Hi,

At first, I scrapped off the plan to go for an astronomy talk and a chance at "birding" with the Malaysian Nature Society branch members on 16th & 17th due to clashes with my already cancelled Taman Negara trip. But since the latter was cancelled, I decided - why not?

The astronomy talk was held in Bukit Bruang, Malacca at the branch's vice chairman's residence. I 'tumpang' one of the member's car and later stayed for the night at the VC residence before going bird watching at the Batang Tiga padi fields the next morning.

I was pretty much fascinated with the astronomy talk. Our speaker, Corrine Woo (teacher) gave an interesting explanation on constellations and showed us how to locate them in the sky. Never before have I imagined myself identifying constellations like the Orion, Canis Major, Gemini, Taurus, Scorpius, Sagittarius, Libra, etc with much ease and interest.

With this knowledge, it is a tool for locating other space objects like planets, comets and galaxies. The talk ended with a slide show of galaxies, clusters and nebulaes. We managed to put our skills to test during the first break whereby we were able to spot the Orion (the belt part) clearly outside the house at around 9.30pm. However, it began to rain after the slide show ended.

The next morning we went for a birdwatching activity at Batang Tiga padi fields. The padi planted over there is the type of 'pulut hitam'. I was very surprised that the place offered many types of birds to be seen.

These MNS people really has sharp and attentive eyes. They could really spot birds while I will be looking everywhere blindly.

One of the members brought a telescope which was really helpful 'coz it really could zoom in on a tiny object which is far, far away. Other members brought along their own binoculars while I was lucky to borrow one from another member. We saw among others the Great spotted eagle, Eastern Marsh Harrier, Perrigon Falcon and Pacific swallows. Amazing - not only the animals but these MNS members who were so enthusiastic about their birding activity.

After the birdwatching, I practically dreaded the hours that followed because they were spending time socializing and there weren't any members in my age group. If you know me well, I don't really like to chat on household stuff and I'm not knowledgable enough to speak on nature subjects. Luckily I still get to chat with Corrine. I was already trying to enquire more on the subject of astronomy. I thought it would be great to get a good budget telescope to enable me to look at the stars better. But when I asked Corrine regarding the cost of one, I practically had to dump the idea at least for now. It costs about RM 10,000 for a good telescope. Must strike lotterylah like that.

I had an eventful weekend. However, I didn't go out much during the Raya holidays - I actually did some work (just can't leave it unfinished when I'm gonna leave my job soon). Anyhow, my conscience just wouldn't let me enjoy the holidays much. I am very thankful for the Raya break though. Read a few books as well as went out with my hometown friends. Watched 'Wag the Dog' and 'The Full Monty' on VCD. The former didn't seem enjoyable when you know how the storyline is going (it's so much like poking fun at Clinton's case). The latter was definitely enjoyable. An interesting comedy on unemployed guys trying out to make money by being male strippers!

Regards,
Li Li