2010-09-10T08:29:00.000+08:00

Kinabatangan River

Photo Above : A secluded and serene corner of Sukau village by the Lower Kinabatangan River.

The Kinabatangan River (Sungai Kinabatangan) is the second longest river in Malaysia - 560 kilometers from its headwaters in the mountains to Sulu Sea at the east.

Photo Above : During Hari Raya, villagers visit their relatives in the surrounding villages along the Kinabatangan River.

In this Kampung Sukau in Kinabatangan, a Malay boy in full attire on his way to Hari Raya visit.

We spent our two days Hari Raya holidays in Sukau. (10th-11th September 2010)

Tourist come here for its remarkable wildlife and fascinating habitats such as limestone caves at Gomantong hill, dryland dipterocarp forests, riverine forest, freshwater swamp forest, oxbow lakes and salty mangrove near the coast.

More about Kinabatangan River : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinabatangan_River

Madai Cave - where fortune falls from above

2010-09-05T10:01:00.001+08:00

Its Sunday again. Not a beautiful Sunday - little sunshine, cloudy and rainy. But the showering rain does not stop us from making a 85 kilometers drive to Madai Cave to see a stunning and exciting event - the harvesting of Birds Nests.

The harvesting of these bird nests is a hazardous job. The nests are collected from the high, dark cave walls by young collectors who have the skills and guts to climb the height.

The swiftlets build their nests inside the caves hundred of meters high up.

In Madai Caves, there are 2 directions to reach the bird nests - from the cave floor or from the cave roof.

The highest cave ceiling is 200 meters high. A height too extreme for using just bamboo poles to reach the top. But the collectors have an easier and more economical way - that is to enter the cave where the swiftlets birds enter - the many small openings on the top of the cave and hill. Using long ropes securely fastening one's end to rocks and big trees outside the opening, the collectors will climb down onto the cave.

Those collectors approach from the ground will use bamboo poles, ropes or bamboo ladders attached to steep walls. These are equally stunning.

This is a traditional occupation of the Idahan people and this skill of nest collecting is passed down from generation after generation. But now, recent Malaysian economy successfully brought a better living by bringing up a better educated young generation who seek a better and more secured profession in towns and cities.

Collectors climb up on shaky bamboo ladders in total darkness caves to “mine” the nests.
Naked eyes could not see them working up there, we can only see bright lights moving high up the cave walls. The above 2 images are from a same photo. The left picture is the original photo showing how dark it still is even though after using a powerful flash. The right is after using Adobe Photoshop to brighten it up reviewing the bamboo ladder and ropes hanging high up 100 meters above. Only those guys with great courage are able to reach such unreachable rocks at that distant height.

To reach the nests 100 meters above, bamboo-rattan ladders with wood rungs are hung from the ceiling anchored by gaps in the cave wall. At the top of the ladders, collectors fasten themselves to the bamboo with safety belts. Sunlight from the main entrance is dim and could not reach them, their alternative light source is their battery powered head-torch worn on their heads. Nests are scraped from the wall and put into a basket hung on the ladder. Occasionally, a few of nests would miss the basket and dropped off and down to the cave floor 100 meters below where dozen of Fortune Seekers would fight their way to captures this "treasure" dropping from above.

Above : One of the collectors who climbed the high wall in 1st and 2nd photo. Climbing up itself is stunning but how to bring their ladders up and securely faster to the cave wall is another wonder.

Photo below: Bamboo ladders are laid neatly at cave entrance ready to be carried up to the cave wall to reach greater height.

Nest Collectors collects any valuable nest they can reach. If there are eggs or babies in it, they just removed them and throw them down to meet their fate. No one seems guilty of leaving these immature small bird dead but keen to rob off their nest constructed with that of salivas and feathers. Here, the value of God’s creation redefines. A case where a living creature's own discharged saliva is far more treasured then its life. How do you feel when you come to such place on earth where you spit your saliva to the ground to see swarm of human rush to grab and fight for that bit of your discharge but however leaving you dying without any one sympathy for you life? This shows how valuable these nests are - more valuable than priceless lives where they risk their own lives to get hold of these bunch of faeces and feathers.

Market for bird nests are booming. Prices have doubled in recent years. China has remain the biggest importer of birds' nests. The value of the nest has become so great that collectors no longer wait until eggs or chicks depart the nest. Both are simply discarded and the nest taken. See photo below.

Photo above: A baby swiftlet and its nest scraped off from the wall. This chick, being not yet matured enough to fly, will die of starvation. While this baby swiftlet is left abandoned in Madai Cave floor to die, its nest would be sold at around Rm20.00 to a middle man who full time works doing a cleaning process carefully by removing all the feathers leaving behind the white thin gelatinous strand for exporting to China. By the time this raw unprocessed nest reached the Shanghai restaurant in the form of clean dried and white delicacy, the cost can easily reach Rm200.

A fully grown Swiftlet is about the size of a sparrow. They are found in Southeast Asia. During the breeding season, the male swiftlet bird would regurgitates a long, thin gelatinous strand from salivary glands under its tongue to wound into a half-cup nest which bonds like quick-drying cement to the inside of a cave wall. The female would lay 1 ege which takes 1 month to hatch.

The nests are tasteless and so are usually served in soup mixed with chicken, spices and sauce. For centuries in China these nests have been considered nourishing as well as a booster of health for the sick and aging; they are even believed to be an aphrodisiac.

The Big Tree in Kalabakan

2010-08-31T10:33:00.001+08:00

The Big Tree in Kalabakan

31th August, 2010 - Malaysia National Day (Independence day). A public holiday so we are free from school and work. We used this opportunity to make our first trip to Kalabakan. An unknown plantation town to many people. Kalabakan village only consist of a few wooden sundry shops, several wooden house, a memorial, an army camp, oil plantations, open market and a graveyard. This place has a potential to become a fast developing township because it is near to the sea, has a wide area and near to Indonesia and Kota Kinabalu.

This is the first time for my dad, sister and I to visit Kalabakan. I found out if we go straight and did not turn in to Kalabakan, we would reach Kota Kinabalu and the Lost World Of Borneo - Maliau Basin.

On our way back we spotted this handsome tall tree and could not resist stopping by to have a close look. It is surrounded by thousands of hectares of oil palm plantations. He hope the plantation management will protect it.

Tawau is well known for keeping some of the tallest tropical trees in the world. In fact the tallest tropical tree in the world is found in Tawau Hills Park and we visited that tree last week.

Photo above : This tree we visited today is one of the tallest trees in the region.

Photo below :

Borneo's Big Trees

as recorded in the National Geographic magazine, July 2006 edition.

Photo image from the National Geographic magazine, July 2006 edition.

NG GRANTEE
Borneo's Big Trees

Some boys never grow up. They just climb taller trees—then work to protect them.

A team led by grantee Roman Dial of Alaska Pacific University climbed a Koompassia excelsa, actually a member of the pea and bean family, that towers above an oil palm plantation in northeast Borneo. This 268-footer ranks among the tallest tropical trees known.

"It was sad to look from the top," says Dial, "and realize that this represented what remained of the tallest tropical rain forest in the world. It felt like climbing a redwood in a cornfield."

He hopes that tall trees in a nearby region will eventually be conserved as part of a big tree park.

----Michael Klesius

Great Flood in Tawau

2010-08-28T12:49:00.163+08:00

I woke up in the morning today and get prepared to go to school. It was raining outside. My bedroom window were wet with raindrops -- it only gets wet when it rains heavily. I remember that there was loud noise outside at three o'clock at dawn that woke me up. It was noises from Muslim drummers and singers outside, they were marching around the neighbourhood to wake up the Muslims to get ready to fast for another day. At that time, it was not raining yet.

I carried along an umbrella with me to the bus stop because it was raining heavily. The air was humid and everything around he are wet, including the bus stop seat. My ride came and I'm on my way to school when the first sign of flood appeared. The oil palm tree plantation outside my housing estate area were flooded with muddy water. This convinced me that the rain was heavy. But afterwards I saw a bus stop which half of it was covered in water, this makes me realized that rain was really very heavy.

On my way to school, I passed by many housing estate and shops in Sin On Road are flooded with about 50cm of water. The drains are more than full. The reason is clear about Why didn't the drain worked properly in flowing rain water away. There is a huge pile of rubbished and natural matters floating on the main drain in Sin On - This is the reason, littering and dumping wastes into the drain causes drain blockage and so the waters can't flow away easily and thus flooded the area. If the people do not want any more minor floods like this next time, they should stop throwing wastes into drains or simply anywhere.

All buildings in Sin On on my way to school suffered from flash floods (especially Taman Fook On), except a few lucky ones like Calvary City Church (probably God help the church for being faithful) and a night restaurant there. Even my school was a victim. The grass land in the middle of my school and school car parks are covered in centimeters of "chocolate drink"-(you know what I mean). Several students are late to school because their house are flooded. The school principals know about this issue and delayed the examinations for 30 minutes. While we students are having exams, the school workers outside were having fun cleaning up the school.

On my way back from school, I saw a tumbled big tree in a park in Sin On, this is caused by powerful winds that came with the heavy shower this morning. The worst flood happened in Tawau is definitely no match with what happened today-(I think). This is the worst flood I had ever seen in my 12 years in Tawau. Luckily the place where I live is located on a high place where it won't flood easily here cause the rainwaters will flow down to the oil palm plantation below.

Sorry for any inconvenience caused, because there aren't any photographs to show to you all.

What are House Dust Mites ?

2010-08-10T17:31:00.002+08:00

What is a House Dust Mite ?
House Dust Mites (Dermatophagoides) are tiny mites. They are a related to spiders instead of fleas. Their size are about one-third of a millimetre long. they feed on human skin flakes and bodily secretions in dust. They colonise houses, especially in warm, humid areas. They tend to live in carpets, mattresses, pillows, soft furnishing and other things which shelter them from sunlights.

Are House Dust Mites Harmful to us ?
House Dust Mites cannot directly harm us.

But Dust Mites and their feces can become airborne and are one of the most common indoor allergens. That is, most persons diagnosed as being allergic to “house dust” are actually allergic to the dust mites whose bodies and feces are major components of dust. Roaches and dust mites have also been implicated in triggering asthma attacks, rhinitis and eczema. But, unlike rodent mites, itch mites and chiggers, skin irritation is rarely caused by exposure to dust mites. Although they may “hitchhike” on clothing, dust mites do not live on people.

What eat House Dust Mites ?
There are no specific predators of dust mites but anything like a small spider would undoubtedly eat one if it found it. If the question is "are there any natural enemies that can be used to control dust mites" the answers is I don't think there are any.

Source from:
http://www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/pcmites.htm
and
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Entomology-Study-Bugs-665/2009/5/dust-mites-2.htm#b

Occasions for JULY

2010-07-01T17:12:00.000+08:00

There are less activities for the month of JULY. Ths month in school, we have great activities like planting tree and marathon. The most special day this month is the Birthday of my school - Sabah Chinese High School.

2nd July (Friday) - Tree Planting Day in School

It is planting day in school today. Early in the morning, all the students and teachers are asked to gather at the basketball court. We are taught how to plant and which to plant. After about 15 minutes, we left the court and started the planting. Every class have several hibiscus plants to plant nest to the big drain at the stony car park beside the school. Each class are separated into different group. My group consist of 5 students - Me, Yon See Kee, Voon Zhi Chee, Tian Yeek Guan and Tommy Ho. We brought our own planting tools and gloves.

Other than planting, we also pour a secret chemical into the big drain and like magic, the dirts in the drain cleared away. The secret chemical is dark brown in colour. There is no English nor Scientific name for this enzyme, in our school it is just called 酵素. Several month before, each classes made their own enzyme with

3rd July (Saturday) - School 46th Anniversary

Today is Sabah Chinese School's birthday. My school is now 46 year old. It is a school break today for teachers and students of my school. However, there is a "birthday celebration". Unfortunately, I did not went to the celebration but I know they have performances at the basketball field.

4th July (Sunday) - School Marathon around Sin On Road

Although today is Sunday, we still had to go to school. The school held this marathon for donations. Every school student must join this marathon except for exceptional case. This marathon is also open to outsiders. Several old men joined in and ran along with us. There are three routes. The longest route - 7km, is for boys. The 5km route is for girls. The shortest route - 3km, is for the VIP - Very Important People.

I got position about 150++ of all the Senior Class (Secondary 4-6) boys.

5th July (Monday) - One Day Break

One day break from school for us to rest at home after the marathon. Almost all those who participate got muscle soreness caused by the lactic acids in our muscles, including me too. I had difficulty in moving for 3 days.

More about Lactic Acid:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-does-lactic-acid-buil

12th (Monday) - 17th July (Saturday) - Chinese Week in School

This whole week in school, all the students must speak in Chinese. There are Chinese calligraphy competition in school too. Three best calligrapher from each class are awarded with a small trophy and their works are posted and exhibited in front of our school hall.

20th July (Wednesday) - ICAS English Examination

I am more confident in this year's English ICAS examination. There are many difficult and challenging questions. There are also tricky questions too. I hope I can get a better result compared to last year's English ICAS Exam. Last year, I only get 21 questions correct over 60 questions. Not Bad Huh!

My School Holidays

2010-06-05T16:39:00.001+08:00

My June two weeks school holidays started from 5 to 20 June.
During this school holiday, my father, sister and I went for a trip from Tawau to Sandakan. We travelled in our new car, stopping at interesting places along the journey. We visited the magnificent Madai and Gumantong Caves, Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary, Labuk Bay and other interesting places.
We also celebrated Fathers Day on 20 June at Madai Waterfall, the last day of my holiday.

Occasions For JUNE

2010-06-01T16:30:00.001+08:00

June is another month with many event. We had our greatest fun in this June 2 weeks holidays.

3rd June (Thursday) - Making ZongZi in school.
ZongZi(粽子) is a delicious chinese sticky rice wrapped in Bamboo leaves. Pork, chiken meat or peanuts is usually putted in the rice. On this day, every class must prepare tools and ingredients required for making this food. There are techniques and few steps to make this food. We then take back our ZongZi from the school kitchen class after it is ready to be eaten.

5-20th June (Saturday) - School holiday Starts.
This June school holiday started after our school first semester last term examination finished. Teachers and students can take a break during this period.

5-9th June (Saturday) - A Family Trip from Tawau to Sandakan.
My father, sister and I left our house on the first day of our holiday. Our journey this time is for nature discovery purposes. We went up to Sandakan Town, stopping along the way to discover new things. This trip is worth for me because I discovered many new things (especially insects) along the way and with the help of two library books about insects to give me some information. We had managed to visit amazing places like caves, forests, mangrove swamp, the largest river in Sabah and ..... We had also learned how desperate the wildlife are because their habitats are destroyed for oil palm plantation. This trip is one of my best.

21st June (Monday) - School Starts Again!
Goodbye Holidays, Hello School. Enough for break time, it is time for study again.

23rd June (Wednesday) - Getting Scholarship?
Today, some dato and important men came. They came to give scholarship requested by students who have financial problem. Sabah Chinese High School is the most expensive school in Tawau Town. So some 'not so rich' students have to apply for scholarship for Sabah Chinese High School. Only those those who are approved can receive their scholarship today. Each student has scholarship less than RM 2,000 for one year only. It can help to pay school expenses.

25th June (Friday) - Talk on H1N1.
A health inspector came today to our school to give a talk on H1N1. She is from KK - Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. This is her first time to come to Tawau. She talked about the dangers of H1N1 and the importance of not spreading this deadly virus. After her talk, any student can go up and ask her if they have any question about this issue.

26th June (Saturday) - Receiving student's first semester Report Card.
Parents of Sabah Chinese School students are invited by the school to receive their children's report cards from their class teacher. My father accompanied me today to school to take my report card. I'm was looking forward to know my position in class. Unfortunately, I got number 21 out of 40 students in class. The main culprits are Arts and Chinese.

28th June (Monday) - Returning Marathon Donation Cards.
Weeks ago, a card was given to every student in Sabah Chinese High School. Our school is going to have a Marathon next month. So this card is to list down the names of donators that donate for this coming marathon. Today is the deadline for donation, we had to give back our cards to the school.

School Examination Starts Today

2010-05-20T12:34:00.002+08:00

Starting today 20 May to 6 June 2010 is our mid term school examination. After that we will have 2 weeks school holidays.

You will not see new blogs till June because I am concentrating for my exam. But in June you can expecting interesting traveling stories like tales of "Caves with unknown spirit", "Caves with 1000 years old wooden coffins" etc.

Good luck to your exam too.

2010-05-16T13:31:00.005+08:00

School Stall

Every year, the secondary six students of Sabah Chinese High School need to open up stalls and sell small things and games. These form 6 students are training to be businessmen so they have to opened up stalls and sell things and learn how to attract people to come to buy. By doing these, they can build up their experiences. As for this year, there are only two group of stalls. This year, their stalls will be open from 10 April to 24 April every Saturday after school finish till dark. They are the MAMAK DONALD and CHA CHAM BO. Last year, there are more groups than this year. But, the groups this year are more creative. On their last business day, the two group put up their stalls outside the school hall. They also put tables and chairs there to make that place like a restaurant. They did their best by wearing smart waiters costumes and having students to dress up as Mickey Mouse and Miney Mouse to attract more costumers.

Malay Week

2010-04-03T13:08:00.000+08:00

Malay Week started on March 29 2010 (Monday). For one week, all the students in our school should speak in Malaysian language. Whoever break this rule and speak other languages will be punished. On April 3 (Saturday) is the closing ceremony of the Malay Week. All the students and teachers went to the school hall to watch stage performances. There are Malay speech contest, Malay drama, Malay poem and singing Malay songs.

In the speech competition, Norman Chee, an excellent student talk about The Side Effects of Smoking. It is indeed a very good subject. At first, those students who loves smoking "boo" on him. But because of the way he talks- like a polititian, he managed to attract all the students and they shouted to show that they like him. Norman Chee is trained well by Calvary Church of Tawau. Because of these, he can do many things with flyng colors. He is good in stage performances and in academy. All of us expected him to get position number one in speech competition but in the end, the judges gave him only number two! How Sad! The student who got number one is a secondary 4 girl who is excellent in academy but not in stage performances. Everyone is unhappy about this, but the judges have already decided and said that this is fair.

Students from our class join in the poem & drama. We acted according to the Malay poem. Our Malay teacher had provided us with Malaysian traditional costumes for our play. In the end, we got number second in Poem & drama.

Photos from Kiang Feei

Free Bookmark Month

2010-04-02T15:37:00.000+08:00

Every year, my school will have a 'Free Bookmark Month' in April to encourage more students to borrow books and read them. Students who borrow books can get free bookmarks. There are different bookmarks for each day in April. But, the amount of bookmarks for giving away are limited. So only early birds can have the bookmarks.

As for me, I only got five bookmarks. I must be earlier next year so that I can get more bookmarks.

Check out my bookmarks :

Occasions for the month April in school ?

2010-04-01T18:21:00.000+08:00

This month will be a busy month for my school. Malay week closing ceremony or also as Malay week celebration just past. Two groups of students will open up their stalls for selling small things to other students. English week is coming. Our class will have a group singing on the stage. An English speech competition is also coming. There is a competition waiting for me, that is the Scrabble competition. I also have to join the 2010 International Science Examination. Chinese debating contest is open for any student who is good in Chinese and debating to join in. April is also the month which encourage students to borrow more books from the school library. There is also a Recycle day in the last week of April.

End of Malay Week:
The Malay Week just ended on the 3rd of April 2010. It is a joyous celebration. Most of the students enjoyed themselves. Prizes were given to winners who participate in stage show. After the Malay Week ends, some students are happy because they do not have to speak in Bahasa Malaysia anymore but others felt sad and want the Malay Week to last longer.

Free Bookmarks?:
Every year, my school will have a 'Free Bookmark Month' in April to encourage more students to borrow books and read them. Students who borrow books can get free bookmarks. There are different bookmarks for each day in April. But, the amount of bookmarks for giving away are limited. So early birds can have the bookmarks.

School Stalls:
Every year, the secondary six students of Sabah Chinese High School need to open up stalls and sell small things and games. These form 6 students are training to be businessmen so they have to opened up stalls and sell things and learn how to attract people to come to buy. By doing these, they can build up their experiences. As for this year, there are only two group of stalls. This year, their stalls will be open from 10 April to 24 April every Saturday after school finish till dark. They are the MAMAK DONALD and CHA CHAM BO. Last year, there are more groups than this year. But, the groups this year are more creative. On their last business day, the two group put up their stalls outside the school hall. They also put tables and chairs there to make that place like a restaurant. They did their best by wearing smart waiters costumes and having students to dress up as Mickey Mouse and Miney Mouse to attract more costumers.

English Week:
Every year SABAH CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL 斗湖巴华中学 will have an English Week. In English Week, all students should communicate in English language. On the last day of the English week, there will be stage shows by school students about English. Our class will also go up the stage for a group sing. We will sing the English song - Send It On. This song was introduced to us by our Indonesian students. A few of the students who work hard on this group singing are Gloria, Jonathan, Lai Kee Yong and Vincent. The English Week this year will start from 12 April(Monday) to 17 April(Saturday).

English Speech Competition:
English speech competition will be on 14 April(Wednesday). Two of my classmates - Voon Zhi Chee and Ryu Ki Baek, will participate in this competition because my English teacher choosed them. Voon Zhi Chee has little confident in himself but I think he can do well. Ryu Ki Baek is a talkative Korean boy, that is why my teacher choosed him. His younger brother is an excellent English speaker. He might do as good as his brother.

Scrabble Competition:
This Scrabble competition will be held in Class S3G in my school on 16 April(Friday). The tittle of this contest is "Who Will Be The Scrabble King". My English teacher choosed me to join the scrabble competition rather than the speech contest. She said I am more suitable for the scrabble competition. On that challenging day, only Chin Kok Min, Jacky Voon, Ryu Ki Baek and me turned up for this competition. I know I can do fine with English words but I am not good in scoring marks. I always played Scrabble with my mother and she always won.

Chinese Debate Competition:
My school also organise debating competition for students to show their talent in debating. Students from different classes form groups to debate. The winners will compete from round to round until they reach the final round and see who wins. The first competing day for this debating is on the 16 April 2010 (Friday). The remaining winners will then compete with each other on the final round on 24 April (Saturday). There are beautiful trophies for winners in this debating competition. There are two sides in debating, there are those who agree and don't agree on a subject. Some people mixed up debating and quarrelling. They can't differentiate these two. Debating is much better than quarrelling although they sound the same. Debating is something like quarrelling too except there are rules. Debators fight with each other by showing proofs to convince people they are right. Quarrellings are just people raising their voices to each other and often causes a fight. To know more about debating please visit Wikipedia and Basic Debating Skills.

Recycling Day:
Recycling day is held on the last Saturday of every month in the school bus stop. For this month, the recycle day will be on 24 April. A buyer will come and buys the recycling things we have. The main things that we can recycle in school are papers, plastic bottles and cans.

2010 International Science Examination:
This international science exam is organised by the University of New South Wales in Australia. It is also called the ICAS eaxamination. This examination is an international standard one. I have joined the 2009 International English Examination last year by the same university. It will be held in class 301 on the 29April(Thursday). Based on my experience, I can predict that this comming science exam will not be easy and I cannot depend on my teacher and school English education alone, I need to gain extra knowledge from outside my school. Click THIS to see a sample of my comming science exam papers. A few years ago, Desmond - my former schoolmate, participate in this Science Exam and got distinction. Last year, Louise -my schoolmate, is the only one who got high distinction in school. All the other distinction students are all boys and she is the only girl.

These are the occasions for SCHS for the month APRIL.

Two great hunters this morning

2010-04-01T16:18:00.005+08:00

Today while I was waiting for my ride at about 6am, I witnessed 2 hunters catching their prey. These predators depend on their speed to hunt and survive.

The first predator I saw is a big dragonflyIt flew around non-stop looking for a hearty meal. A tiny moth (thats what I think it is) flew out slowly and the buzzing dragonfly flew around it to have a good look and capture it in mid-air.

The second great hunter is a small kingfisher. While I was looking at a young house gecko trying to run away from me, another animal is also watching it's every movement. The kingfisher bird swoop down to the ground and caught the little gecko in it's razor sharp beak. The bird caught the gecko with perfect accuracy. It then perched on a wireline to devour it's food.

I am glad to witness two great predators today and saw their technique of capturing prey. They are well-known for using their speed for hunting in the animal world.

MUTATION ?

2010-03-30T23:04:00.016+08:00

Today I learned about Mutation from my Science teacher. Mutation is an interesting science subject indeed.

What is a Mutation ?

1. A mutation is a spontaneous change in a gene or chromosomes, resulting in changes to the characteristic features (phenotype) of the organism.

2. An organism which has genes or chromosomes undergone mutation is called a mutant.

3. Mutations can occur in any cell at anytime, but fortunately mutations seldom happen.

4. Mutations which happen to gametes can cause :

- deformity in the foetus

- damage to the brain

- diseases such as Haemophilia and Down's syndrome.

5. A mutant gene or chromosome can be passed on to future generations.

By Sasbadi Nexus Vista SPM Form 4.5 Science.

Mutation = 突變
Gene = 基因
Chromosomes = 染色體
Deformity in the foetus = 胎兒畸形
Damage to the brain = 大腦損害
Haemophilia = 血友病
Down's syndrome = 唐氏綜合徵

http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/handbook/illustrations/xlinkrecessivemother

突變在生物學上的含義，是指細胞中的遺傳基因發生的改變。它包括單個鹼基改變所引起的點突變，或多個鹼基的缺失、重複和插入。原因可以是細胞分裂時遺傳基因的複製發生錯誤、或受化學物質、輻射或病毒的影響。
突變通常會導致細胞運作不正常或死亡，甚至可以在較高等生物中引發癌症。但同時，突變也被視為物種進化的「推動力」：不理想的突變會經天擇過程被淘汰，而對物種有利的突變則會被累積下去。中性的突變對物種沒有影響而逐漸累積，會導致間斷平衡。

http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/%E7%AA%81%E5%8F%98

.....吸煙者平均每吸15支煙，DNA發生1次突變，其中的部分突變會造成基因永久性損傷，甚至患上癌症並可代代相傳.....

http://big5.gov.cn/gate/big5/www.gov.cn/fwxx/kp/2010-03/01/content_1544409.htm

http://mag.epochtimes.com/b5/147/7131.htm

Welcome to my blog

2010-03-24T21:25:00.001+08:00

Hi,

How are you. Welcome to my blog.

Come often if you like my blog.

Streamyx

2010-03-22T09:09:00.000+08:00

Streamyz is now installed to our home telephone line on 22-3-2010. Telecom's streamyx contractor came at 6:00pm

We can access the internet now.

Northern Lion Dance 斗湖福建會館京獅團

2010-02-27T20:33:00.002+08:00

Chinese Lion Dance has two styles : The Northern Lion and the Southern Lion.

Photo Above : A family of Northern Lion (Parent and 2 children) of Hockien Association 斗湖福建會館京獅團, Tawau Town on 27 February 2010 during Spring Festival (Chinese New Year Celebration)

Chinese Northern Lion

The Northern Lion (北獅) Dances are usually performed in pairs. Northern lions have shaggy orange and yellow hair.

A red bow on its head to indicate a male lion, or a green bow to represent a female lion.

During a performance, northern lions movements are very life-like. Acrobatics are common, with stunts like lifts or balancing on a giant ball. Northern lions sometimes appear as a family, with two large "adult" lions and a pair of small "young lions".

Photo Above : Yin, my sister, in front the Lion Dance Troupe.

There is no full time Lion Dancers in Tawau. All the Lion Dances we see in Tawau are performed by students and young men who practice a couple of months before the Chinese New Year. Lion Dance require team corporation with high disciplines. While Chinese Lion Dance is know to the world as part of Chinese traditional culture, but in Malaysia, this traditional art has broken it racial barrier to include young people of multi races.

Ants gain wings but lost their abdomen in return

2009-12-17T09:43:00.006+08:00

Ants on beach without abdomen

Ants lost their abdomens

On the beach we found scattered around are countless big ants with no abdomen.

These are big ants with wings. How they lost their abdomens? We guess these ant have wings that can fly, and when they fly into the open air, they immediately fall pray to the flying birds in the sky.

Their juice big abdomen are favorite of the birds. What bird? We are not sure. But must be highly skilled bird of they air. For these bird while flying in the air can catch up with a flying ant and with surgical precision using their bit to plug off only the juice abdomen dropping the head and thorax to the ground.

On the ground the ants with only head and thorax but without an abdomen still alive to struggle around. But without an abdomen they do not live for too long.

These ants granted a pair of wing to fly but lost their abdomen in return.

My first wall painting

2009-11-25T12:50:00.003+08:00

This is my wall painting. Just a little more final touch up and it wil be completed. A few neighbour friends came and watched me doing the painting for a long time. Each of them wanted to paint something too. I alocated a place on the side wall for them.

My wall painting is almost completed

2009-11-24T15:03:00.000+08:00

My wall painting is 90% completed.

Some chidren passed by, looked at my painting on the front wall of my house and said"This is a nursery school..."

School Holiday Started today.

2009-11-16T14:53:00.000+08:00

School Holiday started today. One week earlier then SMK schools.

My first holiday project is a WALL PAINTING at the front wall of my house. This project will keep me busy for 2 weeks.

After the project I will go to Kuching.

2009-10-17T17:25:00.000+08:00

Hi,

Sorry, for a long time withour any post.

A day in Manukan Island

2008-12-26T00:16:00.000+08:00

We had a wonderful day at the sunny beach of Manukan Island.

Welcome !

2007-07-25T15:21:00.001+08:00

Welcome to my blog.