January 2017 In iPhone Photos

1 Jan:

I organised another forest reserve cleanup on New Year's Day. Around 15 volunteers showed up to help, and we cleaned up the trails, lake and park. This is our haul of rubbish for the day. Not too shabby at all for two hours of work, considering that some of our volunteers are very young children. This was followed by a potluck picnic, Lucky Draw session (in which everyone won something) and a tree-planting session with some of the saplings I brought.

 

1 Jan:

While cleaning up the lake, Hari found part of a turtle or terrapin's skeleton. Jay and Geok Chunn's girls found other bone fragments, so we played at being amateur natural historians and tried to piece it back together.

 

 

1 Jan:

Marking New Year's Day 2017 by planting indigenous trees.

 

 

3 Jan:

First bento of 2017. Rainbow pizza, with fruits for dessert.

 

 

7 Jan:

Photographing street art in downtown KL on a Saturday morning after leaving Scott's apartment. I took a photo of this mural in Lorong Panggung.

 

 

7 Jan:

'Rage Against The Machine', an Ernest Zacharevic installation in Jalan Sultan.

 

7 Jan:

The SPCA shelter no longer has a fulltime vet. But it does have a weekend Ee Lynn, and that's not too shabby now, is it?

 

7 Jan:

Looks like I've found a new place to read a book and enjoy a fairtrade cuppa.

 

 

8 Jan:

Fresh vegetables, fairtrade coffee, homemade ice pops and garden parties at the Titi Eco Farm Open Day.

 

 

12 Jan:

Lunar New Year celebrants shopping for flowers and plants.

 

 

13 Jan:

I allow myself one ovo-lacto cheat day a week while transitioning to full veganism, and on this cheat day, I treated myself to an ice cream cone from Hail's Soft Serve.

 

 

14 Jan:

Bathing dogs, administering flea and tick treatment and cleaning ears at the SPCA shelter on a humid Saturday afternoon.

 

 

14 Jan:

Acrobatic lion dance performance by Kun Seng Keng, national high pole lion dance champions, at One Utama.

 

 

 

 15 Jan:

When your kicks match the Rapid MRT train seats and all is neat and orderly in your universe.

 

 

16 Jan:

Serina gave me bagsful of toys and books for my community service projects and for reuse. My little niece Hailey inherited the plastic farm animals, while my cats and I got the dinosaurs. We've been playing 'dinosaurs' every night here at the Wee Green Flat. Preloved toys are rawrsome.

 

 

16 Jan:

The real reason for dinosaur extinction.

 

 

17 Jan:

Malcolm was in town so I invited him out to dinner at Garage 51, a hipster cafe near my workplace.

 

 

 17 Jan:

Vegan mushroom sandwich and lots of chips for me at Garage 51. It was alright but not remarkable. Not even sure if it deserved a dab.

 

 

18 Jan:

I created the cheeriest little office windowsill vegetable garden ever.

 

 19 Jan:

"What a strange thing!

To be alive

Beneath cherry blossoms."

- Kobayashi Issa, Poems.

 

 

21 Jan:

Doggie-Doos Washing Day at the KL Pooch Rescue shelter today.

 

24 Jan:

Taco Tuesday with my good friend Ellen -- we had mushroom soft tacos and sweet potato fries and I had a strawberry mojito. Yums!

 

 

24 Jan:

Taco Tuesday with Ellen at Thyme Out, a cosy little place across the road from my office. Love the company, and love the food!

 

24 Jan:

I love the stained glass pendant lights at Thyme Out Sunway.

 

 

 

25 Jan:

Vegan nasi lemak set at Kukus TTDI. I think I died a little and went to heaven.

 

26 Jan:

Lion dance on the occasion of Australia Day at my office.

 

 

28 Jan:

Lunar New Year family staycation by the beach.

 

 

30 Jan:

Lion dance performance at my good friend Audrey's housewarming do.

 

 

30 Jan:

Solo walk in the woods on a quiet afternoon. If anyone doubts that the state ban on plastic bags and styrofoam containers can effect behavioral change, I can categorically state that there was a very marked reduction in plastic bags and styrofoam food packaging spotted during my usual trail cleaning rounds.

 

 

31 Jan:

Things I do on my day off. The SPCA was rather shorthanded that day so I took over some of the cleaning duties as well.

 

 

31 Jan:

LED lion dance at Symphony Walk, IOI City Mall.

 

 

Greening it up for the New Year

Green Living's objectives have always included promoting environmental responsibility and volunteering to families and the younger generation. It was with this in mind that I organised our annual Turtle Volunteer Programme, visit-and-volunteer sessions with other NGOs, and cleanup and tree-planting campaigns.

 

For New Year's Day 2016, I wanted to come up with a programme that would help all of us start the New Year right, and thus obtained permission from the State Forestry Dept to plant trees at a degraded area within the Kota Damansara Community Forest. I know Balu Perumal, our Science and Conservation guy in the Malaysian Nature Society secretariat, has been planting merbau saplings to be transplanted in forest reserves, and requested 50 saplings from him, which I collected on New Year's Eve. The Green Living New Year's Day Forest Cleanup and Tree Planting session was off to a great start already.

 

Around 15-20 people indicated on Facebook that they intended to attend the event, but on the day itself, over 35 volunteers showed up. This is a surprise since the opposite is usually the case. Since there is no registration fee or forms to fill, people usually click "Going" but don't show up since there are no consequences for not attending.

 
It was wonderful to see Hari, Goutham, Jey, Thiyagu, Mee Leng and some of my fellow C2R mentors and running buddies there at the forest reserve bright and early. What absolute troopers they are! We were also joined by a few members of the Kota Damansara Community Forest Society.

While waiting for stragglers to arrive, I handed out rubbish bags and gardening gloves and the volunteers got to work cleaning up the areas at the head of the jungle trail.

 

It was starting to get hot, so Prem and our friends from the Orang Asli community led the way to the tree-planting site to transplant the merbau saplings. Our Orang Asli friends affirmed that it is a good site for planting, as there is good drainage. Merbau cannot thrive in soft, loamy or waterlogged soil. Two officers from the Forestry Dept arrived to monitor the tree-planting, and wished me a Happy New Year and left after being assured that all was well and our volunteers know what they are doing. I helped coordinate the initial work and then left Prem in charge and went back to the head of the trail to meet up with the latecomers who had lost their way.

 

My bestie Nicole arrived, as did Shamila and her homeschoolers and my old friend Ili Fatimah and her friend Hanna. I was especially delighted to see Ili again. We first met when she emailed me to offer to volunteer for my Eco Kids Nature Day Camp in 2009. She continued to volunteer for a few more events and then left to study engineering in Japan under a government scholarship. Upon graduation and return to Malaysia, she just picked up where she left off and continued volunteering as though she had never left. Society needs more people like Ili. What a great New Year's Day this is turning out to be!

 

We took a long time meeting up with the tree-planting team because we were so busy digging up old polythene planting bags the entire trail. Some idiots on a corporate social responsibility project obviously thought that they were doing such a great job of planting trees for the forest reserve that they hadn't realised how much more harm they had caused by leaving plastic bags half embedded in soil.

 

The tree-planting team finished planting all the trees and made their way up to the gazebo at the top of the hill to meet us, picking up litter as they walked.

 
We arrived at the gazebo at the top of the hill and joined the others for breakfast and refreshments. I brought enough bananas and soy milk for everyone. The Kota Damansara Community Forest Society members supplied nasi lemak wrapped in paper and banana leaf, made by a member of the local community. There was laughter and happy conversation all around.

Two of our youngest volunteers, Sarah (age 8) and Justin (age 5) kept picking up snails to play with, so I asked them to pose with their snail companions. This is their best pose. I swear I will email this to their mother in 20 years to include in their graduation / wedding slideshows. Crazy happy kids!

We continued to pick up litter on our way back downhill and hauled all the rubbish out of the forest reserve to be disposed of in the large rubbish bins at the park across the road.

A group photo for posterity. What a beautiful portrait of my Malaysia this is! Volunteers of all faiths, ethnicities and nationalities coming together to do something positive for Mother Earth on New Year's Day!

But wait -- that is not all! Cleanups can be exhausting, boring, thankless work, and I didn't want the volunteers to go home empty-handed. The night before, I raided my cabinets for things I can give away as prizes -- a Green Science dynamo torchlight kit, several rattan brainteaser puzzles made by the indigenous communities in Endau-Rompin, and sets of biodegradable ballpoint pens. When we gathered around for a group photo, I asked all the volunteers to stick around for a little something extra. Most were tired and only too happy to comply. Shamila made sandwiches and most of the others brought enough food to share. While they were munching away, I got them to write their names on little slips of paper, which I then folded up and tossed into a jar for a Raffle Draw.

 

Names were pulled out and prizewinners were loudly applauded and cheered on, even for the smallest and silliest of gifts. It helped that we had a captive audience who were still sitting there munching on their second breakfasts!

The cheeky duo received one of my rattan indigenous puzzles.

 

Nicole won the main prize! I swear this wasn't rigged. As you can see, she was thrilled beyond words. She loves model kits and DIYs, my best friend does!

But the rest didn't have to go home empty-handed either. Prem and Hari had the bright idea of giving out the unopened packets of snacks from our New Year's Eve running session and picnic the night before. This was a welcome idea, especially since there were lots of treats such as Pocky Sticks from Hari's recent holiday to Phuket Island.

 

A great start to the New Year. So many people willing to do hands-on work to make a difference. So many people resolving to volunteer more and be more environmentally responsible in the new year. So many strangers turned friends (A special shoutout to Vinod, who responded to Shehryar's request for transport, and thus helped a stranger who then became a friend). So many old friendships rekindled. So many young families and parents getting their children involved in community service. So many wonderful people doing what they can to put things right.

Running Our Way Into the New Year

My initial plan at the beginning of 2015 was to usher in the New Year at a street party and then end the night with a gathering at the Wee Green Flat. I love the crowds and chaos at street parties, and this is something I could never adequately explain to the more introverted of my friends. I had been doing the same thing for years, attending the New Year countdown down at the neighbourhood pub, and in 2015 I wanted things to be different.

 

However, Mini-Me's illness and deterioration in December made me change my plans and ended all desire to celebrate. I wanted to just stay home and keep her company, and as such, made no arrangements to join my friends for the countdown festivities.

 

My fitness-inclined friends and fellow mentors from Care2Run, however, invited me to join them for a New Year's Eve run at Desa Parkcity, a few kilometers away from my flat. Prem Kumar persuaded me that it would be good for both me and Mini-Me that I go out for a run, and that as it would only be for a few hours, it would not gravely affect Mini-Me's well-being or heath. He even arranged for another mentor to drive over to pick me up to reduce the number of cars on the road. Thus convinced, I assented, and so after work on New Year's Eve, I showered and changed into my running gear, filled a small backpack with snacks, beverages, rubbish bags and a First Aid Kit, and made my way to the park with another mentor to join the others in our running group.

Thiyagu, Lauren, Nita, Mee Leng and I limbered up and stretched prior to beginning our 6-8 k.m. jog. 

 

Hari and family joined us, and we took a photo at the slope under the illuminated sign.

 

We ran around the park and lake. Many revellers were already there for the New Year countdown. Most people were dressed to the nines for the street party, and stared at our ragtag running group in surprise. 

We ran up a hill with a good view of the park and neighbourhood, spread out our picnic tarp, and lay out the food we brought. It turned out to be a really good place to watch the fireworks from.  

At the stroke of midnight, we could hear the muffled sounds of music and cheers from the crowd below, and pyrotechnics lit up the night sky.

 

We drank to each other's health and wished for a healthsome, positive and peaceful year for all.

 

Brothers Goutham and Jey linked arms to drink their sparkling apple juice.

We had a belated birthday celebration for Mee Leng but forgot to include Prem in the birthday song although his birthday was only a week ago.

 

Before we descended from the hill, Hari and I picked up litter left by other hikers and picnickers. I think my friends are getting used to my habit of taking rubbish bags and gardening gloves along with me everywhere by now. 

May we all beat our personal bests and have lots of wonderful adventures in 2016!