Pit Stop

Traveling along dirt road is usually long and very tiring.



A little rest would be very refreshing..... especially near a water fall.



Even a simple meal could be very tasty.

Means Justify The End

Red Crescent Malaysia has started seeking donations from the Public. This is a yearly event and has been carried out for many years. For any donor that donates, a small sticker bearing the red crescent logo will be handed to them as a sign of appreciation......i guess.

Those involving in this drive are usually School Children representing the various schools around Sibu town. These school children are seen in groups, with their Red Crescent T Shirts.

These School Children are very motivated in collecting donations. Is there some sort of competition among them? As parents, how do you feel that when your children are seen in front of of gambling outlets asking for donation?

Is the end really important that whatever mean is justified?

Now and Then

This hospital museum is in memory of philanthropist Lau King Howe who donated a piece of land for the first Government hospital in Sibu. The hospital is no more there but Lau's name continues to be an inspiration to the people."

This is an early photo of the Lau King Howe Hospital of Sibu. Later it expanded to become a bigger hospital. But in the 80's the Sibu General Hospital was built in Oya Road and this hospital which saved many lives slowly disappeared into oblivion and disuse. Only a small part of the building is left to become a mini museum. A huge piece of the original land has been used up for urban development of Sibu.

Wordless Wednesday : Notice

Replacement

Kabong once upon a time was a prime supplier of ripe coconut for the Sibu and Sarikei market. The supply was steady and could meet the demand and no problem of shortage. But that was many years ago. Now the scenario has changed dramatically. Many time, ripe coconut was scarce and the price of Santan (coconut milk) rose up.

What caused the problem? On my trip to Kabong recently that i found out that, the coconut trees had grown old and less productive. Besides, the land for coconut has been planted with palm oil instead of replanted with coconuts.


Besides coconut, Kabong is also producing Mempelam (a type of Mango) which commands a good market price.....a kilo of young fruit could fetch a price of RM 6.00 t0 RM 8.00. Now Mempelam trees are still flowering (on the right side of the pic).

The coconut tree on the left is at the prime age and bearing a lot of fruit. This was the common sight many years ago. In the fore ground you could see green vegetation. This is not grass but paddy field. Harvesting has just been completed. Soon they will be having Pesta Beras Wangi (Fragrance Rice Festival). Is Kabong also producing Fragrance Rice?

Suman Pais from Kabong

Suman Pais is usually made by the Malays of the Coastal Regions of former Sri Aman Division. Kabong is one of such village; a traditional Malay Fishing Village in the Betong Division.

Suman Pais is cooked over a slow burning fire, usually by means of firewood. Bakau is the more preferred wood.


Suman Pais is basically seafood mixed with sago flour and wrapped in Nipah leaf and cooked over a slow burning fire. Sounds so easy but actually not so.......

Sago flour or Lemantak as it called locally has to be mixed in the right potions of water, salt and seafood. The choice of seafood will be something like fish,cuttle fish,prawn and even liver of sting ray..........its your choice.

Suman Pais is best eaten when hot. Maybe you should know that Lemantak is very starchy and thus gets harden or tough when cold.

Blast from The Past

Days when you were young and carefree are part and parcel of the yester years that are etched deep in your mind. An old black and white pic like this sure worth a nostalgic thought, as your memories stroll along the lane of past events.

As your eyes scan through the faces, you lost in thoughts ,between the past and present. How you wished that you could rewind time and be there once again to share those moments. But that is impossible and you wonders......where are they now?

Periophthalmodon schlosseri

Mudskippers dominate the mudflats and move about openly.
At high tide, they may remain at the water surface, near their burrows, resting on roots, rocks or other surfaces. At low tide, they forage actively on the mudflat or perch at the entrance of their burrows.

Giant Mudskippers are carnivorous, aggressively hunting mainly arthropods (e.g., insects) and crustacea. These are caught on the mud, or while the fish is swimming in the water. They may even eat smaller mudskippers.

Mudskippers are found along the intertidal zone, living happily on the margin of land and sea. They have special adaptations to help them dominate a habitat which few other animals can exploit: soft mud with fluctuating water quantities and qualities.

Wordless Wednesday: I was There

Limulus polyphemus

Horseshoe crabs possess five pairs of gills located just behind their appendages that allow them to breathe underwater, and can also allow them to breathe on land for short periods of time, provided the gills remain moist.

Although most arthropods have mandibles, the horseshoe crab is jawless. The mouth is located in the middle of the underside of the cepahalothorax with chelicerae located at each side of the mouth. In the female, the four large legs are all alike, and end in pincers. In the male, the first of the four large legs is modified, with a bulbous claw that serves to lock the male to the female while she deposits the eggs and he waits to fertilize them.

The Horseshoe Crab has blue blood, as it uses copper rather than iron as the base of its system.

Limulus has been extensively used in research into the physiology of vision. It has four compound eyes and each ommatidium feeds into a single nerve fibre. Furthermore the nerves are large and relatively accessible. This made it possible for electrophysiologists to record the nervous response to light stimulation easily, and to observe visual phenomena likelateral inhibition working at the cellular level. More recently, behavioral experiments have investigated the functions of visual perception in Limulus.

Limulus has two large compound eyes on the sides of its head, which have monochromatic vision. The individual ommatidia are complex, consisting of upwards of 300 cells; they number around a thousand, and are somewhat messily arranged, not falling into the ordered hexagonal pattern seen in more derived arthropods. An additional simple eye is positioned at the rear of each of these structures. In addition to these obvious structures, it also has two smaller ocelli situated in the middle-front of its carapace, which may superficially be mistaken for nostrils. A further simple eye is located beneath these, on the underside of the carapace. A further pair of simple eyes are positioned just in front of the mouth. The simple eyes are probably important during the embryonic or larval stages of the organism, and even unhatched embryos seem to be able to sense light levels from within their buried eggs. The less sensitive compound eyes, and the median ocelli, become the dominant sight organisms during adulthood.

The individual ommatidia of the compound eyes of Limulus Among other senses, they have a small sense organ which senses on the triangular area formed by the exoskeleton beneath the body near the ventral eyes.

Sonneratia caseolaris

Main features: Grows up to 15m tall.

Bark: Cream, grey to brown bark, slight vertical fissures.

Roots: No buttresses or prop roots. Has pneumatophores that are cone-shaped (unlike the pencil-like ones of Avicennia).

Leaves: Rounded, leathery, opposite, upper and underside of leaf similar.

Flower: White, pom-pom-like, open only for one night.

Fruit: Large (4 cm) green, leathery berries with a star-shaped base. Contains 100-150 tiny seeds that are white, flattened and buoyant.

Traditional Vs Modern

Nowadays traditional Iban Longhouses are becoming rare , especially along the Mighty Batang Rajang. Many factors contribute to this change; economic status being the major one.

The one like this are becoming more prominent.

Wordless Wednesday : Storm Ahead

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