CNY Cards

Well, they do send CNY cards still. Come next Monday the 26th of January, the Chinese community in Bintulu will be celebrating their new lunar year of the Ox. I saw these new year cards still available these days of internet, sms and ICT. I guess some traditonal ways have a uniqueness that stays with time. Probably it is the nostagia, sentimentalism and anticipation that these cards bring that they are still very much a part of the festivities.

Rainy Bintulu

Somerville Road in flash flood

The persistent winds and rains coupled with the king tide have caused a flash flood at Bintulu's banking street, Somerville Road.

I have not seen any such occurence since at least 20 years ago.

At the point of time the flash flood occurred the high tide at Bintulu reached a 6 m reading.

The newly renovated exterior of the Chinese temple in downtown Bintulu.

This picture is taken just after the rains have stopped and the carved walls appeared much darker grey than when dry.

The Tanjung tree ( Mimusops elengi ) opposite Pasar Utama.

I could hardly do much work outside or in the open this January and is easy to imagine how difficult it is for civil contractors to beat the weather in order to complete their projects in time. Going around Bintulu town and taking photographs from inside the car seems to be my favourite pastime in January. The above is a view of Tanjung trees that provide some shelter from the light shower. The ripe seeds are orange in colour, oval and about 2.5 cm long and it is from seeds that the tanjung trees are usually propagated.

The seeds are also very attractive to the birds.

The road leading to SMK Bintulu overhead bridge.

Fruit with hair-like appearance

It is the 'rambutan' fruit which in Malay means a fruit with plenty of hairs. These hairs are actually soft and the leathery skin covering is easily removed by just twisting it with our hands. To eat, just pop the fleshy white pulp in the mouth and once the flesh is consumed eject the seed.
The rambutan is also called' little clouds' because the word 'nephelium' in Greek means 'little clouds', to desccribe the succulent fleshy pulp. In full the botanical name is nephelium lappaceum. The above fruits are harvested today at my eco-farm and comes from a wild rambutan species tree of which there are a few in stock.

January Sky

There is something about today's sky over at my eco-farm in Bintulu. The white lining on the right and the light red colours on the left kept me wondering when the rains will fall on my roof tonight. Truly the rainy monsoon season is extending itself to the month of January, much to the delight of textbook writers. In our primary school schooling we were told that the rainy season will start from November right till February. Well, this year the rainy season follows the textbook. Like last month it rains daily, if not in the day then the nights would very very cold with the rains pouring non-stop from midnight till dawn.

Views of Sunset

Towards the end of December, the skies at my farm exhibited wonderful colours of the sunset. The top picture is a view looking West and below it is the view from outside my chalet towards a South -West direction.

Morning Mist

This is the view of the Kemena River very early in the morning, around 7.30 am with the morning mist having a light cover over the river. The small river craft to the right is called ' kapel tambang' which ferries the Kampung Jepak folks to work to the town proper everyday.
An adult is charged RM.50 per crossing. Ahead of the 'kapel tambang' is a small ferry that carries the kampung folks who ride motorycles to work. This morning the river is at low tide.


On the way out of my farm the other day, I was met by a heavy cover of morning mist though the time was about 7.00 am. The above view is taken before reaching the Kemena Bridge.

Bamboo for cooking vessel

These bamboo culms( stem) are from a species of bamboo normally cut for use as cooking vessel.

The kind of food that is stuffed inside these young bamboo stems are like glutinous rice, chicken meat or fish. At the Bintulu tamu yesterday I saw them being sold at RM 1 a piece.

In the hot and humid tropical rainforest of Bintulu , bamboos are a very important forest resource. The ways of using bamboo are very much left to imagination. Bamboos are used to build all parts of a house except the roof, where thatched palm leaves are the preference. There are made into suspension bridges, scaffoldings to reach dizzly heights to harvest bird's nest on the ceiling of caves, river rafts, furniture, handicrafts ( e.g. coin box,baskets,table mats,chopsticks, walking sticks, etc) and young bamboo buds are eaten as vegetables, so called ' bamboo shoots'. Bamboos are the tallest of all grasses, reaching 30 meters and more. And as seen in Chinese movies you can jump and run on top of bamboo trees to execute your kung fu kicks:)))