during our visit to bako national park in february 2011, one of the highlights was the sighting of proboscis monkeys, an endemic species only found in borneo. our first day was a letdown as our only zoological encounters were the macaques and the wild boars. however, on our 2nd and final day, while waiting for our boatman, we came across this male and his harem next to the cafetaria. he half-heartedly acknowledged our presence by giving this pose.
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other than tembusu trees, kapur trees are my favourite in malaysia. they are usually confined to the east coast from terengganu to johor except for a few patches of forests in selangor. taken at noon in october 2009, these kapur trees (which have fine conical crown when they are young) were captured from the entrance to taman komanwel, facing northwest towards rawang, near templer’s park in selangor.
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i miss this place. morning of eid day 2 in september 2009.
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another pleasure hunt of some sort, organised way back in late 2010 came fruitful yesterday when 13 of my work colleagues took the day off from work and joined in our excursion to explore pulau intan, at the southern tip of tanjung tuan (formerly known as cape rachado) in melaka. we had to walk 1 km through dipterocarp forest before reaching the lighthouse and descended on a 300m steep track to reach the secluded beach, famous for its razor sharp rocks and rare green schist granite. and i also learned that i need to send my dslr for cleaning service. noon march 2011.
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on an early morning in june 2010, the morning before i visited lake mapourika (here), while the kids were still sleeping, i made up my mind to see for myself the infamous franz josef glacier, at westland national park, which we missed the previous day. at dawn, i drove alone from the rented room to the parking area, and subsequently walked for about 15 minutes, or 1.1 km in semi darkness through shrub forest sprinkled with pakihi vegetation and podocarps towards what is known as peters pool, a kettle lake that was formed by ice melting amongst glacial moraine, overlooking the terminal face of the glacier at quite a distance. the cystallization of ice on the lake surface was already apparent and all the shrubs around it were frozen solid.
i stood there for more than 10 minutes contemplating the quiet morning of the secluded wilderness and being surrounded by the majesty of nature while shivering, a cigarette in one hand, a dslr in another until the sun lighted mt. anderegg (2,362m) and mt. halcombe (2,665m) and the massive ice beneath it giving a spectacular view.
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a jetty juts out over the mirrorlike waters of lake mapourika, the largest lake in the west coast, while the morning winter fog on the horizon had not yet lifted. the lake, calm and peaceful, saved only by the ripple of the resident ducks’ graceful sailing, outflows into the okarito lagoon. the dark reflective waters are caused by tannins, vignetting however, was unintentional :). june 2010.
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light traffic on the north-south expressway northern route just before bukit beruntung interchange, titiwangsa mountains could be seen hiding behind morning clouds at the far end in this january 2009 photo.
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a wide open landscape of the titiwangsa mountains fronting towards the northern region and possibly thailand taken at noon from air banun, perak. the rest area, at 1,050m, is the highest point of the east-west highway which was opened in 1982, linking kelantan and perak. march 2010.
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nitzus 