CLOUDS

I almost laughed out loud when I saw these clouds.

I thought the clouds in the middle of the photo looked like East Malaysia, don't you think so? West Malaysia and Singapore must be blocked by the branches on the left.

PERESKIA

I first saw this thorny Pereskia planted as a low groundcover at Kallang Riverside Park when I first joined the former Parks and Recreation Department.

It was a park that I managed and due to some development works, this plant was subsequently removed.

Little did I know it was so rare in Singapore. It was much later that I realised that I have never seen it anywhere else ever since. Well, at least until last year.

When we went to Malaysia to source for plants last year, I saw from afar an interesting yellow pinkish-leaved climber growing on a tall tree at a nursery. It was growing at least 6 m up the trunk of the tree.

There it was, this climber that I failed to see for a decade but remembered fondly. Imagine my delight when I saw and recognised it. So we had the owner's permission and took some cuttings and tried to propagate them in our nursery.

A few months ago, I planted 3 small pots at Floral Walk but the last I saw, they perished with nary a dead "stem" left.

When I saw this plant recently on 11 Jan 10, I found out from my colleague that it is not an easily propagated plant. The cuttings were difficult to take root and it was relatively slow growing. Nevertheless, there were a few pots of it. I hope we have more success propagating it because I would love to plant it at the Golden Garden!

MALAYSIAN TRIP (2-4 NOV 09)

These photos were taken during the trip to Malaysia.

The red flame and the interesting tree photos were taken on 2 Nov 09 whilst the last photo of the unknown legume plant was taken on 3 Nov 09.

LEECH

I was clearing some things on 8 Dec 09 and found this from a recent trip to Malaysia in early Nov.

At FRIM, I found a leech on me after a visit to their forested area. The small leech was attached to my left waist and I finally managed to remove it after using my colleague's medical oil!

The handiplast was covered completely with dried blood whilst the tissue had dried blood wiped from my waist. The card was the location map of FRIM.

What a memorable trip!