alindanaw

Damselfly Love!

2009-05-10T10:41:00.005+08:00

Just a photo to show the sweet side of nature. Being predators damselflies and dragonflies are ruthless killers of other insects, even their own kind. But when in love

they let you know by making the heart symbol! How sweet!

This damselfly species, Pseudagrion pilidorsum, is commonly found in streams and rivers in the Philippines and in Borneo. The red one on top is the male.

Tryke - Beijing Style!

2009-04-12T21:56:00.015+08:00

How does this compare to the trykes (motor tricycles) we see on the roads in the Philippines? Or the becak of Indonesia or the tuk-tuk of Thailand for that matter? Well this is the Beijing style. It's all covered up because I guess it would simply be too cold to travel in an open tricycle during the severe Northern Chinese winter.

Another big difference is of course the lack of colours, slogans and decorations that must inevitably adorn every Pinoy vehicle!

Strange Filipino Festival

2009-02-28T16:56:00.008+08:00

The Binalbal Festival is a unique celebration to welcome in the New Year for the townsfolk of Tudela, a town in Misamis Occidental in Mindanao, Philippines. On January 1st people come out wearing strange masks and outrageous outfits to represent what they think BALBAL look like. Balbal in the Bisaya language, are supernatural beings - ghosts, imps, fairy, witches, vampires, ogres if you like, so this celebration is something like Halloween on New Year Day! Why they celebrate these beings on this day, I don't know and am not able to find out!

Mud People

Posting of recent pictures and videos of the Binalbal (derived from the word Balbal) Festival on Youtube, Flickr and other websites reminded me that I had witnessed this festival way back on the first day of 2004. Here are some of the photos I took then.

Painted Faces

Wild Rabbits

2009-02-15T00:06:00.007+08:00

For a change from my usual tropical Asian subjects, in this post (written at 8 minutes after Valentine's Day) I have uploaded two photos of a temperate European animal. Nevertheless it is an animal every Southeast Asian child knows even though it's not a native of our region. The Rabbit. Or to be more precise the European Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) from which all domestic breeds of rabbits originate. Well, it is the first time in my life that I have seen and photographed rabbits in the wild. That was in late November of 2004 in the English countryside and it was quite an experience as rabbits are nocturnal and with a torchlight thats not so bright on a cold winter night it's quite a wonder that I managed to take any pictures at all!

What an exciting sight it was to see tens of these fluffy creatures running around in the moonlit field as I shone a light at them. To shoot them I had to balance my camera fitted with a heavy tele-lens and flash in one hand and a torch light in the other.

For Ken who was born in the year of the rabbit :)

Happy Valentine's

2009-02-07T20:24:00.002+08:00

Happy Valentine's everybody!

Trykes

2009-01-10T23:52:00.010+08:00

Another post about the unique forms of public transport in the Philippines...

You may think that a tricycle is a three-wheeled bicycle, but in the Philippines a tricycle or tryke is a motorcycle with an oversized side-car, designed for carrying passengers (and goods) from residential areas to towns or major thoroughfares where the passengers can subsequently board a jeep. Unlike the tuk-tuk of Thailand or the Indonesian becak, the passenger-carrying car is on the side of motorcycle, rather than behind it, making the tricycle almost as wide as a car.

Passengers ride not only in the sidecar, but also behind the driver ("backride"), legs dangling into oncoming traffic. Often the driver will have 3 people behind him in addition to the 4-6 in the side-car and be forced to steer his motorcycle while sitting on the tank. Incredibly he still manages to smoke and banter with the passengers while driving like this. Goods, luggage and even items of furniture are often lashed to the roof or a shelf at the back of the side-car.

Like the famous jeepneys trykes are also often elaborately decorated with designs, slogans, prayers and the names of the owner and his family.

Travellers will find that the designs of the tricycles are different in different towns or cities. My photos show the upward-slanting ("rocket") side-cars design unique to Pagadian City!

Habal-habal

2008-12-08T01:47:00.008+08:00

First time visitors to the Philippines would be much bewildered by the many different forms and styles of transport on the roads! Besides the famed jeepneys with their colourful paint and many adornments and embellishments which most foreigners would have heard or read about before stepping on Pinoy soil, and the equally colourful motor tricycles or trykes, they would drop their jaws at the sight of motorbikes carrying 3, 4, 5 or even more passengers! And with their passengers, both male and female, young and old, clutching bags full of vegetables, rice and live chickens ... wow it's better than watching the circus, dude! To Singaporeans and Malaysians who in their own countries would be totally scandalised by helmetless riders, what a shock this is! Apa macam ini!

Most would think a much-laden motorcycle is a family on an outing, few would know that they are in fact the taxis of the Filipino countryside where the roads are so bad that only motorbikes can pass through. And that the passengers are indeed paying passengers and not likely related to the guy (who considers himself a driver not rider) driving (never say riding) the bike! And they have a name for these rough-riding machines that rarely travel at less than full speed... habal-habal.

Even the word habal-habal, I was told comes from the term for canine sex! Well with imagination, I believe the passengers do look like they are doing that ??!! And even such a word gets accepted and in fact becomes changed to mean a thrilling motor ride losing its original insinuation of intercourse between dogs well... this is the Phillipines!

My photo is a very mild example as it shows a brand-new machine driven (not ridden) by a teenager (unlicensed) with his three young pasajeros (passengers) in town.

Tokay Tokay

2008-10-12T19:37:00.010+08:00

The Tokay Gecko (scientifically known as Gekko gecko) is a nocturnal tree-dwelling lizard ranging from northeast India and Bangladesh, throughout Southeast Asia to western New Guinea. Its native habitat is rainforest trees and cliffs, and it also frequently adapts to rural human habitations, roaming walls and ceilings at night in search of insect prey.

Although present in Malaysia it is rarely encountered there, in fact I've never seen one in Borneo. In the Philippines it is quite common, and many rural house have a resident Tokay. This photo of a single male is taken in a house in Pagadian.

Males are said to be very territorial, and will attack other males Tokays as well as other Gecko species. They are solitary and only meet during the mating season. Females lay clutches of one or two hard shelled eggs which are guarded until they hatch.

I took the second photo inside the historic Makahambus Cave in Cagayan de Oro in 2006. It seems the adults as well as a whole brood of youngsters are helping to guard the clutch of eggs!

Tokays are renowned for their their loud vocalizations. Their mating call, a loud croak, is variously described as sounding like tokeh or gek-ko where both the common and the scientific name as well as the family name Gekkonidae and the generic term gecko come from.

La Fuente

2008-09-14T17:12:00.005+08:00

When I stumbled upon this fountain in the middle of Cebu City little did I realize that this familiar looking monument is a famous landmark of the Philippines. And familiar? Well, look at a 50-peso note and it's there! So this is THE Fuente Osmena Park, which as parks goes is tiny - just a traffic island in a big roundabout but it has a huge historic and cultural significance to people of this city...

Interesting Fruit - Tiessa or Egg Fruit

2008-09-14T00:23:00.013+08:00

The Canistel or Egg Fruit is quite a common fruit in the Philippines where many other fruits of South American origin can also be found, no doubt introduced by the Spanish in the old days. In other Asian countries it is a rather rare curiousity. In the Philippines it's called Tiessa or Tisa or Chessa, another English names is Yellow Sapote as it belongs to the Sapote family or Sapotaceae. The species name is Pouteria camphechiana. In Malaysia where it seems to be a rather new introduction it's variously called Buah Mentega or Buah Lemak (meaning "Butter Fruit" or "Creamy Fruit" respectively). The ripe fruits are yellow and waxy skinned with a pulp that has the consistency of a hard-boiled egg yolk, hence its other name. The green fruit contain a sticky latex which disappear or at least lessen when the fruit is soft and fully ripe . Fruits can be highly variable in size and shape--ranging from round to pointed and ovaloid. They are usually eaten fresh out of hand but can also be used in custards, pies, milkshakes and other desserts.

Seed

The Lontar Palm

2008-08-02T23:04:00.005+08:00

On the road going south from Parepare to Makassar in South Sulawesi, I saw roadside stalls selling a kind of fruit that's new to me and I stopped to investigate. For sale, beside these apple-sized fruits are bottles of a clear whitish liquid.

It's the fruit of the palm known locally as Tala, or Lontar in Bahasa Indonesia. Botanically it's Borassus flabellifer, in English - the Asian Palmyra Palm, Toddy Palm or simply Sugar Palm. Like the coconut the fruits, florescence, leaves, wood and all parts of this palm are utilized by man.

The inside of the fruit contains an edible jelly-like flesh that taste like young coconut, and like the coconut the sugary sap (nira) obtained from the florescence can be drunk fresh - tastes like soda or Sprite to me - or can be fermented into a potent beverage called arak or toddy. It can also be cooked to make sugar called Gula Jawa widely used in Indonesian cuisine. In the Moslem regions of Indonesia nira is sold fresh in mineral water bottles when it is still sweet and before alcohol has formed.

Unusual Fruit - Sineguelas

2008-07-05T22:28:00.011+08:00

Well, this fruit is unusual if you don't live in the Philippines, or for that matter Mexico, or other parts of Central America where they originated. It's unusual though that it's totally unknown in Malaysia and nearby Indonesia.

I was introduced to Sineguelas by Mee when she brought some to Malaysia from Northern Mindanao almost ten years ago. And it was only this year that I saw it again in the market in Pagadian City! It is a very popular fruit in the whole of the Philippines, I learn. Though it's quite sweet when fully ripe, the folks there love to eat it under-ripe and sour rubbed with salt. Just like they do green mangos, santol, and other fruits! Just thinking about it will make me salivate!

Sineguelas or sigwelas as they call it in Mindanao is known as Jocote in Spanish and Spanish Plum in English and has the botanical name Spondias purpurea belonging to the Anarcardiaceae family of plants. It originated from Central and South America and was introduced to the Philippines by the Spaniards centuries ago. I was told that it is usually propagated vegetatively by cuttings or marcotting as the seeds do not germinate. In the fruiting season the leaves drop off leaving bunches or panicles of ripening fruits on the bare branches. It must be a sight to behold, though, alas I have never seen it. All I saw this season were a few remaining fruits among the thick new leaves. (See my photo below)

Glimpses of Sulawesi

2008-06-29T11:08:00.008+08:00

In this post I would like to share two snap shots from South Sulawesi, Indonesia. They were taken in a small village called Desa Lagori up in the hills somewhere near Watampone (more commonly known as Bone). After a good night's sleep in a village house surround by cocoa trees I woke up to a wet morning with fresh crispy clean air and while my travel companions continued their snooze two young boys guided me to the nearest air terjun (waterfall), there were many others in the area, I was told. Like the boys, on my feet I was only wearing rubber slippers, but luckily I had my compact Coolpix S8 with me.To capture the water motion in this shot I set the mode to "Fireworks" in the scene menu and placed the camera on my hat on a rock and use the self-timer so as not to shake the camera. :)

My two young guides at the top of the stream, urging me to climb higher, "ada lagi di atas, Pak!" (there are more (waterfalls) up there!).

Crossing The Line

2008-05-07T00:04:00.010+08:00

I crossed the Equator for the first time during my recent voyage from Tawau, Sabah in Malaysian Borneo to Makassar, South Sulawesi in Indonesia by ship.In the old days of sailing ships people "crossing the line" for the first time observed some strange traditions!

"The ceremony of Crossing the Line is an initiation rite in the Royal navy, U S Navy and other navies which commemorates a sailor's first crossing of the Equator. Originally the tradition was created as a test for seasoned sailors to ensure their new shipmates were capable of handling long rough times at sea. Sailors who have already crossed the equator are nicknamed (Trusty) Shellbacks, often referred to as Sons of Neptune; those who have not are nicknamed (Slimy) Pollywogs." (Wikipedia)

However on the Indonesian ferry K M Tidar I invited myself to the bridge as it nears the Port of Pantoloan and the Chief Mate kindly showed me the GPS Navigator as the latitude reading turned 0 deg. 0' 000" as it cruised south on the Strait of Makassar. Wow, I've crossed the magical Equator into the Southern Hemisphere!

Moth Orchid of Mindanao

2008-03-30T15:50:00.006+08:00

I have had this beautiful Phalaenopsis for more than ten years in my garden in Malaysia without knowing what species it was until today when I posted my query on a internet gardening forum - http://www.greenculturesg.com/. It turns out to be Phalaenopsis stuartiana that originated from the jungles of Mindanao!

I was given a big branch full of baby plants (or keikis) of this orchid around 1998 and I tied it to a tree and let the plants spread. Even though I fully neglected it being a rather lazy gardener, it rewarded me with spikes of beautiful white blooms every once in a while, sometimes up to a hundred flowers. As the tree on which I first grew it toppled, I transfered the plants and keikis to other trees and gave some away. The photos in this post are of a recently transfered plant growing on my star-apple tree that has just flowered for the first time.

Phal. stuartiana has medium sized flowers and beautifully marbled and barred leaves, the flowers look very much like the more well-known Moon or Moth Orchid - Phal. amabilis - which has bigger flowers and plain green leaves and which is more difficult to grow. It grows quite readily when attached to living tree trunks in the shade and soon forms many plantlets; in favourable conditions it produces many flower spikes on which the open flowers look like dancing white moths.

Maya Pula

2008-03-23T14:44:00.004+08:00

I was delighted when I received my February copy of the National Geographic and found 2 favourite subjects featured - the Philippine Eagle and the haiku master Basho. The former prompted me to write this post, but not on the Bird King (Haring Ibon, Haribon) itself but his humbler predecessor, the former-reigning national bird of the Philippines no less, the Maya Pula! I have still not seen my first Philippine Eagle yet, and so don't have my own photo of it- and still remains high on my must-see list. The Black-headed Munia aka Chestnut Munia is called Maya Pula (Red Maya) to distinguish it from the Eurasian Tree Sparrow which is also called Maya in the Philippines, just as it is commonly called Pipit Merah in Malaysia where all sparrows are called Pipit. Scientifically it's Lonchura malacca, though lately many ornithologists classify it as a different species Lonchura atricapilla.

Up close it is a handsome bird though small, it's not so surprising that Filipinos in the past chose it as a national bird, maybe also because these birds also demand and extract a tax from the harvest of the rice farmers who are still rather powerless to keep them off their fields!

My second photo shows a "small" flock in a rice field in Sabah, but huge flocks are quite common and spectacular to watch in flight.

Dancing Girl

2008-03-03T04:02:00.005+08:00

This was one of my first attempts at making an ani-gif file way back in 1999. I just took a series of shots of Say dancing and used an ani-gif program to put it all together. I've since lost that software and had not been able to find a better and as easy to use program.
Imagine how this young lady would look today!

Strange Parrot

2008-02-23T22:37:00.003+08:00

Another parrot post!

On a quiet July evening last year I was attracted by strange parrot-like calls just outside my house in Pagadian. I quickly grabbed my camera and ran out followed by the rest of the surprised family! Outside on the power line we saw a parrot that I've never seen before and quickly took some shots! Being the newbie birder in these parts I thought I had bagged an endemic Mindanao species and quickly emailed off a photo to the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines WBCP president for confirmation!

However he replied that it was definitely an escaped pet African Lovebird....?!!!? Aw, maoba??

Blue-naped Parrot

2008-01-19T22:15:00.000+08:00

This lovely green parrot would have qualified as one of the 60-odd species of ENDEMIC birds of the Philippines (i.e. species found nowhere else in the world) were it not for a small colony that live and breed among the casuarina trees on Tanjung Aru Beach in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah (Borneo)! So now it is relegated to a mere NEAR-ENDEMIC! Many believe that this group of birds in Kota Kinabalu are actually descended from pet birds brought over from the Philippines as they are very popular pets there.

The photo on top was in fact that of a pet caged bird taken in Zamboanga City by Ken using a Nikon Coolpix digital camera when he was only 5 years old (in May 2005)! He had stuck the lens in between the cage wires and snapped this perfectly sharp shot. When I received the photo by email I just digitally removed the background and signs of the cage and add a frame. I also thought it's a photo of one of the small hanging parrots, (called Colasisi in the Philippines) which are also popular cage birds, until a well-known Filipino bird photographer pointed out to me that it's a Blue-naped Parrot! (How embarrassing!)

I have since gone to Tanjung Aru Beach and successfully taken some shots of this once-endemic beauty of the P. I. They seem to be doing well there, with quite a large number of them to be seen busily and very noisily, squawking loudly, flying from tree to tree and building nests in crevices on the trees oblivious to the bathers and picnickers below.

Photo of one of the Tanjung Aru birds >

Auld Lang Syne

2007-12-29T19:41:00.000+08:00

As we prepare to send off 2007 and welcome in the new year a familiar song will be heard once again around the world after the month or two of incessant Christmasy songs and jingles.

Auld Lang Syne is surely one of the most well known songs in the world, not only in English-speaking countries but in many non-English-speaking countries like Japan, Thailand and Taiwan as well. Almost everybody knows the tune and has sung it (or part of it) at one time or another, but how many know the words beyond the first stanza and the chorus? Like many other frequently sung songs, the melody is better remembered than the words, which are often sung incorrectly, and seldom in full.

Well here are the complete lyrics:

Auld Lang Syne

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days o’ lang syne?

Chorus:

For auld lang syne, my dear
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet
For auld lang syne!

We twa hae rin about the braes,
And pu’d the gowans fine,
But we’ve wander’d monie a weary fit
Sin’ auld lang syne.

We twa hae paidl’t i’ the burn
Frae mornin’ sun till dine,
But seas between us braid hae roar’d
Sin’ auld lang syne.

And here’s a hand, my trusty fiere,
And gie’s a hand o’ thine,
We’ll tak a right guid-willie waught
For auld lang syne!

And surely ye’ll be your pint-stowp,
And surely I’ll be mine!
And we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet
For auld lang syne!

What do those strange words mean? Well, it's in Scots and the song's title literally means "Old Long Since", that is "Long Long Ago", "Days Gone By" or if you like, simply "The Good Old Days"!

The song, or at least part of it was written and published by Robert Burns the Scottish poet in the late 1700's though an older version had existed long before him. Singing the song on Hogmanay or New Year's Day very quickly became a Scots custom, which soon spread to other parts of the British Isles. As Scots and other Britons emigrated around the world, they took the song with them.

One translation in plain English goes like this:

Times Long Gone

Should old acquaintances be forgotten,
And never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintances be forgotten,
And days of long ago !

Chorus:

For old long ago, my dear
For old long ago,
We will take a cup of kindness yet
For old long ago.

We two have run about the hillsides
And pulled the daisies fine,
But we have wandered many a weary foot
For old long ago.

We two have paddled (waded) in the stream
From morning until dinner time,
But seas between us broad have roared
Since old long ago.

And here’s a hand, my trusty friend,
And give us a hand of yours,
And we will take a goodwill draught (of ale)
For old long ago!

And surely you will pay for your pint,
And surely I will pay for mine!
And we will take a cup of kindness yet
For old long ago!

STOP THIS PHILIPPINE ENDEMIC BIRD MASSACRE !!!

2007-12-10T23:21:00.000+08:00

Hi Esteemed Visitors,

Today I received an email from my friend Mike Lu who's the president of the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines www.birdwatch.ph

It begins like this:

"Dear Friends
I seldom ask my friends to sign petitions or join signature campaigns
but this is horrible ! Please check out the petition site to see the links
and the photos of dead birds. To think that hunting is already illegal
in the Philippines, yet this is a nationwide network !...."

So my friends who are lovers of nature click on this link and sign the petition! It's unbelievable that there are still so many who thinks nothing of killing hundreds of birds just for fun! If we don't stop these monsters the next generation will not be able to see many of the beautiful birds and other animals that we still have now!

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/revolting-local-bird-massacre-website

Thanks & Merry Christmas,
Alindanaw

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2007-12-09T13:13:00.001+08:00

Giant Mosquito?

2007-12-05T19:19:00.000+08:00

Mee, knowing my interest in insects and other creepy-crawlies, always takes pictures of unusual creatures that she comes across and sends them to me - millipedes, golden bugs, birds that flew into the house and most recently she sent me via Yahoo! IM a photo of what she said was a Gaint Mosquito found sharing her shower! I could imagine the scene in my mind - which inspired this cartoon :)

As for the Big Mozzie, well at a glance it does look like a huge mosquito, but on closer inspection it doesn’t have a piercing, blood-sucking syringe and so it isn’t one. It is in fact a crane fly in the Tipulidae family, which like mosquitoes, also belongs to the insect order Diptera.

Crane flies are large long-winged, long-legged and slim-bodied flies, their legs are easily detached (the one in the photo has lost 2 legs). There are thousands of species of crane flies known to science, however most adult crane flies are harmless to human but the immatures (larvae) of some species that live in the soil are serious pest of crops, the larvae of most species are aquatic.

The Loathsome Baki

2007-11-25T19:46:00.000+08:00

The cane toad (Bufo marinus) is so common and ubiquitous in the Philippines that most people would think that it's a native of this country. In fact it was introduced into the country 73 years ago and had adapted so well that it can now be found in almost every corner of the country.

A number of these toads or frogs were imported from the Hawaii Sugar Planters' Association on Oahu, Hawaii to Manila in March 1934 and released in sugar plantations to control insect pests. Releases were also made in Negros in 1935-36, in Panay and Guimaras in 1936-39 and in 1949 they were taken to Cotabato. Some were taken from Dumaguete and released in Zamboanga City and Davao in the 1950s.

Whether the toads were successful in doing the job they were originally brought in to do or not was not known as there were no study or data available regarding their success or failure in controlling noxious insects.

However these toads themselves are poisonous and they eat almost anything that are small enough to fit in their mouths - insects, other frogs, small mammals and birds even the food people put out for their pets! They have poison glands behind their eyes from which a milky toxic secretion is produced when they are attacked or handled. This substance is dangerous to all species including humans. Contact with it causes burning in the eyes and hands and skin irritation in people, while ingestion could be fatal. Animals like cats and dogs, snakes and monitor lizards that eat or try to eat a cane toad often die of poisoning. Therefore it was thought that these aliens creatures kill many wild as well as domestic animals and may have caused the decline of many native animals both by devouring them and by their poison.

In Australia where cane toads were introduced for the same reasons in 1935, there are much evidence of the havoc they have wrecked on the native animals as well great nuisance to people. Much effort had been and is being spent in an unending battle to stop their spread in the whole
of Australia.
The Bisaya word for the Cane Toad, aka Marine Toad aka Gaint Toad/Frog is Baki. I wonder why the Tagalogs give it such a noble name - Palakang Nazareth??

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Some related blogs with Baki posts:
http://galaxyofemptiness.blogspot.com/2007/03/poisonous-loathesome-toad.html
http://bayangpinagpala.blogspot.com/2007/03/cane-frog-palakang-nazareth.html

Asam Pedas

2007-11-18T15:50:00.000+08:00

Even for those from other parts of the planet, the red stuff in the photo requires no introduction, but those green fruits are called camias (kamias. kamyas) or iba in the Philippines and are incredibly sour, still some people enjoy them just like that – raw. In Malaysia they are called belimbing asam or sour belimbing to distinguish them from the sweet belimbing manis also known in English as starfruit. Camias does not have an English name but they are commonly referred to as Sour Carambola or even sometimes Sour Cucumber Tree (as the fruits do look like mini cucumbers! But fancy cucumbers growing on trees!). (Photo taken by Mee)

Aside from being eaten raw (!) camias is mainly added to dishes that need some sourness to it like in some fish recipes as well as in salads, pickles and some curries.

A favorite recipe of my mother is to make it into a kind of sambal (side dish) with pounded or ground-up dried shrimps. A quantity of camias is rouhly chopped up. A handful of finely cut garlic and shallot and lots of pounded red hot (pungent) chillis are fried in hot oil together with dried shrimps until fragrant. (At this stage get ready the handkerchief or tissues for the tears and sneezes!!) A small piece of lightly toasted and pounded belachan (Malaysian shrimp paste) may also be added for its flavor. The camias is put in together with the other ingredients last and the mixture sauteed until done. If a large quantity is made some of it may be put in jars and kept in the fridge until required.

Scientific name of camias is Averrhoa bilimbi.
Asampedas means sour and hot (pungent) in Malay.

Talking Cock!

2007-11-17T22:45:00.000+08:00

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When I was in primary school our English teacher taught us that the cow said "Moo!", the dog barked, "Bow-wow!", the duck said, "Quack!" and the cock crowed, "Cock-a-doodle-doo!"

Have you ever wondered what the cock says in other countries?

Well, in Malay it simply says "Kokok!", in Chinese Mandarin they hear him say, "Gou gou!", while to the Cantonese it's "gokogoko". The Thais insist that it says "ake-e-ake-ake!" The Indonesian: "Kikeriku!" which incredibly is almost the same as the Germans' "Kikeriki!".The Spaniards, "Kikiriki!" and the French: "Cocorico!" The Tagalogs in the northern Philippines say "Kokaok!"

I think nobody can beat the English, except maybe the Cebuano Bisayas who wake up in the morning to the tune of "Tok-to-ga-uk!"

Bisaya of Borneo

2007-11-10T22:18:00.000+08:00

DO you know that there’s a small indigenous group of people called the Bisaya in Borneo? Many people think that they are decended from people from the Visayas who came here in ancient times but little is known of their history. However a comparison with Cebuano Bisaya vocabulary shows that the language bears few similarities, most of which are more related to Kadazan-Dusun and Murut of Sabah than the Bisaya of the Philippines.

These people live in an area shared between the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak and the Sultanate of Brunei, with the majority of them in Sabah. The majority of the Bisaya in Sabah are Muslims engaged in wet rice planting while in Sarawak most of them practise a native religion and have their own ceremonies and festivals. Some of the Bisaya are converted to Christianity.

In Sabah the Bisaya celebrate the annual Harvest Festival together with the Kadazan-Dusuns, Muruts and other ethnic groups. On this ocassion members of all the different groups gather together dressed in their unique costumes at the appointed celebration ground performing cultural dances and songs and sharing with the rest of the population.

Photo shows young Sabah Bisayans in their predominantly black
costume during the 2005 Harvest Festival in Kota Kinabalu.

Dragonfly Haiku

2007-11-10T14:20:00.000+08:00

ONE of my favourite haikus is by the 18th century Japanese poet Issa (一茶) (1763-1828) who writes many poems about the little living things that he sees every day - birds, frogs, snails, spiders and insects. There's hardly a tiny creature that Issa does not write about. Issa may not know how, but he does know that each of these creatures finds some kind of happiness in life:

赤蜻蛉
かれも夕が
好じゃやら

aka tombô
kare mo yûbe ga
suki ja yara

The red dragonfly -
In some way or another
He likes the evening too.

To know what a haiku is here's a good link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiku
Visit this super site to read more of Issa's haiku or to learn more about the great master http://haikuguy.com/issa/aboutissa.html

Cut vs. Uncut

2007-11-03T15:36:00.001+08:00

Perhaps half the world’s male population are circumcised and the majority of those who undergo circumcision do it for their religious belief while the rest have it done to follow cultural tradition, for personal hygiene, and some out of medical necessity. Yet there are also some, perhaps only a small minority, who do it because they are into body-modification or enhancement (read “disfigurement”), as an extension of body-piercing, and other more extreme forms of self-multilation; also, there are those who solely seek to enhance their sexual performance.

Many studies conducted by social and medical bodies, both in the past and very recently indicated that circumcision helped in preventing or reducing sexually transmitted diseases including HIV-Aids. Health workers in highly affected areas of the world therefore encourage men and boys to undergo circumcision as part of their fight against these infectious diseases. However the pros and cons of this minor surgery are still equally and hotly debated.

Human nature being what it is, we naturally expect some followers of religions and sects that require circumcision to regard themselves as somehow superior to those who are uncut and whom they consider unpurified, calling them non-believers, kafirs, gentiles or other similar names, depending on who the name-callers are. It is however a little surprising that some cultures who practice it for essentially non-religious reasons have special words to describe those with naturally intact foreskins! A good example is the Bisaya word “Pisot” which simply means “uncircumcised” but which is almost always used rather unkindly or mockingly! (The Tagalog equavalent is “supot”).

The following Bisaya joke is a good illustration of such discrimination against foreskin!:

Asawa: Biyaan na' taka wah' kay pulus tapulan!

Bana: Suwaye buhaton na nimo maglas-las ko!

Asawa: Bot-bot! Mag LAS-LAS KA? hadlok gani ka patuli mag las-las pa? PISOT!

Wife: I’m leaving you, u r a lazy good-for-nothing!

Husband: If u do that I’ll cut my wrist!

Wife: What a joke! CUT YOUR WRIST? You are even afraid to to get circumcised, dare you cut your own wrist? You uncircumcised (PISOT)!

Hong Ching Ting

2007-10-27T18:07:00.000+08:00

I came across this quaint little Chinese nursery rhyme about dragonflies.

It sounds like this:

Hong ching-ting,

ching ching ting.

Shih shang ching ching ting,

shui shang ching ching ting,

feng li ching ching ting.

which I think looks like this in Chinese characters

红蜻蜓

轻轻停 (or 青蜻蜓 )

石上轻轻停

水上轻轻停

风里轻轻停

The following is my translation:

Red dragonflies

gently stop (or green dragonflies)

On the rocks gently they stop;

on the water gently they stop;

in the breeze gently they stop.

*anigif of dragonfly - thanks to Tagtooga.com

Dragonfly Cartoon 1 - Hagar

2007-10-27T16:06:00.001+08:00

Cartoon copyright by King Features Syndicate, Inc.

Bottle of Bliss

2007-10-14T00:21:00.000+08:00

THIS is a bottle of actively - almost violently - bubbling, wonderfully sweet, thirst-quenching, happily intoxicating and naturally produced, therefore organic, drink called TUBA in the Philippines (sometimes LAMBANOG), aka BAHAR in Sabah and TUAK and TODDY (elsewhere in Malaysia). To Indians it's KALLU (கள்ளு) (കള്ള്) and Chinese drinkers call it YE JIU (椰酒) or YE HUA JIU (椰花酒) . It's made from the sap that oozes out of the flower (inflorescence) of the coconut palm when it is cut (a process known as tapping).

This sweet white sap is collected in a container attached to the flower stump and begins fermenting almost as soon as it is tapped due to natural yeasts in the air (spurred by residual yeast left in the collecting container). Within two hours, fermentation yields an aromatic and sweet beer-strength wine of up to 4% alcohol content. When allowed to ferment longer, up to a day, a stronger and more acidic drink which some people prefer is produced. Longer fermentation, however, produces vinegar which can only be used in cooking instead of stronger wine!

Thank you Mee for buying and sharing this bottle of bliss with me! ;)

Cikcak

2007-10-07T20:33:00.001+08:00

WE who live in the tropics are so used to sharing our houses with the house gecko that we hardly notice them. It's usually only when they land their black and white droppings onto our belongings or even on us(!) that we curse them or try to chase them out - or worse when one of them lands on us! (Just imagine the fun if you're only an onlooker!) Otherwise we (lizard and us) co-exist quite peacefully. I think they do notice us though, and even listen to our conversation sometimes, busy-body lot they are! When they agree with what we say they will "chak-chak-chak" away, and as an "Amen" the superstitious among us would quickly knock on wood.

Well, the Malay name for them is cikcak, no doubt from the sound they make. The Bisayan people call them (as far as I know, not being one of them) butiki, also, I think, mimicking their retilian sound which they hear as "tiki, tiki, tiki" (I believe different people hear sounds differently from one another!). The Chinese however have a more noble name for these ninjas that climb walls and walk on ceilings! They call them 壁虎 pi-hu or "wall-tigers"! Which I think is not quite right, look at the close-up photo I took of one of these creatures! Doesn't it remind you more of a crocodile than a tiger? So I think they should be called "wall crocs" instead!

My 1st Post

2007-09-30T09:22:00.000+08:00

Bonvenon al mia unua blogo! Welcome!

This is not a blog only about dragonflies, nor about insects or wildlife, or esperanto, it's about everything or can be about anything, depending on what the blogger needs to wash out of his brain at the moment in time when he puts fingertips to keyboard!

Saluton to my polyglot friends! What do you call a dragonfly in your own language? I try to make a list in the languages that I speak or at least know a few words of. I'm surprised that I don't (or didn't until just now) know, even in dialects and languages that I'm fluent in!

I know some languages or dialects or even people of different localities in whatever language have different words for dragonfly and damselfly as in English. But for my purpose I would like to consider all members of the Odonata Order as Dragonfly to simplify things.

The list, in no particular order (therefore no favouritism shown to any particular tongue):

Dragonfly (english), Ching-ting 蜻蜓(chinese-putonghua), Pepatung or Patung-patung (bahasa malaysia - just found out!), Tutubi (tagalog), Alindanaw (cebuano), Libelo (esperanto), Tombo とんぼ (japanese).

That's all I can list without cheating (i.e. googling!)

I will try to add to the list in future posts, and would appreciate if any kind souls who chance upon this blog of mine may want to help add his or her word to the list.