Off To Bintulu

I will be drive back to Sibu and then to Bintulu tomorrow. I will be away for a few days and maybe looking for more new things too. But actually i am going to meet my friends and doing some stuff back to Bintulu. I have so many plan to do there but i have so limited time for that. Anyway, time is something but even it is so little time as long as i use it wisely, i am sure i can have great time with my friends there before i leave.

For sure i miss to write something in my blog too. Until next Monday, then i will be able to write here again. For sure i will miss reading and following my friends activity in their blogs too. Nevermind, i will cope with that later. The main things to do now, drive carefully and arrive safely to my destination tomorrow. Till then.....Bintulu i come...

The Palm Beach

This is the Palm Beach at Sematan, Kuching. As usual when it is the first time, i will enjoy it so much. Kind of interesting because it's almost a few years i didn't swim at the beach. Wow! Now i realize that i was always in the jungle and enjoying nature there. I went to Bintulu beach (Tjg. Batu, Similajau, Bintulu Promenade) but never enter the water because it was too risky. There was a few cases of drawn at Tjg. Batu so i don't want to take that risk. By the way, i really like this beach. Just ignore my presence in that photo and you can see how beautiful the sea is. There are two island behind and it is for turtle conservation so it is not recreational island.

I was so stunned by this beautiful beach so i forgot to take more photos and i just swim and swim and swim. Playing around with the strong waves. There were a few friends of my friend trying to surf here and they did it very well because the waves is huge and strong that day. I am not sure if i still have a chance to go to this beautiful beach again but maybe some other beach after this. As always, travel and adventure will never ends....

Climbing Lesson

He teach us on how to do the belay means that the one that responsible on the ground while the partner is doing the climb. I never done this one before because i am small and light so i can't lift the climbers that heavier than me.

This is the first time for Phil to do the belay so i help him just to cover up in case he loose the rope. While he climb he is telling us on the right skills of climbing. Always push up the body using feet and not trying too hard to reach up using hands because it will make our arms muscle over stretch. That is what happen to me because i never care on where i put my feet as long as my hand can reach something above my head.

This is the tricky part for this climb wall because we have to figure out what is the best position for our feet so that our hands can reach the secret holes above our head. This is where i always have difficulties and for this trip i only success once for two try.

Aha..this is some of the members for this climb and i met up with my long lost senior in high school after almost 12 years and lucky i still can recognize her. Small world..:)

The Climb Wall

This wall is the toughest wall for a beginner like me and actually there is a different level at this wall too. The Chimney wall is the easiest one amongst the other three at this wall. All the senior climbers are doing their climbing here. As for me, i am not doing this one because it is very tough for me. So for this time i only climb at the Baby wall. I am still crawling because i am a baby..hehehehe..

The Baby wall have two level here. The one on the right side is really easy because there is a lots of holes that i can stick my finger in and put my feet on. However, the other one is harder because there is one part that i can't find a good place to put my feet on and for the first try i finish this climb but for the second time, i am quit. I think because i am hungry, it is almost lunch time so lack of energy. For this second time join them, i feel it is quite good because i learn some more new things.

Rock Climbing and Swim at the Beach

I call my fried to inform him that i wil not join their trip tomorrow for rock climbing because i am afraid that i will suffer the muscle pain again. However, when he told me that they will going to the beach after the rock climb, i am very excited. It's been a while i didn't go for a swim at the beach. So, i decide to go instead of doing nothing tomorrow.

It will be so much fun and for sure i will take a photo of it. The beach will be a new place for me because i never been to any beach in Kuching before. Hmm..can't wait for the new things, new place and new adventure.

What Is In My Mind?

This is the wild animal called Small-toothed Palm Civet (Arctogalidia trivirgata) and it was kept by local people for about two years. The story behind of this little creature kept by local people as a pets is that, it was a juvenile when they found it on the tree that they cut for log and it's mum was dead. So, they bring it home and kept is as a pets. Wild animal as a pets? Hmmm...i prefer to see them in the forest even though it is very difficult to observed them but it was an interesting things to do. Trying to understand their life likes in the forest, in their own home territory, habitat. When we understand more how this animals funtcion in the ecosystem then we will know how to appreciate their existence in the forest. Hmm..what am i mumbling here? I think better to let them in their own space of life.

Domestic animals....cats. I think this is Persian cat, that sold in the market. I am not really bother about domestic animals because they are meant to be pets so we can keep them at home. But, have to take a good care of them. Giving foods, shelter and make sure their are in a good health. They are our responsibility if we decide to have one of them.

See this little dog face? He really want to come out from this cage and asking for an owner. Anybody? Please buy me and give me home. Hmmm...soon it will be.

I Got The Aerial Photo of Rajang River

Ops...there is an aeroplane wing in the photo, not a best shot but it shows i am on the plane taking this photo..i don't have so much outdoor activities right now and i found a few photos that i have taken before. This is a photo of Rajang River in Sibu area.

This one is the main Rajang River basin (i think so) and it really looks very amazing from the air.

Aha..i like this one...the tributary from the main river. It looks really nice, it is just look like a tree branch..:)

I Miss Going Out Into The Jungle

This feeling come again. When i read other blogs especially when they share about their experienced going into the forest and doing observation, i envy it very much. I wish i can do it here but the main problem with me is that i am not brave enough to explore alone. I know several national parks and forest reserve in this area but there is no one can accompany me. A few days ago, my Supervisor told me that they have a field trip to Belaga area doing some mist netting for bats and birds. At first, he invited me to join their team but then he cancel it because he want me to concentrate on my writings. Hmm..looks like it will be a long time i am stranded in this concrete forest.

Oh ya, my friend ask me to go for rock climbing again this coming Sunday but i am not decide yet. Going or not going? From my last trip, i was suffered muscle pain for about one week so that's make me think twice. My right hand is really painfull and i have to use both hands to change gear when i am driving (this is for the first two days after rock climb). So, i will decide later whether i will make it or not.

By the way, i still hope i can go out and doing some observation in the forest. I don't want to lost my skills and my memory in identify mammals, frogs, birds....still have to do lots of practice.

Better Law for Wildlife in Malaysia Petition

Dear Friends,

I have just read and signed the online petition:

"Better Law for Wildlife in Malaysia"

hosted on the web by PetitionOnline.com, the free online petition
service, at:

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/MYLaw/

I personally agree with what this petition says, and I think you might
agree, too. If you can spare a moment, please take a look, and consider
signing yourself.

Best wishes,

Rose Ragai

What Would You Say When You See This?

As i walk through the street i saw this animals using Santa Claus accessories and i am quite surprise saw it. The owner told me that this dog really like to use coutfits and it have several more collections, seems to be for every festive season he have one at least.

He looks sad though in this outfit maybe because it can't moves freely. We can't tell what he feels because animals can't talk but we can see from how it behave. It was walking very slow and it's face is not happy at all.

But when i get closer to it, it want to be friendly. Hmm...pity for this little dog.

Sea Horse in the market?

Now i am not walking in the forest or am swimming in the sea but i am walking on the street and i found this little creature. It is a sea horse and it is supposed to be in the water, in the sea particularly. Hmm..people sell it for medicine and i am not sure for what kind of illness. This is really a lot but i forgot to ask how much they sell it per kilo.

I am not quite sure if this is legal or illegal to be sell openly in the market like this. So, pity for this little creature. I never saw any of it lively in the sea but hopefully when i have a chance to divi in the deep sea i will have a chance to see it alive not dead like this. Very sorry to see things like this.

Biological Diversity

I have a very complicated thought in these few days in understanding this topic. I am doing some reading on related articles includes Magurran (2004). I get through her book a few times and only understand a few days ago. Only now I understand why I need to do sampling. I get the raw data and this data will give me much more information about the communities in that selected areas that have been sampled. Okay, what I have understood?


Biological Diversity - the great variety of life

Biological diversity can be quantified in many different ways and Magurran (2004) has been reviewed so many publication on this term and she define biological diversity as “the variety and abundance of species in a defined unit of study” in her book Measuring Biological Diversity.

The two main factors taken into account when measuring diversity are richness and evenness.

So, different author will define this concept in different ways and sometimes i think it is depends on what field is the person are specialized in. Hmm...so, when i read more publications there will be different ways of they describe it but then i prefer to follow Magurran (2004) because her definition fits my work. This will be great.

BINTULU...the beach

This is the sunset at Bintulu Promenade where i use to jogging and sometimes just sit there with my friend. Viewing this beautiful scenery.

Tanjung Batu beach is also a nice place to watch the sunset. It is just 10 minutes drive from Bintulu town.

I took it at the same postion but this one looks very nice....

Myself & Malay Civet

My friend send this photo to me a few days ago. I like it though and it is just for fun. He play with the photo editing and this is the result. It was a photo of myself holding Malay Civet. This is for small carnivore study that done by one of our partner in our research works. It was my first time holding lively Malay Civet in my hand (by the way, it was anesthetized using some drugs). If it is not, i will not dare to hold it in my arms like that. For sure it will bite me.

As usual, i will say it was a great experienced and lucky i have one. :)

PDF File Download

I am trying to download one journal that i really need for my reference but i tried a few times and i keep can't download it. This is really make me lost my patient. I am here in my uni because i thought it will be easier for me to find reference and i can use internet access to the journal online. Sometimes, i think this library didn't work as it suppose to work for us, students. I am studying ecology and i have problem to search for ecology reference here. It was so limited but to think positively, it is already quite good though...But this time i really piss off...huh!!

Somebody help me to get this article......

Colwell, R. K., and Coddington, J. A. 1994. Estimating terrestrial biodiversity
through extrapolation. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (Series B)
345:101-118.

Dolphin's Carving or Diving?

Not only terrestrial animals but aquatic animals is my favorite too. I really hope that one day i can touch this animal means that i can see it for real again. When i was a little kid, there was one family of this animal used to swim pass by our village when the water level is high and the salty water from the sea enter our river. There was a few times they enter our river but there was no more now. It is about in early 90s.

So, my next things to do is go for diving. I will do it but still not sure when. New things is really interesting and new adventure means i really have to go for it..:)

Malay Civet (Viverra tangalunga)

Mid this year, i join my friend to do camera traps inspection and we go for night survey in the plantation. We are very eager to go for that night survey but then when we enter our vehicle, we realize that our spotlight is not working because of the connection failure. So, my friend became a McGyver and he connect the wire directly to the battery so our spotlight is working. We continue to do our survey in the plantation area. There is where we saw this Malay Civet (Viverra tangalunga). The funny things is this animal keep on walking nearby the road even though we are there and we can see clearly what it is doing. We observed it for about 10 minutes and then it left us.

However, we can not take a good photo of it because i am not good in operate our camera. It was keep moving on the ground and i am in our vehicle trying to take the very best view of it. But, i took a very bad photos and my friend took these two photos. It quite good because we still can see the morphological characters of this animal. It is still clearly can be identified as Malay Civet though. It was a great experienced but we have to turn back after a while because it was raining after that.

It's Rock Climbing...It's ROCK

On Sunday, i joined my friend and his groups to Fairy Cave at Bau for rock climbing. I met six new friends and they were all crazy about rock climbing. They keep talking about bolts and everything about rock climbing and i am lost in the middle of them because i don't know what is that all about. When we reach at the site there are three new climbers (include me) and one of the senior teach us at the baby climb wall. It is not that high and it looks easy and it is easy and i can reach the top very fast. She teach us on the command that they use, what gear that we should have and how to operate it. I still confused with the command. Climb on, Take, Taken....something like that. The picture above is the Chimney Climb and it is not easy.

I climb at Baby Climb once and it is easy. Then i climb once next to Baby Climb but that one is not that easy and i have to put up my effort to climb up. This Chimney Climb is really piss me off. I quit in the middle of it and ask my friend to lift me down but they keep on pushing me to keep on and they won't lift me down. I have difficulties at three part of this wall. Because i don't know where to put my feet and where to put my hand. I don't know where to grab. All is so flat, no hole. When i stop for the third time, it is really close to the top. It is just about half meter and i almost give up again. But then i realize one thing about myself when i was at that position. I always like that, give up when i almost get there. I fight with my own emotions at that time and use my energy to lift my body up and at last i grab the last point and i reach the top. Hmm...i can do it no matter how difficult it was. It does give me self motivation.


On the way back to Kuching we stop by the abandon lake (mining activity was held here before) and we have refreshing at this beautiful lake. This is the photo surrounding the lake. It quite beautiful and peaceful.


This is the lake and my friend practice her kayak here. All of them are very crazy about outdoors activity and glad to know them. Three from Australia, one from Indonesia, one from German, one from Bintulu and one from US. I have a great time swimming here with the bird's call and the clean air to breath in.





There were no photo of myself because i forgot to ask my other friends to take it for me. But i have a very good photo of it in my memory. These two days, i have a muscle pain and it really painful but that is what i have to pay..hahahahah...

I Have So Much Fun @ KAMPUNG BUDAYA

Last Saturday, was the first time i visited Kampung Budaya and i am really excited. Only my friend and I, and both of us don't know where is Kampung Budaya and we lost about one and half hours where we heading to a wrong destination. We reach the end of the road to Matang. I think we reach the last village at Matang because we pass through the Matang Wildlife Centre. It was crazy but we never lost hope and make several calls to our friend and at last we found the right road to Kampung Budaya. Here we come...

I am from Melanau tribe and i really excited before i enter this tall house but then when i am inside the house i really dissapointed. From outside this house looks really amazing and i never imagine how Melanau people stay in this tall and big house. When i enter the house, it looks like that no one take care of it. There were spider web every where and just like big haunted house. Hmm..really dissapointed with what i see inside this house.

I have so much fun visit Bidayuh longhouse. I like this bamboo bridge and it was the entrance to the longhouse. I really like this bamboo bridge. Is there any Bidayuh longhouse out there still use this kind of bridge?

At last when we wait for the show at the theatre hall, i take a chance to take some funny photo and this is one of it. I am not sure what sculpture is this but it looks unique though..hehehe..i am not regret to visit this KAmpung Budaya because we really have a good time.