Hazy Afternoon at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

The migratory birds has arrived in the region and is time to pay a visit to Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. The haze situation in the morning was quite serious so I visit the reserve in the afternoon when the PSI dropped slightly to just above 100 unhealthy level. The haze situation around South East Asia has no sign of re-treating despite with the helps from several country to fight the forest fire that is burning and still spreading.

As I enter the reserve, this pair of Oriental Pied Hornbill appear right in-front of me! The male is trying to court the female bird and is in fact in the courtship feeding! Can you tell which is male & which is female?

This White Breasted Water Hen behave like a human being! She look left, then right and left again before crossing to another side of the board walk.

Saw this fruit bat sleeping under the roof at one of the shelter. They are nocturnal animal and only active at night.

Since it was low tide when I visited the reserve, most migratory birds will feed outside the reserve as the whole coastal area will be expose with the tide going down. So I look for resident bird instead. I saw this Collared kingfisher perched near the Main Hide.

This Grey Heron was feeding solo at the far end opposite the Main Hide.

This Striated Heron was waiting for the tide to come back so that the fishing will become easy.

One of the few migratory bird that still feeding at the Main Hide is this Common Red Shank.

Another migratory bird that I saw before leaving the reserve is this Brown Shrike.

If you plan to visit Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, do check tide table and try visit the reserve during high tide so that more migratory birds will feed within the reserve.

Coney Island Park, Singapore

After waiting for more than 2 years, Coney Island Park finally open to public! As with all newly opened facility, I expect some crowd so I choose to go early morning. 

The park open from 7am to 7pm. What a beautiful sun rise when I arrived at West Entrance of the park.

 I enter the park through West entrance.

This tiny island have 2 entrances. The West entrance is just next to Punggol Promenade Nature Walk while the East entrance is joined to Lorong Halus.

What can you do on this tiny island?

You may just enjoy the scenery, get into the forest. Scenery like this is something that consider uncommon in highly urbanized Singapore. They may look like pine trees but they are not. They are actually Casuarina trees also known as Rhu trees. This is probably how Tanjung Rhu got her name.

 If you are a bird watcher, this bird hide will come in handy.

 There are lots of signs of wildlife activities on the island.

 This heart shape nest probably built by Baya weaver birds.

Nature photographer of all sorts (be it insects, landscape or birds) flocked to Coney Island this morning.

 There are lots of cyclist too. Mountain bike is recommended due to the rough terrains.

Some just take out their phone and take wefie with their love bike. One pacik  try his fishing luck here too.

You may simply just explore this tiny island on foot. Highly recommended as you will get higher chance to see wildlife on the island by walking.

Some take the opportunity to groom their dog there too.

Pulau Ubin, another rustic island just opposite Coney island. It looks so close! Be forewarned, there are lots of sand flies on the beach. If you intend to walk on the beach, I will suggest that you wear long pants and long sleeve shirt.

Or you may just sit on the concrete path and enjoy the scenery and sea breeze instead.

Oh! There are shuttle service to Coney island from Pasir Ris and Punggol MRT!

Another nature space for the resident around Punggol/Pasir Ris area. What are you waiting for? Go visit today!  :)

Malacca - a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Dubbed as Historic State, Malacca indeed a state in Malaysia with the most historical building and structure. In fact Malacca is the state where Malay sultanates started until it was abolished by Portuguese when they conquered Malacca in 1511.

What is remained today left only the gate of the A Famosa Portuguese fort in Malacca.

Behind this gate is a stairway that will bring you up to St Paul Hill where another surviving European architectural - St Paul's Church.

 The view from the rear of the church. This building have been here for more than 5 centuries!

 This is the inside of the church. Only the wall remained.

 There are many tombstones inside the church. Some on the floor ...

 and some are placed just against the wall.

The sun was rising when I visited this place. Modern building can be seen from this window on the reclaimed area. When this church was built, the view will be much simpler just sea.

The body of St. Francis Xavier was temporarily buried here before it was finally shipped to Goa.

 Statue of St. Francis Xavier outside the church.

 Dutch graveyard can be found at the back of the church.

 These few are the better one and some have badly deteriorated.

I believe more can be done to better protect this UNESCO World Heritage Site. Such as this sign that was attached to this 500 years old structure. There are certainly more than one way to put up a sign rather than dig a hole and attached it to this wall.

 Both the A Famosa and the St Paul's church are using this same construction material.

Can you believe this... 500 years old rock from the A Famosa was used as weight to secure umbrella by the souvenirs seller.

 More rocks from the A Famosa used as weight!

Graffiti can be seen on this 500 years old wall inside the St Paul's Church and no body seem to care about it.

 One of the Dutch grave has now become the toilet of stray cat.

Nothing is done to protect this grave from further deteriorate.

Is sad to see this is happening to one of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Looks like the local government only interested in bringing in more tourists and little is done to conserve this area.