Hello all! Ill have to keep this one super short, but just brief update!
I'VE GRADUATED!!
Yea! Finished the field course, meaning I'm officially done university! The course was awesome, really really hectic at the end with a big final paper and exam (a FEW all nighters in there... for real) but it all got done and now I'm free!
Chantelle and I started our travels in Borneo with two other friends from the trip, Josh and Kyle. We are here for a week and a brief description just won't do it justice, so I will have to fill you in tomorrow about the amazing start we've had!
Hope everyone is well! Sending my love!
Alex :)
Friday, June 26, 2009
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Hello again!
After we made our way to Taman Negara, Malaysia’s largest National Park. Almost the entire park is primary forest, left untouched and never logged. To get to the park, we travelled for almost 3 hours by small wooden river boats… one of the highlights in my books so far! Winding down the river surrounded by thick rainforest on either side, glowing sunshine, warm breeze and best of all, chattin’ it up with my two buds Chantelle and Kyle… can’t think of anything more sweet!! We spent the night in an Animal Hide, basically a roof over your head while you sit and wait…and wait and wait….. and wait, in the in the middle of the jungle overlooking a salt lick (a natural open area in the rainforest where animals come to drink at night), hoping something ferocious will mosey on by. On the cool scale, it’s up there. At about 11pm when some peeps had already hit the pillow, one of our guides got real excited and called us over to the lookout window… with eyes wide and hearts pounding, we scurried over… Tiger? Tapir? Elephant? Land shark? And what do we see…a pair of deer. Now now, don’t get me wrong, these were jungle deer, so neat to see… but to a group of people from Victoria, which could also be called the deer capital, we weren’t exactly jumping off the platform to get a closer look… I think our Malaysian buddies were more excited than the BC-ers. The ‘plan’ was to take shifts all night watching for wildlife, however by 1am the only movement was the vibration resulting from the snores of our professors… fellow students and I not far behind. Although possibly the worst sleep of my life (literally a few slabs of wood and a sheet, not really all that conducive to comfort), it was invigorating to be nestled in the middle of the jungle, the constant hum of millions of critters surrounding our little safe haven on stilts.
We finished our stay at Tamen Negara off with a canopy walk, a series of suspension bridges amidst the tree tops, premise being to give an idea of what life is like up in the trees. Heights may not be my most favourite thing, but after a few steps on the swaying walkways, the wee pounding in my chest had simmered enough for me to peek down at the forest floor 40m below…eek! Maybe after a few more strolls in the canopy my slight dislike for vertical falls will subside…maybe. 
Back in the world of communications, and have lots to report! It’s been a whirlwind of activity since my last update, herein roll the highlights…
We spent 4 days at the Biodiversity Institute in Bukit Ringit studying mainly insect diversity - for something I didn’t think was my cup of tea, bugs 
turned out to be pr
etty darn neat! We did one day of insect larvae sampling in the river, using nets of catch all the little dudes as they flew downstream, and then used identification keys to assess stream water quality. There was also a wonderfully refreshing waterfall nearby that we spent some quality time at, cooling off and cleaning up (Ahh, hard day at school.) We also spent a day looking at adult insects, by setting up big lights and white screens at night to attract all the bugs and then capture them with our mad good insect catching skills. TONS of moths, which are incredibly cool and way more than just the drab brown things you find in the attic… every size, shape and shade of the rainbow.
The highlight of Bukit Ringit however had to be our visit to an Elephant Sanctuary, pretty cool. Although I am not a fan of keeping animals in captivity, one of the primary interests of the center is using some of the tamed elephants they have rescued from conflict zones to aid in the translocation of wild elephants that have been displaced by habitat destruction. We were able to feed the elephants too, which was an amazing experience… some were feisty, even reaching out and wrapping their trunks around you to reach the sugarcane we were feeding them. Fantastic!!
turned out to be pr
etty darn neat! We did one day of insect larvae sampling in the river, using nets of catch all the little dudes as they flew downstream, and then used identification keys to assess stream water quality. There was also a wonderfully refreshing waterfall nearby that we spent some quality time at, cooling off and cleaning up (Ahh, hard day at school.) We also spent a day looking at adult insects, by setting up big lights and white screens at night to attract all the bugs and then capture them with our mad good insect catching skills. TONS of moths, which are incredibly cool and way more than just the drab brown things you find in the attic… every size, shape and shade of the rainbow.The highlight of Bukit Ringit however had to be our visit to an Elephant Sanctuary, pretty cool. Although I am not a fan of keeping animals in captivity, one of the primary interests of the center is using some of the tamed elephants they have rescued from conflict zones to aid in the translocation of wild elephants that have been displaced by habitat destruction. We were able to feed the elephants too, which was an amazing experience… some were feisty, even reaching out and wrapping their trunks around you to reach the sugarcane we were feeding them. Fantastic!!
We then ventured forward and spent a couple days in the city of Jerantut to take a look at Oil 
Palm Agroecosystems, Malaysia’s largest export. Over 85% of the world’s palm oil comes from Malaysia and Indonesia, which is in everything… and I mean EVERYTHING (food, cosmetics, cleaning argents you name it… even Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream!). Although the industry is super controversial for its vast amounts of land clearing (land which was almost exclusively rainforest at one point) and eco-unfriendly plantations, Malaysia does have sincere efforts to improve its practices, such as using natural bio-control agents as opposed to pesticides and recycling wastes into fuel (although during our little plantation tour we did still pass several men in full body suits and masks spraying unknown substances over the young trees…. Hmmm. That can’t be hazardous can it!?) I must say I don’t think I have ever before stood in the middle to such a vast monoculture, where literally as far as the eye can see in every direction the only life is a single species – shocking. Hard to judge though, when BC’s clearcuts are not exactly small…
Palm Agroecosystems, Malaysia’s largest export. Over 85% of the world’s palm oil comes from Malaysia and Indonesia, which is in everything… and I mean EVERYTHING (food, cosmetics, cleaning argents you name it… even Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream!). Although the industry is super controversial for its vast amounts of land clearing (land which was almost exclusively rainforest at one point) and eco-unfriendly plantations, Malaysia does have sincere efforts to improve its practices, such as using natural bio-control agents as opposed to pesticides and recycling wastes into fuel (although during our little plantation tour we did still pass several men in full body suits and masks spraying unknown substances over the young trees…. Hmmm. That can’t be hazardous can it!?) I must say I don’t think I have ever before stood in the middle to such a vast monoculture, where literally as far as the eye can see in every direction the only life is a single species – shocking. Hard to judge though, when BC’s clearcuts are not exactly small… 
After we made our way to Taman Negara, Malaysia’s largest National Park. Almost the entire park is primary forest, left untouched and never logged. To get to the park, we travelled for almost 3 hours by small wooden river boats… one of the highlights in my books so far! Winding down the river surrounded by thick rainforest on either side, glowing sunshine, warm breeze and best of all, chattin’ it up with my two buds Chantelle and Kyle… can’t think of anything more sweet!! We spent the night in an Animal Hide, basically a roof over your head while you sit and wait…and wait and wait….. and wait, in the in the middle of the jungle overlooking a salt lick (a natural open area in the rainforest where animals come to drink at night), hoping something ferocious will mosey on by. On the cool scale, it’s up there. At about 11pm when some peeps had already hit the pillow, one of our guides got real excited and called us over to the lookout window… with eyes wide and hearts pounding, we scurried over… Tiger? Tapir? Elephant? Land shark? And what do we see…a pair of deer. Now now, don’t get me wrong, these were jungle deer, so neat to see… but to a group of people from Victoria, which could also be called the deer capital, we weren’t exactly jumping off the platform to get a closer look… I think our Malaysian buddies were more excited than the BC-ers. The ‘plan’ was to take shifts all night watching for wildlife, however by 1am the only movement was the vibration resulting from the snores of our professors… fellow students and I not far behind. Although possibly the worst sleep of my life (literally a few slabs of wood and a sheet, not really all that conducive to comfort), it was invigorating to be nestled in the middle of the jungle, the constant hum of millions of critters surrounding our little safe haven on stilts. 
We finished our stay at Tamen Negara off with a canopy walk, a series of suspension bridges amidst the tree tops, premise being to give an idea of what life is like up in the trees. Heights may not be my most favourite thing, but after a few steps on the swaying walkways, the wee pounding in my chest had simmered enough for me to peek down at the forest floor 40m below…eek! Maybe after a few more strolls in the canopy my slight dislike for vertical falls will subside…maybe. As we rounded out the last week of our field trip, I couldn’t help but recount all of the cool experiences the field had to offer and be reminded of my biggest draw to this program in the first place being the diversity of activities and subjects the trip had to offer (i.e. bats, bugs, elephants, orangutans…heck I didn’t even know what an oil palm tree looked like before this despite it being in almost everything I touch!) BUT nothing could top my ex
citement for the last week of field work… coral reefs and sea turtles! Alas, back in my element. Although I loved every second of our terrestrial field work (well, almost… minus the leech bites maybe…) I couldn’t help but count the minutes till I could get back in the water. Off the eastern coast of Malaysia, there is a small island called Pulau Redang, a 1.5 hour journey of glorious blue ocean bumpy boat time. The beach we stayed at is a turtle nesting sanctuary, only a small wooden shack on the white sand and not accessible to tourists… see the kind of “ins” scicence can get you!?! Biology may not be the biggest money making profession, but hey I’ll trade the 
millions for access to a secluded research station in the sun and sand of the Indo-Pacific. We camped at the top of the beach in tents – Chantelle and I ended up with last tent pick… turns out we got the mansion of all tents! Not only was it practically a castle, but I guess movies like Legally Blonde have done a real number on the stereotype of blonde North American girls, as a flock of 10 Malaysians insisted on helping us set up the freaking thing.. not that I’m really complaining. Every night massive mama sea turtles, most Green and occasionally Hawksbill, come up onto the sand to lay their eggs. The whole process taking about 3 hours, she will emerge from the sea, waddle her way up the beach and painstakingly dig a hole in the sand about a meter deep. Then, already exhausted, she will lay over 100 golf ball size eggs which will hatch about 2 months later. Even harder to believe is that she will repeat this process every 8-12 days, laying a total of 10 times during the season! Talk about investment in your young! The real kicker is that the survival rate from egg to adult is only about 1 in 10 000! No wonder she has to work so hard to lay so many eggs. For sure one of the coolest things I have ever watched happen right in front of me… shouts out to my fellow bio-nerds, how the hell did that whole p
rocess evolve?! Aside from the overly amazing turtles scattering the beach each night, the reef life right off the beach was pretty awesome, nudibrachs and all. Each morning, Chantelle and I (and usually a couple others who were able to muster the early wakeup) started our day with an early morning snorkel, never tiring of the beautiful reef life. Five of us also squeezed in a day of diving, such a rush of AWESOMENESS to be back in the water and fulfilling a life long dream of diving in Malaysia… its been near the top of my list since I did my Open Water Course almost 12 years ago! We also participated in a few reef surveys and Crown of Thorns Starfish culling (reef eating seastars that have gotten out of control thanks for humans..to the point they are putting some reefs in SE Asia at serious threat). Needless to say, at the end off all this fun, it was hard to leave our perfect little beach oasis… but it did serve as a reminder of how much I adore reefs and life under the sea… maybe my childhood love for Little Mermaid was Disney’s way of telling me it was meant to be.
citement for the last week of field work… coral reefs and sea turtles! Alas, back in my element. Although I loved every second of our terrestrial field work (well, almost… minus the leech bites maybe…) I couldn’t help but count the minutes till I could get back in the water. Off the eastern coast of Malaysia, there is a small island called Pulau Redang, a 1.5 hour journey of glorious blue ocean bumpy boat time. The beach we stayed at is a turtle nesting sanctuary, only a small wooden shack on the white sand and not accessible to tourists… see the kind of “ins” scicence can get you!?! Biology may not be the biggest money making profession, but hey I’ll trade the 
millions for access to a secluded research station in the sun and sand of the Indo-Pacific. We camped at the top of the beach in tents – Chantelle and I ended up with last tent pick… turns out we got the mansion of all tents! Not only was it practically a castle, but I guess movies like Legally Blonde have done a real number on the stereotype of blonde North American girls, as a flock of 10 Malaysians insisted on helping us set up the freaking thing.. not that I’m really complaining. Every night massive mama sea turtles, most Green and occasionally Hawksbill, come up onto the sand to lay their eggs. The whole process taking about 3 hours, she will emerge from the sea, waddle her way up the beach and painstakingly dig a hole in the sand about a meter deep. Then, already exhausted, she will lay over 100 golf ball size eggs which will hatch about 2 months later. Even harder to believe is that she will repeat this process every 8-12 days, laying a total of 10 times during the season! Talk about investment in your young! The real kicker is that the survival rate from egg to adult is only about 1 in 10 000! No wonder she has to work so hard to lay so many eggs. For sure one of the coolest things I have ever watched happen right in front of me… shouts out to my fellow bio-nerds, how the hell did that whole p
rocess evolve?! Aside from the overly amazing turtles scattering the beach each night, the reef life right off the beach was pretty awesome, nudibrachs and all. Each morning, Chantelle and I (and usually a couple others who were able to muster the early wakeup) started our day with an early morning snorkel, never tiring of the beautiful reef life. Five of us also squeezed in a day of diving, such a rush of AWESOMENESS to be back in the water and fulfilling a life long dream of diving in Malaysia… its been near the top of my list since I did my Open Water Course almost 12 years ago! We also participated in a few reef surveys and Crown of Thorns Starfish culling (reef eating seastars that have gotten out of control thanks for humans..to the point they are putting some reefs in SE Asia at serious threat). Needless to say, at the end off all this fun, it was hard to leave our perfect little beach oasis… but it did serve as a reminder of how much I adore reefs and life under the sea… maybe my childhood love for Little Mermaid was Disney’s way of telling me it was meant to be. And now, I sit here on the bus typing this note as we head back to Penang for a crazy week of cramming for our final exam and writing a research paper… several weeks of work crammed into one! En-route, we made a pit stop at an awesome (and HUGE) open air market right at the Thai border, full of textiles, hand bags, shoes and most amazingly… fruit! Three mangos for 1 dollar! Yeeeesss please!
Okay, sorry for the lengthiness…couldn’t bare to leave anything out! Hope you all are well, sending my love.
Alex (aka Nat Geo, my new nickname… short for National Geographic… resulting from my stylin’ Jungle attire and constant camera action… thanks for that one, Sweetness)
Monday, June 1, 2009
Its hard to even know where to begin! We’ve been in the field for almost two weeks now and done an ton of cool stuff, near impossible to condense into something of a readable length. Nonetheless, I will do my best…
After leaving Penang, we visited a conservation center for Orangutans, which are only found in East Malaysia (Borneo) and Indonesia. Although I was a bit sceptical about the centre’s management plan to reintroduce the captive bred animals back into the wil
d, the center use a rather unique concept of wide stretches of natural habitat for the primates and leaving humans as the ones to be put in cages to observe the animals….its about time we felt what its like to be a captive animal. The Orangutans themselves are amazing intelligent and watching their behaviour was so neat, especially the social interactions between one another. There were even newborns being looked after by the vets, in diapers and all! High on the cuteness scale!
d, the center use a rather unique concept of wide stretches of natural habitat for the primates and leaving humans as the ones to be put in cages to observe the animals….its about time we felt what its like to be a captive animal. The Orangutans themselves are amazing intelligent and watching their behaviour was so neat, especially the social interactions between one another. There were even newborns being looked after by the vets, in diapers and all! High on the cuteness scale! We then spent 4 days at a Mangrove reserve, learning about these hugely important yet wildly underappreciated swap forests. Among the various activities during our 
time here, we explored the ecosystem by boat, visited the local fishing town dependant on the mangroves for cockles and shrimp, and even had the chance to plant our own mangrove seedlings! The most memorable part by far however was watching the trees flicker with light at night like Christmas trees – fireflies!! One of the mangrove species provides habitat to these amazing creatures, which can flash 3 times per second!
time here, we explored the ecosystem by boat, visited the local fishing town dependant on the mangroves for cockles and shrimp, and even had the chance to plant our own mangrove seedlings! The most memorable part by far however was watching the trees flicker with light at night like Christmas trees – fireflies!! One of the mangrove species provides habitat to these amazing creatures, which can flash 3 times per second! Our next stop was a small village called Batu Ring located right on the jungle’s edge, where we spent a full week learning about rainforest ecology and staying in a homestay with a village family. We did all sorts of amazing field work, including bat trapping and identification and catching and swabbing frogs for a deadly fungus that is killing amphibians all over the world. We explored the diversity of the tropical rainforest, hiked to a jungle waterfall and visited the caves were the oldest human remains of Peninsular Malaysia were found. The most amazing part I would have to say though was the experience of living with a village family. Chantelle and I, along with Rassis who is one of the Malaysian students also participating in the field course, stayed with a wonderful woman whom we called Mak, meaning ‘Ma’ in Malay. Her husband passed away a few years ago, and most of her children are grown up and have moved out of the village. She has one youngster left, a 12 year old boy named Hakiem who was our “brother” for the week. Although Mak did not speak any English, and our Malay was limited to “Thank you” and “Delicious”, Rassis did a wonderful job as our unofficial translator, helping us to communicate with Mak. She was unbelievably warm hearted and cooked non-stop for us, all traditional Malaysian dishes and ALL DELICIOUS… the food never stopped coming. Mak also picked up on our tastes pretty quick, so after a few days all our token favourite things began to show up frequently. Chantelle and I became obsessed with something called Te Terek, which is essentially tea with condensed milk… AMAZING! I even forfeited coffee for this tastily unhealthy delight! The village lifestyle is simple yet refreshingly practical. The shower consists of a big tub of cool water and a small bucket to pour it on yourself with. The toilet is a hole in the ground…simple. The living area is a bunch of woven mats. It was a wonderful wonderful experience to be immersed in this lifestyle for a week. The hospitality of the villagers was touching and unmatched to anything I have ever seen before. I honestly fell in love with Mak and can say that I have never felt such affection for someone who not only was a complete stranger a week prior but also with whom I exchanged less than 10 words with directly. Needless to say it was emotional parting ways at the end of the week, but an experience I will cherish for the rest of my life.
After our week in the village, we moved to our current location which is another rainforest ecosystem in the southeast part of Malaysia (its pretty amazing you can almost cross the entire country in about half a day on the bus). We are staying at the Malaysian Wildlife Department’s Institute for Biodiversity. Having only arrived yesterday I will leave it at that and fill you all in on all the fun this place has to offer in my next update…including a visit to an elephant rehabilitation center and insect collecting… cliff-hanger if you will!?
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