Kevin Woon @ MAUINSONS Photography

Kevin Woon @ MAUINSONS Photography

Nature
Written by Kevin Woon
Tuesday, 10 August 2010 09:26
Brought my 2 little nieces to see wild monkeys and wild boars again. They simply love to see them and I think I've gotten addicted to the monkeys' rich facial expression. I've seen monkeys (huge group of them) in this same location before but have not had the chance to see the wild boars before. This would be my first encounter with the wild boar here. I've seen wild boar once in Taiping but the amount that show up here simply beats Taiping hands down. The monkeys and wild boar show up in 2 different stretch of the road. It seems like some sort of territory already set up by themselves. We first stopped by to see the monkeys. There were already a huge group of people feeding the monkeys. Delicious... Motherly love... Look at their hairstyles... Ready to strike... After spending roughly 30 minutes here, we proceeded to the next spot to see the wild boars. Although the wild boars have not shown up, there were already people gathering there, waiting patiently. There is a saying that one's financial luck would be better after touching a wild boar, I guess this is one of the reasons there were so many people there. We too waited patiently for almost 10 minutes and the first batch of wild boar shown up. It was a mum leading her kids for food. The mummy boar... and her kids... People were feeding them with peanuts and bread... And I wondered if they like rambutans... Another mummy boar showed up and this one is huge... Regarding feeding the monkeys and wild boar, I still couldn't make up my mind whether it is right or wrong, though I'm leaning more towards to the "wrong" side. Feeding them simply would cause them to slowly lose their ability to hunt for food on their own. Mind you that these monkeys and wild boars show up every evening, during the same time period, waiting for people to feed them. It is as though they have already gotten used to being fed. I wonder what would happen if one day people stop feeding them. Another thing which I'm not sure of is that whether there would be anyone who cleans up the mess after the feeding session. This is a public area and there are a lot of people who jogs along the road in the morning and in the evening. Keeping the place clean should be one of the must-do-things. This place is already famous (it seems) and I will not reveal the exact location. However, I'm sure you that you can find out this place easily.

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Tacca integrifolia

Nature
Written by Kevin Woon
Friday, 05 March 2010 15:48
My dad saw this strange plant on his usual morning "walk" on the hill at Ampang Jaya, Kuala Lumpur. He took some snap shots with his digital camera and show it to me back home. I was very interested with this strange looking flower so I decided to go to the place myself on that evening to grab a some shots on this interesting looking flower. The size of a palm... My dad told me that the other uncles and aunties who go the hill named the flower "Dragon Whisker Flower" (direct translation from Chinese, 龙须花). Very fancy name. However, I did a quick googling and found that this wasn't the name of this flower. It refers to another flower. Curious to know the name I posted the photos on Facebook, asked for help and wham, 2 friends gave me the answer. The scientific name of the flower is Tacca integrifolia, also name as "White Bat Flower". In Chinese, it's called "Tiger Whisker" (Direct translation from Chinese, 老虎须). What an coincidence that this is also the whisker of an animal. Some details I found on the internet regarding this strange looking flower: Extracted from http://species.widimedia.org/wiki/Tacca_integrifolia Cladus: Eukaryota Regnum: Plantae Cladus: Angiospermae Cladus: Monocots Ordo: Dioscoreales Familia: Taccaceae Genus: Tacca Species: Tacca integrifolia I have extracted the following information from http://www.rareflora.com/taccachanwhite.htm: They can be picky sometimes regarding their environmental conditions. When they like the conditions, they grow, flower a lot, and even produce babies. When something is not right, they slowly decline and eventually die. Unfortunately, sometimes the only way to know if you can provide them the right conditions is by trying. They like shade, and good air circulation. They don't like too much heat and air that is too dry. Don't like to be rootbounded. The soil should be a little acidic. FAMILY : Taccaceae ORIGIN : India SIZE : 30" LIGHT REQUIREMENTS : shade WATER REQUIREMENTS : keep moist but do not soak MIN. TEMP. : 50° FLOWER : fall COMMENTS : Don't let it dry out, protect from wind My dad just told me that they found a green and white flower. I will see if I have the chance to check it out and share more photos.
Last Updated on Friday, 05 March 2010 16:28

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Monkeys Monkeys Monkeys

Nature
Written by Kevin Woon
Thursday, 04 March 2010 10:29
Met these cute little fellas when I just finished my hiking at Ampang Jaya. I was driving and suddenly saw people stopping by the road side and together with them were a bunch of these cute little monkeys. People were feeding them with various kinds of food, e.g. fruits, biscuits, cakes and ice creams!!! Since I had my camera with me, I parked my car along the road side like how everyone did, turned off my engine and got these photos for sharing. According to the people there, these monkeys will come out of the forest every evening waiting for people to feed them. It's already a habit to them. What's this??? Thank you god for giving me such nice food... I thank you from the bottom of my heart... And let the feast begins... What are you staring at?? Like I care... Motherly love... Monkeys eat just like us human... Look at his fangs... There's this uncle who feeds these monkeys everyday. According to the people there, he can recognise all these monkeys and even name each of them. He advised us that although it is nice to feed the monkeys, we should keep our movements as small as possible as not to scare/excite the monkeys. Some of these monkeys would scratch or bite if they felt that they're in danger. He was once bitten at his right hand and got 30+ stitches. It was funny to see how this monkey king (according to the uncle) tried to eat the "Nian Gao" (年糕, Chinese sticky cake) that the uncle had given to him. This looks good... Chewing my first bite... Still chewing my first bite... Scratch head When can I ever finish chewing my first bite... One final photo... And since I love his expression so much... I decided to post a bonus photo... On a side note... I love these monkeys' hairstyle :D

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