How to Skin a Frog

Among the native peoples of Sarawak, frogs are a delicacy. Thus frogs are gathered and sold at many a jungle produce market in the small as well as big towns throughout Sarawak. A few months ago I saw one lady who skinned frogs expertly at the Bintulu Tamu. The video below may be repugnant to some. So its fair for me to give a warning. This video is not for the faint hearted. Please click to play the video.

Funky Bug

I have not put up any post recently for the main reason that I was very focused on completing my assignment. Well, I'm through with it this afternoon and have submitted it. Thus with my mind freed I took time this afternoon to catch up with the garden. While busy photographing the hibiscus flower I saw a few tiny bugs that moved about the leaves and petals of the hibiscus plant. You can see one tiny bug at the top right hand corner of the picture on the left. Mu curiosity paid off. On closer examination it was not an ordinary bug. One of them had the look of an alien. I call it the ET Bug. Next, came one that looked very familiar. He looked very punky with blue Indian Sioux hairstyle. His two round eyes and nose came with a matching set of mouth full of white teeth. Seconds later I saw two punky bugs coming out from below the cream petals of the hibiscus flower. My camera phone kept tracking their movements. In the wink of an eye both bugs got stucked to each other. Ooops, caught them in the act. Or shall I say--Two Heads is better than One.

ET Bug

Blue Punk Bug ( Sorry couldn't name it better)

Ooopsy Daisy !! Caught in the Act!!

( Or shall I say..Two Heads is Better Than One)

What a Toad!

Last week while at my Bintulu eco-farm, I was dumbfounded to see this strange creature. I was not sure whether it was a frog or a toad. Now in Kuching I checked many of the books at the libraries here to find a similar picture. None looked similar. When I checked on Google images no similar image appeared. OK, this could be my special find.
On that day( 5th March) I was having my normal morning walk when my eyes were caught by a tiny movement on the earth road. I knelt to see this tiny toad and ran to my chalet to get my camera h/p N93i. Luckily it was still there when I returned. For one thing this stubby bodied creature could only make a distance of about 10 cm per jump probably due to its short hind legs. I read that toads have poisonous glands behind their eyes. Could it be that nature has 'created' the two big eyes on its back to scare potential predators? Throwing signals like ' See, I'm a bigger toad with loads more poison on my back. Be warned!'. Notice too how well camouflaged is the overall colour and design of its back to the colour and tiny pebbles on the dirt road. Nature truly amazes me.