Thean Hou road now concrete, no longer green

The road up to the Thean Hou temple in KL is very steep. It used to be nice and green with trees and vegetation. Then in March 2012 there were a series of landslides along that area.

After the landslides, some of the large trees were removed and the slopes just covered in the blue plastic so commonly seen on hillslopes in Malaysia.
June 2012 -

 New plastic Jan 2013 -

Mar 2013 on the road up to the temple, the vegetation has been cleared -

June 2013 work started to clear everything

 and the once green hill slopes were covered in concrete

Another green area gone.

© Liz Price

Haze 2013 - round 2

The haze in June 2013 in the peninsula was the worst for about 15 years. By early July it
had gone, but that respite didn't last long. The haze was back on 22 July.

This is the view of KL Sentral on 4 July

and this was 23 July

Tabebuia in flower 2013

In July 2012 I posted that the tabebuia trees were in flower, in KL and around Ipoh.
Exactly one year later they are in flower again in my condo. Nice to know they are consistent and haven't been affected by any climate changes!

They were flowering on 16 July 2012 and again on 16 July 2013.

Alocasia, elephants ear leaves

When caving in Merapoh, Pahang in July 2013, we found a 'hidden garden'. There were some huge keladi leaves. They made us look like smurfs.

These leaves would make a good umbrella or perhaps a picnic table. Luckily the Indians don't use them instead of banana leaves as plates!

These leaves are Alocasia, known in Malaysia as keladi or elephants ear. They are also known as Colocasia. Keladi are members of the Araceae family. They are herbaceous monocots.

 

As the area was undisturbed by people or large animals, these leaves had grown to a great size.