Birding - Hong Kong & Kowloon Parks

Just another bird list for my reference. Not too bad for birds right in the middle of a metropolis mostly devoid of tree cover and no quiet space. There was also a SARS epidemic memorial to healthcare workers who died in Hong Kong. It consists parly of busts of the deceased heroes.

Black-crowned Night-Heron
Black Kite
Common Buzzard
Spotted Dove
Rock Dove
Common Koel
Rose-ringed Parakeet
Yellow-Crested Cockatoo
House Swift
Barn Swallow
Eurasian Tree Sparrow
White Wagtail (ocularis)
Red-Whiskered Bulbul
Chinese Bulbul
Oriental Magpie-robin
Yellow-browed Warbler
Common Tailorbird
Asian Brown Flycather
Masked Laughingthrush
Great Tit
Fork-tailed Sunbird
Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker
Japanese White-eye
Chestnut-tailed Starling
Black-collared Starling
Crested Myna

Birding - Tai Po Kau, Hong Kong

As mentioned in the previous post, went bird watching with Andy, the Englishman, and his son Niall. They showed me around the Nature Reserve and I continued on without them after lunch. It was a good day's birding and pleasant weather.

• Little Egret
• Black Kite
• Crested Serpent-Eagle
• Crested Goshawk
• Spotted Dove
• Rock Dove
• Large Hawk-Cuckoo (heard)
• Great Barbet (heard)
• Barn Swallow
• Grey-throated Minivet
• Black-winged Cuckoo-shirke
• Red-whiskered Bulbul
• Chinese Bulbul
• Chestnut Bulbul
• Oriental Magpie Robin
• Yellow-bellied Prinia
• Yellow-browed Warbler
• Pallas' Leaf-Warbler
• Common Tailorbird
• Asian Brown Flycatcher
• Ferruginous Flycatcher
• Silver-eared Mesia
• Streak-breasted Scimitar-Babbler
• Velvet-fronted Nuthatch
• Rufous-capped Babbler
• Blue-winged Minla
• Great Tit
• Yellow-cheeked Tit
• Fork-tailed Sunbird
• Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker
• Japanese White-eye
• Large-billed Crow (heard)

Also saw a pig-tailed macaque (a kind of short tailed monkey).

Hong Kong - Day 3

Met up with Andy, an English birdwatcher, and his son Niall at a KCR Station. Then off to Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve. Was a good day's birding. Saw a few birds new to me. Had luch there and continued birding after Andy and his son left. Took me till 4pm. Very impressed with Hong Kong public transport - efficient and frequent service. All modes including taxis.

Went to Kowloon Tong on the way back to the city and bought new shoes in a shopping centre, Festival Mall or something like that. The shop assistant offered to throw my old ones away for me. So wore new shoes back.

Walked through the popular night spots of Lan Kwai Fong and the restaurant district of Soho. As I mentioned in previous posts it is the Rugby Sevens on at the moment and the place was full of gwei lou enjoying their beers, spilling out onto the street. One establishment had dancing girls out on the streets pumping out some catchy numbers too.

Took the long pedestrian escalators up to the Mid-levels to where I'm staying tonight. Very interesting passing through Soho, a mosque and other streets. The longest set of escalators in the world I've been told.

Off to Beijing tomorrow.

Hong Kong - Day 2

Today started off with birding in Kowloon Park and Hong Kong Park, two very urban public parks but surprisingly good for birds. Unfortunately the regular bird outing held every Wednesday in Hong Kong Park has been cancelled indefinitely due to bird flu concerns.

Hong Kong's distinctive skyline showed itself off to me (and lots of other people) in spectacular fashion with a regular 8pm light and sound show. The biggest permanent light and sound show in the world according to the Guiness Book of Records. The show itself was OK but the scale was what made it impressive.

Walked all over the Nathan Rd area where there's the Goldfish Market which sells goldfish and other aquatic pets, Flower Market which sells flowers and Ladies Market which sells well...No lah, it sells things that most ladies would be interested in like ladies clothes, handbags, etc. But there were other things that were not on the official guides like Tiles and Wall-paper Market and Bridal Shop Markets. Lots of them congregated along a stretch of road. And the people, lots and lots of people.

Met up with Uncle Hua Sai and moved to his place. Very kind of him and his family to put me up despite never ever setting eyes on me before. My sincere thanks.

Hong Kong - day 1

Unbeknownst to me this is the Rugby Sevens Week amongst other things in Hong Kong. And there were no hotel rooms at all. Well almost. I had to pay some ridiculous price for this tiny place without windows and had to be kicked out the following day anyway.

Desperate, I drew on my 'support group' ie my obliging extended family and came up with some thrice removed relatives that agreed to take me in. Actually it is Uncle Hua Sai, Uncle Hua Min's brother. He very kindly agreed to take me even though he couldn't quite place me within the extremely extended family tree. Pathetic of me. Anyway, I think I've got a place to stay tomorrow. We'll see.

How I got Uncle Hua Sai's number is equally convoluted. I think it is via Uncle Norman who got it off Aunty Meng who probably got it from someone in her office. Something like that.

Other than that, Hong Kong is actually quite amazing, only my second time here. The physical geography is stunning with it's harbour and towering craggy peaks. Today, the peaks were shrouded in mist, after rain perhaps, and some of the more distant islands look like they were suspended, hovering over the sea. Not to mention the constructed stuff, most obvious being the quirky feng shui approved sky-scrapers. Makes an amazing sight, the Hong Kong skyline. Most famously the view of Hong Kong Island from Kowloon. Sorry, don't have pictures, look it up on the internet yourselves for now.

Then there's the hustle and bustle. The throng of humanity pouring out of the MTR (Mass Transit Railway) at near peak hour. I was too chicken to jostle at peak peak hour. And now sitting here in an internet cafe in the infamous ChungKing Mansions. It is a large run down building with lots of tailors, mobile phone and magazine shops on the ground floor and rather insalubrious accommodation options on the upper floors. Sprinkled among that are 'saunas' offereing massages. Packed with non-Caucasian, non-Chinese visitors ie Sub-continent and Africans. Aunty Meng would just love the place. Will remind her of her favourite shopping centre in Singapore, Mustafa's. But I think Mustafa's is more classy but ChungKing Mansions is more cosmopolitan.

ChungKing Mansions also has a large sign that proclaims, "De luxe Hotel". Not. Was told by an Indian 'agent' that they have rooms for Chinese too, like me.

Starting trip

Starting my 'trip' that I've been telling some of you about. So there will probably be less photos from now and more rambling.

Stayed up almost all night trying to pack. Last minute, again.

Took the 'Nice' bus from KL, in front of the old railway station, to Singapore. Arrived this afternoon and went for dinner with Uncle Norman, Aunty Sian, Milton and Uncle Norman's friend from Melbourne. Had Wanton Noodles, Penang Asam Laksa and Popiah, with Cendol for dessert. For those of you that are wondering what they are, may just have to look it up on the internet or ask a Malaysian/Singaporean friend.

Off to Hong Kong tomorrow morning but just found out that my booking for a place to stay didn't go through so may just have to wing it tomorrow. It is the high season in Hong Kong and rooms are hard to come by... Wish me luck.

Birding near mother's house

Been doing a bit of birdwatching around where my mother lives now in USJ Subang Jaya in Malaysia. There are some patchy scrub areas and a small pond that's being dug up. Again it is a list mainly for my own referrence. Jan-March 2006:

• Little Heron
  Cinnamon Bittern
  Chinese Pond-Heron
  Black-shouldered Kite
  Crested Serpent-Eagle
  White-breasted Waterhen
  Common Sandpiper
  Spotted Dove
  Peaceful Dove
  Savanna Nightjar
  House Swift
  White-throated Kingfisher
  Blue-tailed Bee-eater
  Barn Swallow
  Pacific Swallow
  Common Iora
  Yellow-vented Bulbul
  Black-naped Oriole
  House Crow
  Large-billed Crow
  Oriental Magpie Robin
  Common Tailorbird
  Yellow-bellied Prinia
  Grey Wagtail
  Richard's Pipit
  Brown Shrike
  Asian Glossy Starling
  Javan Myna
  White-vented Myna
  Common Myna
  Olive-backed Sunbird
  Scaly-breasted Munia
  White-headed Munia
  Eurasian Tree-Sparrow

Birding Putrajaya Wetland Park

My first time in the new Malaysian administrative capital of Putrajaya. Lots of new goverment buildings and long roads with no U-turns.

The bird trip was organised by the enthusiastic Susan Wong of Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) and led by the knowledgeable Cheong Weng Chun of Putrajaya Wetlands. A group of almost 20 birders of a range of ages and birding experience. It is breeding season and a few different nests were pointed out to us. We tried to be unobtrusive in observing and photographing a sitting Common Iora in the car park. Also seen were nests of a Black-naped Oriole strung across a forked branch (fledged) -see picture, a messy hanging Flyeater nest and an incomplete Yellow-vented Bulbul's nest.

The bird-of-the-day for many was the clear view through a telescope of a beautifully well camouflaged Large-tailed Nightjar. "Misai pun nampak" (even the whiskers are seen). A pair of uncommon Red-whiskered Bulbuls also made a brief appearance in the bamboo grove.

Birds seen/heard today:

Purple Heron
Yellow Bittern
Changeable Hawk-Eagle (dark morph)
Red Junglefowl (heard)
White-breasted Waterhen
Purple Swamphen
Pink-necked Pigeon
Spotted Dove
Peaceful Dove
Asian Koel
Plaintive Cuckoo (heard)
Greater Coucal (heard)
Large-tailed Nightjar
House Swift
Swift sp.
White-throated Kingfisher
Bee-eater sp.
Coppersmith Barbet
Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker
Barn Swallow
Pacific Swallow
Pied Triller
Common Iora (on nest)
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Yellow-vented Bulbul
Black-naped Oriole
House Crow?
Large-billed Crow
Magpie Robin
Flyeater
Common Tailorbird
Dark-necked Tailorbird
Yellow-bellied Prinia (heard)
Asian Brown Flycatcher
Pied Fantail
Richard's Pipit
Brown Shrike
Asian Glossy Starling
Javan Myna
Common Myna
Olive-backed Sunbird
Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker
White-headed Munia
Eurasian Tree Sparrow

More than 40 species.


See http://www.mns.org.my/
and Dr. Chen's website

Condiments

Thais love condiments. The usual places one would see these are noodle stalls and congee/rice porridge shops.

For noodles, the standard condiments are dried ground chillies, sliced green chillies in vinegar, ground peanuts and sugar. Non-Thais are usually appalled at the thought of adding sugar to noodle soup. There is also some fish sauce (nam pla) available.

For congee the choice of condiments is less uniform. This would may include chopped up coriander and spring onions, pickled vegetables (tang chai), fried vermicelli, slivers of ginger, ground white pepper, deep fried shallots and garlic, and sliced chilles in vinegar. A favourite of some is deep fried pork skin, hmm yum.

This and that - Paying for a meal

When going out with friends or relatives it is usual for one person to pay for the whole meal rather than split the bill. Not sure whether this is a Chinese or South-East Asian thing. It's probably in other cultures as well.

There are various techniques to be 'the one'. Covert/sneaky techniques include, "I'm just going to the toilet" or "I'm getting the teapot refilled" (the Uncle Norman trick), then detouring to the cashier and paying. Out in the open techniques include declaring that you would pay before anyone else has a chance to offer. This is susceptible to failure as another party may just go ahead and pay anyway despite that.

Then there are more physical techniques like the use of an accomplice to block the path of an in-coming waiter with the bill (the Kuoh Ren strategy). Or just positioning one self strategically either at the head of the table or in a direct line to the cashier. The ten metre dash.

Another method that is less used now in this era of credit card fraud is leaving your credit card with the cashier way before the meal is over.

The 'losing' party will then have to declare, "Next time, it's my turn!"

The converse of this are the methods of avoiding paying yet appearing to be eager to pay. This includes, "Aya, just went to the toilet for a little while and you pay already". Or using the opposite hand to try to get your wallet of your pocket and getting 'stuck'. "Aya, not quick enough". As demonstrated to me by Milton. Not during a meal I might add.

Or "Too bad they don't take credit cards".

Toilet tidbits -Thailand

A toilet at rural beach-side food stall. A fairly typical set up. A ceramic squat toilet with no internal flushing mechanism. The hatched ‘ears’ by the bowl are where you place your feet. Foot-wear is expected, plastic easy-drying flip-flops preferred.

It relies on manual flush with a bucket from the smaller earthen jar by the toilet bowl. And one uses water from that jar too for washing oneself, especially after big business. Then one uses the larger jar, set well away from the toilet bowl to wash one's hands after everything else is done. There is a separate water scoop usually made of plastic for each jar. Usually no toilet paper in sight and sometimes no soap. You’re advised to bring your own if you are that way inclined.

Another variation on the theme, earthen jar replaced with sturdy plastic paint bucket.

Toilet tidbits - Kuala Lumpur

Seen in a Malaysian government building. And those bottles of water are for one to wash after doing one's little business. Western style urinals just aren’t designed right…inadequate.

Seen at LRT stations: Anti-squat devices. A deterrent for those of us who think we can avoid touching our thighs on the toilet seat and leave our dirty shoe prints on the toilet seat. Ha! Our attempts are now stymied. A sign in the toilet proclaims something like, "We hope you will enjoy our new concept toilet". Yup, as long as your neck doesn't get caught in the thing or your head doesn't go clunk against the beautiful shiny stainless steel bar.

Signs & Symptoms - KL public transport

This kid may be smart but no one really taught him English grammar. “Me smart kid. Me want learn English”. It was an ad for an education fair of all things. I don't reallt get what the blurb is trying to say either. The ad copywriter needs a bit more educating perhaps. A kopi-writer or kopi-O-writer, perhaps. Maybe I need to be educated a bit more.

Sign seen on the Light Rail (LRT) in KL. We don’t want any of this bad behaviour, tsk, tsk, “No manners!” And the passengers that I observed were definitely adhering to this particular regulation, including me I might add. No, no, none of that.

If you ignore the words, what do you make of this other sign with the red circle. No farting perhaps? Or no pinching fellow passengers' bottoms.

Signs & symptoms - Singapore

A sign in a shop in Singapore. ‘Tahi’ means shit in Malay, a national language of Singapore. However as most of the Singaporean population is of Chinese descent and don't speak Malay, the proprietor may not have been told. I didn’t see any Tahi for sale when I peered in. Apparently they sell cosmetics and personal hygiene products. Doesn't go down well with me.

Well I don't read much Chinese so I shouldn't be blaming others for not knowing Malay. But at least someone should point it out to the shop owner. It was closed when I passed the shop, so I didn't do it, nor did I write in.

A Singapore road sign. ‘Kay poh’ in the Chinese Hokkien dialect, the major dialect group of Chinese Singaporeans, means busy-body/nosy Parker. Well they have to live somewhere.

This and that - bamboo baby chair

Bamboo is a hardy and versatile plant. This particular use for it in making a baby chair is also a credit to the ingenuity of its creator/designer. I doubt anyone really knows who invented it and it certainly wasn't patented. The design may be generations old.

It's funky design has stood the test of time so to speak. And the durability of bamboo gives it its longevity. No nails are used in its construction, only bamboo pegs.

Flip it one way and it becomes a stool. Flip the stool on it's side and it becomes a baby chair.

Shown is actually a smaller version of the stool that cannot convert into a baby chair. Will try to put up a picture of the full-sized one later.

Doraemon's magic pouch

Doraemon's a Japanase cartoon robot cat from the future who has a magic pouch that contains 'everything'. I know, doesn't look anything like a cat at all. Why would a cat have a pouch on it's belly anyway, more like a wombat if you ask me. Also known as Xiao Ding Dang among the Chinese speaking folk.

Anyway, my grandmother's handbag is often thought by our family as a Doraemon pouch as she has in it the most unlikely things. And often has come to the aid of the less prepared among us. Recent rescues include toilet paper, spoons, mosquito repellent spray for prevention and tiger balm for the after effects. And of course money in various currencies.

Ice-kachang Quest

Ice-kachang, also known as Air Batu Campur (ABC), is a refreshing Malaysian dessert made of shaved ice with a variety of beans (kachang), slivers of jelly, creamed corn, seeds of attap palms (attap-chi), etc all topped of with various coloured syrups and evaporated milk. Every stall has their own version and no two are exactly alike, even from the same stall, depending on the mix of ingredients used and portions of them.

My grandmother is on a never-ending quest for the perfect Ice-kachang based on her memory of a particularly good one she had about 20 years ago in Kajang. Up and down the Malay Peninsula not one yet has matched that pinnacle. Too sweet, or the beans are a bit hard, or there's too much artificial flavouring in the syrup, or there is not enough corn. And the flaw is revealed.

Another one falls by the wayside... half finished. Too pink I suppose.

This and That - Bedak Sejuk

Also known as bedak sejuk, rice flour pellets, are used in days of old for their 'cooling' properties. Instructions: dissolve in water and apply to face and body especially in hot weather. According to my sister more effective than any number of expensive 'Western' cosmetics. Attractive too. To a Dusky Leaf-monkey maybe...

Photo of monkey courtesy of:www.best-of-langkawi.com

http://www.alibaba.com/catalog/10803134/Bedak_Sejuk_Rice_Beauty_Powder.html

This and That - Chinese clogs

Chinese clogs for sale. Made of unvarnised wood. Varnished ones can have simple designs of flowers, etc painted on as well. The red bit is made of plastic, not sure what the traditional material was. And the red bit is always red (or faded orange), other colours are rare.

Used to be the standard foot wear in the backyard and to the local shops or 'wet' market. Mostly by Chinese women. Clip-clop-clip-clop-clip-clop

Its other uses include crushing vermin (crunch goes the cockroach) and clobbering errant husbands.

Tanjung Tuan

Tanjung Tuan marks the Peninsular Malaysian side of the narrowest point of the Straits of Malacca. The Indonesian side is a large island called Pulau Rupat. Tanjung Tuan is the site of an old lighthouse that's still in use today.

There is a small patch of rare coastal rainforest surrounding the lighthouse. A strategic high point to count and observe raptors coming across the sea. I was there over the recent weekend to watch this spectacle of nature. The commonest raptors seen on their migration north were the Oriental Honey-Buzzards seen in their thousands .

This is close to the start of their 10,000km journey to their breeding grounds in China, Japan, etc. And they to this every year - twice. Going up north in Feb-March and coming down south in Sept-Oct.

Raptor Watch

Just got back to KL/PJ from Raptor Watch 2006. An event organised by the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) to welcome migrating birds of prey on their way to North Asia. It was held at Tanjung Tuan beach. Near the lighthouse which marks the narrowest part of the Straits of Malacca, one of the busiest shipping routes in the world.

Got burnt on my uncovered parts. Eg stripey feet and pale band on wrist. But great birds and great company. Met up with my long time bird -watching buddies and many more.

My job was to mind the official score-board keeping count of the raptors counted by official counters when they come across the Striats of Malacca from Sumatra. The sight of hundreds of big birds circling above you is awesome. Even if you're usually indifferent to birds. See photo by Wong Kim Seng.

Close up shot of the common raptor species seen. An Oriental Honey-Buzzard.

Ikan Bakar

With my mother, Uncle Tart, Aunty Kim Mei, Kuoh Ren & Wei Ling having Ikan Bakar (grilled fish) in Umbai. The old shacks with zinc roof and no walls has been overtaken by a modern building overlooking the sea. Perhaps not as atmospheric as the old place. There was no good-ole charcoal fish smoke billowing through our hair or rats/cockcroaches scurrying past our toes but we still managed to enjoy ourselves.

And what's left.



The view from the Ikan Bakar complex