THE SUN SETS OVER THE STRAITS

The sun sets...

A distant tanker glides by...

Gentle waves touch the shores...

In the Straits of Melaka...

BABY JELLYFISH

This little jellyfish looked so cute I wanted to bring it home...

It was wobbling in mid-water...

Floating aimlessly...

Size was like a ping-pong ball...

Location: Malang Rocks, Pulai Tulai, Tioman

KARIBAUS ARE FOREVER

Came back to Japan hoping to see a change in regime.

But I shouldn't be surprised by the landslide win of the Liberal Democratic Party.

Why not, when they are talking about more privatization, this time being the postal system.

This last election however, opened my eyes to one clear reason why Japan is a mature nation, quite like a mature human adult.

That is, there was not one single claim of election foul play, barring some local, minor 'bribery' cases.

This, in a nation of 125 million people, compared to the mere 25 million of one 'adult-wannabe' nation we know.

(You may wish to factor in the respective voting populations and the actual voting percentages.)

Meanwhile, we hear of Bolehland politikusians boasting about revamping the education system, and about bringing in foreign scientists.

Duh!

They are daydreaming, or worse, peddling falsehoods to themselves and the nation.

Yet a most hilarious prospect was Kedah, my home state, proclaiming that she wants to be a developed state by 2010!

Eeeeeiii... that's a mere five years from now, braddaaa...

Meanwhile, I see thick, black smoke gushing out from vehicles...

Vandalized public telephone boxes...

Phones that don't work but yet take your money.

(Yes, I do use the public phones when I am back.)

And open, stinking drains...

Infested with mosquitoes...

Ugly...

Revolting.

Selangor was a joke enough...

Penang was yet another comic...

What now with my beloved laidback Kedah?

I say...

Relak lah, bradaaa!!!

(Inspiration to write this post was received from Can Kedah reinvent itself in time? By Salleh Buang. NST, 10th September 2005, page 8, Property Times. He takes a polite yet skeptical view on the subject.)

TUNICATE CRAB IN TIOMAN

I wonder why these are called Hermit Crabs.

Would have liked to call this guy, Tunicate Crab instead.

The only other time I saw such a crab was in Manado, also on a night dive.

This crab camouflages itself by carrying something on its shell, in this case, tunicates...

Pretty, pretty, little, light blue tunicates...

The one I saw in Manado carried a rather ugly beige colored sponge on its shell.

This one was on the move as our torches caught it...

I took this shot with my head positioned over my extended torso and limbs, shooting from below, upwards...

The magnitude of the tunicates was about the size of a human head, and the crab, the size of a clenched fist...

Location: Panuba Inn House Reef, Tioman, on a night dive

BACK IN ACTION

Just crawled back to my office...

Had to kick my own butt out of the house this morning, and literally dragged myself to the university...

Felt so groggy from the travel...

Must be the age catching up on the creaking bones...

Spent some precious moments with my 83 year-old mum...

Whacked three durians (heavenly!) and made a glutton of myself with other goodies...

Enjoyed 12 dives at Tioman, two of them night dives, and took some pretty decent underwater shots

Then, met up with some buddies at KayEL for more glutton-related activities... yaaak!

In other words, KPIs fully accomplished...

Back on the routine now... gaaah!

Lucky that there is not so much of a mountain of work waiting to pounce on me...

Phew!

Yet, that load of pre-travel, postponed and piled-up work do add up to quite a hill

And man, the hundreds of emails, mostly trash, that needed clearing...

Fortunately, sitting on top of the heap are some gems that brought hearty smiles to my wrinkling face...

Gems... also known as the many wonderful messages left by my pals (you folks, that is...) on the last post

Thank you, thank you...

I am back, in action...