穿梭红树林 At The Heart of Mangroves Forest

吡叻州渔村十八丁（Kuala Sepatang）的马当（Matang）红树林区，是一片人们都敬而远之的沼泽泥泞地，只有红树，情有独钟这个地方。棵棵高瘦笔直的红树相依林立，交织出一片棕绿色的林阴地。
十八丁森林局的管理得法， 红树林成为了国际保护得最好的红树林之一。政府再把它辟成旅游区，用红树刨成木板，在林中架起一道弯弯曲曲的红树板搭桥。板桥是红树林中唯一的“人行道”，让访客轻易深入林亲近自然生态，发掘沼泽红树的奥妙，也好让一群“好摄之徒”，拍个痛快！


红树以红为名，是因为它的内心树干深红如褐，可是树皮却是白中带棕斑。 当树儿越长越高时，树根也跟着长高，这可是红树盘踞泥泞地的秘诀，红树树根裸露地面上，是为了巩固树身，如此一来，任海水、河水长期无情拍打冲击，它们都稳扒泥地，不会被冲走。红树的大根都深入泥里，而在根部的四周泥地，则冒出许多小根，这就是红树的生命之根了。 　


由于红树是制造火柴、火炭的原料，具有商业价值，也是国家经济收入来源，它之所以受到保护，，固然是因为它维持海岸边特别的生态环境，最重要的原因，是政府必须确保红树产量足够应付市场需求，也避免它成为非法伐木的“受害者”。这片沼泽地是教育和趣味性并兼的地方，有空不妨前来探索，你肯定会爱上它！

这儿是淡淡的河水进入波涛汹涌大海前必经之路，咸水与淡水相互交融，一片供红树茁壮成长的温床自然诞生。

A Date with Charcoal 木碳香

炭，过去我们的日常生活常用的燃料，几经物换星移，当人们有了更为简便的烹煮方式，嫌它费时费事而唾弃它。从而被石油气取代后，炭与人们的生活渐渐脱离。而今，只有在烧烤会上，或华人新年前烘制Kuih Kapet时，它才惊鸿一瞥。它也勾起我小时老家与“南成火炭店” 相以为邻的丝丝回忆。

车子在十八丁(Kuala Sepetang)停下后，便闻到一阵炭香扑鼻，原來已经抵达炭窑。一幢幢简破的木棚排立眼前，烧制火炭的大炉子- 炭窑，就藏身在这些大木棚内。古老烧炭行業，在此延续百年。砍伐的树干，用船载來，剝掉綠色的树皮，露出紅色的內层，切割成标准的长度，层层整齐排列在半圓形的窟炉中，用黃泥將窟口密封，日夜要人看守火势，一個月后开窟，紅色的树干，变成了巨大的黑炭。 炭在日韓等国非常受到重视，有些日韓商家，在此收炭加工，制成炭精，除臭剂和除潮剂等产品，销回国內。十八丁人爱把炭块放在家里，公司的傻大姐Samantha 也在其桌上摆放几片，据说可以減轻电器和电脑的輻射。

还没被启用的新窟，可以看到还没被熏黑的黄泥砖。

封窑后留下一个火门起火烧制。先是大火，接着用中火，再转小火，过程约十多天

即完完全全封死的炭窑，用来熄火，让原木在里头慢慢炭化，并自然冷却。

木船把砍伐下来的红树原木运至炭窑旁的露天空地。工人就铲去红树的皮以减少湿度，加快炭化的速度。

女工在小丘高的炭堆前忙着包装炭块，搬运上啰里。

女工在炭碎中筛选较大片的炭

乐业又健谈的老婆婆叫人心生欢喜

Temple & Opera

Shots from yesterday visit to the Nine Emperor Gods Temple of Butterworth (北海斗母宫) -- [will write more about this post when free...to be continued]

Fallen nest on the road side

We drove up the Penang famous “Thousand Two Stairs” temple (千二层) during this vegetarian festival in commemorates with the birthday of the Toism Gods – The Nine Emperors. It is believed that one can have his soul and sins cleaned by adopting a 9-day, 6-day, 3-day or even 1-day of strict vegetarian diet. I do follow suit for the diet because I would like to see this customarily practice which has already been blended in as part of the Chinese cultures continues.

After taking some photos and had the breakfast up in the temple, Don, Emma and I went ahead to draw the divination stick. How accurate of that thingy will depend on how you see it. On the way coming down the hill, we saw this bird nest lying on the road side, and there is still an egg in it! It must have been brought down by the storm. We tried to put it back to its original place but we did not know to which trees it belonged to. The trees branches were actually beyond our reach. Don volunteered to take custody of it by bringing it home for birds that come to his house for nestling to incubate the egg. Hopefully it hatches soon.

Azan

The planned trip of jalan-jalan and makan-makan to Pantai Kerachut and Balik Pulau on the first Raya day did not turn out to be a reality. There was a heavy down pour in that morning and we also learnt about the land slides in Balik Pulau; we had to call off the entire plan. That left me with whole of unoccupied day and I had the luxury of time to do photo shooting with my newly bought camera in the town.

Kapitan Keling Mosque - This is the largest historic mosque in town, built in the 19th century by Indian Muslim traders. It is situated on the corner of Buckingham Street and Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling (also more known as Pitt Street by most of the Penangites).

Kapitan Kelings is actually the equivalent words for Captains of the Kelings. As the Indians found it difficult to pronounce certain English words, the title "Captain" was somehow transformed into "Kapitan". Whereas the term 'Keling' (吉宁 or 吉宁人) derived from the ancient Hindu kingdom in the South India. It was generally used to denote all those who came from there.

The mosque is packed with the worshippers on Fridays and overflows during the Muslim celebrations of Hari Raya Aidil Fitri and Hari Raya Haji. The growing numbers of worshippers it’s an indication of strengthening of faith and searching the true Islamic teaching, and hopefully not politically propagandised.