Floweret.wordpress.com

In case you haven’t noticed but by the road sides or just by your neighbour’s garden, most flowers seem to be blooming now! I know mine have and they look utterly beautiful! Wouldn’t trade the world for them! haha..

The Escape
With a trowel and spade in hand, I squatted down by the side. Burying my hands not so deeply into the softness of the wet though almost puffy-like soil, I started making huge rainbows with my palm subconsciously. A little friend greeted me sometimes, and his friend sometimes tag along; they are friends of the soil. They make passageways and little trails. They don’t like me at times when I dig too deep but yet they don’t mind (i hope) when I lift them up and settle them into a cozier landing, buried them deep, close to where I picked them up. Then, I sang. Oh, sometimes I hum. A tune or two – tune I myself have never heard of. The wind whistles along usually and the little shrubs and herbs sway, silently dancing while the flowers nod gently against the sun. I gently plucked out the unwanted ones, those weeds are quite notorious sometimes. By the time the sun bids goodbye for the day, and car sirens and honks, booms and blustering music took over the wind’s gentle symphony, I stood up slowly and stretched. With a trowel and spade in hand, now with a smile I bid the little patch of garden adieu for the day.

Touched down at the airport, back here around half past twelve in the afternoon and first thing that greeted me back home was the heat. Not that where I went was anywhere close to being cold but Singapore has been cool during my visit, much wind and much rain. I can’t recall me, sweating even when I walked along Orchard road.

My visit has been brief. I bought only a few ka-ching with me, $400? Most of my meals were taken care of (by my aunt) and much of my money was spent into shopping for clothes and whatnot. I didn’t buy as much as I wanted to (c’mon.. with only $400? in singapore? ya kidding?) but I did manage to buy a few of the really-wants. Since Singapore now has this mega mid-year sales, I manage to buy loads of dresses that were once around $60 but now has reduced to only.. well, $15. And apparently these $15 are ClubMarc New York’s – found and bought in Orchard Road. Mom first guessed that I bought them from Bugis junction where things are alot cheaper. Guess I proved her wrong. haha. My shopping skills ain’t THAT bad I think. haha.

Besides shopping being the very reason for visiting Singapore, I actually went to visit my lovely cuzzy Samuel King. He surprised us by… well, sort of announced to us that he entered the final round of a piano competition. He was one of the selected fives out of twenty-five in this competition. He played three pieces (Praeludium & Gigue in G from Partita No. 5, BWV 829 by J.S.Bach and Nocturne in C minor Op.48 No. 1 by Chopin).He didn’t beat to the top three but he did improve sooo much from the last piece I’ve heard him play one-ish year ago!

Anyway, before the whole competition, I’m sure Sam here was awfully tired since he didn’t have good sleep the night before. So, wise as he is, he thought of going to get bananas and somehow swallow them just before the competition. When all the pianists played their pieces and the judges have gone out of the room to decide the winner, the M.C came in. The emcee came in after a few minutes indeed and the whole audience had thought that the winners were about to be announced… Only, he raised up his right hand and showed a plastic bag – before my aunt and I could figure out why the bag looked so familiar, he said: “Who left his these bananas outside?”. I flipped. lol.

Apparently, that wasn’t the only thing that I thought was funny. Just down the road where Sam stays, there’s this stall where they serve pretty good food. It was night time and I was utterly tired. Before I could show a sulky face, Sam asked me to listen to what the owner of the shop called out after we ordered our drinks.

We ordered Milo Ping and Barley Ping.

Owner shouted: “Kak-kiau Ping… Barley Ping”.

o.O WTH?! hahaha. Apparently Kak-Kiau Ping is Milo Ping. haha. I flipped .again.

Ah, right now though, I am glad I am at home. Although… although…my mood is abit…well,in a so-so state… my result just came out. It’s not THAT bad I’d say…but I expected better. =/ OH well~

I love my pillow. haha.

Finally! I reached BSB early afternoon and could not help but to feel glad that I am back. The days spent in Temburong could be looked as a fusion of fun, frustration, stress, laughter and sleepless nights!

First Day

Some of us arrived very early in campus but it wasn’t long until the rest arrived. We headed off from Bandar around 6am and reached Bangar around 9am and were brought to a resthouse to which we would be spending the rest of the week at.

After sorting our bags, filling our tummies with food and listened to a briefing by Dr.Charles, we made our way to Bukit Patoi. First thing we had to do was to set up small mammal traps in two areas (Padi field – an ecotone, and the Mixed Dipterocarp Forest) and compare the species richness of both sites. Setting up these traps were not as tiring as climbing up Bukit Patoi to gather leaf litter; another set of project we have to finish. Leaf litter was collected from both Kerangas forest (which was 1200m up the hill) and Mixed Dipterocarp Forest (MDF). TIRING I TELL YOU!!!

Second day

My feet weren’t THAT sore after first day but it definitely start to after the second day! Second day was spent on bird watching study as well as checking the mammal traps that were set up the day before. Bird study started very early in the morning- before the sun rise. We had to wake up at 4am (latest) and breakfast was served at 5am! Most of us either did not sleep enough or did not sleep at all! Anyway, bird study went smoothly. Some of us managed to see and identify birds while some were trying to figure out how binocs work without getting oneself dizzy. haha.

Second day didn’t quite end with just bird study. We went to check all mammal traps and found one species in the padi field and one in MDF. Not bad for just 20 traps being set up per site.

We returned to the base for analysis and not long after that, us being half dead half alive – was dinner time. We spent the rest of the night-after dinner- climbing up a hill with torchlights to see if we could come across nocturnal mammals. Some of us managed to see a tarsier! And according to Dr.C, that’s hard to come by!!! haha. so hoorah!! (though I only see it sort of jumped to another tree and vanished into the darkness)

Third day

Thinking second day was bad enough, third day proved me wrong. Third day was the ONLY day that managed to give me SO MANY BRUISES!!! We had to climb Bukit Patoi (again) and this time we had to do some forest profile analysis. We have to measure the size of barks of trees, measure the terrain size, measure the trees’ crown size – which all of them are not easy at all!! By the time we finished these, our legs were literally numb! The thought of having to do Pitfall traps later in the day just kills every body cell of enthusiasm! Thank goodness thank goodness indeed – we did not do any pitfall traps and it actually turned out that we don’t need to do that at all! haha.

Fourth day

Stream study!! I really enjoyed this part of the practical. We were divided into groups and we were asked to study several sites of the same stream. We had to understand the physical parameters (pH, dissolved oxygen level and saturation, conductivity and nutrient availability) as well the macroinvertebrates present in the stream. We caught lots of Gerridae(pond skaters) and a few larvae -although in total, the number of individuals were less than expected. After collecting the data, we went back for analysis and thank goodness,we did not leave to anywhere but worked very hard in identifying the invertebrates.  Very hard I say!

Fifth Day

We spent the entire day analysing the invertebrates we’ve found in the tullgren funnel. It is the only day we did not need to go out into the field – which was good!! The lab work of indentifying the invertebrates was challenging enough to keep our hands busy! We got so dizzy after staring into the compound microscope for so long! Before most of us realise, it was dinner time already. After dinner, we spent the rest of the night getting ready powerpoint slides for our presentation the next day! By this time, most of us couldn’t wait to get it over and done with! We couldn’t wait to go home!!

Sixth Day

Nothing eventful happened – only us getting prepared (oh, so last minute), gave our presentation and headed out back home. In the boat heading to the ferry terminal in BSB, from afar we could see the Yayasan building greeted us with a Welcome back! haha.

Couldn’t believe it but it was just hours ago, I was in Temburong. I am glad to be back home. But I dread to work on the 5/6 reports due next two weeks!!! UGH!

I miss my bed.

P.S: Most of the pictures taken were from Pei Fen. =)

Today is the second last day that I am here with my peers. It is the lunch break now and I am typing away using Nikki’s laptop. Some of us have not finished mounting slides of Pseudoscorpions (sigh* and those slides are graded). Anyway, I can’t talk much right now since my group have not finished sorting and identifying the soil invertebrates we have collected but so far, just so far… the experience has helped strengthen my passion towards learning and understanding more about ecology and Brunei’s diverse species of flora and fauna. I still believe that we should protect the only thing that is I feel is worth in preserving. It is only this course that I have taken that opens my eyes to things that I have not understood before. I feel close with nature. I feel close to all other living things. It makes me feel calm. It makes me feel that I belong.

.Group 4.

Signing out with a smile.