Mini Bird Race 2009 Borneo Highlands Kuching

A bird race is a “fun race” where teams of two or more compete against each other in searching, identifying, and recording as many species of birds within a stipulated time. This event is jointly organized by Malaysian Nature Society(MNS) and Borneo Highlands Resort(BHR) aiming to promote the love and appreciation of nature amongst the community.

It was really great experience to visit Penrissen Range inside Borneo Highlands Resort. We meet few other bird watchers of kuching and they mentioned that they have seen some of rare rainforest birds. We really want to watch Hornbill in wild so we started to go to Kalimantan border which is considered as the best place to look out for birds. We took a short bus journey to border and surprised to see a beautiful view of the rainforest. But we could not identify/watch any birds but enjoyed the scenery there. We walked all the way to the base camp (2.2km). Enjoyed the beuty of rainforest....Maybe we need to learn more about birds before we take another bird watching trip. We really enjoyed the Penrissen range and love to visit again..hopefully will see the HORNBILL in wild.

4th Oct 2009

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Kalimantan Border

Borneo - Unexplored World

Borneo is the third largest island in the world and still largely unexplored. It is really great opportunity to work in this part of the world to explore its beauty.I will cover some of the animals of Borneo in this blog.

Pic 1 and 2
The Orangutan is a great ape with reddish brown fur. Orangutans are presently found only in rainforests on Borneo and Sumatra, highly endangered in the wild due to habitat loss (the destruction of rainforests for logging and agriculture) and the illegal trapping of baby orangutans for the pet trade.

Pic 3
The proboscis monkey lives only in the swampy lowland rainforests of coastal areas of Borneo and the Mentawai Islands. These large monkeys are best known for the male's large protruding nose.

Pic4
The Hairy-nosed Otter (Lutra sumatrana) is one of the rarest otter species on earth, and was thought to be extinct in 1998 as there had been no sightings for many years, but a tiny number of populations have been rediscovered since then.

Pic 5
Bornean Bearded Pig (Sus barbatus) is a species of pig. It can be recognized by its prominent beard. It also sometimes has tassels on its tail. It is primarily found in Southeast Asia—Sumatra, Borneo, the eastern Philippines—where it inhabits rainforests and mangrove forests.

Pic 6
he Bornean yellow muntjac (Muntiacus atherodes) is restricted to the moist forests of Borneo and it is also called as Barking Deer.

Dalian - China

I got an opportunity to spend two days in Dalian. It got some good number of beaches and some huge shopping malls. Jinshitan beach, the Golden Pebble Beach is a tourist attraction with splendid coves and rock formations.Sun Asia Ocean World is one of tourist attraction but not well maintained due to some reason. Dalian is renowned for its squares scattered throughout the city, each with its own distinct character. Zhongshan Square, Renmin Square, Xinghai Square are some of the famous squares. Zhongshan Square is the city's main hub; a panorama of buildings encircling a huge roundabout.

Gunung Gading National Park - Rafflesia the largest flower

Gunung Gading National Park is located in the Lundu district about two hours drive from Kuching. This national park is famous for the Rafflesia Flower which is the worlds largest flower. Rafflesia is a genus of parasitic flowering plants. It was discovered in the Indonesian rain forest by an Indonesian guide working for Dr. Joseph Arnold in 1818, and named after Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, the leader of the expedition.It can grow up to 3 feet or 1m in diameter and can weight 9kg. The flower emits a stench of rotting flesh and some even heat, mimicking a newly dead animal, to attract carrion flies, to help in pollination. The plant itself is parasitic and grows within the stems of jungle vines.

The Rafflesia is generally found at altitudes between 500 and 700 meters in the forests of Borneo, Sumatra and Java, Peninsular Malaysia and Philipines. In this tropical rainforests the climate is continuously warm, generally between 24-27 C with humidity frequently reaching 100% at night.

As Rafflesia is found in only a handful of localities, its long term survival is now seriously threatened by the the depletion of the Malaysian rainforest.

Gunang Gading visited again in February 2011

Amorphophallus are typical lowland plants, growing in the tropical and subtropical zones. This specimen is from Gunang Gading park and is most likely of the species Amorphophallus Hewitii. The inflorescence (flower) can grow very tall, and it emits bad smell  in order to attract insects to pollinate its inflorescence.

Hong Kong

The skyline of Hong Kong is one of the best in the world. You can get a stunning view of Hong Kong Island from Victoria Peak. Hongkong Disland and Ocean park are the main theam parks. First time able to see the giant panda. Check the photos..................

Macau

Macau was first European colony in China. Macua is best know for gambling. Casino Lisboa was the most famous casino in Macau. Macau is a fascinating place to just walk around as the place is packed with churches, temples, fortresses and other old buildings bearing an interesting mix of Portuguese and Chinese characteristics.

During our last day stay typoon nuri affected Macua. It was really very scary to sleep in the hotel room as glass windows broken and wind was blowing at very high speed. First time coming across a typoon of No.8.

Beijing - Forbidden City

The Forbidden City covers an area of about 72 hectares with a total floor space of approximately 150, 000 square meters. It consists of 90 palaces and courtyards, 980 buildings and 8,704 rooms. To represent the supreme power of the emperor given from God, and the place where he lived being the center of the world, all the gates, palace and other structures of the Forbidden City were arranged about the south-north central axis of Beijing.

Beijing - Temple of Heaven

The Temple of Heaven in the southern part of Beijing. It is the largest existing complex of ancient sacrificial buildings. Occupying an area of 273 hectares, it is three times the area of the Forbidden City. It was built in 1420 for emperors to worship Heaven. The principle buildings include the Altar of Prayer for Good Harvests, Imperial Vault of Heaven and Circular Mound Altar.

Temple of Heaven is "a masterpiece of architecture and landscape design" .....