Creepy-Crawlies

Over the past week, I've been shooting nothing but bugs and other crawlies. They are bugging me all the time; even in my sleep, I dream of the critters that got away, and especially the female spider wrapping up the male for dinner after having mated with him. My favourite location to look for the bugs is Telok Blangah Hill Park which is close by. Whenever I have an hour or so, I'll just nip up the hill to hunt for them.

Mornings are the best times, as the bugs come out in search of breakfast, it is a bit tricky for them as they may also fall prey to other hungry predators, and become breakfast meal for others. As I had become a familiar harmless figure amidst the bushes, the bugs just ignore me, some even pose for me, inviting me to take the shots. Two insects seemed to like my presence, the assassin bug(Hemiptera Reduviidae) and the orange coloured leaf hopper (Bythoscopus Ferrugineus). Sometimes, I swear they were putting up a big smile for the shots.

To be successful in insect hunt, one must be able to imagine oneself as an insect darting from bush to bush and encountering all kinds of friends and foes, and always on the lookout for food, and to be especially alert to keep predators away. You gotta to be jungle smart to stay alive. You are lucky if you have safety in numbers like in an ant colony, otherwise it's everybody for himself, using the God-given talents to survive. Caterpillars seem to be easy picks, but they appear quite aggressive, with spikes all over their body and also emit horrific odours to scare away anyone who comes near. I must try to collect enough of these strong odours and spray them in the crowded MRT carriage if I want to secure a seat.

Hunting and shooting these insects, gives me such a thrill, especially when I spot an insect which I have not seen before. As a novice every outing is a new experience, since there are about a million insect species around the world. These do not include spiders, scorpions and centipedes. These outings have become my learning journey into the world of insects. Not so long ago, people would actually go out with a big net and swish around to collect the insect species, pin them and store them for identification and study. It's a cruel way to learn about the insects. Now, most people like me, would photograph them and file them away digitally for study and identification. I do it the hard way, on a tight budget. I use a prosumer camera and close up lens to capture the images. It is the hard way because I will have to get pretty close to the insects to photograph them: at a camera to subject distance of between 10 to 20 cm. I don't have the luxury of more expensive camera lens which would give me more working distance, thus ensuring the insects don't get frightened away by the camera being too close.

Sometimes I go out with a friend but mostly I hunt alone. I laughed at myself when I get into a comical situation as when I spent a good 5 minutes shooting a bug and later found out it was actually the skin of the nymphal stage that the adult fly had shed, but the skin and shape of the bug remained intact. Another occasion, I was engrossed into shooting something I thought was a new find, but later found that it was a leaf or seed of a flowering tree. The forest play tricks on your vision as you concentrate on doing your thing.

One day I was so thrilled to spot a male fighting spider; it brought back memories of old when as a kid, I would go and trap these male spiders and groom them for battle with spiders of other kids. We went through sex education the practical way with these spiders. Often the children would catch the female spiders as mates for the male, thus enabling him to fight better after having mated, so that was what we thought. Kennynair, we found that this did not work for all males, some males after mating become weaker, and when they face another male spider they become "puchat" and show their tails.

The Marina Barrage

The Marina Barrage was officially opened by young Lee a few days ago. Was he ever happy, the barrage was the result of what his daddy, old Lee wanted to see 20 years ago. The barrage is an artificially built tidal gate 350 metres long built across the Marina Channel to prevent sea water from getting in during high tide, and to pump out excess water from the Marina Bay to sea when the level rises due to heavy rain, thus preventing flooding of low lying areas. It is a fresh water reservoir which may be used for all kinds of water sports and other recreational activities. A three-in-one thing, and four-in-one if it can also prevent Tsunami into the Bay.

Singaporeans are very proud of this new icon in the Bay, we can now tell the Malaysian politicians politely, that if they want to sell their excess Terbau water to us after 2016, it will be at a reasonable price. For years, they have threatened to turn off the tap at the JB Causeway, maybe one day, we can do likewise at the Woodlands side, when the water flow is in the reverse direction.

Back to the Barrage, I went recce earlier, before the opening day, but the security was tight and did not allow anyone to go near the barrage. Anyway, last night I asked my friend to go with me but he was very kiasu, he checked with the Weather man and told me not to go because they expect thunder storms even though the sky was blue at 6.00 pm.

As a golfer, I am a bit of a meteorologist myself. At 6.30 pm I sized up the movement of clouds, the wind direction, the blue sky, behaviour of insects and then maintaining the power of positive affirmation (meaning shut your eyes and ignore all negative signals) - I went. It was a relief, no ERP charges, no parking charges, free entry to Barrage, but must bring few slices of bread - why? - because there were lots of jam along the highway.

You get a good feeling when you walk into the facility. Although standing on reclaimed land, I felt safe, policemen and security guards were plentiful, not to mention lots of NS men who were putting up the final touches for an event the next day. Earlier, I had done some homework, looking at pictures of the Barrage and deciding where to shoot, so I head up to the roof top and shot the Barrage itself - looks like a short aircraft runway, I hope some drunken pilot don't land his Airbus thinking it to be Changi Airport. Then I went over to the spot overlooking the city and took some spectacular shots showing the Durian, Raffles City, Sheare's Bridge, The Singapore Flyer, Pan Pacific, Marina Mandarin .....all the way to Kallang Basin. Kennynair,the Flyer had only the courtesy lights on, even at 8.00pm when the sun had long set. I then called my friend and told him that the weather was perfect at the Barrage and complained to him that I was still waiting for the thunderstorm.

Now, I still need to walk the 350 metres stretch of the Barrage itself to take some shots of the city from there. On the left of the Barrage was a long row of at least 10 pavilions, supposedly for young couples to whisper sweet nothing to each other while enjoying the cool breeze and the spectacular lights of the city. While I was shooting away, a young police couple was making their rounds, probably whispering sweet nothing to each other - they think of everything, don't they. They stopped to chat, she said " It's beautiful out here, isn't it, pity the Flyer lights are not on." I agreed with her and said that the timer lights must be out, I would have to call them tomorrow to put it right. The young constable said, " You have a good hobby, sir, may I see some pictures?" I showed him some shots, and said photography kept me away from places like Geylang. The young lady constable agreed with me, ya away from the red lights and the Karaoke bars and the roughnecks. She also preferred patrolling the Barrage to Geylang. Singapore police are such nice officers now compared to years ago. If you are across the causeway and a police officer smiles at you and calls you "tuan" and politely tells you that your vehicle had crossed a double white line and that the fine for the offence is RM$ 300, you'd better get some Ringgit ready.

Ten minutes later, the same police couple passed by me and he commented "Sir, I see the Flyer lights came on for you". I said "Ya, it's beautiful, isn't it." I told him, I had prayed hard for it to come on, and it did. That's the power of prayer.

I was done for the night, but still need to walk to the end of the barrage just to tell my friend I had walked the entire length. At the other end I found a few soldiers relaxing and were very chatty and polite. Perhaps they were still expeting Mas Selamat to slip away from the Barraage. One told me that the scenery is gorgeous but may not be so, once the Integrated Resort is up, because it will block some of the city lights. I told him that the IR buildings would be quite spectacular too. Gosh I realised that even our soldiers are so polite and respectful - Can they fight in a battle situation? Would our soldiers say sorry to the enemy because they had accidentally shot one of them in battle. Shouldn't they be trained to be rough, tough and feared rather than to appear soft, tame and polite. I must ask my friend how they train recruits to throw a hand grenade: Should it be:

Under arm throw at the same time say politely " Excuse me,I am throwing the grenade at you, sorry ah". or
Overhead throw and the same time shout - "Kennynair." or other mean battle cry.

I feel better if it was the second.