Bees & Mini Pineapples - The Banjaran Hotsprings Retreat, Ipoh, Malaysia

Our stay at The Banjaran Hotsprings Retreat was a short (and sweet) one. We took some time in the morning to explore their gardens. Lots of beautiful butterflies but I didn't have time to stalk them and take photos. But as we were leaving the herbal garden, I spotted this bee amongst the mini pineapple plants. 

Ain't life sweet :)

Sweets for my sweet

Sugar for my honey bee

Beads of Dew - The Banjaran Hotsprings Retreat, Ipoh, Malaysia

I wake up in the morning

And looked out of our window

And there lay beautiful beads of dew

Glistening in the morning sun.

Purple Water Lily (Nymphaeaceae) - The Banjaran Hotsprings Retreat, Ipoh, Malaysia

Hello all. Sorry for the silence for the past two days - was away at The Banjaran Hotsprings Retreat in Ipoh, Perak. Such a beautiful place with awe-inspiring nature. Will share more photos soon.

In the meantime, enjoy this photo of a purple water lily we spotted in a pond in the reception area. 

Nature's sun

Stink Bug Nymph (Tessaratomid Pycanum rubens) - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

There he was just strutting down the branch

Singing do wah di ddy di ddy dum di ddy do

Looking around and shuffle with his feet's

singing do wah di ddy di ddy dum di ddy do

This little red stink bug was caught on camera walking on a plant branch.

You can read more about the stink bug in this blog post.

*Adapted from lyrics of Do Wah Diddy. 

Silver Butterfly, Prepare for Take-Off - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Looks like the butterfly has a pair of sunnies on and is preparing to take off! :P

Purple Water Lily (Nymphaeaceae) - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

We have a water lily plant in our garden and it doesn't flower very often. But when it does, what a sight! The water lily has a beautiful light purple flower with a bright yellow sepal. 

Water lilies are divided into two categories; hardy and tropical. This one is a hardy water lily since it only blooms during the day. 

Water lily after the rain -- tiny raindrops on the petal 

Hung Like An Ant - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Right, this is a really cool photo of an ant. Note: This photo has NOT been rotated. We found this ant hanging upside down on the washing line and it reminded us of the popular game, Hangman. 

Hung like an ant

Another post on ants here. 

Have a great weekend!

Orange ladybird (Coccinellidae) - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Ladybirds are fast moving creatures. Once, we spotted a ladybird and it was running all over the place, making it very difficult for us to get a steady shot. If you try hard enough, you can lure a ladybird onto your hand/arm... And yes, they still run around like mad on your arm! 

Orange ladybird on hairy leaf

For another post on ladybird, click here. 

What's the story, morning glory - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Whenever I see a morning glory, the song "What's the story, morning glory" from Oasis will automatically play in my head. How about you?

Purple bloom

Pink lilies on tree trunk @ Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

At the BOH plantantion visitor's centre in Cameron Highlands, I was taking photographs of the beautiful plantation when I spotted these pretty pink lillies. 

Only when we were back in the resort did it cross my mind that it was unusual for pink lilies to be growing out of a tree trunk?! The only conclusion we could make out of this was that the tree trunk had a "hole" in the middle and someone must have plucked these lilies and placed them there. 

Butterflies mating @ Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Not 2, but 4 butterflies caught on camera mating... 

Frangipani, Lonesome - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Frangipani, Lonesome

To read more about frangipani or plumeria flower, click here.

Macro of a Butterfly - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Found this butterfly in our garden this morning, black/brown wings on one side and dark blue on the other. 

Enjoy!

Kissing yellow flowers - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Instead of grass, we use this yellow flower in our outdoors garden for landscaping. It is quite similar looking to the peanut flower, but has less pronounced veins. I think it makes the garden look really pretty, a beautiful field of yellow. 

Kissing yellow flowers

Fluffy Clouds and Menara TM - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The sky was exceptionally blue yesterday and the clouds were big and fluffy. A beautiful day indeed. The next two photos were taken from The Gardens Club Lounge, looking onto Menara TM (the tall building you see on the left). Menara TM is the headquarters for Telekom Malaysia and is 310m tall with 55 floors in total. It is shaped to represent a sprouting "bamboo shoot". Quite a lovely sight from afar. 

The next two photos were taken in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur. The sky was still very blue but somehow it looked dull in the photos. Photos were taken minutes apart, but looks very different although no change in camera setting.

Beautiful detail on a dragonfly's wing - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Macro shot of a dragonfly's wing, so intricate and beautiful

Garden snail with transparent shell - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

I didn't have time to research about this garden snail in more detail, so not too sure what species it's from. They are quite common here, we see them a lot especially early in the morning when it is still damp or after a rainy night. One of the most distinctive features of this snail is that it has a transparent shell, which is rather fragile. 

Read on to see what one snail said to the other snail.

Hey mate, wanna race?

On your mark, get set, GOOOOOO!

One hour later.... still no sign of both snails at the finishing line... 
Aiyo!!!! Slow coaches.
THE END. 

Have a great weekend all!

Fishing Boats - Pulau Ketam, Selangor, Malaysia

Pulau Ketam, literally means "Crab Island" and is a small island located off the coast of Klang. Pulau Ketam is a fishing village, so it's not surprising that it is renowned for its seafood!

Last week, a friend invited us over to the island for a get-together session. After that, she kindly took us on a tour around the island and we got to see many fishing boats. Almost 80% of the villagers are fishermen. Most of these boats are equipped with large nets. 

I have many more photos from our trip to Pulau Ketam but have not had the time to resize them. Will post more when I have the time.

Morning Dew - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

I love taking photos of morning dew droplets, but when I get to capture a reflection of surrounding plants / buildings in a droplet, that's magic!

Reflection of surrounding greenery in the morning dew droplets

The Malay Tiger Butterfly (Danaus affinis malayanus) - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

At first I thought this was the Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus), but if you look closely, the Monarch butterfly's wings are primarily orange. This butterfly's wings are orange on the upper side and white at the bottom. After a lot of searching on Google, I finally found the name of this butterfly - The Malay Tiger or Mangrove Butterfly (Danaus affinis malayanus). This butterfly is a species from the sub-family of milkweed butterflies, Danainae. It is usually found near mangrove areas. Apparently this is an endangered species and can usually be found at 2 locations in Malaysia, Kuala Selangor Nature Park and Kuala Kurau, Perak.

Somehow, this Malay Tiger Butterfly managed to find its way to our garden. We found it perched on an aster flower plant (daisy).

Malay Tiger Butterfly on White Daisy

Ant with a Tan - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

I've always thought of ants as pests. When I got interested in nature macro photography, my perception changed. Ants are actually pretty cool insects to photograph! If you watch them long enough, you will find them doing all sort of things... like this particular black ant, it was walking on the line and it stopped right at the spot where the sun was shining and just posed there for me. It looks like it's getting a tan, don't you think?... (Did you notice the anagram in the title - ant/tan?)

Ant with a Tan

If I'm not mistaken, this is a carpenter ant.