Travel Series: An Evening @ Morib Beach

This blog was started with the main intention of blogging about my attempts at gardening and embracing Mother Nature.

I have since discovered various bloggers who are SO MUCH MORE better at gardening and chronicling their attempts on their sites...and, here's the clincher, regularly updating too! *eyes cast downward sheepishly*

So, I thought starting 'Travel Series' would be a good diversion alternative, while I desperately search my garden for something interesting to post!!

So, dear readers, I hope you approve. *cricket sounds*  Err, hello? Anyone there?

Anyways, my Paya Indah Wetlands post was the 1st under 'Travel Series'. Now, let me take you to Morib Beach located in Selangor state. Morib Beach faces the Malacca Strait, arguably one of the narrowest and busiest sea straits in the world. On a clear day, I'm sure it's possible to catch a glimpse of parts of Indonesia's Sumatra island on the opposite side.

I've visited Morib Beach as a child and remembered walking along damaged concrete paths leading to the beach which was mostly covered with boulders, gravel and pebbles. Any patches of sand found were light-brown in colour and were not fine nor sand-like.

Thus, I was pleasantly surprised to find present day Morib Beach nicely spruced up with modern amenities and a paved concrete promenade built right up to the beach-line. However, the sand quality remains the same though, haha!

It's a popular spot for couples, families and children to spend time together...there's just something in the salty sea air, cool sea breeze, stinky mud flats, tiny scuttling crabs digging holes in the mud and poking the mud flats for cockles that keep drawing the crowds back time and again.

Morib Beach is not only popular with HUMAN visitors, it is also enjoyed by this family of monkeys! In fact, they have discovered the PERFECT spot to admire the sights...on top of the many matured Casuarina trees grown at the fringe of the promenade/beach line.

 Here's a look of the beach at low-tide. The sea is way way far out there.

We found this sand sculpture made complete with coconut husks, twigs, cockle shells and a garland of creeping plant! That tiny hole towards the bottom of the 'pyramid' was dug by a tiny crab trapped inside the sand! This was found further along the beach where the sand quality was comparatively much better!

One could even catch both the moon and sun appearing at the same time. Turning to my right, I got a picture of the setting sun and turning to the left, yielded a glimpse of the rising moon.

What else is there to do at the beach, you ask? Well, there are a few food kiosks offering fresh seafood. You just choose which seafood you want to sink your teeth into and the style of cooking the same. Sit down, relax with a drink or 2 while enjoying the sea breeze and before long, the chef would have whipped up a yummy dinner/supper for you to enjoy! 

  

While waiting for dinner to be cooked, restless kids could play at the nearby children's playground or pretend-play at being fishermen netting a gigantic conch (?) seashell (made of fibre-glass!)!

All in, we had a pleasant time and was glad to catch this beautiful view!  

Travel Series: An Afternoon @ Paya Indah Wetlands

Hello everyone!!

It has been slow going in the garden these past months with hardly anything worth showing or blogging about here.

Instead of gardening, I have been doing a bit of "in-bound" traveling in Malaysia, mainly on weekend day-trips visiting some places of interest with my family.

The 1st place we visited was Paya Indah Wetlands in the State of Selangor. 

A 'wetland' is primarily an area usually saturated with water and with its own ecosystem [go here for more information] Paya Indah Wetlands is mainly a mangrove wetland with freshwater catchments.

And what did we see/do there ?

From the top picture clockwise:

• a freshwater lake filled to the brim with blooming and healthy lotus plants! The water level was low and I could see the muddy bottom.
• close up of a lotus seed pod.
• bird's eye view of a section of the wetlands from a look-out tower.

I found the leave of this plant interesting for its reddish bubble-like protrusions. The blobs were quite hard and did not yield when I pressed on one. Maybe it is diseased? 

This tall & skinny bird really gave off a chilling-aura!! It was just calmly, and I MUST add, menacingly, eye-ing my family the whole time we stood outside its cage. I think its a type of vulture (unfortunately, there wasn't any write-up/signboard). There was another bird sitting on the floor to the left of this scary bird.

UPDATE: Thanks to Denise, this bird is identified as a Marabou Stork, also called, much more aptly in my opinion, an 'Undertaker Bird' (Leptoptilos crumeniferus).

A pair of pelicans chilling-out by the muddy lake. They share the lake with a goose and some ducks.

Hey, the calm of this lake is disturbed by air bubbles popping at the surface!  What's underneath?

A monster with a horse-like head??

Aha, mystery solved! A family of African hippopotamus(es?). There are 3 of them, 2 female and a male...all flew to Malaysia in an Army plane a few years back from Africa. In Greek, the word "hippopotamus" (Hippopotamus amphibius) means 'river horse'. They excrete a red oily substance from their skin to protect themselves from the sun.

Two hippos emerged from the lake, a big male and a smaller female (at the far end in the picture). Where's the other female hippo?

It was inside the concrete enclosure nursing a BABY hippo!! You can JUST make out its small snout behind the iron grill sniffing out a greeting to its daddy!

There is another lake opposite the "hippo" lake housing about 16 river crocodiles. Sorry, I forgot to take pictures of the crocs...but they were magnificient and were just lolling about catching the last rays of sunshine.

Paya Indah Wetlands is a big place and only a small section of it is open to the public with the rest off-limits and for research purposes only. Entry to the park is currently free but one needs to register self at the counter. 

If you are visiting soon, please DO pack some snacks/food and drinks as there is only 1 food kiosk in the park!

Pretty flowers from weeds?

Recently, I came across this weed growing from a side pavement and under a mature tree.

It was the only weed clump within that area full of wild grass, rocks and gravel. I was initially struck by its deep green foliage and its spreading (growing) habit.

Then, I noticed a small red flower peeping out between the leaves. Upon crouching down for a closer inspection, its actually a single flower stalk with lots of flowers buds and tiny pinkish red flowers opening up beginning from the bottom!

Such pretty flowers from a weed, I certainly didn't expect that! Henceforth, I'll make sure to give weeds a closer inspection :)

Junks & Such: Re-adapted

I have a confession to make: I am a certified 'hoarder'! 

Anything and everything that remotely look like it can be re-used or re-adapted for another use will be put aside & stored in a corner gathering dust until called to 'service'....which may happen within days or typically, years later!!  :-)

Take for example the items in the above picture- a plastic soda bottle, multi-coloured sticks of plastic balloon holders, fabric/nylon handles from paper carry-bags, a discarded wheel from a kid bicycle and wires from toy packaging.

They were re-adapted into:

Soda bottle -> Pot for water plant

Balloon holders -> Finger puppet holder

Wires/Nylon Strings -> Plant ties / fashioned into a hanger

Bicycle Wheel -> Base for Christmas wreath

Have a cracked or missing-the-cover tea pot lying around? Don't throw it away....it'll make a great vase for dry/artificial flowers or as a flower pot holder!

There's a wooden chair missing a leg or two?? Well, the seat of the chair may well be the next cosy 'home' for a Disc Staghorn Fern (Platycerium coronarium)!

Don't know what to do with the coconut husk that comes with the coconut? Well, turn it into a host for a Bird's Nest Fern (Asplenium nidus). Alternatively, put it into the compost heap!

 

Extra bamboo stakes from the veg plot? Turn it into a pole for hanging flower pots or as part of a flower arrangement.

Just installed an ultra modern shower cubicle in the bathroom? Don't throw away the old bath tub!! Plugged it up and turn into a "pond" instead! Or perhaps an open top compost bin.

 

An old large container with a hole in the bottom can be turned into a compost bin and is the ideal size for a small & narrow garden, like mine. And a clay drain pipe is just the thing as a flower pot stand! :-)

I get a real buzz when a 'junk' in my, ermm extensive collection, is re-adapted  and used for something else entirely :-)  (eg. bird feeder 'manual')


Do you have any re-adapted uses for 'junk' ideas to share? I would LOVE to hear it : -)
 

Angelic Trumpets- Delicate & Beautiful

There are 2 plants in the garden that I tend to coddle and give special attention to... a lotus plant and a brugmansia, commonly known as Angel's Trumpet.

Copyright of Tom Murphy VII, image taken from Wikimedia Commons

Angel's Trumpet are from the genus Brugmansia, family Solanaceae and native to tropical South America. Their name refers to the large, pendulous (hanging-down/drooping) flowers which are fragrant, especially in the evening. Though closely related to the genus Datura and often mistaken for one another, Brugmansia are mid-sized semi-woody trees/shrubs while Datura are herbaceous shrubs with erect flowers (ie. growing upwards).

Flowers can measure up to 20 inches long and come in varying colours and shades usually white, yellow, pink, peach, orange and are either petaled singly, doubled or more. It needs moist, fertile and well-drained soil and grown either in the sun or part shade. It can be planted in the ground or in pots and grow from seeds or cuttings.

However, do take note that the whole plant is poisonous and highly toxic, especially its seeds and leaves. Great care is required to dispose of spent leaves and tree parts to make it safer for children and pets.

In Malaysia, they are usually found in the highlands, where the weather is cooler and wetter, growing on mounds of elevated soil, beside drains or streams...perhaps the latter is due to the ground being more fertile. 

I have only seen a mature tree growing well in our lowlands once, in a housing estate in Klang, Selangor under a tall tree whose canopy of leaves protected the 'trumpet' from strong winds and harsh sunlight. Unfortunately, that beautiful tree has since been chopped down :(

Copyright of Jan Smith, image taken from Wikimedia Commons

The first time I laid eyes on a 'trumpet' in all its blooming glory was in Cameron Highlands on the grounds of a colonial era church/kindergarten building on a hilltop. All those gorgeous pendulous yellowish white regal blooms gently nodding and swaying in the breeze while scenting the air with their fragrance is a sight I will remember a long long time :)

Straggly growth, cramped roots & barely hanging on leaves!

My Trumpet was err, 'harvested' by cutting a mature branch from a mid-sized tree growing on the roadside in Fraser's Hill about 4 years ago. So far, it has produced ONE white flower for my enjoyment (sob!sob!) A single flower in 4 years...DEFINITELY not too successful :(

where are the flower buds?

After each round of fertilising and top-off with fresh compost, lots of new flower buds emerge but these tend to dry-up and drop. Ditto for new leaves which will turn yellow and drop. It is a tropical plant and requires lots of sunshine, but when placed directly under our hot Malaysian sun, the whole tree wilts dramatically! But when in shade, only the leaves get big and thrive with nary a sight of blooms! It is a tricky plant to grow in our lowlands where the air is much drier and hotter.

spacious new home :)

I am desperate to see Trumpet blooming again. So recently, it was moved into a bigger "house" with fresh compost and fertiliser and placed in another corner of the porch. It seems to be happier and is putting forth new shoots from the soil level and fresh leaves...but no sign of flowers buds yet. Trumpet needs to be feed up to 2-3 times a week and as an extra, I've been putting in an inch of fresh compost every fortnight too :D

 

New growth :)

Trumpet's new look

So, please bloom 'Trumpet'! No need to be shy now...be an angel and bloom prettily okay ?!