These are the snow monkeys of Jigokudani Yaen-koen, in central Honshu. The Jigokudani Yaen-koen (altitude 850 meters) is located in the Valley of Yokoyu River sourced from Shiga-Kogen of the Joshinetsu-Kogen National Park in northern part of Nagano prefecture. Because of the very steep cliffs and the steam coming off the springs in everywhere, ancient…
Nature
Nature, Places, Posts
Sepoy Lines, College Field & MacAlister Road
The pictures of these buildings, taken in the vicinity of College Field, and the McAlister road areas in Sepoy Lines, were taken in the mid-to late 1980’s. The buildings no longer exist. The haunting beauty of mid-morning colours is accompanied by a state of quiet desolation and loneliness, and offers a prelude to their soon-to-be demolished fate. In its place – the Central…
Nature, Places, Posts
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a beautifully haunting expanse. This collection of national parks, deep waters and waterfronts ferries, bestow upon the traveller and its inhabitants a sense perpetual optimism, rugged individualism, and a vision of endless summer days. From gentile historical inns in the heart of national parks to the leisurely dust-swirl of the roadway motels and their baby-boomer bikers, the…
Complex & Simple, Nature, Places, Posts
Bauhinia Rhapsody III
(Week 6) The mysterious miracle of growth and fruitfulness Another two weeks has passed. Now, there are these giant steps towards starting up the self-sustaining chlorophyll engine. This parable from today Missal, the Gospel of Mark 4:26-34 is so apt “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use…
Complex & Simple, Nature, Places, Posts
Bauhinia Rhapsody II
(Week 4) Another two weeks has passed. The shoots are now proliferating in droves. Already, the first strand of a spider’s web has spun across the fledgling shoots, seemingly unaware of how short-lived the structures will be…… But Life does find a way. Elsewhere in the garden, a rare pink variant of the Peacock Flower…
Nature, Places, Posts
Bauhinia Rhapsody I
(Week 2) Two weeks after a heavy (heavy) prune, new shoots emerging from this Bauhinia kockiana creeper. This climber is a native of the Malaysian jungle, and produces an abundance of orange and re-orange flowers.
Complex & Simple, Nature, Persons, Posts
Of Planting Trees
“A society grows great when old men plant trees, whose shade they know they shall never sit in” From an ancient Greek Proverb Mr Lee Kuan Yew (1923-2015), First Prime Minister of Singapore. He had never failed to plant a tree every year from 1963-2014 (picture from the Straits Times Archives)
