The journey continues, I am currently sat on a British Airways flight on my way from Singapore to Sydney in New South Wales Australia. What a great thrill the last 36 hours have been, so many different sounds and sights. Singapore is still the wonderful place that I remember with those evocative, tantalising smells still in the air, not so secret now because I discover that it's the essence of Frangipani that floats on the breeze, both night and day. At first light this morning I went out to walk the hill of Buket Timeh which just happened to be literally on the doorstep of our Condominium accommodation. In fact the jungle hill is now a nature reserve and the Car park could be seen from our sitting room window just feet below. As I drank my first coffee of the day and the tropical day dawned, intriguing bird calls rang out from the tree canopy which was at the same height as our window. Frustratingly the birds hardly showed themselves apart from fleeting glimpses, but they were, never the less interesting. Later as I walked, the calls rang out and I caught glimpses of Common Mynah Birds and a Yellow Vented Bulbul, the main protagonists. The hike up the hill was a torturing ascent and so steep it was impossible to walk down again normally and I resorted to walking backwards like the the locals. It looked stupid but was safer and not so hard on the knees. Later in the morning we went in to the amazing city, full of of unimaginably rich looking architecture and teeming with human life of all kinds, but sadly very few birds apart from the ubiquitous Common Mynah Birds, Indian House Crows........ 3 in total and a solitary House Sparrow. The water front was devoid of even a seagull.
Towards the end of the afternoon, and now back in Buket Timeh Nature Park, what a treat.... a troop of Monkeys. They were lingering around the cart park amongst the roadside verges, walls and fences, not actually "sponging" food from the visitors but loitering with intent so to speak. I watched and photographed them for 45 minutes and got to know who was who. For example a couple were picking at each other in that mutual grooming way that we are familiar with. This was a true couple, a big burly adult male with a big ugly head and a look even more disdainful and surly than the Railway worker back in Exeter. His "girlfriend" was a pretty young thing who was doing most of the work and every 15 minutes or so he would insist she stopped as he mounted her from behind. This was all so quick I doubt she hardly realised she was being "ravaged", but the obscenity of it was brutal and almost embarrassing just feet away as I was. Several females had young infants feeding as they were held tight and other slightly older "children" played nearby. One male was sporting a severe wound to the face which tracked from the corner of his moth to the ear. The wound was days old, yet to heal but clean looking and it must have been incredibly painful and probably debilitating. I managed some great portraits and the best one is the handsome young animal that had a liking for hibiscus flowers. I hope all my photo opportunities are going to be as good in the next few weeks.
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