Pak Idrus's Blog

Merbau and Buah Nona I always feed the birds and small animals around my house. Every morning I would prepare some cut apple, banana and bread in containers and placed it at the Small Garden in front of the house and another set hanging on the branch of the Nona fruit trees at the backyard garden. Buah Nona is Custard apple in the English language. [read my past posting on the Buah Nona here ] The family love eating this fruits. We also share it with the birds and other small animal that come visiting the fruit trees. I had planted it from seedling and it has grown and bear fruits all the years round. The other day while at the kitchen my spouse told me  to look at the window in the kitchen and there I say the bird that we call Merbah pecking and eating at the fruits. I then went to take my camera the Canon EOS M5 with the 200mm lens and took many snaps of the birds enjoying the fruits. I also did a video on the happening which I filmed from inside of the kitchen as not to di...

We all need energy to survive on planet earth and that energy come from the Sun. The only specie that could convert the sun's energy into foods is the Plant. Without the plant all other species could not survived on this planet. And of course it the greens which produce the oxygen that is vital to our survival. Our specie now takes all kind of meats other that vegetable to get the sun's energy. By taking meat mean that we get the energy from a second-hand source. Remember the animals first have to eat the plants in order to get the energy from sun. It is ridiculous for our specie to go to the third party to get our energy when we could easily get it from the second party, the plants. We can get all the nutrition we need to live a healthy life if we just consume vegetable. I am trying to do just that slowly, one step a time. Now I consume vegetable and seafood with very little meats.. The family now take mostly white meats and vegetable and hope in due course we could do a...

I was in Pekan, the royal town of Pahang a few years ago. While there I visited the many museums there. I was impressed with the way the state authority had upgraded the old palace and a mosque into museums. I have blog about the museums that I had visited and today I am posting the image of  the landscape of the surrounding area near the Sultan Abdullah mosque , now a museum, that had been professionally done.  Have a nice day.

Above is a scene of new trees been planted along Jalan Ampang in Kuala Lumpur. A way of greening the city. Thus keeping the city dwellers cool while walking on the pavement.  Have a nice day.

Some years back I planted a Coconut Palm in front of my house in Ampang Jaya. It has since grow tall and bare fruits. I have collected many young coconuts to get its sweet water as well the flesh of the coconut. It does made a nutritious cool drinks. The above image shows a branch broke down which lead to the young coconuts dried. I took a picture of it and sharing it here for all to enjoy.  Have a nice day.

I love the green so with the little space I have at one corner of my patio I created my Little Garden  with a varieties of potted plants. At the same time I  grow whatever trees on the roadside of my house which kept the area green and refreshing. In the front of my house I grows many creeper plants up front of my gate and above the garage. These are creepers that flowers all the times. Other than that I also plant the traditional Malay flowering plant call Kenanga. Kenanga gives a smooth fragrance. Bougainvillea of different color of flowers are grown in pots and put on the ground to control it growth as not to become too big and difficult to control. Other than that potted plants that flowers throughout the year are grown outside the gate as well. Above is an image of the plants above my garage and in front of my gate producing shades and colorful flowers. These plants kept the house especially my Serambi, the favourite space of the house cool all the time. Have a nic...

The above image of part of the park and fountain at KLCC was shot with the Mirror less camera the Canon EOS M10. Enjoy it folks. Have a nice day.

Well I have been enjoying photography and recently have bought a new Macro Lens for my Mirrorless Camera the EOS M series. Now with the new Macro Lens I could easily do more Macro Photography. Before getting this new lens I was using my 200 mm lens which also provides means of taking a Macro Photography at a distance from far away or at least 1 meter away. Here is an image of a shot that I took using EOS Mirrorless camera using the 200 mm lens. Enjoy it folks. Have a nice day.

The Kenanga flowers in front of my house. The tree is more than 45 years old. I got the young plant from a friend in Terengganu and planted it outside my fence. It grew tall but I kept trimmings it so that it did not grow too tall, as well let it kept blooming throughout the years. The flowers give a fresh soothing fragrance that reaches my Serambi. Friends and strangers often ask for the flowers and I always obliges. In fact I have wakaf the flowers so that folks are free to take it wherever they need it especially for medicinal purposes. Many ask for seedling but this is one plant that is not easily to propagate. It got no seed thus the only way is to bud grafted it and even that it not easy. I have successfully done it and given the young plants to relatives and friends. Well folks I love this plant and it does served us well.. The Kenanga!  Have a nice day.

I am back in Kuantan for a short break from the city life. Kuantan a small town on the east-coast of Malaya is my hometown. I grew up here and spend my childhood and my youth here. So, there are lots and lots of memories. In a way coming back here is sort of reliving those memories. I shall write some of it here. In the forties in the kampong where I grew up there was no air or water pollution. The well water was clean, and air was so refreshing. The word pollution did not exist at that time and no one talk about pollution. Now that with all the talk about pollution I realised that there was also no sound pollution as well at that time. The reason I am talking about noise pollution is that when we were living in the kampong in Kuantan we could hear every noise of the wild, the crickets, the frogs, the birds and everything else that makes sound. Since there were hardly any cars or buses, lorry or air plane flying by or any factories that create noise there was no noise polluti...

I thought for today I would just post these images that I took yesterday with the Canon EOS M5. Enjoy it folks as much as I had enjoyed taking that pictures.  Have a nice day.

I have always love flowers thus I tried to plant it in my little garden but as usual it does not last long except for the Bougainvillea, Bauhinia kockiana, Allamanda and some little White which flowers throughout the years. I have both flowers grown at the front of my garage and it does colored the front of my house.  Another flower that I like and could not grow is the Rose. It need a cool weather like in the highland to grow well. When it is brought to the lowland and sold it does not last long, the most is one week if placed in a cool place in the house. Although it has such a short lifespan it does give so much love with its glorious colors and fragrance. I love Roses and from time to time would buy it especially on a special day like birthday or anniversary. The above dry roses are the one which I bought last year. I dried it and have been displayed in the house, still giving so much loves despite it already dried. True as they say that flowers are the keepers of our ...

While stopping for lunch at Temerloh on the way back to Kuala Lumpur we got a few bunch of fresh Maman, a local fresh vegetable that could be pickle or stir-fry as a vegetable dish. By this morning my spouse had it pickled as Jeruk Maman. Above are the Maman that had been pickled.  It not that difficult to pickle the Maman. Traditionally in the Malay culture, after cutting and cleaning the Maman is put in glass container and then fresh water is added. Then add a little Nasi [cooked rice] and a little salt; if one like just add a few fresh chilli. Leaves it for a few days to ferments.  After that it could be used in the cooking of Masak Lemak with fish or just consumed as an appetizer with Sambal Belacan. Nowadays it rather difficult to get the fresh Maman in the town market; so, it is now sort of a luxury for townsfolk and I loved it.  Have a nice day.

I love tropical fruits and Banana is my favorite. Banana and Papaya could be got at any times throughout the years whereas the Durian, Duku, Mangis  are seasonal. One of the seasonal fruit is the Mangis. While looking around the lush green surrounding of the Tanjung Inn at Cherating the other day I found a Mangis tree with fruits that has yet to ripen. It greenish white in color. Nowadays unless you live in a Kampong with the tree around your house, it not often that one gets to see young Mangis fruits still hanging from the branches, looking fresh. With my camera, I took a few shots of that fruit. It would take a while before that fruits on this tree could be consumed. Unlike the Durian the Mangis does not smell. The Mangis is different in that it is a small round fruit with dark purple skin. The thick inner skin may stained clothing so it is best to be careful when prying to open the fruit. Inside are the succulent white flesh ready to be eaten. One interesting factor of the...

It was a beautiful Sunday. The weather was nice and cool. I walk out of the gate of my house and looking up saw the moon up above. It was a three-quarter moon and look magnificent indeed.  I thought that it would be great to get a shot of that moon at this early hours of the morning; just after eight. I went up the house to take my camera and put on the telephoto lens that I need to get a good shot of that moon. I then went out again and on looking I could not see the moon as it has been hidden by the clouds. In photography, it like that; timing and opportunity. Anyway, it is still there behind the clouds. I then took a walk and look at the flowers that I had planted across the road in front of the house.  The White Hibiscus was blooming and at this early hours of the morning it has yet to open fully. It was nice to get to see the white buds start to open as the light of the morning sun shine of it. I then took some photos of the flowers first with the telephoto lens an...

Today is my wife Asmah's Birthday.  It her 77th.  Happy Birthday dear.  A bouquet of Roses for her.   Have a nice day.

Coffee at Janda Baik! whoever thought of that! In the middle of the Jungle. Well it sound enchanting indeed. For those who love a little adventure Janda Baik which is just thirty minutes away from Kuala Lumpur; it so near and yet so far. Jump into your car and get there folks. The highway passes through one of the oldest forest in the world; a tropical jungle that have been there since times. Lush and lush of greens and at Janda Baik you can get closer to those magnificent trees; touch and smell it.  The flora and fauna is fascinating as well. It worth a day trip there to sample the uniqueness of the rain forest. A night-stay would be lovelier where you can enjoy the cool morning air of the forest and of course get to watch the morning birds that comes around to feeds. Seeping hot coffee and having breakfast at the hotel coffee house would be a little of heaven. After attending a wedding at Bentong on Sunday 29 of last month we decided to go and have coffee in Janda Ba...

Above is the image of the Talang flower that I grow in front of my house. It a creeper plant, easy to maintain and it flowers all the years round. Thus it add the blue color to my Little Garden. The flower is often use in  food coloring. One of it many uses is in the coloring of the Rice blue in the making of  the Nasi Kerabu, a traditional Malay dish that originated from the east-coast  state of Kelantan.   Have a nice day.        

I have always love and appreciate flowers. Melor or Jasmin is one special flowers that I had always seen been grown by the Malay in the Kampong. Today I do grow it in my Little Garden.  This flower is gorgeous. It not only is as white and good looking but with gentle fragrance too. Malay woman would use it to add its special aroma to the Coconut oil that in those days is use on hair to give it a healthy growth. It is also adorning on woman's hair to give it an elegant and radiant look against the blackness of the hair. By itself at time folks would otherwise just takes a glimpse of it and leave it alone without appreciating its beauty. But the camera allows us to enjoy that beauty in the comfort of our home, thus give it sort of an immortality that we could appreciate all the times. The Melor is an elegant flower in its own right. Enjoy it folks as much as I had enjoyed snapping this image.  Have a nice day.