Today I went on another jungle hike, this one through the jungle to a tea plantation, not up a small mountain. Jeff and I had a blast. (Jeff’s the guy I met on the bus from Cambodia to Thailand.) We met a wonderful couple from the UK and France and hiked together. Along the way we saw lots of flowers, a small snake (hey, you take what you can get), a really cool lizard, a water fall and a massively huge millipede. Plus a cool wasp.
The highlight of the day was running around through the tea plantation and then having fresh tea.
All of today’s photos are here, and there are a lot.
My favorites are the lizard. He’s a beauty. Any one that can identify him please do so in the comments.
A kitty, and this one of me looking like a goof-ball.
We hitchhiked back from the tea plantation to Tanah Rata. It was a breeze getting a ride.
Good stuff, all around. Now I am off to have ‘steamboat,’ yummy!
I’m off to start the snowblower, after @ 6 in of snow, we get this
have you been to the butterfly farm? supposedly they have a collection of lizards, they could help identify yours.
what’s a steamboat?
link
-31.1 and that is not the windchill!
“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined.” -Henry David Thoreau
It is the most common type in the forest. However, I think you might need a real specialist here. Apparently these tropical lizards have different coloring depending on the season (I wonder what the seasons are in Malaysia – it seemed hot and muggy everyday), the females are always less colorful than the males, and the lizard (or chameleon or skink or whatever you have there) will change colors radically when under stress or handled. At least based on the shape the Crested Lizard seems like a safe bet.
“Is not our first thought to go on the road? The road is our source, our vault of treasures, our wealth. Only on the road does the ‘traveller’ feel like himself, at home.â€
Ryszard Kapuscinski
“Is not our first thought to go on the road? The road is our source, our vault of treasures, our wealth. Only on the road does the ‘traveller’ feel like himself, at home.â€
Ryszard Kapuscinski
…on the other side of the Lake Ontario. Doesn’t much help with the temperature, though…
“The absence of any US-Iran bilateral channel…may have the perverse effect of reinforcing Iranian interest in progressing in the nuclear realm so that the US will be forced to take it seriously and engage it directly.” ~ Richard Haass
More than 600 elephants found in Malaysian park
From the Associated Press
3:01 AM PST, January 15, 2009
BANGKOK, Thailand — Researchers said Thursday they have found a surprisingly large elephant population in Malaysia’s biggest national park after new survey techniques revealed a community of more than 600 animals.
The New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society and Malaysia Department of Wildlife and National Parks estimated that there are 631 Asian elephants living in Taman Negara National Park in the center of peninsular Malaysia.
The survey showed Taman Negara to be “one of the great strongholds for Asian elephants in Southeast Asia,” said Melvin Gumal, director of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s conservation programs in Malaysia.
“People were unsure of how many elephants lived in the park before our survey, although there were good reasons to think that the population was substantial,” he said.
Asian elephants are endangered due to habitat loss and poaching; between 30,000 and 50,000 may remain in 13 Asian countries, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society.
The Taman Negara protected rainforest jungle, known simply as the “Green Heart” by Malaysians, spans about 4,343 square kilometers (1,676 square miles) — roughly the size of Utah’s Great Salt Lake
more
“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined.” -Henry David Thoreau
you Minnesotans are one tough bunch, eh?
“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined.” -Henry David Thoreau
have discovered the the secret bolt-hole of the GOP. Not everyone can have a ranch in Paraguay.
“The best-informed man is not necessarily the wisest. Indeed there is a danger that precisely in the multiplicity of his knowledge he will lose sight of what is essential.”
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Just came across this blog. The pics are fantastic. Have to ask what kind of camera you used. As a tea enthusiast, can you tell me about the tea you tasted. Gosh the pics are great!
http://www.readingthetealeaf.com
jean
Is there any corroborating evidence for the Bush-To-Paraguay thang?
“It’s no longer a blue world, Max. Where could we go?”
“Arrrrr-gen-tina?”
Yellow Submarine
“The Playboy reader invites a female acquaintance in for a quiet discussion of Picasso, Nietzsche, jazz, sex.†– Hugh Hefner
Is a Nikon D50 (bought in late 2006) and a Nikkon DX, AF-S Nikkor 55-200mm lens.
“Is not our first thought to go on the road? The road is our source, our vault of treasures, our wealth. Only on the road does the ‘traveller’ feel like himself, at home.â€
Ryszard Kapuscinski