# What I did besides bug hunting



## yen_saw

Actually, i spent 90% (or more) of this vacation travelling around (looking for food mainly!) rather than looking for bugs. So this is what i do /where i went for members who are interested in what I was doing besides collecting bugs. My trip was actually cut short to only Hong Kong and Malaysia due to the flu situation (original plan includes Taiwan and China), but also spent couple of days at Macau (last minute inclusion).

Arriving at HOng Kong early morning, me and my family went straight to our favorite breakfast restaurant... Cafe de Coral.







i had a simple breakfast as i was more interested in fighting against my jet-lag






On the way back home, i couldn't resist this!






We stayed at my in_laws home at Mong Kong which is very close to some attractions in Hong Kong.

Bird street is one of it, a place with bird lovers hang around. Here is the entrance






There are also lot of bird dealers with bird of all kind to offer.






i felt sorry for some birds, that cage is way too crowded.






So there are also food for the bird... locust, grasshopper, crickets, katydid, mealworms, etc











and some sourvenier as well






More to come....


----------



## Rick

Nice pics Yen. I need to visit there someday. I was stationed in Korea for a year and I visited Japan briefly while I was over there.


----------



## Katnapper

yen_saw said:


> On the way back home, i couldn't resist this!


It's true that when you travel it seems you spend lots of time looking for food, lol!  What is that in the cups? I'm curious to know.  

Nice pics of the birds and the park... although I agree, it's sad to see so many birds stuffed into crowded cages like that. Looking forward to seeing more pics!


----------



## OGIGA

Awesome, Yen! Those bugs look like good mantis food too.

I didn't know you guys like 大家乐. I personally really like 美心 and a 大快活 somewhere in 中环. Hope you enjoyed your time there!


----------



## agent A

You take good pictures. I suck eggs at taking pictures of my mantids.


----------



## yen_saw

Rick said:


> Nice pics Yen. I need to visit there someday. I was stationed in Korea for a year and I visited Japan briefly while I was over there.


Thanks. Yeah i would love to visit Korea one day. Same as you i have only been to Japan briefly.



Katnapper said:


> It's true that when you travel it seems you spend lots of time looking for food, lol!  What is that in the cups? I'm curious to know.  Nice pics of the birds and the park... although I agree, it's sad to see so many birds stuffed into crowded cages like that. Looking forward to seeing more pics!


Yup Becky and now i need to lose all those pounds bummer!

The stuff in the cup is made of grass jelly and the powderised turtle shell ( :blink: ha ha!), it is bitter so usually we get a cup of honey too.



OGIGA said:


> Awesome, Yen! Those bugs look like good mantis food too. I didn't know you guys like 大家乐. I personally really like 美心 and a 大快活 somewhere in 中环. Hope you enjoyed your time there!


Went to MX or Maxims (美心) too, love them both really  

Just a few blocks away, there is this flower street. The entire block full of booths/stores selling flowers of all kind.











BUt i was mainly attracted to the cannivorous plant B) 






Some of them as big as the size of a human head. they are about $11-$15 each pot











Near by there is also a shopping heaven for ladies.. which is why the street is name Ladies' Street






I wasn't interested in shopping... but can't resist food






Next to the Ladies street is the popular Mong Kok Goldfish Market/street with some exotic tropica and marine fish offer for a good price. i felt like visiting an aquarium after walking by the entire street :lol:


----------



## agent A

cool turtles. what else did you do?


----------



## PhilinYuma

OGIGA said:


> Awesome, Yen! Those bugs look like good mantis food too. I didn't know you guys like 大家乐. I personally really like 美心 and a 大快活 somewhere in 中环. Hope you enjoyed your time there!


Haha! Rice burgers? Hong Kong's answer to MacDonald's (though actually Coral opened in Hong Kong about a decade before MacDonald's)!!

So Ogiga, what are those foreign squiggles, anyway? Arabic?


----------



## yen_saw

PhilinYuma said:


> Haha! Rice burgers? Hong Kong's answer to MacDonald's (though actually Coral opened in Hong Kong about a decade before MacDonald's)!!So Ogiga, what are those foreign squiggles, anyway? Arabic?


haha! Yup Phil.. chinese version of Mcdonald  , a fast food store.


----------



## agent A

My sister made up a joke about McDonald's exploding. :lol:


----------



## ismart

Are those turtles alligator snapping turtles? I have one that looks just like them.


----------



## yen_saw

ismart said:


> Are those turtles alligator snapping turtles? I have one that looks just like them.


Those are common snappy, not the alligator. But they also have the alligator snappy too they hid so well i can't get a pic. I will show pic of the alligator snappy taken from Penang butterfly farm later in this thread. those are pretty amazing creatures.


----------



## revmdn

Sounds like me, always looking for food. :lol: Can't wait for more pics. Glad your back safe.


----------



## ismart

yen_saw said:


> Those are common snappy, not the alligator. But they also have the alligator snappy too they hid so well i can't get a pic. I will show pic of the alligator snappy taken from Penang butterfly farm later in this thread. those are pretty amazing creatures.


The worm like appendage attached to the tong is really cool.


----------



## yen_saw

revmdn said:


> Sounds like me, always looking for food. :lol: Can't wait for more pics. Glad your back safe.


Haha! i hope you have hyper metabolism to burn all the calories from the food  

Actually i forgot about taking some pics of really nice food because by the time i remember it is all in my stomach :lol:  nevertheless, i will still have more food photos to come later in this thread... stay tune


----------



## Rick

ismart said:


> Are those turtles alligator snapping turtles? I have one that looks just like them.


They appear to be. THe three keels on the carapace is your clue. Very sad to see them there. No offense but they should not be kept as pets for most people. Largest freshwater turltes in the world. They need a HUGE enclosure.


----------



## yen_saw

Rick said:


> They appear to be. THe three keels on the carapace is your clue. Very sad to see them there. No offense but they should not be kept as pets for most people. Largest freshwater turltes in the world. They need a HUGE enclosure.


Ah Rick thanks for pointing it out. The one with its head stick out of water is Alligator snappy, but the other two at the bottom are common snappy. yup it is sad i know these creatures will most likely die unless someone bought them (assuming the buyer actually knows how to take care of them) and place in larger pond. The alligaotr snappy here are just babies but will grow into a giant as adult.


----------



## Rick

yen_saw said:


> Ah Rick thanks for pointing it out. The one with its head stick out of water is Alligator snappy, but the other two at the bottom are common snappy. yup it is sad i know these creatures will most likely die unless someone bought them (assuming the buyer actually knows how to take care of them) and place in larger pond. The alligaotr snappy here are just babies but will grow into a giant as adult.


That they do Yen. Where I grew up they are found wild. 300 lbs has been known. Nobody except maybe a zoo has business with something like that.


----------



## revmdn

yen_saw said:


> Haha! i hope you have hyper metabolism to burn all the calories from the food  Actually i forgot about taking some pics of really nice food because by the time i remember it is all in my stomach :lol:  nevertheless, i will still have more food photos to come later in this thread... stay tune


If I exercise I can eat mass quantities, and often do, even at thirty six! Although it has slowed a little I guess.


----------



## ismart

Rick said:


> They appear to be. THe three keels on the carapace is your clue. Very sad to see them there. No offense but they should not be kept as pets for most people. Largest freshwater turltes in the world. They need a HUGE enclosure.


I found mine in a lake in NY. Someone must of had it as a pet and did not want it anymore and let it free. This species of snapper is not native to NY. I have had her for the last 10 years now. She has grown very big. I'm planing on donateing her to the bronx zoo.


----------



## Katnapper

I'm amazed at all those fish already packaged up in bags like that! The sellers must get up every morning, and bag them up, then put in tanks what they don't sell... to refresh for the next day? They couldn't keep them in the bags like that for very long, you wouldn't think. I thought they could only survive a few hours like that... not even all day. Hmmm.... ???


----------



## [email protected]

[SIZE=14pt]some times days, fish farm bag 1 day then ship next day, then over night to where ever, but that out here, there I don't know but it makes you think :huh: [/SIZE]


----------



## yen_saw

Katnapper said:


> I'm amazed at all those fish already packaged up in bags like that! The sellers must get up every morning, and bag them up, then put in tanks what they don't sell... to refresh for the next day? They couldn't keep them in the bags like that for very long, you wouldn't think. I thought they could only survive a few hours like that... not even all day. Hmmm.... ???


Those fish in the small bags don't appear to be suffocated so i assumed the water is highly oxidized so fish could survive a long trip.

Few days after arriving Hong Kong there was this Dragon Boat Festival (Duanwu Festival). We were invited to the yearly Dragon Boat race at Tai Po (a fishing port in Hong Kong). i was reluctunt to go as i had plan collecting in Tai Po Kau on the same day, but since we got the VIP seats and it is actually not too far from the collecting ground I have decided to take a look. So lets go!  

Arriving at the scene...

















We were promptly seated and handed a brochure.... there were plenty of free delicious food too (i regretted taking breakfast that day!)
















My VIP card ha!






Security was tight, but i wonder what for?






Looking out to near the finishing line






Trophy


----------



## yen_saw

So the race is on!!!






Row row row a boat, gently down the stream......






Fish eye view on the other side of the sea






My 4-yr old adorable niece giving me a shoulder massage.. can't complain!  






There was actually teams representing "Lee" associate (my wife's last name is Lee) while there was also teams representing "So" associate that's actually my last name (Saw = So / Hokkien vs Cantonese), so me and my wife were cheering for team representing our last name..... at the end, the Lee family won, bummer.... "So" came second, not bad  
















Some paddlers of "So" associate collecting their medal... doesn't look happy coming second






Medal stand






Made a small movie clip out of it... hope it works


----------



## revmdn

I really like the "race is on" photo's effect, cool. I can't reduce the size of my pics and here you are adding effects. Show off  Yeah, it's better to let her team win, otherwise she'd be angry with you all day. Cute kid. Keep the mantid and non-mantid photos coming. I know you mentioned (maybe in another thread) that you erased some pics off a memory card by accident. You may be able to take it somewhere and have them restored? Does it work like a computer, where it's not really gone till you write over it? I hope not.


----------



## Katnapper

I liked the photos, Yen. And the video worked fine.  But strangely.... I couldn't understand a word of it, lol!


----------



## agent A

Katnapper said:


> I'm amazed at all those fish already packaged up in bags like that! The sellers must get up every morning, and bag them up, then put in tanks what they don't sell... to refresh for the next day? They couldn't keep them in the bags like that for very long, you wouldn't think. I thought they could only survive a few hours like that... not even all day. Hmmm.... ???


They are ready to boil and eat in those convienient microvave steamer bags!! Yum yum yum!!! :lol:


----------



## yen_saw

Surprise (and glad) to know many members responded well to my trip and interested to see more! so i will share more here... i have a feeling this will be a long thread if you all don't mind me pouring pics on it  



revmdn said:


> I really like the "race is on" photo's effect, cool. I can't reduce the size of my pics and here you are adding effects. Show off Yeah, it's better to let her team win, otherwise she'd be angry with you all day. Cute kid. Keep the mantid and non-mantid photos coming. I know you mentioned (maybe in another thread) that you erased some pics off a memory card by accident. You may be able to take it somewhere and have them restored? Does it work like a computer, where it's not really gone till you write over it? I hope not.


Unfortunately i don't know if there is a way to recover any pics once the memory card from the camera been erased. honestly i think it is lost forever, which is a bummer  and that includes both mantid and non-mantid related pics too  



Katnapper said:


> I liked the photos, Yen. And the video worked fine. But strangely.... I couldn't understand a word of it, lol!


Ah sorry i should have mentioned the commentator was using cantonese, a language everyone converses in Hong Kong.... well it sounds like he was commenting on a horse race! but it is kind of a horse race on the sea  . it took me a few yrs to master it, through my best teacher... my "boss"(she's 100% Canto!)!! but don't think i have a choice there don't expect her to learn Hokkien or Malay you know  

So my next destination was checking out the Big Buddha at Lantau island in HK. I don't practise buddhism actually, just want to experience the climb up to the bronze buddha stature and enjoy the panaromic view (wish i have my SLR camera).

There are few ways to get to the island, but we decided to go with the cable, a gondola lift ride.

here is the entrance to the cable station






We noticed there is this new crystal cable available..yay!!






Well, the special crystal cable does cost extra!






Need a wristband for the ride






and have to wait for it too bummer, but we were early so there was no queue for it (only 1 "crystal" in every 10 cable car)






Ah ha... so we could see through the cabin floor..cool






So here we go, lifting off the ground






We passed by a river and at some point elevated way above ground, probably 300-400 ft above. As the Big Buddha located at Ngong Ping is near the island peak we could feel the temperature drop.






Along the way i can see landslide on side of mountain






i can also see the airport (through land reclaimation on Lantau island) from the above, and also trails for jungle trekking.


----------



## yen_saw

After about 25-30 minutes of gondola ride and passing a few stations. We can see the buddha stature from far...yay!











Finally the last station... my son was probably getting bored of the view (even the see through floor doesn't get him excited after a while) and busy playing PSP, didn't realize we are close to the end.






Apparently, based on the arriving board, we have to walk through a small shopping village before reaching the Big buddha... i can see my wife's eyes shining lights!!






The village reminds me of the Disneyland "Toontown", but with extra "oriental" flavor  
















The little village has cinema, museum, tea restaurant, vegetarian restaurant, sourvenier shop, etc... lot more to see than i first thought


----------



## revmdn

Keep them coming. I don't like heights, no way I would get on that thing.


----------



## OGIGA

Looks like you had way too much fun in HK. I only ever did what the locals do, which isn't much. Haha.



PhilinYuma said:


> Haha! Rice burgers? Hong Kong's answer to MacDonald's (though actually Coral opened in Hong Kong about a decade before MacDonald's)!!So Ogiga, what are those foreign squiggles, anyway? Arabic?


They're Chinese characters. Umm, I guess we're using different encoding schemes so they're not showing up right on your side.


----------



## ABbuggin

Great pics. I'd love to go to HK. Looks like a lot of fun. B)


----------



## PhilinYuma

OGIGA said:


> Looks like you had way too much fun in HK. I only ever did what the locals do, which isn't much. Haha.They're Chinese characters. Umm, I guess we're using different encoding schemes so they're not showing up right on your side.


Sorry, Calvin! I was just being silly; they came out fine. My first wife, Mai Liu, was from the New Territories (God knows what they are called now), but as Yen has noted of residents of Hong Kong, she spoke fluent Cantonese. I was in Hong Kong some years after her death, in the late 60s, when Coral opened its first store, with many banners, streamers and free food.


----------



## Katnapper

I did not realize the statue of Budda was that huge!!!  :blink: 

Your progression of pictures make me feel like I was there, Yen.  And I very much enjoy your descriptions and comments too... they add so much!


----------



## yen_saw

Wow Phil.... Where on earth you haven't been? :blink: 

Thanks Becky, the bronze stature of Big Buddha is more than 100 ft tall. As you can see in later thread....

So my wife starting to shop for sourvenier. I was also looking for some for my mom.






Some of the stuff we bought





















I have to stop my wife before she burns too big of a hole in my pocket! So we went to this shop full of buddha statures and artifact






My son was kind of shy about this...






NOt me obviously!






We took a break in a tea house






and continue the journey... the road to Buddha seems to take forever, i guess they want to make sure you spent some money before the "Main event".


----------



## yen_saw

We decided to skip a few restaurants, but i was kind of hungary actually :mellow: 











Hmmm what is this Italian ice cream shop doing here?!?! very "out-standing", probably the only non-oriental shop in the village






Saw a booth promoting tourism on lantau island. Since the island is also well known for its flora and fauna i got to see it.






A scale model of the island. there were the airport and the gondola lift too! cool.











and i saw a book about insects on this island.... mantis was on my mind






sadly one label a Leptomantella sp/Tropidomantis sp as Hierodula patellifera (see top right mantis in pic below) so i let the book go and continue my journey






Finally i can see the Budhha at the end of the road






Getting closer now... i am starting to worry if i have the energy to climb up


----------



## yen_saw

Oh man.... it is going to take a long time for me getting up there!






imitating the buddha at the foot hill






Step by step..... i lost count how on steps and finally had to stop to catch my breath, thinking i didn't do so bad afterall. but when i look up, there was this lady (probably in 50s) taking a break but well ahead of me... shame!  






So i got to act up like i am taking pic around but i was running out of breath actually hehe!






Looking down ...






Suddenly my attention was caught by a cool leaf mimic butterfly






closer look






the closest i can zoom in with my digital






Continue my way up, and this is probably the same vision i had when i got up there... i was dizzy  






A cool looking stature i have to say... ah i can also see my wife taking picture of my son there ha!


----------



## yen_saw

besides the Buddha, there are also some otehr 10 ft statures around.











Sadly, we were not allowed to go further up inside the buddha....  






So we started our descent. Kenny (on far right) starting to count the steps....






Back into the cabin ride....






A family pic before leaving






When we got back to the mainland. I was starving..... any dim sum will do!


----------



## Katnapper

I continue to love the pics of your journey. It's very sad you lost so many others!  

Some of my favorites were these: the one of you not shy, like Kenny, hehe!  ; the leaf mimic butterfly; looking up at the Budda very large; your family pic (nice to see your wife  ). But my very favorites are the ones of the 10 ft. statues... these are absolutely beautiful! I love statues like these, and these particular ones are amazing. I would really like to see these in person!

It's a shame they mislabel the species in the book too. &lt;_&lt;


----------



## wuwu

hi yen, there are actually software you can purchase to try to recover your erased images. here are a few, but there are many more.

http://www.imaging-resource.com/SOFT/PHR/PHR.HTM

http://www.picrecovery.com/

http://www.cardrecovery.com/how_to_recover...al_pictures.asp


----------



## yen_saw

Thanks Becky! glad you like it. Wuwu, thanks for the link. The files were deleted in the camera's memory stick, i will get advise from the camera shop later this weekend.

I was planning to bug hunting for the third time in Hong Kong alone since my son is visitng another relatives, but my wife suggested to spend a day showing me around the Avenue of Stars (quite similar to the Hollywood Wall of Fame) instead of hanging around with her friends. Well if mama ain't happy , ain't nobody happy, so off we go....

Breakfast at Cafe de Coral

I was hungary







My wife had Glutinous rice with chicken wrap in lotus leaf. She couldn't finish it, i took over.






We took MTR to the Tsim Sha Tsui. The Avenue of Stars is located at Victoria Harbor.






There is still ferry carrying passenger and transportation across the channel to the island, but most people use undersea tunnels nowadays






Got to have a sea view pic






A pic for my wife too






The popular view of Hong Kong






THere is this giant 2008 Beijing Olympic torch (Hong Kong was hosting the Equestrian event)






Getting closer to the Stars Avenue






Entry to SA


----------



## revmdn

Very cool Yen. That's what I like to see, big breakfast!


----------



## yen_saw

Sir Shaw is an important figure in HK movie industry.... both me and my wife's shadows captured too ha!






A very oriental looking boat passed by






My wife insisted I take the pic of his favorite singer... Sam Hui






Sourvenier store along the walk






As predicted Jackie Chan has a spot for him too






Looks like some rundowns decoration






Me acting stature again on the director seat haha!






Chow Yun Fatt must be so busy in Hollywood he doesn't has the time for hand print.






A great honor for Bruce Lee.....






Another sea view


----------



## yen_saw

revmdn said:


> Very cool Yen. That's what I like to see, big breakfast!


Ha! I must have gain about 10 pounds this trip.My favotire Canto pop Jacky Cheung






Decided to get a break at Pacific Coffee






Nice view from inside the coffee shop, i can still see Bruce Lee stature..






Looking back the avenue






My wife's favortie actor Andy Lau






Some people actually fish there






And some catching fish without the rod, they are looking for catfish.






We can see the Space museum from the upper level of the habor






More food (dim sum) afterwards haha!


----------



## yen_saw

More dim sum  











Afterward my brother-in-law brought us to the Victoria Peak for a good view of Hong Kong from the top of mountain.





















A pic for the boss






and Kenny






There were too many obstruction from the peak so we went up to the Peak Tower for better view, especially the view of Victoria habor overlooking the Hong Kong island











Unfortunately those great views taken from the observation deck was part of the files deleted... sorry.


----------



## revmdn

I want that Bruce Lee statue in my living room. It sounded like you needed to eat a lot with all the walking and climbing you did. I do a dim sum a veggie place in Phila all the time! Love it, but you got the real deal.


----------



## Katnapper

yen_saw said:


> Well if mama ain't happy , ain't nobody happy, so off we go....


Yen is a very wise man. 



:lol:


----------



## OGIGA

Did you got to that Avenue of Stars at night? At around 8pm I think every night, there's a light show with all the buildings lighting up and all. It's pretty cool.


----------



## [email protected]

[SIZE=14pt]Wow Yen that all I can say so again Wow. I think there are 13 steps and 14 flights so 182 or around that maybe or did you 3 get a number?[/SIZE]

Again Wow


----------



## yen_saw

revmdn said:


> I want that Bruce Lee statue in my living room. It sounded like you needed to eat a lot with all the walking and climbing you did. I do a dim sum a veggie place in Phila all the time! Love it, but you got the real deal.


ha! yup that bronze stature is Bruce Lee's trade mark post.


Katnapper said:


> Yen is a very wise man.
> 
> 
> 
> :lol:


Yup i learn from mistake you know  where did you get all those cool icons Becky  


OGIGA said:


> Did you got to that Avenue of Stars at night? At around 8pm I think every night, there's a light show with all the buildings lighting up and all. It's pretty cool.


No unfortunately, i am sure the night view is much better with lighting across the channel. Next time i will bring my SLR and shoot the night scene  


ArkBlue said:


> [SIZE=14pt]Wow Yen that all I can say so again Wow. I think there are 13 steps and 14 flights so 182 or around that maybe or did you 3 get a number?[/SIZE]Again Wow


 My son did, i can't remember, something around 270 steps but i could be way off.After about 10 days, we are leaving to Malaysia. The Hong Kong international airport is located on the island so will need to pass a long bridge






My brother-in-law Peter sent us all to the airport. My son with Peter at the departure drop off area






I felt sorry for Peter he has been like our chauffeur driving us around the city for the past week, and i am sure he will be coming to the airport very often that month.






Had our lunch at the airport











Waiting for the plane.... as usual my son can never stop playing games.






Here we go, to Malaysia! The flight is direct flight from HK to Penang, a beautiful island where i was born.


----------



## yen_saw

My high school classmate came and pick us all up. The next day, he told me where I would like to go, without hesitation, i said Penang Butterfly Farm! and surprisingly my wife is going to follow.

Entrace to the farm











Got ourself the tickets






Getting into the park.... obviously my wife had missed the bugs around the entrance rock  






Ton of different butterfly species around


----------



## Katnapper

yen_saw said:


> Yup i learn from mistake you know  where did you get all those cool icons Becky


I've collected and saved them over the years from various places on the Web. I've put them into a Photobucket album for me and everyone else to use in their posts and messages if they wish. You and everyone else are more than welcome to use them too!

To access the album, just click on the words "Smilies Album" in my signature. Just keep that tab or window open seperately while you are posting. All you have to do is copy/paste the IMG code of the smiley you'd like to use from the album to your post.  

I'd made a thread about it while you were gone.  http://mantidforum.net/forums/index.php?sh...c=14343&amp;hl=

Beautiful butterflies!


----------



## yen_saw

Katnapper said:


> I've collected and saved them over the years from various places on the Web. I've put them into a Photobucket album for me and everyone else to use in their posts and messages if they wish. You and everyone else are more than welcome to use them too! To access the album, just click on the words "Smilies Album" in my signature. Just keep that tab or window open seperately while you are posting. All you have to do is copy/paste the IMG code of the smiley you'd like to use from the album to your post.
> 
> I'd made a thread about it while you were gone.  http://mantidforum.net/forums/index.php?sh...c=14343&amp;hl=
> 
> Beautiful butterflies!


Thanks Becky. The extra faces help  

More butterflies





















One of the butterflies lands on my friend's shirt haha






There is this tortoise pond with different type











And this alligator snappy is huge! shell full of algea works well as camouflage i guess


----------



## yen_saw

More aquatic turtle, this one looks cool, they were swallowing up the feeder fish











Finally saw a mantis on display. It looks like a D. lobata but they labelled it as D. horrificata.






This bug is popular in Malaysia, the face bug. It does look like face
















Leaf insect











Big beetles


----------



## Katnapper

Your butterfly pictures make me wish we had had more time at the Brookfield Zoo recently. Jesse and I visited the zoo when going up to see David the other day. But going to the zoo was a a last minute change in plan, and we got there late. They had a mesh enclosed walk-through butterfly exhibit there that I really wanted to see. But there was a long line, and since we got there late we were rushed to see everything else... so we did not go in.  

That "face bug" is really interesting! I wonder how it keeps itself so clean and shiny, lol. It almost looks "brand new" like plastic bug (not the one in the key chain). :lol: And the leaf insect has great leafy camouflage!


----------



## superfreak

gosh yen, this is a brilliant thread! stunning pictures and the narration makes me feel almost like i went with you  definitely makes me WISH i did, lol!


----------



## yen_saw

Katnapper said:


> Your butterfly pictures make me wish we had had more time at the Brookfield Zoo recently. Jesse and I visited the zoo when going up to see David the other day. But going to the zoo was a a last minute change in plan, and we got there late. They had a mesh enclosed walk-through butterfly exhibit there that I really wanted to see. But there was a long line, and since we got there late we were rushed to see everything else... so we did not go in.  That "face bug" is really interesting! I wonder how it keeps itself so clean and shiny, lol. It almost looks "brand new" like plastic bug (not the one in the key chain). :lol: And the leaf insect has great leafy camouflage!


Awww bummer, sorry to hear both you and Jesse missed the butterfly exhibit, that's alright you can make it next time. For me to go back Penang Butterfly farm is another 20 hrs fllight ha ha!


superfreak said:


> gosh yen, this is a brilliant thread! stunning pictures and the narration makes me feel almost like i went with you  definitely makes me WISH i did, lol!


Thanks! just hope i am not making this a boring thread  cos there are lot of pics from the visit to Penang BUtterfly farm (and all pics survived the file deleting mishap haha!)This is one huge stick insect






THe size compare to a hand






Scorpian under normal light






under uv light.. cool






Load of scorp pile up











and water scorpian too






ah the popular orchid mantis






the devil! a mean stick insect


----------



## revmdn

Very nice. The butterfly pics are so vivid.


----------



## Katnapper

I'm still trying to get over how large that stick insect is!!  :blink:


----------



## yen_saw

Thanks Revmdn and Beck!

More on Penang Butterfly Farm

The seldom seen D. truncata







There are many type of cannivorous plants too, some are pretty cool
















This one can swallow the largest mantis, it was longer than a foot!






More CP





















Strange to see horseshoe crab in butterfly farm....


----------



## Katnapper

yen_saw said:


> The seldom seen D. truncata


Hmmm... Did you ask them if they had extra for sale? :lol: 



yen_saw said:


> Strange to see horseshoe crab in butterfly farm....


That is strange. I guess they wanted to include some interesting things in the water feature too.  I had a funny thought.... what would really be strange is if they suddenly flapped their shells and flew around like butterflies in there! :huh:  I can't help these silly thoughts sometimes.


----------



## yen_saw

Katnapper said:


> Hmmm... Did you ask them if they had extra for sale? :lol: That is strange. I guess they wanted to include some interesting things in the water feature too.  I had a funny thought.... what would really be strange is if they suddenly flapped their shells and flew around like butterflies in there! :huh:  I can't help these silly thoughts sometimes.


I didn't ask. Believed the insects for exhibit are not for sale  

haha! I would love to see a flying horsecrab, should be quite a sight  

More pics on the butterfly farm

Ntce orchid






A family pic with a giant beetle sculture






Life cycle of some butterfly species
















and live catepillar on food plant






Cannivorous plants everywhere











A mating pair






This is one fat centipede, about 10 inches long too


----------



## OGIGA

Wow, I didn't know that scorpions glow like that in UV light.


----------



## Christian

_D. truncata_ is in culture right now, let's see how long... At least my fifth female gets paired right now. :lol: 

There are also some horseshoe crab species in Asia, I can't tell which one was exhibited, though.


----------



## Gurd

Some great pics there mate, thanks for sharing. Look forward to more lol


----------



## Ian

As always Yen, an absolute pleasure looking through your photos.


----------



## yen_saw

Thanks all.

More butterfly farm pics from Penang

A huge monitor











One of the butterfly trail






A huge fresh water fish.. alligator gar?






Pair of lizard






This one chilling next the a mini waterfall






Let me out!!  






Camouflage


----------



## revmdn

Stunning.


----------



## ABbuggin

I'm surprised at how much writing is in English.


----------



## pohchunyee

ABbuggin said:


> I'm surprised at how much writing is in English.


Erm...... Our country was colonized by the British for a long long long time. English is part of our life! Also, Malay, Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, Hakka etc) and Tamil are very well spoken in Malaysia. If you go to Melacca, you can still find some Portuguese speaking family as well.


----------



## gadunka888

yen_saw said:


> Thanks Revmdn and Beck!More on Penang Butterfly Farm
> 
> The seldom seen D. truncata
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There are many type of cannivorous plants too, some are pretty cool
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This one can swallow the largest mantis, it was longer than a foot!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> More CP
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Strange to see horseshoe crab in butterfly farm....


wow that pitcher plant is huge! i think i can stick my hand in it ( and watch my hand get digested :lol: )



> That is strange. I guess they wanted to include some interesting things in the water feature too. I had a funny thought.... what would really be strange is if they suddenly flapped their shells and flew around like butterflies in there! I can't help these silly thoughts sometimes.


lol! :lol: :lol: :lol: maybe the turtles will flap their flippers and fly out of the water!


----------



## yen_saw

pohchunyee said:


> Erm...... Our country was colonized by the British for a long long long time. English is part of our life! Also, Malay, Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, Hakka etc) and Tamil are very well spoken in Malaysia. If you go to Melacca, you can still find some Portuguese speaking family as well.


 Right on Chun. Which is why if you go to the cinema in Malaysia, you can see caption on three different languages at the bottom of the screen  More beetles





















Exhibition hall with all the specimen on butterfly (Note: i have no idea who that person is &lt;_&lt; )






Gecko....






Another juvenile alligator snappy






Odd looking plant






Pit viper






So there goes the first of the four butterfly farms (there are many more butterfly farms in Malaysia) around the country I will be visiting during this trip. It was a fun trip. i had a chance to tour their breeding center but wasn't allow to take any photo, wished i could share them here too the breeding center is one of its kind and in massive scale!!!


----------



## yen_saw

After the butterfly farm, we went to the Siamese temple where my grandpa ashes is. inside the main temple there lied a huge reclining buddha. The weather was blistering hot so we didn't stay too long.

Entrance











Inside the main temple





















Other temples surrounding it
















This little pond has lot of exotic fresh water fish....


----------



## revmdn

I love the Temple photos.


----------



## yen_saw

The popular "four-face god" from Thailand






Quite a few golden monks






There is also this Burmese temple opposite of the Siamese temple






As the majority of the population in Penang state is of Chinese ethnic, there are many buddhist temples and some has turn into tourist area. One of it is the Kek Lok Si temple. By then the temperature reached 40C and i've lost the "mood" on taking more pics although they are lot of nice stature around. Anyway, the following are the surviving fews besides some that were lost


























The temple is way up, we were all tired and since i have been there before we decided to cut the trip short


----------



## revmdn

They're great (in my best Tony the Tiger voice.)


----------



## Katnapper

That is nice you got to visit the temple where your Grandpa is. :wub: 

Why does the reclining Buddha not look like the big fat guy I usually think of or see?


----------



## pohchunyee

Katnapper said:


> Why does the reclining Buddha not look like the big fat guy I usually think of or see?


The "Big Fat Buddha" You usually see is call the Laughing Buddha. In the history of Buddhism, there are tons of different Buddha from different time and place; achieved enlightenment and turn into Buddha.

(P/S: The Buddha that was laying down is call "Sleeping Buddha!")


----------



## gadunka888

the temple pics are so vivid and colorful that i feel like im looking at the temple in real life!


----------



## Katnapper

pohchunyee said:


> The "Big Fat Buddha" You usually see is call the Laughing Buddha. In the history of Buddhism, there are tons of different Buddha from different time and place; achieved enlightenment and turn into Buddha.(P/S: The Buddha that was laying down is call "Sleeping Buddha!")


Oh, I see.  Thank you, Chun, for the enlightenment!


----------



## kamakiri

yen_saw said:


> Odd looking plant


It's a staghorn fern (platycerium) I keep a few of different species.


----------



## yen_saw

kamakiri said:


> It's a staghorn fern (platycerium) I keep a few of different species.


Ah thanks...

Moving on, we were looking for a place to cool down and came across this toy museum which is right at the ground floor of a hotel. The first time I have seen one in Malaysia.

Entrance to the toy museum











Went into the horror section






Chucky...






Corpse bride






Freddy vs Jason











Huge war toys






Kenny with Shrek






My highschool classmate and I


----------



## yen_saw

Gremlins






More toys






Some Japs cartoon toys






Ha the Pokemons






Star wars






Some mix toy models






Halo2






Hitman I believed






Some oriental toys






THe night before Xmas


----------



## revmdn

Yen, are you reading my mind? Toys are my real hobby! I really love the Halo series and NBX!


----------



## yen_saw

revmdn said:


> Yen, are you reading my mind? Toys are my real hobby! I really love the Halo series and NBX!


 Cool... you keep many of them at home?The next day, my higschool classmate (also my neighbour) went around the town, visited my highschool even ha! Bring back lot of great memories. Then straight off to lunch.

This dish is popular in Malaysia, water spinach (_Kang Kung _in Malay) with shrimp paste






Chicken and Italian chestnut with some herbs






BBQ pork - yummy  






Bitter melon with some kind of mushroom... quite tasty, minutes after I snapped a pic the dish was gone!






Patin fish






Before I headed down to Kuala Lumpur, I thank my friend for taking us around, we also visited his new house (moving in this coming Christmas), gave him some ideas on renovation.






After that we hit the North-South Highway in Malaysia. After 4 hours of driving, we reached Kuala Lumpur (KL), and Twin Towers, once the world's tallest building, can be seen from far.











I rented out my condominuim in KL before moving to the USA. My tenant was kind enough to let me stay during my visit in KL, and I am thankful she keeps the place neatly for the past 6 yrs


----------



## d17oug18

After that we hit the North-South Highway in Malaysia.

Really? lol north south lol, not contradicting at all, love the pics, ill never take pics like yours man, keep it up ^_^


----------



## yen_saw

After couple of days visiting relatives (ah waste of time! &lt;_&lt; ), we decided to visit the KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Centre) which is a shopping mall right underneath the Twin Tower.











My wife was busy shopping inside the mall











But my son and I managed to persuade her to join us for fish spa!  






Getting our tickets. Afterwards, we need to clean our feet before letting the fish "cleaning up" the dead skin on our feet. We were given two towels as well.






There were several ponds but basically divided into ponds with smaller fish and bigger fish. We went for the smaller fish at first. But there were very few fish.











So my wife and I decided to try the pond with larger fish. We put our feet in the water, lo and behold, swarm of large fish came and It felt very ticklish at first, my son couldn't handle it too but after few minutes it feels great!

My feet haha!






The fish ran away when i'm about the take the ppic but there are still many of them around my wife's feet, so i teased my wife saying she got lot of dead skin to feet the fish  






I took a video shot but unfortunately it was deleted. We were given 30 minutes and believed it or not my feet is smoother after the "spa" session. My wife loves it so much she went for another 30 minutes.

Later I learnt that the fish spa was banned in the USA for some reason. bummer...


----------



## yen_saw

d17oug18 said:


> After that we hit the North-South Highway in Malaysia. Really? lol north south lol, not contradicting at all, love the pics, ill never take pics like yours man, keep it up ^_^


Thanks Doug  

Haha! West Malaysia is a peninsula so the main highway connecting the North (border with Thailand) and South (link to Singapore) is the North South HW


----------



## revmdn

Yen, I have a house full of toys. I've been collecting since the first Star Wars movie. I want fish to clean my toes.


----------



## Katnapper

I love the fish spa, hehe... :lol: That's really neat!


----------



## beckyl92

haha ive never heard of a fish spa x)

looks pretty fun.


----------



## yen_saw

Next to the fish spa is this place called Aquaria, an exhibition of animals (invertebrates, reptiles and amphibian) and marine lifes. It was still early after the fish spa so we decided to drop by as I heard they have one of the world's longest transparent underwater tunnels for marine lifes viewing. the only downside was no camera flash, so most of the pics turn out blurry.

We were greeted by a school of fish... wait those are pirahnas!











After a few aisles of large tanks there are few open ponds. There was this pond with good size shark. I was wondering if those sharks bite so i asked the a worker nearby.... and the answer was touch it with your own risk!! So i skipped it.






My son messing around with the sea cucumber and horseshoe crabs in one of the open ponds











There are few little sharks too






There are some shark eggs about to hatch, a pic of those and a short clip of the egg as you can see the shark moving inside the egg shell










We saw one shark hatched out from the shell






One of the giant electric eel. Ugly fish at least 5 ft long.


----------



## yen_saw

Aquaria is actually splitted into several sections, namely the highland, tropical jungle, flooded plain, coastal zone, reefs, and the ocean with animals from each section exhibited.

I was surprise to see many invertebrate too.































With dead bug display as well


----------



## yen_saw

Some reptiles and amphibians too









































This tortoise has long neck but i was more interested with the cool looking cannivorous plant






A camouflage gecko... i am sure this one does't sell insurance


----------



## yen_saw

There were many butterfly and moth display specimen too... here are two of them











One of the lizards on exhibition






Don't wake me up!






A huge toad






Getting close to the flood plain and cost line exhibition
















Huge Alligator snappy


----------



## yen_saw

A green phyton






Reaching the reefs section











A clip on some reefs marine life on an open pond





Afterwards it is the underwater tunnel, it was tough taking the pic as we were on the moving walkway and the fish were moving too.






A huge jewel fish coming out of no way.... pretty sure it will become a dish in a restaurant if captured






A huge shark and stingray






just for comparison, that sea turtle is an adult size.... is difficult to imagine from the pic but that stingray has the size of queen size bed






Passing a shipwreck






Have no idea a remora can get this bulky


----------



## yen_saw

a shark passed by






Hmmm yummy sea food  






Diver feeding the fish






The tunnel seems to last forever, the longest I have ever been.






Out of the tunnel, there were still some exhibiton before exiting

Stone fish






This rock fish trying to hide






Looks like a rock to me






Megalodon shark?






A lion fish






A small clip on the fresh water giants


----------



## Katnapper

Lots of great stuff!  That tunnel is amazing... with a ship wreck even!! Wow. I'd love to go through that. Great butterfly specimens they have there too. Here's my favorite pic of these: :wub: 



yen_saw said:


> Don't wake me up!


----------



## agent A

the lizard is cute!!! :lol:


----------



## Rick

Great pics Yen. I want to try the fish spa. Probably not done here due to health concerns or something.


----------



## revmdn

Super duper.


----------



## pohchunyee

Is that REALLY KL? OMG... I haven't been back for almost 4 years!!! So many changes!!! NICE. I am going to visit these places when I go home in December!!!


----------



## yen_saw

Rick said:


> Great pics Yen. I want to try the fish spa. Probably not done here due to health concerns or something.


Ah ok. hmmm bummer so the only way to get fish spa is when you are abroad.


pohchunyee said:


> Is that REALLY KL? OMG... I haven't been back for almost 4 years!!! So many changes!!! NICE. I am going to visit these places when I go home in December!!!


Yup Chun it is KL  you must have been studying too hard at home  Actually KL hasn't changed much but the surrounding satelite cities have changed quite a bit. Just 4 yrs ago? I know Petronas Twin Towers was named the tallest building back in 1998(till 2004) overtaking both Sears Tower and World Trade Center (as the tallest twin building) so it has been there for a while. Aquaria probably open when you just left to USA which was back in 2005 but take the chance to visit when you are back there in December. One friendly advice, take the monorail instead of your own car, the parking fee in Suria KLCC is too expensive.Went back home and took a few pics of the condominium surrounding on the first floor, saw a green mantis in the mini park too (pic not available srry)












I can see Petronas Twin Tower and KL Tower from my condo  Could have been better if there is no haze problem... no thanks to the forest fire in Indonesia :angry: 






Lush green looking down from the condo






Went for dinner in one of the restaurants in the condominium





















Then sent my wife to the airport the following day before scheduling my own plan in KL for the next few days..... just me and my son left in KL.


----------



## yen_saw

Malaysian style breakfast  











and we were off to KL butterfly park. I was pretty excited about it as I knew they have some nice species of praying mantis when i last visited the park 9 yrs ago.

Arriving






Was pretty dissappointed as the number of butterfly in the butterfly centre was far lesser than the one in Penang Butterfly Farm.






Well i saw a dragon fly instead






took me a while before i spotted the CITE protected species - Rajah Brooke Birdwing






Take couple of portrait pics.... can hardly find any butterfly in the pic











There are probably more Koi fish than butterflies :lol:


----------



## yen_saw

A tortoise pond






lizard that look underfed






A huge bright bullfrog.






Looks like some kind of soft shell turtle











There is a cage full of butterfly pupa






Exit the outdoor and inside the exhibit hall

Giant katydid











The usual stuff


----------



## yen_saw

The popular face bug!






To my dissappointment the only live mantis on display were the Hierodula sp. and Deroplatys sp. I have seen orchid mantis, D. truncata, P. davisoni on displayed previously. and they even got the name wrong! (the mantis is D. lobata) New management?






Large beetles











weevil






Leaf frog!






Saw a mating pair too. Female is huge while male is only a third of the size of an adult female






Dead mantis on display


----------



## Christian

Man, Yen, you must have been very hungry there... :lol: 

But whom I am telling... I know the Laksa and Kolo Mee stuff from Borneo. Delicious meals, afterwards you're too tired to search for mantids...


----------



## yen_saw

Christian said:


> Man, Yen, you must have been very hungry there... :lol: But whom I am telling... I know the Laksa and Kolo Mee stuff from Borneo. Delicious meals, afterwards you're too tired to search for mantids...


 Ah sorry no photos of Laksa or Kolo Mee for you Christian as it all went inside my stomach before I remember taking a pic haha! Delicious I agree.Moving on to the exhibition hall was some nice dead specimen on display. But before that there is this long horn beetle






and some display on butterfly life cycle






This must be the weirdest looking idlomantis i have ever seen  






Some of the nicer display


----------



## yen_saw

Couple more display











Took a pic at the sourvenier store... lot of display item for sale






So i left the KL butterfly park feeling a little dissappointed. It wasn't as good as once I used to know. Definitely something to skip if you have seen the Penang butterfly farm.






Couple of day later me and my son started our trip to Ipoh. Driving out of Kuala Lumper is always tedious. But the road sign helps. Ipoh is about 200km away from KL.











As Malaysia is a Islamic(muslim) country, structure like this is a common sight.






Wild jack fruit along the highway






Limestone hill and mountain is a sign that Ipoh is close


----------



## yen_saw

We passed by one of the two entries to Cameron Highland. The Tapah road exit came first but we skipped it.






A huge cave in limestone which could be home for many bat species






So we finally arrived






Met Mr. Yeh there and he brought us for lunch. Following is the signature dish at Ipoh. Bean sprout chicken! yummy.











We had a great time collecting bug which I am not going into details as it has been mentioned in another thread.

We drove to Cameron Highland the following day. Cameron Highland has experienced fast growth and expansion due to the demand on tourisms. Most of the Cameron Highland photos were unfortunately deleted so here are some I have left.

I was surprise to see StarBucks Coffee shop there... &lt;_&lt; 






Traffic was busy too eventhough it wasn't during school holiday season






Stop by at cactus center in CH.






Decided to stay a night at Century Pines Resort


----------



## revmdn

That food looks good. I think I have that same bowl with the fish on it, no lie! I really like koi ponds. I have nine of them tattooed on me. You might be able to see one in my photo.


----------



## pohchunyee

Oh My God!!! Ipoh Nga Choi Gai!! Laksa!! Wan Tan Mee!! Chee Cheong Fun!!! Jeezzzz.... 5 more months before going home!!!


----------



## yen_saw

revmdn said:


> That food looks good. I think I have that same bowl with the fish on it, no lie! I really like koi ponds. I have nine of them tattooed on me. You might be able to see one in my photo.


 Can't really see the koi on your tattoo revmdn but nice tattoo there  


pohchunyee said:


> Oh My God!!! Ipoh Nga Choi Gai!! Laksa!! Wan Tan Mee!! Chee Cheong Fun!!! Jeezzzz.... 5 more months before going home!!!


Sorry lah... been long deprived of Malaysia local food don't mean to make you excited :lol:  Back to Century Pines resort. We picked this place because Mr. Yeh Japanese friends have collected some small mantis species in the garden next to this hotel. So off we check in. only a 3-star rating but quite nice.











A friendly receiptionist






Took a standard room.






come with balcony






pines wood in surrounding area... it was not very cold but is nice to get away from hot weather in city area.






Looking out from the balcony there is a small garden... hmm doubt if there is any mantis.






Couldn't find any mantis after looking around for couple of hour so we my son and I went to CH Butterfly Park.






There is this popular Rajah Brooke's birdwing


----------



## yen_saw

Apology for dragging this thread so long i will cut short my pics (but still plenty) and finish it up this time  

this snake is interested in the birdwing haha! poor thing must be hungry.






Sad to see many of this CITE protected birdwing butterflies rotting and unattended. I later found out the dried speciment for this species can go for hundreds of dollars.






Tortoises feeding on lettuce






Seems like an underfed snake... skinny






There are two D. lobata in here.






This is a common beetle in CH






Feed me please!






odd looking beetle






butterflies


----------



## yen_saw

I think Butterfly Park in CH is more interested in selling the sourvenier. The shop has tons of it.
















My finding was the animals in CH Butterfly Park is poorly managed. Maybe they know there is no problem of them replenishing the stock so they could just let them die. Kind of sad.

Next to it was Butterfly Farm. It was a better place to visit with more animals and attractions. Besides, the animals look healthier too. I will definitely skip Butterfly Park and just visit the Butterfly farm the next time. Unfortunately I only have 5 pics left from BF.


----------



## yen_saw

Fast forward to the last week of my vacation. Kenneth and I left Malaysia and flew back to HK, and the following day we went to Macau.

Although Macau has belongs to China just like Hong Kong, we still need to have our passport stamped.






Boarding on the ferry that runs on turbojet. yup this big ship can carry over 400 people in fast speed. Took us only 50 minutes to reach Macau from Hong Kong.











Macau firsherman's wharf is the first sight when we arrived.






Welcome!






We bought a package staying in The Venetian. The shuttle bus was there ready to pick the customers up from the port.











Kuan Ying stature






Macau tower (sorry blurry pic) taken from the bus window






Passing a long bridge


----------



## pohchunyee

Thats sad to see animals ae being tortured. I heard the news that Malaysian Zoo is 10X worse than the Butterfly Park. Each and every animals are undernurished and underfed. Maybe they are too busy killing each other and winning election than to take care of the country!


----------



## yen_saw

Macau is no longer the run downs city with old casino i used to know. there are many new fancy hotels all around the place.

Ah we reached the hotel...






My wife checking in.... i was hungry (i'm always hungry! &lt;_&lt; )






Went to the food court











Surprise to see Malaysia food stall there!






But we tried japanese food instead. My son had soft shell crab fried rice.






There is a canal through out the entire hotel shopping complex






My wife and I next to a canal.


----------



## yen_saw

pohchunyee said:


> Thats sad to see animals ae being tortured. I heard the news that Malaysian Zoo is 10X worse than the Butterfly Park. Each and every animals are undernurished and underfed. Maybe they are too busy killing each other and winning election than to take care of the country!


Yes i agree Chun... very sad. Saying that, the Malaysia Zoo recently open up an insect zoo section. You may wanna pay a visit before the insects die :lol:


----------



## Katnapper

I'd meant to comment on the hotel in a previous post. Only a 3-star rating? Wow... very nice indeed. It makes me wonder what a 4 or 5 star hotel would look like! :blink: 

It's a shame you lost most of the pics of Butterfly Farm. And of the ones left, none were even of butterflies. But that is a beautiful Orchid mantis.

I love the Kuan Ying statue, and beautiful pic of the food court! Oh, and the canal right inside the shopping complex!!


----------



## yen_saw

We decided to take a boat ride...







That guy can really sing.... is Italian song. I have a clip here. If you recognise the song it is from the "God Father" movie.





A pic on the boat






There is a live puppet show too











a small clip





Some pics of the hotel;


----------



## yen_saw

Katnapper said:


> I'd meant to comment on the hotel in a previous post. Only a 3-star rating? Wow... very nice indeed. It makes me wonder what a 4 or 5 star hotel would look like! :blink:


 yup only 3 star. The Venetian is 5-star hotel  we stayed in a 4-star Equatorial hotel in Penang too before my flight back to hong kong but i skipped posting here.back to our hotel room. We weren't aware that we got a suite.... nice  






A cleaner is setting up another bed for my son in the lower tier






I can see another hotel being built from our hotel room window






Can't say you have visited Macau without dropping by the Ruins of St. Paul











More place to visit around the Ruins






Ruin's of St. Paul over the decades











Another shot before we leave






Drop by and got some food...yummy!


----------



## yen_saw

There are still plenty of portugese in Macau... pretty amazing.

Grand Lisboa.... this casino used to control all in Macau. Not anymore after all the big hotels built around this island.











A peek inside the Venetian casino. (they don't allow pic on the ground level)






Dinner time!






The popular crab porridge






More food
















man i gain so much weight in this trip  :angry: 

We left the next day after lunch, the shuttle bus bring us anywhere for free which is very convenient






Another new casino hotel the Sands


----------



## yen_saw

Back to Hong Kong. There is this place for seafood called Lei Yue Mun. Is it a fishing village where you pick your own seafood from a stall and also pick the restaurant you want the seafood cook.

Entrance to "Lei yue Mun"






Plenty of seafood store with all kinds of fish, crustacean, shell food, etc. THey are all alive!
















I picked up a lobster with one of my niece...






The kids (all nieces) were scare of lobster at first but didn't take very long for them to mess around with it






Even adult come and mess around too &lt;_&lt; 






The mantis shrimps are all very long... at least 1 foor long






Mantis in the sea






Geo-duck


----------



## yen_saw

It is like visiting an aquarium  except you got to eat it!


























After chosing the seafood, we went to the restaurant. we were seated in a room and wait for our food to be served.

and here they are... vegetarian please skip this page!






THe grouper






mantis shrimp






shell fish






barely fit a dinner plate... yes they are huge


----------



## yen_saw

Abalone











The lobster we were holding






The conch meat with vege turns out to be quite good






Crab






Some other food i missed as it was all taken up! have to ask for a pic before anyone touch the dessert lol






So there goes another extra pounds to my belly.....  

A shot of the village before leaving


----------



## yen_saw

Time for me to leave Hong Kong   and i have to leave alone






Hello Los Angeles






One of our member here Francisco Torres was nice to "adopt" me for 2 days  It was fun checking through his bugs and his bugroom was awsome!






Want a tarantulas for breakfast?  






Tarantula shed














Rhino roach!


----------



## yen_saw

I got to say all the animals is helping me with my jet-lag in Los Angeles  

Lovely skink











This snake was striking at me..grrr






So back to the cage






More snakes











Lot of Scorpian shed











It is like a zoo here!


----------



## yen_saw

Francisco was picking up the cricket from this T's cage. He said the T willl molt very soon. The T molted that night!






Ah a nice Calibia ooth which unfortunately never hatched






Some dead display bugs FT owns... nice!


























Well... i will stop here as the next thing was flying back to Houston. Aside from the pics lost and many more that i didn't put up here, these are the stuff I was doing besides bug hunting. 5 weeks sounds like a long vacation but time flies when you have fun! I wouldn't mind putting more time for bug hunting but afterall the trip was to enjoy with my family where I spent most of the time with. Has been a while since i have such vacation, but i hope to do this again in the future, providing my boss doesn't fire me!


----------



## Christian

I wouldn't eat abalone, they are really rare. A IUCN member would start to cry anyway while walking throgh that sea-food mall... :lol:


----------



## revmdn

WOW! The hotel looks just like it does in Las Vegas.


----------



## yen_saw

revmdn said:


> WOW! The hotel looks just like it does in Las Vegas.


Actually they are the same hotel as in Las Vegas. Many LV hotel casinos invest in Macau over the years have transformed this island into a big sin city in Asia! The Venetian in Macau is newer than the one in LV, i would say slightly larger than the hotel in LV but smaller in gambling area. The one in Macau emphasized on shopping and entertainment. They have many huge stages for consert and area for sport complex. I believed Fall Out Boy is performing in The Venetian next month, and Linkin Park will also be there on August. and if i remember correctly, Andre Agassi and Pete Samprass is due for a game in The Venetian around that time too (Not sure who will really be interested watching there) there are banners on these event everywhere in the hotel.


----------



## hibiscusmile

Yen, what wonderful pictures you brought us, I will have to go over them again just to have a bit of vacation too! The food looks wonderful and I can almost smell it....hmmmmmm wonderful!


----------



## pohchunyee

I am drooling all over my keyboard looking at those seafood!! Sorry Christian! I love seafood!! YUMMY!!


----------



## Christian

I love it too, there are just a few things which should better not be eaten: abalone, tuna fish, sharks etc.


----------



## cloud jaguar

Wow, that mantis shrimp really has mantis hands! My friend had one in graduate school dorm as a pet and it had these little knobby stumps it would break coral with all night and keep me and the other students awake. :wacko: It was really cool when he fed it goldfish because it would knock them senseless with the stumps then eat 'em.


----------



## pohchunyee

Christian said:


> I love it too, there are just a few things which should better not be eaten: abalone, tuna fish, sharks etc.


Ahh... I agree..... I stop eating abalone and shark fin soup...LOL... Tuna on the other hand, I ate a lot of can tuna (definately not yellow fin or other critically endangered specie)


----------



## wuwu

i really got visit HK! i didn't get a chance to go during my china trip a couple years ago.


----------



## gadunka888

Arkanis said:


> Wow, that mantis shrimp really has mantis hands! My friend had one in graduate school dorm as a pet and it had these little knobby stumps it would break coral with all night and keep me and the other students awake. :wacko: It was really cool when he fed it goldfish because it would knock them senseless with the stumps then eat 'em.


whoa that is one killer arthropod! i read that they can smash glass! they are edible though.........

( the ''ood-looking beetle'' is a female stag beetle. They are sexually dimorphic. The males look really different from the females. BTW, the seafood market is cool. i like the giant clam things. They are probably 50+ years old.....  its sad that theyr'e going to be eaten.)


----------



## ABbuggin

Looks like you had way too much fun Yen!  :lol:


----------



## yen_saw

Thanks all, even after 3 weeks since the trip, I can still "smell" the food when i see the pics  My boss at work still teases me asking me to take a nap after lunch at noon (which is 1 am in Malaysia or Hong Kong). My wife and son are still having fun, they just visited Taiwan and now my wife is in Shang Hai, China while my son is taking summer camp in Hong Kong. I am jeolous :angry:


----------



## revmdn

Thank you for sharing Yen.


----------



## yen_saw

revmdn said:


> Thank you for sharing Yen.


 Cheers Martin!


----------

