And Where Is Noah?

A portrait of the artist as a young Brontosaur

You can meet him/her at Taman Kyai Langgeng, Magelang.

What a Big Cock!

This cock stands about meter tall. He flaps his wings and his voice is very loud, showing off power and feathers. at the foothill of the megalith site in Cianjur, he is the master of the (domesticated) animals even this dog won't mess with the cock. what kind of cock is it? i asked the owner. "Ayam kampung," he replied. 

Luck be the Lady!

(photo by Lisa Saputra)

Lisa shot the most adorable photo of the week. love the colorings. the ladybug here hitchhikes our bus on the way back from Tanjung Lesung to Jakarta. Even bug needs holiday!

On Taking Chances

One scene in Ocean movie keeps playing in mind every time i think of saline water: lighting crashes, rain falls, it storms. one coconut tree is struck, falls into the sea. Meanwhile, a medium-sized monitor (biawak) rushed to the scene and swims to the fallen trunk, embarking on a journey to an island or a beach or ... to uncertainty.

Think that's why water monitors (Varanus salvator) roam on small islands like ones i've visited in Kepulauan Seribu. Some of these lizards even grows as fat and big as the komodo dragons--ones i had an encounter with at Pulau Rambut.

(Mr. Monitor after morning bath, photo by friend Tetty aka 'tettyyangmotoloch')

Yes, I admire them:  their slender appearance, graceful movement on the land and in the water as well. i admire their skin pattern. bag, camera case, and shoes made out of monitor skin are my wish list... no, kidding! :)

Last weekend at the beach of Pulau Biawak, Indramayu, i stood admiring its residents. The monitors. and all i could do was wowing. They're such incredible reptiles, swimming and walking--and running away--gracefully :)

they took chances and got there. So did I.


PS: I wonder why--for centuries--komodo monitors (V. komodoensis) unlike distant cousins V. salvator, remain landlocked in Komodo Is., Rinca Is, and some smaller islands nearby, and do not take chances. too heavy-bodied? Nature is a big mystery.

Twinkle, Twinkle (God's Lamps)

To light up the dark, God switches on his lights....

I love the way Ayu Utami describes light emitting things in the sky in her third novel, Bilangan Fu. She calls them “lampu-lampu Tuhan” or God’s lamps. The stars and the moon.

After being overshadowed by dark clouds all the way to Pulau Biawak* I was glad to see the clear sky, full of stars to gaze at. Although I ain’t a romantic person, it’s fun to guess what constellation is appearing. In the near complete darkness it is beautiful to see some things lit up the sky. Although it lasted only an hour, I was satisfied to find the Scorpion before the dark cloud painted the sky.

And there under the lone mangrove tree by the pier, I saw planktons lit the water by blinking. It looked like someone was igniting match in the water. If the rig lamps were unlit, the planktons would set the beach twinkling in the midnight!

On the way home, the sky was dark blue. I was knocked down by seasickness. I fell asleep, rocked by the strong waves. Then I woke up to the smell of rotting fish. I knew the boat was entering the estuary.

Up above my head, I saw dark clouds fading. The moon started appearing, like a silver coin. Slowly, I could see it forming. Half moon. But to my surprise, it sent a strong light, forming the biggest halo I’ve ever seen. The river was lit by the moon. It was the only ‘lamp’ (the boatman hadn’t even fix the battery-torch) yet strong enough to see the forms on terra firma.

I sat up and saw, at left and right I saw lines of trees and thickets of bush. Fireflies lit them up, almost like fairy lamps light up christmas trees. I’ve never seen fireflies that numerous! When I was small, I used to see fireflies in the garden, on passionfruit vines, and caught some. It’d been long since the last time I saw a firefly!

I was relieved to see lamps, meaning the port was near. But there I stood on the boat, admiring the moon and every single twinkle of fireflies. God’s lamps.

* Indramayu, West Java,

Vegetal & Animal@Gunung Gede

Wallace mentioned Gede Pangrango more than twice in his book. I tried to climb Gunung Gede twice. on the last attempt last weekend, friends and i finally made it to the summit. all the way, i saw so many astonishing and rich vegetation and animals. i even saw a silvery monkey (owa jawa) eating leaves, snails, birds, and flowering plants. all in their perfect forms that i felt i should call it--quoting Wallace's term--"luxuriance"! i felt so happy!

Breakfast Salad, Unlikely

Hendra spotted it. Miss Pundung nearly jumped off the chair. i've never seen scarab so beautiful and mahogany like this! he took a good grip on the rattan chair. I tried to persuade him to move on the leaf. Here he was, sitting pretty.

Taman Safari

L'Oceans...L'Oceans....

L'oceans, L'oceans .... comme les autres planetes...

the narrator's voice (guess it's Jacques Perrin's) cast the spell on me and the images sent me deep diving in the oceans. Love the movie. as grandiose as the scenes are, the music is. lovely. 

it was worth waiting and watching. 

the species are fabulous. most of them are new to my eyes. it features one species from Lembeh waters, Manado, Indonesia, which is the flamboyant squid (Metasepia pfefferi), so graceful! i could only mutter wow's to every scene. the tech was so cool and advanced that i could  hear even the faintest flip of the fins. incredible!

one scene touched me the most was: it was storming, and the lightning struck, a coco tree fell to the water. a monitor rushed to the scene and--unexpectedly--jumped on it and set sail on the fallen tree, drifting to uncertainty....

(this isn't my favorite poster from the site yet i know its message is: don't panick in the water)

and the "tangled" scene was bloody and even seeing the slender, mutilated  shark fell helpless to the seafloor could reduce anyone to tears....

the oceans are mysterious universes whose glimpses and riches are yet to be explored--by moi!

Swimming with sharks

(in Tulamben; photo: thedivingdugongers)

X: "what did you see there?"
S: a school of jack, countless clowns, fans, parrots, and some beautiful rays.
X: "Too bad you din see any sharks no?"
S: mind you, rays are related to them, buddy.

Let's Eat some Lions!

Once I resumed my snorkeling when i saw a lionfish in the size of a volleyball in Kiluan Bay, Lampung. I was afraid of the spines. Such terrible beauty. I am just glad that after that, each encounter didn't make me freaked out. my fear of it has turned into respect, I guess, for I admire them.

now having read an article in The Jakata post suggesting that--terrible as it may look--this fish is edible, i am ever curious. The scientists in Florida urge people to consume them. the spiny fish was once an accidentally introduced species circa 1992. now they've become pests, preying on other sea species.

To prepare the fish, all i need to do is to disarm the spines--just like when harvesting sea urchins aka bulu babi.

hmmm wonder what this candy-colored fish tastes like :)

(photo: thedivingdugongers)

His Eye Is on the Emprit Haji

(v Renon Ploshad, courtesy of Rosa Widiyarini)

Been long since the last time I saw emprit haji (white headed finches). like them

Oh Deer!

Menjangan Island is all about curiosity. Last February, friends and I failed to reached the island and it was about time that finally buddies and I made it to its walls (spending only like 5 minutes on the dry land!)

Despite the name (menjangan is deer), I only saw one female. but it's OK. wondered how they arrived there. DM Wayan said, menjangans come to and fro mainland Bali and to the solitary island for they are avid swimmer. they cross the 1 km strait to find food and mates. how cool is that!

(left: Bali Island, right: Menjangan Island; courtesy of Ricka Ristianti)

The island itself looks like a solid gigantic coral and the vegetation thrives on that solid, white rock. cool!

(think i see the ladder up to the temple; courtsey of Ricka Ristianti)

(that wondrous rocky edge of the island; courtesy of Triadi Sena)

Roaring finch

this is funny. from the very moment i opened the photo i sensed something wrong and it took a scroll down to the gotcha moment: April Mop!

science can be fun

Tea Time!

i know moths and butterflies suck nectar. just don't know that they also like tea!

last night after watching Teater Koma's Sin Jin Kwie (it was 00.15), i agreed to sit and have tea with Rahma, Mada and Iie. Tea in beer glass as usual. I stirred the long tsp to dissolve sugar and then i put it on the table, "sunny side up".

Minutes later flew a moth: brown, ugly, hairy. uninteresting. It walked toward the tsp and then putting his long tongue to the bowl of the spoon.

There was virtually no liquid in the spoon. but it put its tongue there and stood for like five minutes. perhaps it was sipping traces of the sweet liquid.

then Iie took a spoonful and pour it into the spoon.

the moth stood motionless. i thought the warm liquid must have burnt its tongue. So i blew it gently...the moth flipped its wings repeatedly, never to leave the spoon. it turned out that it was sucking the sweet tea and seemed enjoying the spoonful!

Remorse of The Remoras

one thing i noticed when i saw the pool of beige sharks and colorful sea creatures on that "Bandeng Island": remoras!
how they arrived at the tank is one question. did the fishermen caught them with their "hosts" (sharks and mantas or other marine mammals)?

The inhabitant of the pool have a distinctive look: their pad-like, sucker-like organ. they're as big as the beige sharks, the biggest species in the tank. i bet they're in the state of frustration, trying to find new hosts. or can they be independent?

Butterfly lovers

Last week when i went to that shop for groceries, it played a traditional Chinese music over the speakers. I thought, oh next week is Chinese new year! that's why.

It took me a minute to recognise what song: Butterfly Lovers Concerto! It was a version i never heard. Before, I only knew Vanessa-Mae's version: an orchestra backing her solo violin. It's one of my fav piece of orchestral music.

Then I remember Fiona ever mentioned this: Butterfly Lovers? That's Sampek Engtay!

Ah really? So I, as always, consulted Wikipedia: It's about a boy met girl. A Romeo, a Juliet. They were Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai. In our dialect, they became Sampek Engtay.

I checked this video. this vid is cool. amazing. it makes me think of how a hundred legs become six and a wingless body become winged. that's the wonder of fasting, eh?

Crab love

(photo courtesy of Maria Gode)

Crabs always bemuse me. i always have pleasant 'encounters' with them: fiddle crabs in Sanur, burrowing crabs in Banyuwangi, a mimicry crab in Sanur and Semak Daun, armored crab in Ujung Kulon, yummy crabs Mami cooked for me, and a white, palm-sized white crab that bit my toe last December. The latter might not be pleasant but it’s okay. It looked funny.

Last week I returned to Semak Daun for the second time since 2006. I spotted a green crab on the pier (I suspect there are more and more species I can discover on the island) And its legs are hairy.

I called it opal-shelled crab. Maria named it army crab. well, I agreed with her :)

what's up DOC?

this morn i remembered some story that warms my heart and reduced my headache:

Papi and I went to Malang. he routed the streets to fetch some black dyes/tints (for printing the Api Menyala magazine perhaps) and then I remember we went to Chinatown.
there i saw a room full of very big and tall aluminum tubes. I was amazed by the sound inside: small chickens chirping. they were day old chicks! yello, fluffy chirping things!

next: story about Pak Hadi, Cik Milka, the fastest growing chickens i ever saw, and Sharon

First Song of Magicicadas

Zzrrrrt zrrrrt zrrrrt zzzzrrrrrrt
Zzzzrrrt zrrrt rrrt rrrrt

I am in your village
to be exact beyond it
I am about to cross there

I lift up my eyes to the sky
and level them to the thatched roof
among sugar cane leaves
beyond this green revine
there where happy i've always been

and I can feel my heart's at ease
for there I know you are for me awaitin'

the ravine is wide and deep
i am walking in the path
where all have walked before
so too have the cattle, ducks and buffalos

the beige and slender sticks of bamboos
dance in a stange movement

the music is even more strange
to my ears for i am a lowland man

it goes zzrrt zrrrt zrrrt zrrrt
like millions of schoolmates putting their index finger
in front of their mouths and they pout
and hiss: sssst ssst ssst

it tickles my ears
it's the first song of the monsoon

Rulers of the World

They outnumber humankind
they're troops
establishing kingdoms of their own
here's my tribute!


everywhere I go, I often find insects mating. It's a good sign yes?