Lockdown March

What a difference a month makes. We knew the Covid-19 virus was around in China and we expected that we would have some restrictions at some point but this month our lives have been dominated by it. When March started I was preparing for photographic trips to Thailand and Ecuador. Nikki was planning a 30th birthday celebration in Italy. All of those dreams collapsed in 31 days. Italy has been particularly hard hit and patients have overwhelmed the medical system. Many other countries have been locked down to varying degrees and they seek to keep pace with the victims of the declared pandemic.
 Locally most businesses are also closed for the 4 weeks. Earlier Helen and I had been to a concert and appreciated an art exhibition in the same building aimed to highlight the plight of the Malayan Tiger. There were some nice pieces.

I particularly like this following painting for great imagery. The tiger is stabbed by the stamen of a red hibiscus which is the national flower of Malaysia.....plus the blood that flows.

Malaysia stopped travellers going out or coming into the country around the 18th of March and then invoked a 4 week semi-lockdown. You can  go and get food or go to the doctors but not do other activities. The condo pool and gym were closed and the army was called out to help police the situation in the country. Joggers were arrested.....for jogging. Malaysians having little time for our canine friends makes no allowance for them. I have had to sneak out in the dark hours of the morning to walk for an hour and to take Coco to the beach. I might add that little girl has been great and has the most brilliant nature. What a companion she has been.

long hair because no hairdressers open...light for illustrative purposes only

During the so-called lockdown Helen and I have managed OK. Collectively we have good cooking and yeast manipulation skills. The Weber kettle comes into play too ...producing succulent chicken and a very moist leg of lamb. Our generation of baby-boomers has been lucky in that we have not had to endure the hardships of a Great War. As a young man I never thought I would see the day when my kids had armed Gurkhas at their school and I would walk into a shop with a mask on....and give them money.

I salute my heroes, Tim Berners-Lee, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and the Malaysian Government who have made the internet free during lockdown and so has Mr Photoshop.

We feel for members of the family who are in the front line; daughter Nikki and daughter-in-law Debbie

Earlier in the month before the closedown Nick Baker stayed a few nights with us. We went to Air Hitam Dalam one morning and Nick set up a recorder around the forest near the condo to see what species of bats there are. Different specifies squeak at different frequencies...give or take.

Black, Giant Squirrel

Racket-tailed Drongo

Yellow-bellied Prinia

Spotted, Wood Owl...got raided by the Monitor lizard last year

Identifying bats by the frequency of their sound emissions can be accomplished with specialised recording equipment and a knowledge of the local species. Some bats...ie fruit bats don't emit sounds as they are not hunting moving prey. An example of the different emission frequencies can be seen from an area in England.

Nick found two species in our forest....and handsome boys they are. Blyth's Horseshoe Bat and the Great Roundleaf Bat.

The sound recording looks like this on the computer.

Nick joined us for the pub quiz and with his wife we all enjoyed a nice Italian dinner.......the fun almost stopped there. We had a composite team for what was to become the final pub quiz for a while.....but still managed to win.
Steve, a committed scuba diver spends about 3 months in Malaysia. Although it was Mike's turn for the prize Steve wanted to clooect it to clearly send a message to someone.

Coco enjoyed running with the big boys earlier in the month but that also is over as we now go under the cover of partial darkness and take less time.....a run and a poop and we are good.

Coco also met some of the pups from the beach pack.

With no big boys to play with ....for the duration, Coco has to talk to the crabs

The beach will still play an important part in the day as we watch a bunch of otters having lunch or a fisherman trying to net his next meal.

There are 10 otters in this picture....and several crows

Photography has been confined to what you see from the apartment. We do get some nice sunrises and sunsets and I managed to capture a lightning strike using similar exposures techniques to shooting fireworks.

There are no windsurfers, water-skiers or cruise-boats or gambling boats..We just have to admire the flowers and shoot eagles out the window.

February 2020

February has been a good month, especially because of the visit of Dani and Rob. They were very busy using the facilities of the condo and being ferried around to local sites by the best guide in town.

I don’t understand what dogs know but with Nikki and Dani, despite up to two years between visits Coco knows, they are family.

Thaipusam coincided with D and R’s visit and they enjoyed the spectacle.

Dani and Rob spent a couple of nights in Langkawi and we finished their visit with a nice restaurant dinner despite competition from the adjacent mosque.

Helen has almost got back into a normal program of English tutoring. She continues to enjoy the Saturday morning hill walks and the Art Society meetings.

Helen spent 4 days in Singapore over one weekend catching up with some old friends.

 She continues to be the best chef in town.

We continue to enjoy the views from the apartment with the cruise ships coming and going and the many different weather and light patterns.

The patterns from shoals of surface-swimming fish

The image below is rather a historical shot with the first cruise boat built for Royal Caribbean and one of the more recent ones (Quantum of the Seas), which was the third biggest in the world when built 4 years ago. There is 45 years between the construction of the two ships.

The King and Queen did not visit this month but the road below was closed for about 90 minutes one day for an around Malaysia bike race. The cyclists were in three groups so what you see below is not the full contingent.

The local wildlife keeps me amused at the moment. The White-bellied Sea eagles (who seem to have a nest up the hill behind) and the Spectacled Leaf Monkeys who make quite frequent appearances.

The fence top is their rapid-rail system.

Clouded Monitor Lizard

Coco continues to have great fun at the beach. The big boys were away for 2 periods and when that happens she amuses herself by fetching sticks from the sea. Poodles were originally bred as retrievers so it is perhaps in their DNA. She has not had a lot of opportunity to show this skill before. Although her breed is sometimes called French Poodles their origins were arguably in Germany.

 

Overly ambitious

Because of various reasons I have not been hugely active with wildlife photography in the last month. Four out of five of my sites have been degraded to extinction. I have had a few visits to the remaining viable site and it usually produces something.

Asian Open-billed Storks

A family of White-throated Kingfishers

Yellow-bellied Prinia

A Carpenter Bee with the spectral wings

A Carpenter Bee that flew too close to a Blue-tailed Bee-eater

I go to Thailand for 5 days at the beginning of March and to Ecuador in the second half of next month.........travel restrictions withstanding.

During the last week there were reports in the paper of a sandstorm along Gurney Drive. There was some speculation, amongst the bad and naive journalism as to the source or the cause. They only had to look over the fence at the extensive man-made sand dunes that are part of a by-pass scheme. it was windy for a few days....when Helen was in Singapore.

Image from the media

The encroaching desert

Malaysia does not generally look good in the eyes of onlookers, with disappearing planes and light-fingered prime ministers. The current political scene is a total shamble. The 94 year old Prime Minister wants to change the look of his cabinet and party-swapping is more popular than wife-swapping.

We have had a good start in the pub quiz for the year, albeit with different members, with 4 firsts and 3 thirds.  Dani and Rob doing a good job one night.

This is Derek (below) who was standing in for Mike. We had tied for first and we sent him up for the tiebreak question......which was ' How many marriages in Las Vegas, on average, each day.

Derek has had three marriages and appeared to be the ideal man for the job....unfortunately he thought everyone else was cast from the same mould and over-estimated the number by 300%. hence the beer and not the spirits.

...and a final salute to the young lady who gives life everything.