Strictly No Durian

That's me taking a picture of the notice which says it all. On location shooting: At a hotel in Bintulu.

Driving Through Heavy Rains

While nearing Bintulu town on our journey back after an overnight trip from Miri, we drove into heavy rains for about two hours. Below are pictures of our car driving through the thin and thick of a heavy downpour.  November's weather is of the extremes. Dry and hot one day and the next day the rains may pour endlessy.

Feather-leaved Palm Living in Water

From  the feathered-leaved palm tree and the conical roofs across is a distance of about 300 meters.

I clicked this shot today as I was sending my worker back to his village from work at my farm.

The two yellow boats on the left are deep sea trawlers and on the right are smaller coastal fishing boats.

This river is called the Kemena River and as a small boy I used to row a tiny boat to reach this side of the river ( foreground) with my brothers to collect firewood from the sawmill which were all free for the taking.  Our family used to live on the Bintulu town proper side of the river (where the conical roofs  are) in the 60's-70's.

The conical roofs take the shape of our local 'Terendak' , a working hat used by Melanau men and woman for shade against the sun and rain. The blue conical roofs are the wet and dry markets, whereas the green one in the far background ( towards the left) is the 'Tamu' or jungle produce market.

The peculiar palm tree in the foreground is our kind of riverside tree. It grows submerged in water. Called the 'Nipah' in our local Melanau dialect, it grows abundantly along both sides of the Kemena River for kilometers up river where the brackish water at high tide is saline and at low tide fresh.  Often people refer to it as the Mangrove Palm because it is prevalent in mangrove salty marshes or tidal mudflat areas.

A CU View of the Nipah Palm ( Nypa fruiticans)

A Candid Camera Shot

A candid shot indeed. The motorcylist rides a motobike without helmet. While driving does sms. And on all counts serious for the fact that the motorbike he's driving has a 'P' plate meant for learners who should avoid doing any traffic offences. In reality however I was trying to click on the tall tree called the 'Malay Apple ' tree or 'Jambu Bol' tree ( Syzygium malaccense ) that stood tall by the road. This tree is also referred to as the 'mountain apple ' in Hawaii or in their local tonque as 'Ohia'.

Deep Sea Trawler

I saw this deep sea trawler unloading its catch this morning at the Bintulu fishing wharf on the river bank of Bintulu town center. For generations Bintulu was known as a fishing village and the local Bintulu fishermen are almost all Melanaus. However with the coming of the deep sea trawlers the ship's crew are mainly people employed from outside Bintulu because the local Melanau fishermen prefer to go out to sea in their own traditional small fishing vessels like their forefathers before them. Deep sea trawlers appeared in the Bintulu fishing scene around fifteen years ago.

The delicious Terap fruit ( artocarpus odoratissimus Blanco)

It is called 'Terap' in Malay or 'Ong Lumok' in the local Melanau dialect. The flesh or aril is succulent, very sweet and has tiny seeds the size of groundnuts which can be roasted or fried as snacks for afternoon tea. Since last month and through to December this fruit are easily seen at the local jungle produce market in Bintulu. A fruit of the above size will normaly sell for RM 3. The skin has short,blunt and soft thorn-like covering but not pricky.

The 'terap' fruit tree is indeed tall, can reach 20 m high. Therefore to collect the fruit one has to climb the tree and pluck them from their end branches being cautious not to let them drop as once dropped the soft skin will be smashed and the fruits squashed and littered. The climbers will pluck semi ripe fruits and keep them for a day or two for ripening before they bring them to market.The leaves of the terap are large, about 30 - 40 cm long and 20-25 cm wide.

There are many varieties of the terap fruit with arils in colours of red and yellow.

Here's another variety with covering looking like rough hairs so is called 'Terap Bulu' ( artocarpus sericarpus)to mean hairy 'terap'.

The terap fruit comes from the same family as the breadfruit ( artocarpus communis Forst or its synonym: A.altilis) and is considered a staple fruit among the Pacific Islanders and many areas of South East Asia.

School's Out

This week the school term ended on the 15th of November and schools throughout Malaysia are now having the long end of year holiday . Already kids are frolicking in the mud playing football . As I watched them play in the late afternoon sun I remembered my days when I was a kid just like them too.

They reminded me now - Have Fun with Life.