Adventures - Sapa rice terraces, Vietnam

Went to Sapa, Vietnam for a quick 2-day relaxing trek (with hotel stay at night).

My friend and I took the mini-van ("Limousine") to from Hanoi to Sapa. We departed at 7am and reached at about 2pm, a 5-hour journey. The winding road towards the end was a little uncomfortable.

Sapa is home to various hill tribes, including the Black H'mong tribe people who make up the majority. The tallest mountain in Indochina is also found in Sapa (Mt Fansipan).

The benefit of travelling during winter is probably the weather, which was cool and comfortable for hiking. The cons would be that the rice terrace did not look as picturesque. 

There was not many bees, except a little Hylaeus bee.

Possible trails and villages belong to the various hill tribes.

Sun-rays peeking through the clouds during our trek to the rice terraces

...

H'mong lady "smoothening" flax with her hands, so that she can use it to make clothes later.

Rice terraces. According to our guide, there is only one "crop" season in Sapa, which feeds the people and is not commercially sold. 

The many peaks at Sapa

Adventures - Taroko National Park (Hualien) and Yangmingshan (Taipei) in Taiwan

Just a quick post about two national parks in Taiwan! Went in late Feb 2019 and it was almost the end of winter and start of spring! 

Taroko National Park (Hualien)

We took Taroko train from Taipei Main Station and had pre-booked tickets (online). The train ride was scenic! We hired a free-and-easy driver from Klook. Definitely a recommended way to explore Taroko as you can customise your itinerary, and even do some trekking! 

Here's the Qingshui Cliffs, beautiful but rainy day morning. 

Qingshui Cliffs

We went to the Shakadang and Lushui trails - these were the easiest but rather scenic trails in the park. 

The Shakadang trail is the only trail where you can see blue water (it's the last tributary leading to the larger Liwu river) due to the rocks.

We drove through the national park, visited various "attractions" like the Swallow Grotto, Chingxi Suspension Bridge and Cimu Bridge.

Grey water in contrast to the blue water above. A beautiful sight to behold!

Yangmingshan National Park (Taipei)

We took a tour of the Northern part of Taipei, so one of the stops was Yangmingshan National Park; again we used Klook. We made it there just in time for the flower festival and it was crowded. The sakuras and plum trees were blooming, so it was really nice to catch the blooming flowers. We only spent 2 hours there though, unlike Taroko NP where we spent the whole day. 

Flower Clock with many tourists.

Sakura!

We also made a short stop at the Datun Nature Park which is beautiful as well! The clouds obscured our view as we were leaving.

Datun Nature Park

We saw a few male long-horned bees (Tetralonia) sunning on Rhododendron.

A little long-horned bee from genus Tetralonia.

Will end the post here! It was such a great trip to these two national parks. Hope to go again and spend a longer time there!

Adventures - Sarawak, Kubah National Park

Was there for 3D 2N I believe. Kubah National Park is supposedly famous for frogs, there is a frog pond which has many ranid frogs. Stayed at lodge that could house 6 persons, there was air-conditioning but no hot water. Will update another time.

Some photos:

Adventures - Sabah, East Malaysia (#2 - Kinabalu National Park)

Not much time to write a detailed post about the fauna at Kinabalu National Park, did both day and night walks, so got to observe diurnal and nocturnal fauna.

The place is rich in stick insects, and amphibians. There were Orthoptera, Coleoptera present.
Did not spot any Odonata. There were rather few ants and bees, not as species rich as the lowland forests.

It was rather dry despite the monsoon season. The mosses were not wet.
Many of the orchids were not in bloom, esp. at the Botanic Gardens, unlike the previous time when I visited in June.




Some of my best photos; will elaborate further another time.

Adventures - Sabah, East Malaysia (#1 - Kota Kinabalu and adjacent areas)

Visited parts of Sabah from Kota Kinabalu in December 2015. The flight to-and-fro was SGD 175. Our hotel at the city was very cheap, SGD 22 per night for two people. Here're some of the highlights and just a quick review, and there is another post in greater detail about Kinabalu National Park:

(1) Fireflies tour with Borneo Legend Travel 

From KK, we travelled about two hours to Klias Nature Reserve at Beaufort, Sabah. Cost at 110 RM, including dinner, snacks, two boat rides at a mangrove (to see proboscis monkey and fireflies in the afternoon and night respectively), considerably cheaper than others tour companies but I think we did not have a dinner as sumptuous as the others.

Proboscis monkey & firefly tour

The fireflies were very abundant and amazing. The guide used a light baiting method to mimic the female light patterns, that in turn attracted the males to light up and even fly. Think this trip was worth it because of the fireflies. 

The tour company was reliable and fast in replying Whatsapp messages to book the tour (we only booked the day before). The tour was conducted in Chinese due to Chinese tourists but is also available in English. 

Whatsapp number

(2) Seafood

Friends ate the seasonally available Spanner crab Ranina ranina at Kota Kinabalu. It is very odd-looking. The carapace was cracked open from the top to reveal the meat. 

(3) Kinabalu National Park

Stayed at the Peak Lodge by Sutera Resorts which was very lovely, had a heater and heated water for the cold nights and even cable TV. Cost SGD 120 per night for four people (two rooms), breakfast included. This was booked on Agoda.com. 

Notably, the earthquake that struck earlier in June had resulted in closure of the summit trail and other trails in the national park. We had arrived on 30 Nov, the trail to the summit reopened on first of December with a fare hike in guides and a tougher route (thus one is now not allowed to complete the trail within one day). We did not go to the top though but walked the trails at the national park. The Liwagu trail and Bukit Ular trail were closed though due to the earthquake as well. 

I lost the brochure but the cost of staying at Laban Rata is pretty exorbitant, one would have to book the accomodation (with Sutera Resorts) and then book a guide separately. There is a Malaysian and international rate.

Hope this helps those who are visiting the park in the near future!

The view of the mountains only available in the morning and evenings, when not obscured by clouds.

(4) Kota Kinabalu City

Tried many food items, including Kolo mee, Bak Kut Teh (dry and wet), their laksa. There're cafes around as well.

We visited the natural history bookshop at the first floor of Wisma Merdaka too. Many useful guides to birds, amphibians, reptiles, stick insects, plants (e.g., orchids) etc. available there.

One of the cafes at Gaya Street, which has many eateries.

Adventures - Cusuco National Park, Honduras

I've never really made an effort to blog about the field trip in Honduras (country in Central America) and here it is.

I was there with Operational Wallacea, as a research assistant to the terrestrial scientists in Cusuco National Park. I did the research assistant module on Jungle Survival and Neo-tropical Ecology.

So where in the world is Honduras/Cusuco NP?

It is a Central American country (zoom out on map).

It's a unique biogeographical region North of the Ismuth of Panama, a famous land strip which linked North and South America about 3 million years ago (Leigh et al 2013).

Cusuco National Park is near to San Pedro Sula, the capital city (North of Honduras). In order make way for coffee plantations, some of the national park has been destroyed and has been at threat of further destruction.

How did we all get to the field site?

It was a 2 hour + journey by (magic-school) bus, then a four-wheel drive to the Cusuco National Park.

Throughout the bumpy four-wheel drive, we got to see vegetational differences with elevation - a mixed forest essentially. It is the Southern-most limit of some North American plant species together with South-American species such as Bromeliads.

Four-wheel Drive to Cusuco National Park from San Pedro Sula (Capital City of Honduras). Our luggage in one truck (above).

The road was quite bumpy. 

What did we do as research assistants?

In the first week, we did the module on Jungle Survival and Neotropical Ecology at the base camp.

Neotropical Ecology: sat in for lectures

Jungle Survival: went in the "jungles" to learn how to "survive" on bare necessities. We learnt how to pitch hammocks with tarps, 

It got pretty cold at night and in the mornings for a tropical-dweller like me. Bathing was a pain though, in that sense. No one really bothered to bathe much anyway - but I did because of rashes.

In the subsequent week(s), one could choose to stay in the base camp to be a research assistant or move on to satellite camps. I chose to move on to the satellite camps, to El Danto which was a six-hour hike away (note: pack light). 

Fieldwork to look for frogs and reptiles.

Tents in camp which we stayed in at camp. We stayed in hammocks when out in the field. 

At the satellite camp, El Danto.

The six-hour hike to El Danto satellite camp.

What was the best thing about the trip?

To me, the best thing about the trip was probably the scenery and unique flora and fauna seen in the trip. Sadly, I think I did not spend enough time there to appreciate it more or do more fieldwork. 

• There were mixed forests, and there was a pretty amazing dwarf forest (bosque enaño). 
• South American and North American flora in one place.
• There were orchids in the cloud forests. 
• Jewel scarabs (which I didn't get to see), dung beetles, humming birds (Mountain Gem), Quetzal (which I didn't get to see) and frogs as well.
• Surprisingly no fishes in Cusuco except for Poecillids

Almost above the clouds.

Pristine streams.

Pools

Bromeliads abound.

Beautiful tree ferns.

Rushing water.

How was sanitation like?

This might be a question lots of people would ask. Generally, there were places to bathe in, at the camps. However, many would choose not to bathe often because the weather was cool enough. There were flush toilets at the base camp and ditches dug at the satellite camp I went to. It didn't stink so that was good.

Well, it is field work after all and don't expect urban living.

Camp site.

"Ecofriendly" spots to brush teeth/spit.

Pathway to the toilet.

References

Leigh et al 2013: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23869709