The calendar New Year seemed to be disrupted by the
Chinese New Year saluting the year of the water snake. Penang has a strong
Chinese community and fireworks punctuate the evenings even though they are
mainly banned.
Nikki has started medical school and seems very happy to be involved in her
chosen profession. Dani is well into her studies in Cambridge and is currently
trying to procure a challenging place to work next year in her 'out' year. She
is looking at a number of options in Spain.
Helen has had a busy schedule running the house, teaching English and
keeping fit. We decided to rent out rooms under the jurisdiction of 'Airbnb'
and had two families stay back-to-back over the Chinese New Year period. Both
families were excellent company; the first a Chinese family from KL were
visiting relatives on the island. The second family were two medics from South
Africa who were on a year-long world tour with their 14 and 12 year old sons. We
had many stimulating conversations with them. In addition we had Tom and Mary
Reynolds from Langkawi stay for a night and ex-colleagues Rebecca and Arjuna
stayed recently for 2 nights. We love having people stay and Helen is an
excellent guide and host.
Around the house have added some pots of Bougainvilleas to give the
panorama from the lounge a dining room some more colour. It passed inspection
from the resident arborist.
Coco had a date with the vet during the
month and was spayed and micro-chipped. She got over the trauma quickly and
continues to be an energetic but lovable part of the family.
The nature photography has been a bit disrupted with holidays and inclement weather but I have managed some
quality shooting over on the mainland at my favourite haunts. I also spent 4
nights at Fraser's Hill with my friend Nick Baker from Singapore (more
below).
The resident otters of Straits Quay also keep us amused. Helen has seen them on several
occasions when she walks Coco in the early evening. I have managed to get a few
more shots of them; one was a group of three that appeared to be herding a
shoal of fish. They pounced at an appropriate moment and all enjoyed their
tapas together. On another occasion a solo otter was enjoying a meal on a small
shark or dogfish.
My friend Nick Baker flew up from Singapore
stayed with us overnight in Penang and we drove to Fraser's Hill that is a four
hour drive from our house. Fraser's Hill was named after a Scottish gentleman
who was last seen pulling a mule-train loaded with iron ore over the hills of
Pahang state in the region that now bears his name. The hilly region was later
embraced by the British army as a hill base for relaxing military personnel.
Sultans from each state had large residences there as well as wealthy entrepreneurs
and companies. Many of the mansions were built of stone and have a stately
appearance, albeit rather decrepit and neglected these days.
The 17-22 degrees
C temperatures and large expanses of natural jungle make Fraser's Hill a
relaxing and refreshing place to stay. Bustling creeks and a diverse and
different cohort of birds make this place a favourite with birders and bird
photographers and picnickers. On the negative side Fraser's Hill appears to
have seen better days with visitors as several large hotels are in a sad state
of disrepair and decay. The local Government is doing some refurbishments but
there appears to be insufficient funds to keep everything tidy. Still I enjoy
the ambience and you never know what you might see. There are a number of walking tracks although they are liberally supplied with leaches. Nick usually finds interesting frog species at night and other mammals include; Slow Loris, Martens, Mouse Deer, and Wild Boar.
.jpg)
The main bird photography spot is in the Jelai Hotel carpark....the hotel is currently closed but the car park can be buzzing with colourful birds. Elsewhere various species of monkeys or apes can be found.
This months report will be posted early as we are off in a few days to Sydney for Sheralyn's and Mike's wedding. It will be great to catch up with family again and see the growing grandchildren later in Brisbane.
