Family Adventures

Farewell to Our Inflatable Kayak Emma

2026-10-23T19:30:00.000-05:00

Our dream of owning a kayak came true in August 2020, when we bought a tandem inflatable kayak and named her Emma. With Emma, we could explore lakes and rivers whenever we wanted, without having to depend on rental services.

The brand new kayak Emma, 2020

There were so many lakes and rivers in North Texas and southern Oklahoma waiting to be explored. Between August 2020 and June 2021, we paddled on seven lakes—Lake Lavon (four times), Lake Texoma (three times), Lake Worth, Lake Murray in Oklahoma (twice), Cooper Lake, Lake Bob Sandlin, and White Rock Lake—and two rivers: White Rock Creek and the Mountain Fork River in Oklahoma.

Those trips were everything we had imagined.

Many of the lakes were in remote areas, where few people ventured. Even at more popular destinations such as White Rock Lake, Lake Murray State Park, and Beavers Bend, we often found ourselves almost alone once we were on the water. Away from the crowds and noise on shore, tranquility prevailed. We were immersed in nature.

Lake Murray Moonrise

Kayaking brought us close to wildlife, especially waterbirds, as we paddled along shorelines and ventured into secluded coves. We saw egrets, herons, ducks, geese, turkey vultures, American coots, double-crested cormorants, and white pelicans. There were also killdeer, belted kingfishers, eastern phoebes, red-tailed hawks, and even a sandpiper.

Egrets and Ducks at Lake Texoma

A corner of Lake Murray

The views from a kayak were beautiful and unique. Sunrise, sunset, and moonrise over the open water of a large lake looked different from the same scenes viewed from land. Water, sky, and trees dressed in the colors of the changing seasons came together in magnificent tapestries. Our bright yellow Emma added another splash of color to the scene!

Morning Hue, Mountain Fork River, Beavers Bend, OK

Many of our trips were adventures in their own right. Some of the places we visited were largely undeveloped, with no clearly marked paddling routes. We studied maps, scouted shorelines, and ventured into unfamiliar waters, never quite knowing what we might find around the next bend. Emma made these explorations possible.

Bright Yellow Emma in Green Mountain Fork River

Our kayaking adventures in Texas and Oklahoma came to a halt when I took up an international assignment in Singapore. We resumed kayaking in Singapore in October 2021, and the experience brought back the same pleasures we had enjoyed in America: tranquility, wildlife, beautiful scenery, and the excitement of exploring unfamiliar waters.

There was one important difference, however. Most inland lakes in Singapore are reservoirs supplying drinking water, where private recreational kayaking is not permitted. Instead, we took to the sea, paddling in the Singapore Strait and Johor Strait, as well as in the tidal rivers and estuaries around Singapore's main island and Pulau Ubin.

The tropical environment proved much harsher for Emma than the lakes and rivers of North America. Near the equator, intense ultraviolet radiation and constant exposure to seawater took their toll on the kayak's composite materials, particularly the adhesive bonds.

Paddling to Khatib Bongsu

White Bellied Fish eagle over mangroves

We did our best to take good care of Emma. After every trip, we washed her thoroughly. Once she had dried quickly under the sun, we brought her indoors to finish drying slowly in our air-conditioned living room. We also stored her indoors, protected from the elements.

Over five years, with roughly three trips a year, Emma continued to look almost new. There were only minor signs of wear and tear, especially along the fold lines. Like most inflatable kayaks, she had to be deflated and folded into a storage bag after each trip, and those repeated folds inevitably left their marks.

inflated Emma on the beach of Pasir Ris, 15th paddling trip

Courting Great Billed Herons

Then came May 24, 2026, our fifteenth kayaking trip with Emma in Singapore. We inflated her on Pasir Ris Beach. She looked as beautiful as ever, and anyone who did not look closely would have thought she was still new.

We paddled along the Api Api River on the main island before crossing the Johor Strait to Sungai Puaka. The highlight of the trip was witnessing the courtship behavior of great-billed herons. We spent nearly four hours on the water, covering 11.7 kilometers.

As we approached Pasir Ris Beach, about 300 meters from shore, I noticed something unusual. The right-side air chamber near me, at the stern, had developed wrinkles. It was leaking!

Our subsequent inspection revealed the underlying damage. A section of the air chamber had ballooned locally, causing the material's matrix to crack and form a small hole. We also found delamination at several locations, where layers that should have remained bonded together had separated.

We patched the hole and repaired the delaminated areas using water-based adhesive. After the repairs, Emma looked good again, although the locally ballooned section remained visible despite reinforcement.

Emma after repair - local ballooning area was reinforced

We were not ready to give up on her just yet.

We took Emma to Sentosa for another outing and enjoyed a wonderful 9-kilometer paddle from Tanjong Beach to Labrador Nature Park and back, lasting two hours and forty minutes. Emma performed well throughout the trip. But after washing and drying her, we discovered more small patches of delamination here and there. We applied a few more "Band-Aids".

It was becoming clear that Emma's aging had accelerated in Singapore's tropical environment. The combination of intense UV radiation and seawater had taken a toll, and we knew that her remaining useful life might be limited. We decided to take her out a couple more times before retirement.

Paddling to Pulau Palawan

Our seventeenth trip with Emma took place on September 27, 2026, a cloudy Sunday. We launched from Sembawang and headed for Sungai Simpang, the destination of our very first kayaking trip in Singapore. The estuary lay about two kilometers away, across the open waters of the Johor Strait.

As Lily paddled, I noticed that the main air chamber—the one we sat on—was flexing quite noticeably. We had deliberately inflated the kayak to a pressure below its rated level, and the chamber still appeared reasonably full, so we did not pay much attention to it.

Sungai Simpang was clean and calm. The loud calls of collared kingfishers occasionally broke the tranquility, and we spotted a pair of great herons. It was a lovely place to be, and we were looking forward to exploring the smaller branches of the estuary.

But as we reached the end of the main branch, turning around facing the Johor Strait, the weather began to change. The wind stirred ripples across the water, and scattered, oversized raindrops began to fall. I looked down at the main air chamber again. It had developed pronounced wrinkles.

This time, there was no mistaking the warning sign. The chamber was underinflated, and it was leaking.

We decided to abandon our exploration and return to Sembawang immediately.

As we left the sheltered waters of Sungai Simpang and entered the Johor Strait, the wind strengthened and the rain grew heavier.

The storm had arrived.

Heavy rain lashed us, strong winds swept across the water, and thunder rumbled in the distance. Fortunately, the thunderstorm appeared to be some distance away to the southwest. But we still had a difficult journey ahead of us.

We were paddling directly into the wind and waves. With each passing wave, Emma's flexible body bent and straightened repeatedly. At one point, the wind was so strong that we made no forward progress despite paddling as hard as we could.

The final kilometer to the launch point would normally take us about fifteen minutes. That day, it took nearly an hour.

When we finally reached Sembawang and dragged Emma ashore, we found water inside her stern. The cap on the main chamber's inflation valve had been blown off. A closer inspection revealed extensive delamination on the underside of the main air chamber, with more damage along the side chambers.

The damage was catastrophic. Emma was no longer safe to use.

We had to let her go.

After six years and 31 paddling trips—17 of them in Singapore—we said farewell to Emma. Her retirement had come much sooner than I had expected.

We were not entirely unprepared for the ending, though. Her first serious accident, four months earlier, had alerted us to the damage accumulating beneath her seemingly pristine exterior. We had hoped to squeeze in a few more outings, but the storm on September 27 brought our adventures with Emma to an abrupt end.

Still, there was so much to be grateful for.

Together, Emma and we explored seven lakes and two rivers in Texas and Oklahoma, seven estuaries in Singapore, and the Singapore Strait and Johor Strait. She carried us into quiet coves, along mangrove-lined shores, and across open water to places we might never otherwise have visited.

We encountered mangroves, egrets, herons, kingfishers, and plovers along the water's edge. Grey-headed fish eagles, white-bellied sea eagles, and storks soared overhead. Beneath us were fish, monitor lizards, crocodiles, and smooth-coated otters. We felt the sunshine and moonlight on our faces and the breeze on the water.

From the water, we experienced nature in all its richness.

Emma had given us far more than the freedom to paddle whenever we wished. She had given us six years of exploration, discovery, and shared adventures. She had taken us to beautiful places, brought us closer to wildlife, and helped us create memories that will last long after the kayak itself is gone.

So long, Emma!

We will see you in your next incarnation.

===================

Notes

1. Kayaking with Emma/kayaking history

Sunday, August 16, 2020

Kayak on Lavon Lake at its SW Corner 1

Tuesday, September 8, 2020

Sunset at Lake Texoma 2

Sunday, September 20, 2020

Lavon Lake near Brockdale Park - a photo journal 3

https://explore-nature-have-fun.blogspot.com/2020/09/3rd-trip-to-lavon-lake-tickey-creek-park.html

Saturday, September 26, 2020

3rd Trip to Lavon Lake - Tickey Creek Park 4

Saturday, October 10, 2020

Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge - bird watching and kayaking 5

Oct 18, 2020 - lake worth ...6

Sunday, October 25, 2020

White Rock Creek - paddling and sightseeing 7

Saturday, November 7, 2020 Camping + Kayaking

Birds, Sunset, Moonrise at Lake Murray 8

Saturday, November 14, 2020 Camping + Kayaking

Lake Murray - A Sequel to Empty Nester Camping Trip Camping + Kayaking 9

Saturday, December 12, 2020

Clear Lake Park at Lavon Lake 10

Sunday, March 28, 2021

Camping at Cooper Lake State Park 11

Friday, April 30, 2021

Wildlife at Lake Bob Sandlin State Park along its Shoreline 12

Saturday, May 15, 2021

Explore Lake Texoma 13

Saturday, June 5, 2021

Adventures at Beavers Bend 14 last time before moving to Singapore

Tuesday, October 5, 2021

Kayaking at Sungei Simpang first time in Singapore s1

Saturday, November 27, 2021

Kayak at Sungai Jelutong s2

Saturday, March 26, 2022

Kayaking Sentosa s3

Sunday, April 17, 2022

Adventure to Frog Island 18 s4

Saturday, July 23, 2022

Kayaking to Mandai River 19 s5

Sunday, March 19, 2023

Sea Kayaking at Sentosa 20/21 - with Nick s6, s7

Sunday, April 16, 2023 Commercial kayak 22 Malaysia

Idyllic Rimba Resort

Sunday, April 23, 2023

Riding the Tide into Sungai Mamam 23 s8

Monday, July 3, 2023

Kayak to Sungai Puaka 24 s9

Friday, July 28, 2023

Kayaking to Sungei Khatib Bongsu at Low Tide 25 s10

Saturday, February 3, 2024

Kayaking on Lake Mapourika 26 commercial New Zealand

Friday, March 29, 2024

Explore Mangrove Forest of Sungei Khatib Bongsu at High Tide 27 s11

Wednesday, December 11, 2024

Kayaking on Sungai Teris 28 s12

Saturday, August 23, 2025

Paddle into Sangai Changi 29 s13

Saturday, January 10, 2026

Api Api River Kayaking 30 s14

Saturday, September 12, 2026

Illusion On the Water by Sentosa 31 s16

Saturday, September 26, 2026 (May 24) s15

Spotted Wood Owl, Big Billed Herons' Courtship, and Mishaps during Camping and Kayaking at North Shore of Singapore 32

Sunday September 27, 2926 - Sangai Simpang - last outing with Emma s17

The last action of Emma 33

33-2 commercial kayak = 31 Emma trip

2. Kayak leaking root cause

a. Rated inflating pressure (north America standard) is overinflation for Singapore whether

b. Significant Repeated bending occurred at the location of leak - a tiny hole)

c. Sea water

d. UV

They led to accelerated wear and tear of the kayak which led to local thinning of the air chamber, which led to the formation of a tiny hole for the first leak, and massive delamination from the last trip.

Sailing Across Indian Ocean Without Leaving My Desk

2026-10-17T09:00:00.000-05:00

Prologue

I didn’t sail across the Indian Ocean. I followed a sailing voyage across it.

It all began over dinner with friends, where I met a friend of a friend—an outdoor enthusiast I’ll call OE. We had a great conversation. Before we parted, he told us that, in just two days, he would set sail across the Indian Ocean with four other sailors. He offered to let us track the boat’s progress through Garmin MapShare. I signed up!

The Voyage

The plan was to sail from Bali, Indonesia, to Mauritius, with one stop ashore at the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Mauritius lies in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar and about 1,100 nautical miles off the southeastern coast of Africa. The crew expected to cover roughly 3,600 nautical miles in 31 days.

In the end, they sailed 3,488.5 nautical miles in 24 days, including a three-day stop at Cocos.

Each day, OE shared the boat’s position and track through Garmin MapShare, along with photos and brief updates. The boat also had Starlink, so the crew could stay connected while far out at sea.

From Bali to Mauritius

What I Was Curious About

I’m not even keen on kayaking in open water for more than a few hours. Sailing across the Indian Ocean for nearly a month is certainly not an adventure I would choose for myself.

But I was curious. What would OE and his crewmates see and experience? How would they cope with loneliness and boredom—five people confined to a small space, doing much the same things day after day, surrounded by seemingly endless water?

I even did a little reading to understand what a month-long journey across the open ocean might be like. One idea I came across was that, even when people can stay in touch with family and friends, the unchanging horizon and lack of new sights can become psychologically challenging.

I wondered how much of that OE’s crew would experience.

OE's Voyage

This account is based on the photographs and short comments OE shared by email with those of us following his “Sailing Across the Indian Ocean” adventure.

The first week: Excitement and discovery

The boat left Bali in the late afternoon of September 10, 2026, at around six o’clock in the afternoon. The first day went smoothly, and the crew soon sailed into the sunset.

ready to depart for the voyage at Bali

sailing towards west

OE didn’t write much about how he felt, but his photos offered clues. In one, he was still awake at two in the morning, wearing a red headlamp. In another, he was on deck the following afternoon, scanning the sea through a telescope. By the third day, though, he had gone to bed as early as eight o’clock. Perhaps the excitement was already giving way to the demands of life aboard a boat.

early sleep (8pm) on the 3rd night

The fifth night seemed ideal for stargazing. The sky was clear, and the crew stayed up late to watch the stars. Two photos were timestamped 2:59 a.m. and 3:00 a.m. OE also finally found some time that evening to work on his laptop.

Star Gazing in the middle of Indian Ocean 1

Star Gazing in the middle of Indian Ocean 2

By day six, food had become a recurring subject in his updates. OE sent a photo of his breakfast, and over the course of the voyage he shared about a dozen photos of meals. Cooking seemed to be one of the boat’s main activities, and there was a pleasing variety of dishes. That morning, the crew also tried fishing from the stern. OE didn’t say whether they caught anything.

Scrambled eggs, tomatoes and meat for day 6 breakfast

Fishing in the morning, 7am, at the stern

Day seven brought a chance to get into the water. Under a blue sky dotted with white clouds, the crew swam in the ocean and dived from the deck. From the photos, it looked like a wonderful day.

Diving from the sail boat

Cocos: A welcome break on land

On September 17, the boat reached the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, its first and only stop ashore. The passage from Bali had taken seven days and two hours, covering 1,136 nautical miles.

The crew celebrated the completion of the first leg with a big meal aboard and champagne.

They apparently continued to sleep on the boat, but went ashore to look around and make use of the island’s facilities—to shop, do laundry, and, most importantly, enjoy a proper shower and shave. One photo carried OE’s caption: “First ‘real’ Shower and Shave” in seven days.

I could imagine how good that shower must have felt.

They left Cocos at six o’clock on the morning of September 20. Around half past six, the sun emerged from behind heavy clouds.

an inflatable boat to go to the Cocos island

celebrating completion the 1st stage of the voyage

Sunrise on the start of the second part of the voyage - Cocos to Ma

The second leg: When the days begin to blur

After leaving Cocos, the routine began to repeat itself: the vast ocean, sunrise behind them, sunset ahead, and occasional swims. The initial excitement seemed to fade, and boredom began to creep in. Even the consistently dry weather, which might sound like a blessing, had become monotonous. A change in the weather would at least have offered something different to look at.

Then, on day 18—the seventh day of the second leg—something unexpected happened. Flying fish and flying squid came hurtling toward the boat. One squid actually hit OE on the head!

It sounded like a scene from a movie. Experiencing it in person must have been both startling and thrilling.

squids flew into the sail boat

flying fishes fell onboard

On day 19, I noticed from a couple of photos that it had finally rained. I wrote to OE: “Finally, there was rain!”

His reply was memorable:

“Ha, when it rains it pours. 😳 Also, our autopilot is having electrical issues, so lots of hand steering. Thanks for checking in Allan. It has been surprisingly lonely out here, and every single note helps.”

I was struck by his admission: *“It has been surprisingly lonely out here.”*

I had expected the crew to face boredom. After all, the same five people were sharing a small space, surrounded by little more than sea and sky, for weeks on end. They had activities to break up the day—swimming, fishing, cooking, and stargazing—and Starlink allowed them to communicate with family and friends. Yet none of these could fully dispel the loneliness.

Perhaps that was what surprised me most. Being connected is not the same as feeling connected. A message from someone on shore might have meant more to OE than I had imagined. His words made me realize that even a remarkable adventure can have long, quiet stretches when a simple note from home—or from a bystander following along—makes a difference.

Land at last

Fortunately, the wind was behind them, and the crew was running about a week ahead of schedule. As they approached Mauritius, large ships began to appear. Then, at last, land came into view.

The boat arrived near Mauritius at around nine o’clock on the evening of 24th day. They could not enter the harbour after dark, so they had to anchor about a mile from the port and wait.

The ocean crossing was essentially over: 24 days and roughly 3,500 nautical miles behind them.

OE’s final message was long and full of emotion. He described reaching his hotel the following afternoon:

“At about 1:30 PM, I finally walked the roughly 150 feet from the boat to my hotel, checked in, took a very welcome shower, and officially returned to life on land.

After weeks aboard Quetzal, that very short walk felt like the end of a very long journey.”

The date was a special date for another reason. It marked exactly 30 years since OE and his wife had gone on their first date.

He ended with a thought that stayed with me:

“The greatest adventure of my life has never been this sailing trip. It has been the life my wife and I have built together over these past 30 years.”

After weeks of crossing an immense ocean, it was a moving reminder that the greatest adventures are not always the most dramatic ones. Some are built quietly, day by day, with another person.

Mauritius

Epilogue

Following OE’s voyage turned out to be an adventure of its own. I read every email, downloaded all the 200+ photos he sent, and saved them in a folder. I had planned to write this bystander’s journal once he completed the crossing, and now, at last, I have done so.

As with the journals I write after my own trips, putting this account together took me through the journey once more. Looking back at the photos and messages, I noticed details I might otherwise have missed. I shared a little of the crew’s excitement, imagined the monotony of those endless days at sea, and felt the significance of that simple message about loneliness.

I never set foot on the boat, and I crossed none of those 3,488.5 nautical miles myself. Yet by following the voyage, I experienced a small part of it.

Sometimes, being a bystander is enough to take you on a journey.

How to Increase Engagement by Giving Away Control of Team Meetings

2026-10-10T19:00:00.000-05:00

Do your regular group meetings suffer from low participation?

Team members rarely speak up unless they are providing a mandatory status update. They do not raise concerns even when they see potential problems. Discussions are often driven by just a few voices while everyone else remains silent.

I have seen this pattern in many meetings, at all organizational levels. It was present in my own team meetings as well.

Over the years, I tried a variety of approaches to increase engagement. I asked team members to propose discussion topics, volunteer as meeting chairs, and serve as featured speakers on technical subjects. While these efforts sometimes worked, the results were limited and short-lived.

After considerable reflection, I concluded that one reason for the lack of engagement was me. As both a manager and a technical leader, I was unintentionally shaping the meeting dynamic. Team members were participating in my meeting rather than feeling ownership of our meeting.

To change that dynamic, I proposed a different approach: everyone would take turns leading the group meeting, with full ownership of the agenda and meeting flow.

The only requirements were:

1. Everyone turns on their video during the TEAM meeting.

2. Each meeting includes at least two components: a safety/value moment and individual status updates.

Beyond these two requirements, the meeting chair has complete authority. Even as the group leader, I do not interfere with how the meeting is conducted.

My rationale was simple. This format gives every team member an opportunity to lead, influence the discussion, highlight topics they care about, and bring forward ideas they want to advocate. It also naturally broadens the range of topics discussed by the team.

The team agreed to give the new format a try.

The results exceeded my expectations.

Every team member took the responsibility seriously. The preparation was evident in the quality of the topics selected, the structure of the meetings, and the enthusiasm with which they led discussions. Participation increased significantly, and conversations became far more dynamic and interactive.

After the first complete rotation, I observed three clear outcomes: diverse perspectives, richer discussions, and substantially higher engagement.

An additional advantage is that the responsibility is not burdensome. In our team, each person chairs the meeting only once every three months, and I participate in the same rotation as everyone else.

We are now in our second rotation, and the benefits have been sustained. For a capable and motivated team, this format has proven remarkably effective.

Why does it work?

One possible explanation comes from organizational anthropology and the study of collective behavior. There are often hidden forces behind group energy and participation.

Requiring cameras to be on creates a stronger sense of co-presence. Team members share a common focus, become more synchronized with one another, and develop greater social connection. This can generate positive emotional energy within the group.

At the same time, when a team member leads the meeting with genuine autonomy, their role temporarily shifts from participant to facilitator. That increased sense of ownership and responsibility elevates commitment, confidence, and engagement. The result is a more energized and involved team discussion.

I discovered that engagement is difficult to mandate but easy to unleash. The key was not finding better ways to encourage participation. It was creating a structure that gave every team member ownership. Once ownership shifted from the manager to the team, engagement followed naturally.

Notes -

Three months after I implemented the change, I found out that organizational anthropology could explain why the change works during a TEDx talk.

The post is a polished version of my completed draft by chatGPT/MS Copilot - Copilot was used to " tighten the language, improve flow".

Indoor Explorations

2026-10-03T06:30:00.000-05:00

We attended unusually high number of cultural events in the last 3 months.

At the invitation of a friend we went to the "The Spirit of Tea in Clay" exhibit at Japanese Creative Center on July 29th, and watched a stage play "The audience" at Singtel Waterfront theater on August 29, and attended TEDx at NTU on September 20th.

The Spirit of Tea in Clay

At the invitation of Lily's Chinese-Japanese friend, we attended a pottery art show, in the evening of July 29, at Japan Creative Center, which is a short walking distance away from our apartment.

The art pieces at the exhibit are simple ceramic teapots, tea cups, tea bowls. The layout was elegant.

We chatted with one artist at the show, Mr. Yoshimura, and his wife briefly.

It was a pleasant evening.

The Audience...a stage play

A month later, we went to watch a recorded British stage play...The Audience, at Singtel Waterfront Theater, on August 29th. It is about UK Queen Elizabeth and her weekly meetings with British Prime Ministers.

We left home early for the play, and enjoyed the sculptures, and murals outside the theater.

When we were set for the play, we were surprised to see that the theater was almost full!

I was also surprised that the stage play was not live. The play we watched was projection of a recorded paly. The project was made for the full stage, not a screen, it felt like watching a live play.

I knew a little bit about British modern political history, so I could follow the play.

Be it is a Queen or a prime minister of a country, they are human beings as well. In addition to politics, they also talked about their daily life, their emotional high and low, their happiness and frustration ...

We enjoyed the play.

Background information:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Audience_(2013_play)

TEDx...

I started listening to TED talk in 2016. My interests in it lasted a year or two.

When Lily suggested to go to a live TEDx at NTU on September 20, I was intrigued, and agreed to go to our 1st ever live TEDx event.

The theme of this event was Inter[x]. Inter[x] celebrates the power to Interact, Intersect, and Interrupt—to connect across boundaries, uncover unexpected possibilities, and rethink the world through fresh perspectives. From science and technology to business, culture, and human experience, the speakers reveal how transformation happens when and where different worlds meet.

TEDX event was held at Nanyang auditorium on NTU campus. In addition to the 5 TEDx talks, it also had performances by students between the talks

The talk that I was impressed with, is by Julien Cayla, a business anthropologist. He uncovers the hidden forces behind collective energy, showing how insights from multiple disciplines can help us create richer, more meaningful human connections every day.

His main points are that co presence physically, people have mutual focus, and they synchronize with each other, generate emotional energy. He also showed that status and autonomy amplify emotional energy.

The talk

performance

Occasional cultural events enrich our outdoor centric, nature themed life.

Spotted Wood Owl, Big Billed Herons' Courtship, and Mishaps during Camping and Kayaking at North Shore of Singapore

2026-09-26T07:00:00.000-05:00

Our enjoyment of Kayaking on Api Api River made us want to do it again.

Our misfortunate camping at Pulau Ubin made us want to try camping again in Singapore.

This led to the trip plan for a combined camping and kayaking journey:

Camp at Pasir Ris Beach and Park on May 23, 2026, overnight, and go kayaking on Api Api river early next morning.

We arrived at the park around 6pm. The camp ground is big and smooth, not many campers there at that time. We set up our tent and walked around. We had birds, jungle rooters and a spotted wood owl as our neighbors, plus Sea breeze, setting Sun,... Not bad!

A breezy evening

Spotted Wood Owl

There were many tents by the beach, that's where noisy people were. I hoped they were day campers, and would leave when it was time to sleep.

After our picnic dinner, we walked along the beach away from the noise to the no camping zone. We sat on a park bench by the sea, enjoyed sea breeze, a half Moon in the sky, and the quiet dark Johor Strait.

We went back to the campsite around 9pm, and was surprised to find tens of lights densely distributed within the campground were turned on, made the campground brighter than earlier in the evening! The noise from the people by the beach was louder than earlier. There was no quiet time restriction. In fact the lights were on the whole night, and noise did not die down until ~ 1 to 2am next day.

Another bad camping experience in Singapore. It was worse than the Pula Ubin camping experience.

our tent

dark and quiet Johor Strait

lit up camp ground, and noise from tents by the beach

We got up early next morning, ~ 6am. There were people jogging and biking at the park already. The sky was still dark, the surrounding was quiet. The restroom for the area was cleaned - thanks to the custodians who got up even earlier. A positive change!

After breakfast, we unset and packed the tent, stored it in our car parked only 100 feet away.

We inflated our inflatable kayak Emma, and were ready for launching it in about 10 - 15 minutes as usual. It was almost ideal condition for kayaking - the water was calm, the sky was cloudy - the clouds partially blocked the Sun. But it was low tide this morning at Johor strait.

inflated kayak

rays of sunshine broke through cloudy sky

low tide made the beach much larger

Low tide makes paddling into tidal rivers, such as Api Api, shorter, but poses no other problems for kayaking in wild rivers, such as Sungei Khatib Bongsu. It actually provides some benefits - typically more birds are present at the rivers' bank - good for bird watching.

Api Api river is a tidal river, it is also a drainage for the residential buildings along its banks.

The water level in Api Api was low - expected, but sections of it smelled like a rotten egg - H2S! We did not see many birds like we saw last time on the river in January. We did not linger, and left the river in less than 45 minutes.

It was still early for the day, we decided to cross the Johor Strait to paddle on Sungai Puaka in Pulau Ubin.

It was a good decision. The low tide provided a different vista of Sungai Puaka.

Fishmen were fishing, in tandem on a boat, or solo on a kayak.

We were the only people on the river once we passed the fishermen.

It was quiet except occasional bird chirpings, especially the collared kingfishers. The most endearing part of the kayaking on Sungai Puaka was that we witnessed the courtship of two big billed herons on the riverbank.

Two big billed herons met each other on a bare riverbank, see photos below.

They looked each other and then the heron on the right walked towards the other heron, which did not move at all. Based on typical big billed heron courtship behavior, it was certain that the moving heron was a male.

The male passed the female a step or two, and turned around, then they faced each other with an offset of one step. In a moment, the male then walked a few steps toward an opening in the mangrove, turned around looking at the female again. The female looked around for a moment, then followed the male into mangrove.

two big billed herons met at the riverbank

The heron on the right walked toward the one on the left, which did not move at all

stood side by side but looking at each other

they looked at each other, and looked around

they decided to go to a private place together

they disappeared into the mangrove trees

On the way back to Singapore main island, we paddled around the islet by Pulau Ubin - Pulau Ketam from its northwest tip. The area is primitive, and we saw severe erosion of the shore ... nature at work.

When we were 300 meters to the Pasir Ris Beach, I noticed water in the kayak, and right side air chamber in back (right by my side) was deflated! We did not notice any issues with the kayak when we inflated it.

We paddled to the nearest shore instead of the launch spot.

A scare but no real consequence - we were on land safely but exhausted.

We will learn from the mishaps (campground light and noise, the kayak leak). In fact we found out the root cause of the leak, and repaired the kayak already at the time of this writing. We paddled the repaired kayak on the rougher water of Sentosa.

The excitement of seeing a new bird species and witnessing big billed herons' courtship made the trip very worthwhile!

erosion of the islet shore

trees fell into water due to severe erosion

Notes

Big Billed Herons' courtship - chat with Google AI

a. (Gender of herons)This photo had two big billed herons, one has darker plumage, they seemed be courting each other. which one is male?

The heron on the right is almost certainly the male.

Because male and female great-billed herons share identical plumage patterns, telling them apart in the wild relies entirely on physical size and behavioral cues during courtship:

The Larger Size: The heron standing on the right is visibly taller, stands with a more imposing posture, and possesses a heavier build than the heron on the left. In great-billed herons, males average slightly larger and heavier than females.
The Darker Plumage: During the courtship phase, the male often appears darker or exhibits more pronounced, slicked-down slate-grey plumage contrast, especially while posturing to impress a mate.
Courtship Dynamics: In typical heron courtship behavior, the larger male takes the lead in displaying, stretching, or approaching the female (on the left) to initiate nesting bonds.

Would you like to know more about the specific courtship displays great-billed herons use, or the best mangrove locations in the region to spot them nesting?

b. that's pretty accurate behavior description of big billed heron courtship compared to my field observation - the darker plumage heron seemed to lead the way into mangroves.

That is a wonderful and incredibly accurate field observation!

The taller, darker heron leading the way into the mangroves perfectly mirrors established great-billed heron nesting biology. In these magnificent birds, the male takes full charge of selecting and securing the nesting territory within the thick, protected mangrove roots or canopy.

Mangrove Courtship & Nesting Roles

Leading the Way: Once a pair-bond begins to form on the open mudflats, the male will lead the female into the denser mangrove foliage. He is essentially showing her potential, highly secluded spots to build their massive stick nest.
The "Stick Ceremony": Once inside the mangroves, you might see the male begin to break off small branches and present them to the female. If she accepts the sticks, it seals the courtship bond, and she will handle the actual construction while he continuously gathers materials.
Security & Seclusion: Great-billed herons are notoriously shy and highly sensitive to human disturbance. They use the deep mangrove systems as a visual shield to keep their massive nests safe from predators and boat traffic.

It sounds like you captured these in a very pristine habitat. To help me share more relevant behavioral insights, could you tell me:

Did you notice if the male was making any low croaking or roaring vocalizations while leading her?
Approximately what time of year or what region were these photos taken?

c. I took the photos on May 24 during a kayaking trip. Just had time to write my journal for the trip. Here is my recollection of the observation, with photos: Two big billed herons met each other on a bare riverbank. They looked each other and then the heron on the right walked towards the other heron, which did not move at all. Based on typical big billed heron courtship behavior, it was certain that the moving heron was a male. The male passed the female a step or two, and turned around, then they faced each other with an offset of one step. In a moment, the male then walked a few steps toward an opening in the mangrove, turned around looking at the female again. The female looked around for a moment, then followed the male into mangrove.

That is an exceptionally well-documented field observation! Your journal entry perfectly captures the subtle, step-by-step choreography of great-billed heron pair-bonding and mate attraction.

The timeline you recorded (late May) aligns perfectly with their breeding window, when high-stakes territorial and pair-formation behaviors peak in coastal mangroves.

Deconstructing the Behavior You Observed

The Approach and Standstill: When the male confidently advanced while the female remained completely stationary, he was testing her receptivity. In heron biology, an interested female will stand her ground calmly, whereas an unreceptive bird or competing male would either flee or strike a defensive, spear-like posture.
The Strategic Overtake and Offset: Walking past her, turning, and standing offset is a classic, non-aggressive ritual. By positioning himself slightly to the side rather than head-on, the male showcases his full profile, physical size, and breeding plumage while intentionally reducing the threat of a direct confrontation.
The "Follow Me" Recruitment: Moving toward the mangrove opening and looking back is the definitive transition from initial attraction to territory selection. He isn't just moving away; he is actively inviting her to inspect a nesting sanctuary. Her choice to follow confirms she has officially accepted him as a mate.

Your description reads like a professional ethogram (an official catalog of animal behaviors). If you'd like to expand your journal entry, let me know:

Did you happen to spot any other wetland species nearby during that stretch of the river?
Would you like me to look up any specific nesting timelines or egg-laying details for great-billed herons during the mid-to-late summer months?

Lake Wolfgang

2026-09-19T07:00:00.000-05:00

Lake Wolfgang and the market town of St Wolfgang on its shore are named after Saint Wolfgang of Regensburg. It stretches about 10.5 kilometers from northwest to southeast. It is divided into two parts by a peninsula, called die Enge (the Narrow), roughly in the middle of its southern shore opposite St Wolfgang.

The lake was the second stop of our Austria excursion on July 25, 2026.

The town of St. Wolfgang is about 50 km away from Salzburg, 1/3 of the distance is along the lake shore. We got there in less than an hour from Salzburg. Alpine mountains on both sides of the narrow long lake. The crystal-clear turquoise water was mesmerizing.

We had a short tour of the town before a 45 minute lake cruise.

Lake Wolfgang viewed near the town of St. Wolfgang

The buildings in the town are very colorful, like in a children's cartoon movie! We stopped at the Parish and Pilgrimage Church of St. Wolfgang. Instead of going in, we walked into its yard. The windows on the wall of the yard serve as frames to beautiful pictures.

Parish and Pilgrimage Church of St. Wolfgang

The lake cruise was relaxing and provided different views of the splendid beauty of Lake Wolfgang. Quite a few interesting stories about some landmarks. Mountain Schaferberg, which has a famed north cliff which is a nearly vertical, jaw-dropping limestone wall that plunges sharply toward the Mondsee and Attersee lakes below. From south, on lake Wolfgang, we could not see this cliff. There is dramatic story about a tiny islet in the lake, Butcher's island, where there is a Ox Cross.

Legend of a butcher and his ox ('Metzgerinsel'), wayside shrine 1579 and 1669:

According to legend, a farmer from Abersee drove his ox to St. Gilgen to be slaughtered. This took place on a narrow path along Lake Abersee. (Abersee was the former name of Lake Wolfgangsee). The ox suddenly shied and panicked due to falling stones. The farmer couldn't swim, but didn't want to lose his ox, which had fallen into the lake in the meantime. The farmer rushed after him and managed to grab the ox by the tail. The ox then pulled him across the entire lake to this small island. Out of joy and gratitude, he had this small wayside shrine erected.

Instead of legends, we could use our own imagination - a vertical limestone cliff, Falkensteinwand, by the lake resembles an elephant, we called it Elephant Rock!

Lake Wolfgang is an oasis for relaxation, water sports and enjoying nature at the same time. The surrounding area, e.g. Schafberg, Falkensteinwand, is great for outdoor adventure.

Parish and Pilgrimage Church of St. Wolfgang

Schafberg - mountain peak

Summer retreat of Katharina Schratt, confidante of Emperor Franz Joseph I

Elephant Rock

Metzgerinsel (Butcher's Island)

Illusion On the Water by Sentosa

2026-09-12T07:00:00.000-05:00

Lily and I went kayaking by the shore of Sentosa on August 16, 2026. It is our second paddling trip there, the first time was more than 4 years ago, on March 19, 2022.

During our 2hour 40 minutes, 9km paddling journey from Tanjong Beach to Labrador Nature Park, and return, we saw a group of swimmers swimming in the ocean, rowers in two row boats practicing, and the constant presence of many giant Shipps waiting for port clearance. There were birds as well, a collared kingfisher flying around the shoreline near Tanjong Rimau, a white bellied sea eagle overhead. We paddled across Pulau Renggis near the Keppel island, and into Berlayar Creek - no need to paddle though, the nature did the work, rising tide pushed us in, so we could just enjoy the surrounding - listening to bird chirps, and trying to locate them. We paddled along the shoreline of Labrador Nature Park before returning.

swimming in the ocean

Collared Kingfisher

white bellied sea eagle

Rowing

inside Berlayar Creek - looking out

Those were not the most interesting experience!

The most interesting and intriguing observation was about the movement of a giant ship NYK Line.

On the way to Labrador Park (northwest direction), we paddled away from the shoreline, toward the tiny islet Pulau Palawan. We noticed the giant ship NYK Line. As we got closer to the islet, we noticed the ship was moving in the same direction as we did. On the return, we saw that NYK was far away to the northwest of the islet. Our hypothesis was confirmed!

As we continued our return trip in the southeast direction, we noticed that NYK Line was moving with us again !? I realized that what we observed was optical illusion.

I believed that the big ship was somewhere behind the islet in the southwest direction, anchored, i.e. not moving. But how could this illusion form?

One factor is the distance, the anchorage zone is about 400 meters southwest to the islet, and the islet is 200 meters from Sentosa shore. The other factor is that we were moving, paddling, our view angle changes and used the islet as a reference point. See illustration. I thought I got the physics (optics) right.

Paddling toward the islet Pulau Palawan

NYK position when we were paddling back to Tanjong Beach

NYK Line followed us again on the return trip?!

Reason for the Optical Illusion

I uploaded the gif of the NYK and my illustration to Google. My reasoning is confirmed, and the illusion has a scientific name - motion parallax.

Motion parallax is a visual cue that helps us perceive depth. When we move, nearby objects appear to move across our field of view much faster than distant objects. Our brains use this difference in apparent motion to estimate how far away things are.

It is something we experience constantly without consciously noticing it. The same principle is also important in technologies such as video games, computer graphics, and virtual reality, where it helps create the perception of three-dimensional depth.

What fascinated me was that I had encountered this phenomenon not in a textbook or laboratory, but simply by paddling a kayak around an island.

The optical illusion turned out to be the most interesting part of the entire paddling trip.

A simple observation became a puzzle. The puzzle led me to think about distance, movement, and reference points. I formed a hypothesis, tested it, and rediscovered an established scientific principle—one that I had encountered in a completely unexpected context.

That is one of the things I enjoy most about exploring nature.

I enjoy the sights and sounds, of course. But I also enjoy the questions that nature quietly presents.

Sometimes I notice something unusual.

Then I wonder why.

The curiosity leads to a mystery, the mystery leads to investigation, and the investigation often leads to a little discovery—sometimes in a field far outside my own expertise.

And that, to me, is part of the fun of exploring nature.

Explore Nature. Have Fun!

Appendix

A. Here is the Google AI explanation of the observation in the GIF and my diagram:

Why the Ship Appears to Move with Your Kayak

What you are experiencing in your GIF is a classic optical phenomenon known as motion parallax:

The Setup: The small green islet sits close to you (the foreground), while the massive NYK Line freight ship is significantly further out in the deep shipping lanes of the Singapore Strait (the background).
The Illusion: As you kayak from right to left, you are actively changing your angle of view relative to the nearby islet. Because the islet is so close, it appears to shift backward (to your right) very quickly against the distant background.
The Result: Because the ship in the background stays relatively fixed in your field of vision due to its extreme distance, the rapid backward movement of the nearby island makes the ship look like it is drifting or moving forward along with you toward the left.

The illustrtion is a fantastic, highly precise geometric breakdown of the illusion! Your diagram perfectly illustrates why it fooled you on the way out and revealed itself on the way back.

Why Your Diagram Explains It Perfectly

By tracking the intersection lines from the moving kayak through the edges of the stationary islet, your illustration beautifully maps out the changing sightlines:

The Focal Point: As your kayak (the dots moving left) approaches and passes the islet, your line of sight has to swing backward to keep the islet centered in your vision.
The Background Shift: Because the ship sits far behind that pivot point, the sightlines intersecting the islet project onto the distant background at a faster rate than you are actually moving forward.
The "Anchored" Clue: Discovering that it happened in both directions is the ultimate proof of a stationary object. If the ship had actually been moving, it would have separated from the islet on your return journey. Instead, it stayed locked in that geometric dance.

Many ships anchor in that exact southwest zone of the Singapore Strait while waiting for port clearance, making them the perfect stationary backdrops for this exact parallax trick. It's a brilliant real-world observation and an excellent piece of diagramming!

B. Motion Parallax in applications

In video game design and virtual reality (VR), motion parallax is a critical tool used to create a sense of 3D depth on flat screens and prevent motion sickness in immersive headsets.

Here is how developers use it across different mediums:

1. 2D Video Games: Parallax Scrolling

In 2D games, developers stack art assets into independent, layered backgrounds that move at different speeds relative to the camera.

Foreground layers: Move incredibly fast (e.g., leaves, lampposts passing close to the screen).
Midground layers: Move at a moderate speed where the playable character usually resides.
Background layers: Move very slowly (e.g., distant mountains, clouds, or stars) to simulate massive distance.

2. 3D Video Games: Camera Control & Scale

Modern 3D engines handle motion parallax automatically through the camera's field of view (FOV), but developers fine-tune it to manipulate player perception.

Speed Perception: Placing objects close to the camera (like narrow canyon walls) increases the sensation of high speed. Wide open landscapes make the player feel like they are moving slower.
Skyboxes: The sky and distant horizons are programmed to move perfectly with the camera's coordinates so they never get closer, creating an illusion of infinite distance.

3. Virtual Reality (VR): Head Tracking

In VR, motion parallax is the boundary between a highly immersive experience and immediate nausea.

6 Degrees of Freedom (6DoF): Modern VR headsets track your exact head movements in space. When you lean left or right, the virtual objects close to your face shift dramatically, while the background shifts minimally.
Comfort & Realism: This real-time calculation mimics how our eyes naturally perceive the physical world. Without accurate motion parallax, your brain detects a mismatch between your inner ear (vestibular system) and your eyes, leading to severe motion sickness.

To help tailor this further, let me know:

Are you looking for programming concepts (like how to implement a parallax script in Unity or Unreal Engine)?
Would you like examples of classic games that pioneered this technique?
Are you designing your own VR or game project?

Zugspitze Area

2026-09-05T07:00:00.000-05:00

The Zugspitze, at 2,962 m above sea level, is the highest mountain in Germany. It is about 100km southwest from Munich. We went there with a guided tour on Sunday, July 19th, 2026, our second day in Germany.

Unfortunately it rained heavily in the morning when we got to the base of the mountain. Zugspitze was in the dense cloud. The tour guide was flexible, he suggested that we went to a charming small town nearby to wait out the rain - Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen

It is a charming small town at the foot of Zugspitze.

The light rain there actually made this detour to the town very pleasant. There were few people in the streets. Walking slowly around town center, we appreciated the narrow streets, biblical murals on many buildings, and potted flowers on window sills or balconies. There are also quite a few churches.

The cloud started to breakup after lunch, and we drove to Zugspitze in a hurry.

Zugspitze

When we got there, the foothill was sunny but the summit was still clouded. Since the next cogwheel to the summit was, 45 minutes later, we watched the clouds at summit come and go. From time to time, I could see the summit clearly via my camera.

When we got off the cogwheel, before transfer to the gondola for the summit, we stepped out of the station. Looking south , the clouds broke up for a moment, the valleys, mountains, and remnants of glaciers appeared. No view of the north side of the mountain, especially the beautiful Eibsee, at the north foothill of Zugspitze.

When finally reached the summit area, we were engulfed by clouds, could not see anything - from the south side or north side. We could not see Eibsee from above, we did not reach the real summit either even though we were only about 30 feet below it. The real summit is separated from the viewing platform by a "chasm". The steep drop-off and bad weather dissuaded us from climbing to the summit, a short distance away.

Summiting Zugspitze via Cogwheel on this day was disappointing. The only consolation was that we did see the stunning Eibsee on the way from Cogwheel - the dark blue water, the light blue and white sandbars. One can not see these color combinations from lake level.

This was the best image of the summit we could see when we were near the summit - less than 30feet below it

Eibsee

Eibsee

We did not lingue at the Zugspitze summit area for long, we went downhill via Gondola and hiked on a small portion of the northeast side of Eibsee, with the Mountain in the background. It was sunny, and pleasant.

We hiked a short distance along the south shore of Eibsee before taking cogwheel to the summit. A different vista than that from north shore

Hindsight we might have enjoyed the trip more if we did not go up the mountain, but stayed downhill, and hiked around the lake on a 7.5 km trail. But it was what it was, we took what nature gave us, and enjoyed it as much as we could.

Note

Zugspitze needs a one full day trip. If we go there again, we will rent a car for two days at Munich, drive to the mountain in the early morning, climb the mountain, and rest/hike around the lake, and stop by Garmisch-Partenkirchen for dinner before returning

The Cannon Ball Tree Mystery

2026-08-28T20:00:00.000-05:00

The fruit of the cannon ball tree is so distinctive that, after seeing it for the first time, I could immediately recognize the tree by its fruit. I have no such ability with most of the other trees and plants I encounter in Singapore.

The cannon ball tree, officially known as *Couroupita guianensis*, is not native to Southeast Asia. It is a deciduous tropical tree originally from the lowland rainforests of Central and South America. Because of its fragrant flowers and unusual, large fruits, it has been introduced and cultivated in many tropical parts of the world.

A cannon ball tree with flowers and fruit

In Singapore, cannon ball trees are fairly common. We see them at Fort Canning, Pasir Ris, West Coast Park, and other places. Because they are so familiar, I never paid much attention to their flowers or fruit.

That changed in November 2021.

The left tree has many flowers but no cannon balls, the right tree,
the right tree has many cannon balls, scarce flowers. Singapore Botanic Garden

A strange observation

We were at West Coast Park, where there are many cannon ball trees. I noticed something peculiar: quite a few trees were covered with cannon balls; this was in sharp contrast to what I observed at Fort Canning , cannon ball trees there had few or no fruit. The trees with no fruit often had many flowers scattered beneath them. Later, I noticed exactly the same phenomenon at the Singapore Botanic Gardens, where two cannon ball trees stand right next to each other.

One tree was covered with cannon balls and had relatively few flowers.

The other was covered with flowers—but had no cannon balls.

We wondered why.

It became a little mystery.

The mystery follows us

This May, while walking along a trail at Pasir Ris Park lined with cannon ball trees, we encountered the same pattern again.

One tree had many cannon balls but relatively few flowers. Another had abundant flowers but no fruit. Other trees nearby looked more "normal," with a mixture of flowers and developing fruits.

This time, we also saw the inside of a cannon ball for the first time.

The mystery deepened.

Then, as often happens with questions that don't have immediate answers, we forgot about it.

Until last week.

We walked past the two cannon ball trees at the Singapore Botanic Gardens again. There they were, still showing the same striking contrast: one covered with flowers, the other laden with cannon balls.

I mentioned it to Lily.

She challenged me: "Why don't you find out?"

So I did.

A broken fallen Cannon Ball at Pasir Ris

A normal Cannon Ball Tree

The mystery begins to unravel

A little online research suggested that there are at least two possible explanations for the difference we observed.

The first is simply different flowering and fruiting cycles.

Tropical trees do not necessarily follow the same seasonal rhythms as temperate trees. Individual trees can have different internal cycles. One tree may be producing flowers while another is developing fruit. Even trees growing side by side, experiencing essentially the same weather and soil conditions, may not be synchronized.

This could explain some of the differences we saw.

But it doesn't completely explain the two cannon ball trees at the Singapore Botanic Gardens. They are right next to each other, yet one repeatedly produces abundant flowers while the other produces abundant fruit.

That raises another possibility: individual differences in reproductive biology.

Perhaps the flowering tree has some characteristic that makes it produce flowers but rarely develop fruit. A genetic difference, reproductive incompatibility, or another biological factor could potentially be involved.

But this is only a hypothesis. Without examining the trees or conducting botanical studies, we cannot know whether genetics—or something else—is responsible.

And that uncertainty made the mystery even more interesting.

What I learned about cannon ball trees

My curiosity about the mystery led me into the fascinating reproductive biology of the cannon ball tree.

Each flower contains both male and female reproductive organs. The flowers have numerous stamens that produce pollen, as well as a central ovary and stigma capable of receiving pollen.

Yet having both reproductive organs in the same flower does not necessarily mean that a tree simply fertilizes itself. Cannon ball trees rely heavily on large bees for pollination. Their flowers even produce different types of pollen: some fertile and used for reproduction, and some apparently serving as nutritious food for visiting insects.

Another fascinating fact is the length of the fruit-development process.

Once pollinated, a cannon ball fruit can take roughly **12 to 18 months** to mature and eventually fall from the tree, and under some conditions it can take even longer.

Suddenly, those cannon balls hanging from the branches looked quite different to me. They were not simply fruits sitting on a tree—they represented a reproductive process that had been unfolding for well over a year.

Curiosity creates mystery

Looking back, I realize that I created this mystery simply by noticing something that most people would probably walk past.

I saw two trees that looked different and asked: Why?

That simple question took me from an ordinary walk in Singapore to tropical botany, pollination, reproductive biology, flowering cycles, and the remarkable life history of a tree from South America.

I still don't know exactly why those two cannon ball trees behave so differently.

And perhaps that's part of the fun. A simple observation turned into an exciting puzzle.

Only when I became curious enough to look deeper did I discover how much wonder was hiding behind something I had walked past many times before.

Curiosity creates mystery.

And sometimes, mystery is the beginning of discovery.

Notes

This post is a polished version by chatGPT (with minor edit) of my original full draft

Here is chatGPT's comment on the original draft:

Absolutely. I think the strongest aspect of this essay is the **curiosity-driven structure**: you notice something unusual, it becomes a mystery, you investigate it, and the investigation leads to a broader appreciation of plant biology. I would make that progression more prominent and reduce some of the technical detail that interrupts the story.

One important point: I would also **soften the Google AI explanation** about the “genetically barren” tree. The essay currently presents that as an explanation, but the evidence you describe doesn't establish that this particular tree is triploid or genetically defective. It is better presented as a hypothesis rather than a conclusion.

I particularly like the ending **“Curiosity creates mystery. And sometimes, mystery is the beginning of discovery.”** It connects nicely with the broader theme that appears in several of your nature essays: you don't just photograph what you see—you **notice something unusual, ask why, and then investigate it**.

-------------------------------------------

Appendix

1. original full draft

2. chat with Gemini

----

Original Draft of the post

We saw the cannon ball trees for the first time at Fort Canning in July 2021.

The tree's fruit, the cannon ball, is so unique and relatable, I am able identify it by name after the first exposure. I have no such ability with all other flora in Singapore.

However cannon ball trees are not native to Southeast Asia.

The cannon ball trees' official name is Couroupita guianensis, is a deciduous tree in the flowering plant family Lecythidaceae. It is native to lowland tropical rainforests of Central and South America. It is introduced to, cultivated in many other tropical areas throughout the world because of its fragrant flowers and large fruit.

We see cannon ball trees at many places, Fort Canning, Pasir Ris, West Coast Park, ... It is so common, I did not pay much attention to their flowers and fruit.

Nevertheless I did notice a peculiar phenomenon about the tress early on, after sighting of the trees at a second location, West Coast Park, later in November 2021. What was unique here at west coast park was that, there are many cannon ball trees, and quite a few of them have many cannon balls, compared to none or only one cannon ball from cannon ball trees at Fort Canning area, with many fallen flowers.

I observed the same phenomenon at Singapore Botanic Garden, where two cannon ball trees are right next to each other. One has many cannon balls, some flowers, the other is covered by flowers but no cannon balls.

We wondered why. It was a mystery to us.

This May, we walked along a trail with cannon ball trees lined on one side of it, at Pasir Ris Park. Interestingly we observed the same phenomenon, one tree has many cannon balls, but few flowers, another has many flowers no cannon ball! The other cannon ball trees are normal, which have some cannon balls, some flowers. We also saw the inside of the cannon balls this time for the first time.

The mystery deepened for a moment. However we forgot about it afterwards.

Last week, when we walked by the two cannon ball trees again, saw the same two cannon ball trees, one has only flowers, one has a full tree of cannon balls, just like what we observed numerous time before. I wondered aloud to Lily. She challenged me to find out the reason.

I did a bit online research. The following is what I found out.

The Mystery Explained by Google AI

There are two possible (simplified) reasons for what we observed (see Appendix for expanded discussions).

1) Mismatched Timelines - this does not apply to the two SBG next to each cannon ball trees

Unlike temperate trees that bloom simultaneously due to rigid winter-to-spring temperature changes, tropical rainforest trees often follow individual internal clocks. Even when planted side-by-side in identical soil and weather, individual cannonball trees can be completely out of sync with each other. When one finishes fruiting and drops its crop, it will swap phases—quieting down its fruit production and exploding into bloom like its neighbor.

2) SBG Cannon Ball trees: The Left Tree is "Genetically Barren" (Triploid or Defective), The Right Tree is normal

In botanical collections like the Singapore Botanic Gardens, individual trees are sometimes accidental clones or possess minor genetic mutations. The Left Tree: It likely has a chromosomal defect (such as triploidy) or a mutation in its reproductive organs that renders its fertile pollen or ovules completely non-functional. Because it never sets fruit, it avoids the massive metabolic drain of growing heavy cannonballs. It hoards 100% of its nutrients every year exclusively for flower production, turning it into a perpetual blooming machine. The Right Tree: It has perfectly healthy, normal genetics. It easily accepts pollen carried by bees from the blooming left tree, allowing it to stay constantly laden with heavy, growing fruit.

Because of the answers from Google AI, I had more questions about the plant biology related to reproduction, which led to the following secton.

Cannon Ball trees and plant biology

1. Cannon ball trees are bisexual ,meaning each individual flower contains both male and female reproductive organs.

Male Organs: The flowers feature hundreds of pollen-producing stamens arranged in a unique, hood-like structure.
Female Organs: The centre of the flower contains a functional fertile ovary and stigma to receive pollen.
Pollination Strategy: Despite having both sexes in one flower, the tree relies heavily on large bees for cross-pollination. Interestingly, the flower generates two types of pollen: fertile pollen to reproduce and sterile, nutritious pollen to feed the visiting insects. [1, 2]
It takes 12 to 18 months for a cannonball flower to develop into a mature fruit and naturally drop off from the tree. In some environments, it can take up to 24 months.

[1] https://www.nparks.gov.sg

[2] https://www.namograndcentralpark.com

2. The vast majority of flowering plants (angiosperms) are bisexual. Approximately 85% to 90% of all flowering plant species worldwide produce perfect, hermaphroditic flowers containing both functional male and female reproductive organs

3. Trees distribute their sexes slightly differently than smaller herbaceous plants. Globally, around 75% of all tree species are bisexual. Trees rely slightly more on wind-pollinated, single-sex configurations (like monoecy found in pines, birches, and walnuts) because their height grants them better access to the wind.

Curiosity Creates Mystery

I created this cannon ball tree mystery because I noticed the obvious differences in some cannon ball trees and wondered about it.

Only when I was interested enough to dig deeper into the reasons, I find wonder.

A simple observation turned into an exciting puzzle!

-----

2. Chat with Gemini

Prompt 1 - i saw two cannon ball trees which are next to each other, one has many flowers but no cannon ball, the other has many cannon balls, few flowers. what caused this phenomenon, see the photo attached

Google AI reply

What you are seeing is a textbook example of asynchronous reproduction and energy allocation in tropical trees.

Even though these two cannonball trees (Couroupita guianensis) are growing right next to each other, they are simply in different phases of their reproductive cycles. [1]. The phenomenon is caused by a combination of biological factors:

1. High Resource Consumption of Fruits

Developing a "cannonball" fruit is an incredibly demanding task for the tree. These massive, woody spheres can grow up to 25 cm in diameter and take 12 to 18 months to fully mature and ripen. [2, 3]

The Tree on the Right: It has heavily invested its stored nutrients, sugars, and energy into sustaining the crop of large fruits you see hanging from its trunk. Because its energy reserves are maxed out by fruiting, it has minimal resources left to produce new flowers.
The Tree on the Left: It currently has no fruits draining its energy. As a result, it can channel all its accumulated sugars into a spectacular, high-energy mass-flowering phase. [4]

2. Asynchronous Phenology (Mismatched Timelines)

3. Low Pollination Success Rate

The tree on the left has thousands of flowers, but only a tiny fraction of them will ever turn into cannonballs. Because cannonball flowers produce no nectar and rely entirely on large, specialized native bees (like carpenter bees) to transport fertile pollen between separate trees, many flowers fall off unpollinated. The tree on the right likely had a highly successful visiting pollinator phase a year ago, while the tree on the left is actively trying to attract pollinators right now. [2, 4, 5, 6]

[1] https://www.gardenia.net

[2] https://www.facebook.com

[3] https://www.facebook.com

[4] https://www.facebook.com

[5] https://heritagetrees.nparks.gov.sg

[6] https://www.nybg.org

Prompt 2 - The two trees are in Singapore Botanic Garden, I see the same phenomenon, every year, never see the left tree has cannon ball on it except one time I saw one cannon ball; the right tree always have many cannon balls on it, not too many blooming flowers. It does not seem to be Mismatched Timelines.

Google AI reply

Thank you for sharing that crucial observation. Since this pattern is consistent year after year, it completely changes the diagnosis.

When one tree continuously bursts with flowers but almost never sets fruit, while its neighbor constantly bears fruit, you are witnessing severe self-sterility and a localized breakdown in genetic compatibility. [1]

The phenomenon is caused by a few specific factors:

1. Late-Acting Self-Incompatibility (LSI)

The cannonball tree (Couroupita guianensis) possesses a strict genetic mechanism called late-acting self-incompatibility. [1]

Even though the flowers are bisexual, a tree cannot fertilize itself. If a bee transfers pollen from the left tree back onto its own flowers, the tree recognizes its own DNA inside the ovary and actively aborts the fruit in its first month. [1]
The single cannonball you saw on the left tree was likely a rare fluke where a pollinator managed to bring compatible pollen from a third tree located much further away.

2. Clonal or Mismatched Genetics

For successful cross-pollination, the left tree must receive pollen from a genetically distinct individual. If the two trees in the Singapore Botanic Gardens are too closely related—such as being grown from seeds of the exact same parent fruit or cloned from cuttings—their genetic compatibility will be severely limited. [1]

The Right Tree: It likely has a slightly different genetic makeup that allows it to accept pollen from the left tree (or other cannonball trees in the area), converting its blooms into fruit. [2]
The Left Tree: It is stuck in a genetic "dead end." It cannot accept its own pollen, and it cannot accept its neighbor's pollen. Because it fails to set fruit, it doesn't deplete its energy reserves, allowing it to spend 100% of its resources on massive, continuous flower displays every year. [1]

3. Asymmetric Pollinator Behavior

The Carpenter Bees (Xylocopa spp.) in the gardens are highly efficient, but they follow the rewards. Because the left tree always has an overwhelming density of flowers, bees will heavily forage on it. [2]

When a bee moves from the left tree over to the right tree, it carries a heavy load of the left tree's pollen, easily fertilizing the right tree.
However, because the right tree has very few flowers, bees rarely fly from the right tree back to the left one. Even if they do, the genetic incompatibility blocks the left tree from forming fruits anyway. [1]

[1] https://www.researchgate.net

[2] https://ancienttrees.app

[3] https://heritagetrees.nparks.gov.sg

Salzburg, Austria

2026-08-22T07:30:00.000-05:00

Salzburg means Salt Castle. It is a city in Austria. The city lies on the Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Alps mountains. In ancient time its main source of income was salt extraction. Salzburg's historic center (German: Altstadt) is renowned for its Baroque architecture and is one of the best-preserved city centers north of the Alps. It is also the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the shooting location of the US movie the Sound of Music. The historic center was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.

Salzburg is about 140km southeast from Munich. We visited the city at the tail end of our trip to Munich, Germany, on July 25th, Saturday, with a guided tour.

Our shuttle parked across the river Salzach from Altstadt. We did not follow the tour guide but tried to cover more places on our own.

The first stop was Mirabell Garden. We got in from a side entrance.

It is a city garden, with a fountain and many sculptures. The four main sculptures depict some sort of abductions. It must be Greek mythology related I thought at the time.

It turned out that they were sculpted by Italian artist Ottavio Mosto around 1690. Each group depicts a mythological story symbolizing one of the four classical elements:

Earth (Pluto & Proserpina): Depicts Pluto, god of the Underworld, abducting Proserpina to the underworld, symbolizing the earth and the underground.

Water (Paris & Helen): Shows Paris abducting Helen of Troy and carrying her across the sea, starting the Trojan War.

Fire (Aeneas & Anchises): Represents Aeneas fleeing the burning city of Troy while carrying his father Anchises on his back and leading his young son Ascanius.

Air (Hercules & Antaeus): Depicts Hercules lifting the giant Antaeus off the ground to defeat him, depriving Antaeus of his power source (his mother, Gaia, the Earth) by holding him in the air.

Passing the sculptures, we saw locals were dancing on the shaded area by the side of the garden

Air - Hercules lifting the Giant Antaeus

Water - Trojan Prince Paris abducting Helen across sea

Earth - Pluto abducting Proserpina to the underground

Fire - Aeneas fleeing the burning city of Troy while carrying his father Anchises

entrance to the garden from the main street

Crossing river Salzach over a pedestrian bridge, we entered Altstadt, the historical old town of Salzburg. Narrow streets, old market square, Salzburg Cathedral. When we lingered at the front of the Cathedral, the bell tolled, and a cloud-formed cross appeared in the sky.

Salzach River

a narrow street of Altstadt

old market square

Redienzplaz, a tower of Salzburg Cathedral

Salzburg Cathedral

A cross in the sky facing the Cathedral

Instead of walking in the busy streets at Altstadt, we walked uphill to take a better views of the old town area. It was well worth it.

With short hiking uphill, we reached Viewpoint of Old Town (Altstadtblick). We had a good look of the cathedral from above, an unblocked view of the Fortress Hohensalzburg. Continued on a trail on the hill side, am Monchsburg, all the way to Aussichtspunkt am Mönchsberg (observatin deck) and birds' eye view of the Salzach river.

church towers

Fortress Hohensalzburg

Salzach River

Due to time constraint form the tour, we traced back to the trailhead, and continued to finish the loop around the Altstadt. We had a quick lunch at a restaurant near the pedestrian bridge and rejoined the whole tour group afterwards (by chance) on the way back to the shuttle. We continued the Austria Excursion to Wolfgansee for a lake cruise.

Isar River at Munich

2026-08-15T07:00:00.000-05:00

The Isar is a river that flows through Munich. Its source is in the Karwendel mountain range of the Alps in Austria. It starts flowing in north or west direction, flows into Germany, where it flows predominantly in northeast direction. The river is 295km long, and 32km of it are inside Austria, the rest entirely within the state of Bavaria, Germany. The river merges with Danube near Deggendorf, Germany.

It caught our attention when we saw many people rest on the dry river bed, or beach as they call it locally.

Dry river bed of Isar river, Munich

We walked along the river in Munich only for a short section a couple of times. The section is near Fischtreppe. This section of the river has an island in it, which splits the river into two streams, the side with exposed river bed is wide, the other side is narrow, the flow is fast, see the screen capture of the map at this section.

Maximillian Bridge passes over the island and is upstream to Fischtrppe (note - the river flows to northeast). One can walk down from the Bridge to the island - which has a park, and a walking trail.

On the bridge there is a sculpture - it represents Pallas Athenne, the Greek goddess of wisdom, stretgic warfare and craft. Below the bridge at the time of our visit, there was a family of ducks - a mother duck with six ducklings - one duckling was the odd one out - it was yellow, totally different from other ducklings, and no resembling to the mother duck either.

an island in the river Isar

A trail near the river level

A park on the island

A sculpture on the bridge with a sculpture

A duck family with one odd duckling

Fischtreppe, which means fish ladder or fish pass, is a structure in rivers, built near dams or waterfalls to help fish swim upstream past high walls. There is also a structure, Wehrsteg, weir bridge, which is a combination of a pedestrian bridge and weir (aka low dam) to regulate the water level in Isar.

Fischtreppe

Wehrssteg

The surrounding is beautiful, especially around Sunset time.

Along the river there are apartment buildings, community parks, and numerous restaurants. Local residents enjoyed themselves in various ways - sitting on the beach, listening to concert at community park, skipping stones over the river, wadding the water at the shallow side.

Wednesday evening concert in a community park by the river

two guys climbed over the rail of Wehrsteg to have a private time

another view of the duck family

close up of Pallas Athene

Maximilianeum

Schloss Nymphenburg

2026-08-08T07:30:00.000-05:00

Schloss Nymphenburg (German), i.e. Nymphenburg Palace, is a Baroque palace situated in Munich's western district Neuhausen-Nymphenburg, in Bavaria, southern Germany. It served as the main summer residence for the former rulers of Bavaria of the House of Wittelsbach. Combined with the adjacent Nymphenburg Palace Park it constitutes one of the premier royal palaces of Europe.

There is a channel to the front of the Palace, connecting it to Munich city center in ancient time. The primary builder of the palace was Maximilian Emanuel, the heir to Bavaria, a sovereign electorate of the Holy Roman Empire.

The channel is perpendicular to the front of the palace, which connects to the large pool close to the palace. It was a bright sunny day when we got there in the morning - cloudless, windless, the water was flat as mirror, reflecting its surroundings.

schloss Nymphenburg

In the back of the palace - there is a rectangular shaped garden with sculptures and flowers. Beyond the garden there is a channel/pool which ends at a manmade small water fall.

Back of the main palace building

The garden behind the palace

Water falls

Looking at the palace from the water falls

The inside of the palace was ordinary, just rooms with paintings, furniture, except the main hall - which looks more like a church.

The main hall for the palace

Surrounding Park is more interesting - ponds, trees, flowers, water fowls, birds, and sculptures. We also encountered two deer. The other interesting observation is that there are quite a few Chinese themed decorations in the palace and some castles.

Pagodenburg - Castle - by Kleiner See

Sitzpilz am Menzinger Tor

Apollo tempel

Chinese style decorated room in Pagodenburg

Chinses decoration in Badenburg

A Deer at Nymphenberg Park

Great Crested Grebe

Double wing dragonfly

Eurasian Coot and its baby

boat in the Channel at Schloss Nymphenburg

First Day at Munich

2026-08-02T07:00:00.000-05:00

Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany.

We arrived at Munich, Germany around 6am on a Sunny Saturday morning on a Lufthansa flight. We rode a train to the hotel at Aschheim-Dornach, a small town east side of Munich city center.

the corridor between airport and train stations

A statue in front of the conference center at the airport

train is a main means of public transportation

Mairenplatz

We dropped our luggage at the hotel and went to Mairenplatz, the city center square, historical old town. Rathaus-Glockenspiel, Town Hall clocktower with figurines, is imposing over the relative small square in front of it. One has to tilt his head backward to look up to see its top. Right next to the clock tower, is Neues Rathaus, i.e. new townhall. There are churches all around. Southwest to the square is a large marketplace with many small stores. Few people in the area in that early morning. When we returned for a late lunch, the area was bustling.

Rathaus-Glockenspiel

Neues Rathaus

Altes Rathaus

side of St. Peter's Church

The clock tower with green spiel is the St. Peter's Church

The plaza was filled with people after noon.

Residenz

Our next stop is Residenz, former royal palace of the Wittelsbach monarchs of Bavaria, which is a short walking distance from Mairenplatz. Residenz is now a museum. We did not go in, stayed outdoor to beat jet lag! Looked at Sculptures, and visited Hofgarten adjacent to it.

King Maximilian Joseph

model of the Residenz

Atrium

Theatine Church

Hofgarten 1

Hofgarten 2

Englischen Garten

The Englischer Garten is one of the world's largest urban public parks, 3.7 square kilometers. For comparison, it is about 5 times the famous Singapore Botanic Garden, and slightly larger (1.1x) than Central Park in New York city. The name refers to its English garden form of informal landscape.

It is to the west of the Isar river, and has many streams, ponds in it. It is lush green, perfect place for relaxation, jogging, and running. It has quite a few historical landmarks.

In one of the artificial streams flowing through the Englischer Garten, there is a standing wave (a stationary hydraulic jump) in which there is a transition from laminar to turbulent flow. It leads to a famous entertainment at the garden, river surfing, E2 Kleine Eisbachwelle. Surfers line up on the bank taking turns entering the water with their boards.

With running streams, trees, the park is a place for water fowls, birds, and some small animals. Swans, Geese, ducks were all over the places by ponds, creeks. We also spotted great crested grebes, a squirrel. The birds there are typically very small, it was hard to take good pictures of then the dense trees.

It was not only our first visit to Munich, it was also my first visit to Germany. I got a good impression of Germany from it.

The Monopteros - Appolo Temple

Chinese Tower

Schwabinger Bach

a large group of youth running on the trail, many families picnicking
Northern Schönfeldwiese - church towere in the back

squirrel with fluffy tail

Bar Headed Goose

red crested pochard- a type duck

BMW Welt

We went to BMW welt after a late lunch at Mairenplatz, looking at the model cars and motorcycles. It was about 2:30pm then, we went back to the hotel to check-in, instead of visiting the BMW museum.

BMW Welt

Late Sunset

The Sunset was 9:15pm. The day was very long during summer there.

a rustic Vietnamese restaurant

evening glow

Messesee, Munich, Germany

2026-07-31T09:00:00.000-05:00

See, in German, means Lake.

Messesee is the lake in front of the ICM - International Congress Center Messe München.

Messesee is, in fact, composed of two pools.

I went there two weeks ago to attend Word Congress on Computational Mechanics

Messesee

The large mirror like Messesee was impressive. More impressive there were the waterfowls.

The first species caught our eyes was Greylag Goose. They were busy foraging near lotus.

Greylag Geese

A gull flew by, and landed on the top of a post. It was a gull with black head... Black Headed Gull. Of course its favorite place is on the water or by the water. The following days I only saw them standing by the water or in the water.

The most endearing waterfowl during the week at the conference was a family of swans.

First we saw a parent swan with two "ugly" babe swans swimming in the pond. Then we saw the other half of the family on the shore - another parent swan with another two "ugly" babe swans! When it's noon time, the whole family rested by the bushes.

A swan family of 6 - half in the water, half on the land

Nap time!

In this world of gulls, geese, and swans, Eurasian coots stood out with their pitch dark plumage, white head and beak, and the web feet!

Eurasian coots

Eurasian coot

Wild flowers, water lily, blooming lotus flowers and mad made art pieces accentuated this tapestry of Messesee. A nice setting for the conference center.

Sculptures of Mountains Peaks in Alps

A Morning in the Tropical Garden

2026-07-18T06:00:00.000-05:00

4th of July 2026 was a beautiful day. I went to the Botanic Garden for a morning walk, took a few pictures of what caught my eyes. When I wrote down the following notes for the collage I made, the discrete photos were connected, I realized that I witnessed lives at different stages at the same time, the vitality of the nature. I was so amazed, I asked Gemini to write a poem to help me to express my amazement.

A morning in a tropical garden

Serenity in Noise... a swan floats on a lake amid the chorus of bird chirps

Sprout of Elephant Fern

Spiral flag ginger flower

The golden leaves... who said there was no fall in tropical

The setting Moon behind Palm trees

Bananas

Full of lives at different stages

The vitality!

Wow!

(From Google AI)

Here is a lyrical poem structured to capture the exact imagery, rhythm, and vibrant energy of your tropical garden notes.

Dawn in the Tropical Garden

A chorus of chirps ignites the dawn,

Yet absolute serenity floats with the swan.
A gentle glide on the glassy lake,
Amidst the wild noise the songbirds make.

Look down where the damp, rich soil burns,
With the newborn sprout of Elephant Ferns.

And see where the spiral flag gingers rise,
Flashing their bloom to the morning skies.

Golden leaves scatter, a sun-kissed floor,
Who said that autumn doesn't knock on this door?

While high overhead, a silver light flees,
As the setting moon slips behind the palm trees.

Heavy green bananas hang down in the shade,

A grand tapestry that nature has made.

Full of life at all stages, bursting and free,
Oh, the raw vitality!

Wow, what a wonder to see.

Note

The following is the revision of my notes by Gemini

A Morning in a Tropical Garden

Serenity in Noise: A swan floats on the lake amid a vibrant chorus of bird chirps.

Unfurling Life: The fresh sprout of an Elephant Fern.

Exotic Blooms: The striking spiral of a flag ginger flower.

Tropical Autumn: Golden leaves scattering down—who says the tropics don't have a fall?

Dawn's Exit: The setting moon slipping quietly behind the palm trees.

Abundance: Heavy bunches of ripening bananas.

Full of life at every stage.

The vitality! Wow!

See uncommon beauty from common sightings - Musing from Bird Watch

2026-07-11T06:30:00.000-05:00

I see Olive-backed Sunbirds almost every day, yet I never tire of photographing them. Every encounter reveals something different—a graceful pose, a fleeting interaction, the way the light catches their feathers. Familiarity doesn't diminish their beauty; it helps me appreciate details I might otherwise miss.

Engineering has been much the same for me.

What Makes Routine Interesting?

Young engineers sometimes ask, "Don't you get tired of working in computational mechancs after so many years?"

My answer is no.

To me, computational mechanics is not the destination—it is a tool for solving engineering problems. Every year brings new challenges. Each problem has its own story: Why is it difficult? What is the underlying mechanism? How can we solve it? My curiosity about these questions keeps the work fresh and engaging.

Just as every encounter with a familiar bird offers a new moment to appreciate, every engineering challenge offers an opportunity to learn something new. The satisfaction comes not only from solving the problem, but also from knowing that the solution makes a positive difference.

I won't pretend there is never a dull day, but there is certainly never a dull year.

So the one sentence answer - Curiosity for discovering something new in what appears routine, makes routine interesting.

Discovery of Gaharu Trail

2026-07-04T06:00:00.000-05:00

I discovered the Gaharu Trail this morning, Sunday, June 28th, 2026, purely by accident.

My original plan for the day was to have a quick hike at Rifle Range Nature Park and go home. But the park is too small, and in this day, despite early in the morning (7:30am), it was very humid, even the birds didn't want to fly! I did not see anything interesting, the hike from visitor center to Colugo deck, about 1 miles, took less than 30 minutes. It was still early. I decided to continue on the trail.

Quickly I arrived at a junction, where 3 trails intersect, the Rifle Range trail, the MacRitchie trail, and the 3rd one, Gaharu Trail, which I never heard of . Looked at the Signage for Gaharu trail, it reads:

The Gaharu, otherwise known as the Agarwood, is the dark resinous wood from Aquilaria trees which is prized for its fragrance. The trees are critically endangered in Asia due to overharvesting. Part of the Gaharu Trail was once a road known as Jalan Gaharu. The road was expunged when the Pan-Island Expressway (PIE) was built.

This signage led me to learn two things, the agarwood, and the Pan Island Expressway (PIE) history.

The agarwood tree defensively secretes a resin to combat the fungal infestation. Prior to becoming infected, the heartwood mostly lacks scent, and is relatively light and pale in colouration. However, as the infection advances and the tree produces its fragrant resin as a final option of defense, the heartwood becomes very dense, dark, and saturated with resin. This product is harvested, and most famously referred to in cosmetics under the scent names of oud, oodh or aguru; agar, as well as gaharu or jinko. With thousands of years of known use, and valued across Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim and Chinese cultures, oud is prized in Middle Eastern and South Asian cultures for its distinctive fragrance, utilized in colognes, incense and perfumes. One of the main reasons for the relative rarity and high cost of agarwood is the depletion of wild sources.

PIE was started in 1964, and built in 4 phases, and was fully open in 1982. The Gaharu Trail was built around 2017, a relative recent event.

This is a different type of trails, I decided to explore it.

Looking down the trail, there was one person who was taking photos of plant leaves with a shade, no one lese. I marched on - the trail is well shaded by mostly Aquilaria trees, and with some scattered bayan trees, a.k.a. walking figs.

After crossing a stream, I came to a reactively open area, large plant, and tall grasses, surrounded by quite a few durian trees. A hiking group of sensor citizens was there taking pictures. I saw fallen broken durians here and there in this stretch of the trail. For a moment, I was concerned that a durian might fall from its perch, and hit hikers. No need to worry though if one stays on the trail. I did not see any broken durians on the trail. It tuned out that the small er southern loop (see trail map below), Gaharu/Banyan Trail, was once called durian loop.

Durian is appealing to many people, not me - its smell is repulsive to me. I saw one solo hiker, an old man, picked up a likely freshly broken durian and ate the fruit! I jokingly asked him - tasting good? he did not answer me directly, but said - it is free, why not? When I returned back to the trail junction, another group of senior citizens were debating something excitedly. Apparently one of them wanted to take a fallen durian home! Of course it is against park rules or basic outdoor etiquettes - take nothing but photos, leave nothing but footprints.

wild durian tree

fallen and broken durians

The trail is in densely wooded area, tranquility with melodious bird chirps. However I barely saw any birds. The loop trail is not long, from Rifle Range Nature Park, to Colugo deck, continue on the right hand side trail at the trail junction, i.e. the Gaharu trail, which is a loop trail, on return, one can go straight at junction, and return to Rifle Range Nature Park's visitor center, see my trail map at the end of this post.

I hiked about 3 miles (4.8km) in 100 minutes.

The Gaharu Trail is a lush serenity, a good extension to Rifle Range Colugo trail, which I had never hiked on until this day.

Notes

Gaharu trail is a vivid example that nature can reclaim land quickly. Along the trail, there are a few building foundations overtaken by wild grasses and plants. It reminded me a more dramatic example of nature's power when left to do its work. Chernobyl, despite radio active, absence of human activities, grasses, plants and even wildlife thrive there.

Sungei Buloh - Nature Lovers' Interactions

2026-06-28T06:30:00.000-05:00

On June 6, I went to Sungei Buloh to see waterfowls and other wildlife at low tide. I was glad I went. I saw Sunbirds, Kingfishers, Egrets, Herons, Painted Storks, ...and monitor lizard, green crested lizard, crocodiles - 4 of them...I hiked 8+ km, in 3 hours, stayed at one spot for almost an hour.

What made this solo outing special at the Wetland were the interactions I had with other nature lovers.

my trail at Sungei Buloh

At 2 mile marker (see my trail map), I saw two men, standing there with their big lens, on tripods, pointing at a tall plant. I looked at the direction, and saw nothing. I turned to the older man, who was closer to me, before I asked my question, he volunteered to tell me that there was a Sunbird nest in the midsection of the plant, and patiently guided me to locate the well-camouflaged bird nest. The nest was empty. He told me that the female bird was incubating, it just left for food, and it would come back in a few minutes.

Indeed a female bird flew to the nest, perching on the opening for a few seconds to check, then entered, turned around and just sat there.

My first reaction was that it was olive backed Sunbird. The old man told me it was copper throated sunbird. The male has copper colored throat. It was around, but the guy did not have a picture of it. He showed me the photo of the male bird from internet. He then gave me a lesson on the bird. The female had not laid eggs yet, that's why it came and go. The male won't come to the nest until the female laid eggs, and stayed in the nest to brood. When the eggs were laid, the male would come to the nest to feed the female.

empty nest

the female copper throated sunbird returned to the nest

the female copper throated sunbird about to enter the nest

the female copper throated sunbird stayed in the nest

One time I was told the male copper throated sunbird was around up on branches of a big tree nearby. I did not see it. While waiting for the bird to come or to go, the younger of the two announced that he saw something beautiful, a green crested Lizard came to visit.

Green Crested Lizard

After some time, I saw the bird's pattern: it would stay in the nest for about 5 minutes and then exited the nest, flying downward, and got away. when it returned, it would first perched on branches of bushes, checking the nest first before flying to the nest's opening and enter. But I missed the opportunities to take pictures of the bird fly-in or fly-out. It had been quite some time, I decided that I would move on once I took pictures of the bird fly-in or fly out. My patience finally paid off, I got the bird fly-in on burst shooting. By then I stayed there for about 50 minutes!

When I arrived at the bridge to the kingfisher pod, I saw a juvenile crocodile crawling/swiming in the tidal river. It was interesting to watch, it was very active, moved around, and seemingly biting something in the air! Three ladies came by, and looked into the river, they did not see anything, so one of them asked me what I was looking at, I told her that there was a juvenile down there. She finally saw it and told her friends excitedly about it.

When I was leaving, she thanked me profusely.

As I walked onto the viewing platform on Buloh Besar River, a guy with a binocular in his hand, told me that there was big crocodile on the river bank, under trees. It was a big one, with mouth wide open. I thanked him when I spotted it.

There was another crocodile swimming in the middle of the shallow river.

The interactions with other nature lovers made me not feel lonely on this solo outing.

Note -

Of course we interacted with nature lovers, bird watchers in particular, sharing information, and excitements happened many times before. It will be my next Blog - Sharing the Joy of bird watching

Wildlife at Jurong Lake Gardens

2026-06-20T06:00:00.000-05:00

Jurong Lake Gardens is one park at Singapore I see wildlife consistently, birds and otters in particular.

It did not disappoint the last time we visited the Gardens a few weeks ago.

Right out of north exit of the North carpark, we spotted a group of otters roaming near lake shore. Shortly a large otter caught a fish, and got onto a boat cushion, with a juvenile otter closely followed behind. The large otter, supposedly a parent, gave away the fish to the small one. The juvenile otter, with fish in its mouth, running around to evade other otters. Quite a show! We lingered for a while to enjoy the show.

Later we saw another otter having a fish by itself. After it finished the fish, it made calls and some otter pubs coming out bushes to follow the otter. So it was a mom otter hiding from its pups to enjoy the fish and had some alone time :)!

This is the second time we see otter eating live fish at Jurong Lake Garden. The last time the show was in the lake. It is interesting to note that Singapore is home to two species of otters – the Smooth-coated Otter and the Asian Small-Clawed Otter. The former is named for its velvety smooth coat, is the largest otter species in Southeast Asia. The latter is the smallest otter species in the world. What we saw both time was the smooth coated otter.

After the otter shows, we saw a Asian Openbill Stork, and then a pair of the storks on the fence of a viewing platform, while taking pictures, a few more came to join them. While continuing toward the south side of the park, we saw a few more storks on top of some flowering trees. We did not see storks before at the Gardens. According to Google search results, this influx of the Storks is due to natural bird migration, not artificial introduction.

Asian Openbill Storks at Jurong Lake Gardens

A stork rest on top of a tree

Walking south, we chose to walk on a less travelled trail by the lake, we spotted a yellow vented bulbul resting on the ground, partially exposing its yellow vent. We saw a group of photographers aiming their big lens at a pile of withered fallen leaves, on a trail 100ft away. I instantly knew that they were taking pictures of night jars hatching on the ground. We saw this about a year ago at Botanic Garden. We walked over in a hurry anyway, and sank our shoes into "swamp" like area (due to heavy rains a couple days before) between the two trails. Indeed it was a nightjar, and additionally two chicks. They camouflaged so well in the withered fallen leaves, I did not see them at first glances.

the mom nightjar with two chicks

can you see the 3 birds? double click on the photo to enlarge it for better view

To avoid disturbing the nightjars and the photographers, we walked on the trail in reverse direction to take a detour. Lucky we were, there were 3 photographers aiming into a few tall trees. One photographer told me he was taking photos of a Robin feeding a chick. The parents left to fetch bugs. It was Magpie Robins. We waited for a few minutes, finally the parent birds came back:

One flew into trees, making calls, the other landed on a concrete, with a bug in its beak. It struck the bug against the ground repeatedly before carrying it to the cavity on a tree, where the chick was, fed the baby, looked around, and looked into the cavity(hole), before taking off.

This was the first time we saw Magpie Robin feeding baby bird.

caught an insect

struck the bug against the ground

checking on the chick

dove in to feed the baby

check again

flying away

Walking into the Grassland at the Garden, I spotted a lizard running across the trail in front of us, and snapped of photo of it. After the Grassland, it was almost 1pm, we turned around, had a late lunch at Fusion Spoon, went home.

During the nearly 5 hour time at the Gardens, we also saw Collared Kingfishers, Sunbirds, Waterhens ...

It was a beautiful day, we had great time there

edge of the grassland

the Lone tree - a sculpture

A lizard ran into shade from the Grassland

Notes

We went to the Jurong Lake Gardens many times. I wrote two blogs about the visits before - 1) Flora and Fauna at Jurong Lake Gardens in 2021, and 2) Singing in the rain in 2024, we saw many birds we did not this time -

Brown throated sunbird

Lineated Barbet

Blue throated bee eater

Black napped oriole

White Bellied Fish Eagle (overhead in the Sky)

Red-wattled lapwing

Herons

Egrets

The Sculpture Trail at Singapore Botanic Garden

2026-06-13T06:00:00.000-05:00

Over two years ago, I enjoyed the full SBG by walking to every major point of interests without repeating my track, when Lily was on a business trip. Early in May, we decided to enjoy the full garden again, together, with a twist - to locate every sculptures in the Garden.

The Garden published the list of sculptures on its website, and suggested 2 trails to go to visit each of them. This made it easier for sculpture hunt. We completed the two trails in one 5 miles (8km) hike in 3 hours.

Sculpture trail at SBG

We started from the famous iron Tanglin Gate,.

We are very familiar with the area - but had a hard time to locate the first Sculpture on the list - The Book Reader. In the search process we saw the usual wood sculptures but the not the Book Reader. We almost gave up before walking deeper into the Botany Center first floor hallway, the book reader is at a corner by the lift, on a stone bench, leaning to a column.

wood sculpture of an owl

The Book Reader

The next several sculptures, Swing me Mama, Flight of Swans, Gees, Chang Kuda, Joy, Sundial, Swiss Granite Fountain, Nurturing, Lady on a Hammock, Girl on a bicycle, Girl on a sing, are along the main paved trails, I remember exactly where they are, but did not know their exact names.

We noticed most of the sculptures the first time we walked around the area. Lady on a Hammock is an exception. We passed by it, which is in the shade of a couple of trees, and separated from the road by plants, many times, and did not see. We were surprised to "discover" it one day.

swing me mama

Joy

Lady on a hammock

There are a couple of wire formed sculptures near the Sundial Garden - The passing of knowledge and Love in the Air. It is interesting to note that the latter is not on the SBG sculpture trail map, but on the SBG website sculpture list. In the Sundial garden, the sundial is listed as a sculpture, but the not the 4 white sculptures at the 4 corners of the garden - the sculptures are based on the same model. Not sure how the sculptures are counted on the list.

Passing of Knowledge

Love in the Air - on SBG Sculpture list

The sundial

A white sculpture at 4 corners of the Sundial Garden 1

A white sculpture at 4 corners of the Sundial Garden 2

A white sculpture at 4 corners of the Sundial Garden 3

A white sculpture at 4 corners of the Sundial Garden 4

The next group of sculptures are around Ginger garden/Orchid Garden/rainforest, which include Rainforest Mural, Clock towers, fifty wings, Chopin, Conversation from Nature, and A little Girl Swing on a tree at Ginger garden - which is not on the trail map, we saw before but did not take picture this time. I took a picture of it later, and added it to the post. We see all them regularly, but are more interested in some but not others - We actually read the signage for the conversation from nature, but never checked the other sculptures signages until this time.

The rainforest mural

Fifty Wings

conversation from nature

A little Girl Swing on a tree at Ginger garden

Next stop after the ginger garden and etc. is Nassim Gate which is the end of SBG trail1, and end of trail 2 as well. We basically walked trail 2 in reverse direction. There are two sculptures Gaboon Viper, Bull frog on the trail map, and the sculpture list. We saw them before, never realized those are sculptures - and had a hard time to locate them - we looked at wrong places! They are in the bushes and lay low on the ground.

Nature has its own art pieces as usual. On the way to evolution garden, a white fallen flower elegantly rested on the gate to the corner house. The sculptures at evolution garden are decorative, immersive to the environment and we did not regard them as sculptures - stone trees and Lepidodendron.

Nature made

Stone Trees

Lepidodendron

The next cluster of Sculptures is located at the Seed Bank Garden - we checked them out before, and one more time this time for completeness. But we did not see the Tandok-Tandok Seeds in the seed bank garden. After some detective work, we figured that it was not in the seed bank garden, but at seed bank building's front entrance!

Tandok-Tandok Seeds

The last batch of Sculptures is located in the Echo lake area - Ethnobotany Garden, and Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden.

In Ethnobotany Garden, the sculptures are mostly stone murals, and a few standalone sculptures in the trees, they might be decorative but not really artistic. We saw that one sculpture, the wooden spear in the hands fell off - due to aging and likely inadequate design.

stone mural

hunter gatherer 1

Hunter Gatherer 2 - damaged due to age - spear on its hands were broken

The last two pieces of sculptures are Native Wildlife and Mystree just outside the Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden, which marks the start of sculpture trail 2, and the end of our Sculpture trail.

Native Wildlife

Mystree

We have been to the garden over 1500 times, almost daily visit there in the last 5 years, it is our backyard garden, we appreciate the flora, and enjoy the fauna, especially birds.

This hike was different, it was a unique, very interesting, informative and fun hiking for us.

Notes

1.We did not see every sculptures on the list due to mismatch between the trail map and the Sculpture list, we saw many more sculptures that are not on the list as well.

2. Sculptures at Gallop extension

"Contract" is a piece by British sculptor Antony Gormley. I saw Gormley's sculptures at National Gallery before. The other is "seeds" - similar to one sculpture at Seed Bank.

"Contract" is a piece by British sculptor Antony Gormley

seeds

White Breasted Waterhen and its Precocial Newborn

2026-06-06T06:00:00.000-05:00

Last Thursday evening, as I walked along the trail leading to the hidden southwest entrance of the Sun-Dial Garden, I spotted a White-breasted Waterhen about to cross the path. To my delight, a tiny fluffy black chick followed closely behind.

The moment they noticed me, both were startled. The mother dashed across the trail and disappeared into the bushes. The chick, however, stumbled at the edge of the path and collapsed. It looked like nothing more than a small black puffball. Completely motionless, it appeared to be playing dead.

I quickly walked past the chick and concealed myself behind the bushes near the entrance. Standing still in the hot, humid evening air, I hoped the mother would return for her baby.

the fallen waterhen chick, playing dead

From within the bushes, the waterhen began calling loudly—sharp, repetitive *ku-e* chirps. Rather than approaching the chick, she moved farther away, apparently trying to lure me away from it. I waited. The mother stayed hidden. The chick remained motionless.

Time seemed to stretch endlessly.

In reality, about twelve minutes passed before the adult waterhen reappeared. She crossed the trail again and entered the bushes near the chick. Soon, she began calling once more. Hearing its mother's voice, the tiny chick stirred, moving its head and fluttering its little wings.

I quickly started recording a video.

The mother stopped calling and appeared to check on her baby. After another two minutes, she chirped again and slowly walked out from the bushes. The chick stood up and began moving toward her.

Its effort was heartbreaking and inspiring to watch.

Every few steps, it lost its balance and fell. Using its tiny wings for support, it struggled back to its feet and continued forward.

(screen capture from my video)

White-breasted Waterhen chicks are *precocial*, meaning they hatch covered in down, with their eyes open and ready to move about almost immediately. They typically leave the nest within a day or two of hatching and follow their parents wherever they go.

The chick before me was likely no more than one or two days old.

As the mother started crossing the trail, the chick followed. It would dash forward two or three tiny steps while emitting faint chirps, then collapse from exhaustion. After resting briefly, it would struggle upright and continue.

At one point, the mother turned around and lowered her head, seemingly checking on her baby before continuing on. The chick resumed its determined effort.

After several bursts of progress, it had covered only about two feet when it fell hard onto its side. For a moment it lay there, kicking its legs. Then, with remarkable determination, it rolled itself upright and continued on.

The surrounding bushes began to block my view. Unable to resist, I stepped into the middle of the trail to watch the final stage of its journey.

Stand up. Walk a few steps. Fall.

Stand up again. Walk. Fall.

Over and over.

It melted my heart.

I watched until the chick finally crossed the trail and disappeared beneath a layer of fallen leaves under the bushes, safely following its mother.

final dash

Observing that tiny fuzzy black ball on legs scrambling after its parent was one of the most endearing wildlife encounters I have ever witnessed. Its struggle, determination, and trust in its mother's call made an ordinary evening walk into an unforgettable experience.

Nature often reveals its greatest wonders in its smallest creatures.

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Note -

1. The post text was polished by chatGPT based on my original full length post:

chatGPT

This is already a charming story. Its strength is that it focuses on behavior and observation, allowing the reader to experience the event with you. I would improve it mainly by: tightening the narrative flow, reducing repetition, improving grammar and word choice, strengthening the emotional arc from curiosity → concern → relief → wonder.

2. My original post

White Breasted Waterhen and its Precocial Newborn

Last Thursday evening, I was on the trail to the Sun-Dial Garden's hidden southwest entrance, I saw a white breasted waterhen about to cross the trail, and was pleasantly surprised to see a fluffy black chick followed behind. Seeing me, they were startled, the mom ran across the trail into bushes. The chick fell at the edge of the trail, and looked really just a fluffy blackball, and stayed motionless, playing dead.

I quickly passed the fallen chick, and hided behind the bushes at the entrance, motionless in the hot humid air, observing the fallen chick, hoping the mom waterhen would go back to get the chick.

The mommy waterhen was making loud ku-e chirps in the bushes, and moving away, trying to lure me away from the chick. I waited for waterhen to return to the chick, the waterhen stayed away, and waited, it felt like forever!

It was actually about twelve minutes before the adult waterhen reappeared, and crossed the trail again, went into bushes, and was very close to the chick. It started making chirps again. Hearing mom's call, the chick started moving its wings and head.

I quickly turned on video recording on my phone!

The mom waterhen stopped chirping, and apparently checking its baby. Two minutes passed, it started chirp again, and walked out of the bush. The chick stood up, walking toward its mom, unsteadily, ever step of the way, it fell to the ground, using its wings to support, and stood up again...

The waterhen chicks are precocial. This means: 1) They hatch out of their eggs covered in fuzzy black down feathers with their eyes completely open. 2) They hit the ground running (and swimming) almost immediately. They typically leave the nest within 1 to 2 days after hatching to follow their parents around.

So this chick in front of me was about 1 or 2 days old.

As the mom started crossing the trail, the chick followed, now it spurted forward two to three steps while making faint chirps then fell, and then stood up moving forward again. It must be really tiring to this chick, after 2 spurts, it rested on the ground a bit, the mom turned around, and lowered her head to check on the chick, then walked forward without waiting. The chick stood up, started the spurts again. After several spurts, it covered about 2 feet distance, and fell hard on its side! It kicked legs, and rolled itself to stood up again.

The bushes branches blocked my view of the mom and chick. I walked into the middle of the trail, and continued to witness the chick's struggle, stood up, walked a couple steps, fell, stood up, walked, fell ...

It melted my heart!

I watched until the chick successfully crossed the trail, walked into the fallen leaves under the bush.

Observing the tiny, fuzzy "black ball" on legs is absolutely adorable to watch as they scramble after their parent. It is an incredible and endearing sight to capture in person.

3. Sundial Garden

The Hokkaido Bears @ Showa-shinzan Bear Ranch - by Lly

2026-05-30T06:00:00.000-05:00

The Hokkaido bear, or Ussuri brown bear (Ursus arctos lasiotus), is Japan's largest land mammal, with males weighing 150–250 kg. They are native to Hokkaido, shy by nature, but have caused a record number of encounters and a fatal attack recently, leading to high-level warnings in 2025/2026. It is the only bear species inhabiting Hokkaido. While some brown bears in Hokkaido have a dark coat, they are not black bears.

Seeing the bears in the wilderness is a dream of nature lovers. Despite the large population of the bear in Hokkaido, estimated at roughly 11,600 to over 20,000 in 2026, the encounter of the bears in the wild is not common. The best chance for us during our Sapporo trip was the tour we booked for the day 5.

Our last stop of the tour included two locations, Mt Usu and the Showa-shinzan Bear Ranch. We choose to hike on Mt Usu ( go to trail head by Gondola) and to visit the bear ranch. With total stop time being 2 hours, after hiking, we had only 20 minutes to spare. When we checked at the ticket office, the staff told us that we had enough time.

Torii of the bear ranch

Going inside, I realized instantly that we had more than enough time, the whole path is less than 100 meters long. That is not to say that there’s not enough to see.

In the ranch, the bears are grouped by ages, and sizes. The bear kindergarten is the first pit I saw

On the left side of the path, I saw baby bears playing on the “playground”. Their bodies are covered in furry black fur, but their faces are bare and in pale brown color. At first I thought that’s because they were just babies, but actually the adults look exactly the same way. Those baby bears were so cute together, pushing the tires and climbing the stations.

baby bears

bear kindergarten

The adult bears are in separate enclosures. Most of them were just lying there and resting, walking around aimlessly. Except for two bears in the water hole, they started by nuzzling, then cuddling, fighting, and getting excited. A couple of other bears walked by nonchalantly, leaving the two enjoying themselves. The two bears in the water were actually engaged in courtship wrestling. After a while they mated.

Courtship wrestling full episode!

There are several cages on the left hand side of the walkway, one bear in each enclosure, and they roar, they wave, and they beg for food. Apparently these bears were trained to do those things.

The last “den” hosted even larger bears. There is a path to go down to the same level as the bears and watch them through the barred windows. Those bears are huge! The are twice as tall as I am. When they stand up, they are just massive. I certainly do not wish to meet one in the wild.

Note

The tour guide provided a couple misinformation:

1. there were two types bears in Hokkaido - black bears and brown bears - in fact there is only one species.

2. The bear ranch was a sanctuary - it is not, it is a commercial zoo.

I did not know those claims were false until I did some research when writing this blog.

Moerenuma Park @ Hokkaido

2026-05-23T06:00:00.000-05:00

Moerenuma Park was designed by the architect Isamu Noguchi. The whole site, including the glass pyramid, is a work of art. We visited there on the last day of our Hokkaido trip.

It took 1 hour bus ride from Sapporo city center to the park, and when the bus reached the stop at the park west entrance, we were the only passengers. We basically had the whole park to ourselves except few locals exercising.

West Entrance to Moerenumma Park

The center of the park is wide open, with a couple hills which have simple clean profiles

The large sculptures dotted the park are simple, abstract and elegant.

A stainless tetrahedral truss structure stands out in the green landscape, like an alien object. It is over a grassy mound, and next to a performance platform. It is intriguing. The reflective stainless steel contrasts with the surrounding nature, alien, an accentuation of the landscape.

This is Tetra Mound, 13 meters in height, the truss is 2 meter in diameter.

Tetra Mound

Climbing on to the play mountain by the Tetra Mound, looking around, a white sculpture, like a cut open fruit caught our eyes. It resembles the split apple in New Zealand. The color contrast of the white sculpture, green grasses, and dark green trees, are sharp, and soothing.

It is The Music Shell, a unique outdoor performance space. Situated directly at the base of the granite slope of Play Mountain, it serves as a functional art piece where nature and music merge.

Music shell

There are a few other functional art work in the park at the playground area, such as the conical shaped slide in the Cherry forest, and the glass pyramid.

slides

The glass pyramid reminded us of the glass pyramid outside the Louvre. This glass pyramid is a quiet shelter by Mount Moere. It is also a gallery with photographs showing the 4 seasons at the park, and a museum of the architect Isamu Noguchi. The platform on the rooftop provides views of the whole park, the moat surrounded the park, the downtown Sapporo, and snow covered mountains in the distance.

The river southwest of the park, serves as a boundary of the park

The moat

After the glass pyramid, we walked up the Mt Moere - in fact a hill. Two straight stairs, one curved stairs lead to the mountain top. Look up or look down, the views are clean, and profiles are simple.

As we completed the loop around the park, we came across another large open area, with wall at the far side, and a paved trail along the wall. There are trees by the wall, on the other side of the wall from our viewpoint. Outside the wall there are several fields including a baseball field.

It was a tranquil place, the tranquility was broken occasionally by bird chirping in the woods, and overhead in the sky.

Entering the park, we saw many large birds flying overhead, black wings, sometimes showing brown feathers - obviously some species of hawks - they are black kites (Hawks - new bird species to me, #208 on my list)). They flew confidently, steadily, scanning the landscape beneath them.

In contrast, there were light colored large birds flying closer to the river water - grey herons. They fly calmly and elegantly barely flapping their wings.

Note; there were a least one black kite couple, and one pair of grey herons.

The big birds don't chirp or make calls frequently. The smaller birds, sparrows, magpies, brown eared bulbuls ..., they sing, chirp tirelessly.

In the cherry forest, while enjoying the blooming cherry blossoms, I heard bird chirps and saw a medium size dark color bird hopping around, pecking at cherry blossoms. After a few tries, I finally capture the bird on camera - it was a brown eared bulbul, a new species on my list (#209)

Walking up the Mt Moere, I heard a pleasant bird song, repeating intermittently, looking around, I did not locate any birds, finally I saw a bird with black head, white collar, and white breast, and a tint of brown throat - it is Siberian Stonechat (#210)!

This is a great park for simple elegancy, tranquility and nature!!

Black Kite ( type of Hawks)

A pair of Black kites

grey heron

A pair of Herons

Sparrows

Asian Siberian Stonechat

Brown eared Bulbul in cherry blossoms

Late Season Skiing at Niseko Annupuri

2026-05-16T06:00:00.307-05:00

Our late season skiing trip to Niseko Annupuri from April 24 - 26 was proved to be a little bit too late especially due to the warm up of the weather during that time. Our original plan was to ski full day April 25, half day on April 26, and return to Sapporo on the afternoon of the day. We eventually changed the plan, skiied only one day and relaxed in the morning of April 26, returned to Sapporo earlier than planned.

However we enjoyed the trip to Niseko Annupuri - for the cool weather, the white snow, the thrill of downhill speed, and the sight of Mt Yotei, aka ezo Fuji. We also encountered a red fox on the trail!

We arrived at the ski resort around 4:30pm, the ski trails were closed already. We went on to a side ski trail to get a feel of the winter, and cold. When we were back to the hotel to prepare for next day's ski, we found out a ski goggle was broken, and the ski gloves were in sad shape. So we bought new ones to replace them at the resort's shop.

mountains were partially covered by the snow

trees were budding

The next morning, we had an early breakfast buffet, and went to the rental store to rent ski equipment early shortly after 8am in hope to get the equipment for the first run of the day on the slope. The rental store won't open until 9am. We had to wait. There was no one else there for the rental, so we got on to the trail in 10 minutes, and onto the lift by 9:20am, after purchasing lift tickets!

On the mountain, the ski trails were fully covered by snow. Ski condition from mid-mountain was decent all the way to base, we enjoyed one run there and found the thrill of downhill skiing. We then moved a one level up via the gondola.

From upper mountain, the trail is much longer, ~ 2+ mile, and of course larger vertical drop ~ 1900 ft. The ski condition was better than lower mountain. Better yet, we had great view of Mt Yotei.

Mt Yotei, aka ezo Fuji, is a volcano, which resembles mt Fuji, but much smaller and shorter - 1898 m vs 3776 meter in elevation. We had two runs from the upper mountain, and decided to go to the upper most lift station to the championship course. This course is steep, was not groomed, the trail were covered by man made moguls, not a great place to ski for us, we could ski on the trail, but did not enjoy it. We only skied on it once, and went back down to the gondola.

We had a few more runs and it was time for lunch (13:15). We had a picnic right outside the upper mountain gondola station, a bare patch with dry rocks. During this period, a few skiers took off from the top of the trail, one family came to take pictures, then the dad skied down, the mom and the child took gondola downhill. A more interesting episode was that a guy carried his child on his back with a car seat like carrier, and skied downhill!

The slope looked ok

sitting on a dry rock, we had snack for lunch and enjoyed people watching

a guy carried his child on his back going downhill!

We stayed on the gondola trail - panorama trail until 3pm. The we went to the lower green trail - paradise trail + junior trail to cool down.

The last run of the day was dramatic: Lily missed the exit to the rental shop, so we went up the mountain one more time than planned. When we were close to the landing place, we saw a large animal walking on the slope. It tuned out to be a red fox!

Wildlife sight on ski trail!

In total we skied a little over 6 hours, almost non-stop except the lunch break.

It was a fabulous day of skiing - blue ski, white snow, thrill of downhill ski, sight of mt Yotei, and red fox, nevertheless we decided not to ski the next day because of the wet snow and forecast of a even warmer day.

Red Fox

A fabulous day on the trail

Note -

Apparently the trails were not groomed. It was actually a common practice for resorts open for late seasons. The main reasons include: 1) Lack of Snow Base: Grooming equipment requires a certain depth of snow to operate without damaging the terrain or bringing dirt and rocks to the surface. 2) Warmth and Ice: When temperatures fluctuate significantly above and below freezing, grooming can create "rock-hard" skating rinks. 3) Groomers may choose not to groom to avoid creating icy conditions. Soft/Wet Conditions: Grooming wet, warm snow can cause equipment to get stuck and results in deep, unusable ruts when the snow refreezes.

Chasing Cherry Blossoms in Hokkaido

2026-05-09T06:30:00.000-05:00

We found out that cheery blossoms would arrive late in April in Hokkaido by chance during the planning of our ski trip there. It was late for the whole Japan, but the peak time for full bloom for Hokkaido.

Here is the chart for 2026 Japan Cherry Blossom timeline.

Arriving at Sapporo, we saw scattered blooming cherry trees here and there in some streets. There was one big Cheery tree with blooming cheery blossoms right outside the hotel.

We started looking for the perfect locations for Cheery Blossoms, many trees together and ideally some cheery blossom tunnel.

A standalone Big Blooming Cheery Tree

Checking cheery blossom reports for locations within walking distance to the hotel, we decided to go to Hokkaido University Campus and Odori Park to get better views of the Cherry Blossoms in the chilly morning of our day 2 at Sapporo. It was windy, and the wind chill made the temperature freezing. The wind also broke up the clouds, and brought out the blue sky which made the cheery blossoms looked so much more beautiful.

On Hokkaido University campus, the Cheery trees were spread out. There was one big blooming cheery tree by roadside, and adjacent to blooming yellow flowers, another hanging over a pond with mandarin duck couple in it, and yet another over a patch of snow!

Cherry Blossoms on Hokkaido Campus

Cheery Blossoms over a pond with a pair of mandarin ducks

Cheery Blossoms over a patch of snow remanent

Around the red brick old government building, there are two big ponds situate in its front, along with many decorative trees and blooming cherry trees, which make it a nice park.

The red bricks, green octagonal tower, and soft pink blossoms create a high-contrast, picturesque scene. The overstretching cherry blossoms over the pond offered their own charm!

The Odori park is a 1.5 km long, rectangular shaped urban oasis, lined with trees, the park has cherry trees dotted on either sides, a large, fragrant rose garden on the west side, fountains throughout the middle, and interesting statues scattered around.

Cheery Blossoms along the Sosei River

The spaced out cherry blossoms had no size effect, each formed a beautiful, charming tapestry with its surroundings, had their own elegancy and charm.

The long distance bus rides between Sapporo and Niseko, and from Sapporo to Shikotsu-Tōya National Park and surrounding areas, provided a different vista of cherry blossoms, in the valley of mountains, by the country roads, on the banks of the caldera lakes ...

Cheery Blossoms along Lake Toya

When we returned to Sapporo from skiing at Niseko, the Cheery Blossoms were at their peak bloom. We visited the more well known cherry blossom viewing area - Maruyama Park along with adjacent Hokkaido Jingu, have over 1000 cherry trees, providing a very dense display of blossoms, as well as varieties of cherry blossms - featuring primarily Ezoyamazakura (Sargent's cherry) - vibrant pink, Somei Yoshino - light pink, and Yae-zakura - vibrant, deep pink to pure white.

There were a lot more densely populated cherry blossoms, and there were large crowds as well.

There were so many people at the park, the walking crowd stir up dust cloud on the trail to the Hokkaido Jingu - like cars running over a dirt road. There were also a food street to serve the crowd. Viewing Cherry Blossoms is a festival!

Despite the crowd, we enjoyed viewing the Cherry Blossoms, and also enjoyed hot grilled corn and chocolate coated banana ice-cream.

The Cherry Blossom Tunnel by the plum garden

The Cherry Blossom Tunnel leading Hokkaido Jingu

On the last day of our stay at Sapporo, we visited Moerenuma Park, which was designed by the architect Isamu Noguchi. The whole site, including the glass pyramid, is a work of art.

There is forest of 1,600 cherry trees in the park consist of Ezoyamazakura, Kasumizakura, Minezakura, Yaezakura, and Somei-Yoshino. Due to relative inconvenience to get there from city center (1 hour bus ride, and the bus is infrequent), there were few people there to view the fully blooming Cherry Blossoms.

We, however, enjoyed the Cherry Blossom, almost, all by ourselves!

View of Play mountain from the cherry forest

part of the cherry forest

a children's slid is a piece of art in the cherry forest

Note

Generally the further north, the later the start of the bloom, and the shorter the blooming duration

Conversion of the cherry blossoms timeline pictorial into a chart reveals something not obvious

1) Kyoto, Tokyo and Kawaguchiko are exceptions in duration. Kyoto, Kawaguchiko had longer duration, and Tokyo has shortest duration

2) Fukuaka, Senai are exceptions in starting date