The annotated budak

Seagrass nuts

  enhalus seeds 
  Originally uploaded by budak.

The next time my duck goes awaddling on the shores, I shall look out for the freshly dispersed seeds of Enhalus acoroides and munch on them to sate my intertidal pangs. The fruit may not look particularly appetising, being rather burry and fibrous, but when ripe, the pericarp bursts and scatters the seeds which float off and eventually sink into the substrate and with luck develop into new tapegrass. Unlucky seeds get dabbled up by devouring ducks who munch them with relish.

Fresh from the salty sea, they are crunchy with a soft nut-like texture, albeit markedly starchier and with a somewhat grassy note that is not unpleasant. A little like tiny water chestnuts, some say. I must force feed introduce them to the mail order monkey so that she knows where to seek sustenance should she find herself trapped by the tides with her tail tugged by thunder crabs. Even tweeting sea monkeys, I wager, do more than eat leaves and shoot ducks... 

Cyclosa butt

  cyclosa belly 
  Originally uploaded by budak.

The rude side of a Cyclosa spider with a view of its spinnerets in a subterminal position (talk about butt floss!), unlike most spiders where the webspinning glands are located right at the end. These little arachnids are horribly difficult to photograph as they stubbornly refuse to stretch their legs and stop pretending to be a piece of avian dandruff. And when disturbed, they like to vibrate violently on their messy, debris-strewn three dimensional webs like furious little motors.

Cylosa spiders are vaguely tick-like, with prominent abdomens and miniscule prosoma that seem barely able to contain their four pairs of shortish legs, which are squeezed onto a tight sternum. The opistosoma is built like a shield with a tail-like extension. With its legs drawn tightly together, the spider looks more like a splinter of dried leaf than a cousin of leggy orb-web spinners. Sitting in its web amidst bits of twigs, litter, leftover prey and discarded duck feathers, the beady-eyed bugeater is barely visible to passer-bys who'd likely cast a disapproving eye at its clutter and call for a campaign against slovenly araneids should they espy its shanty of a pantry.

  cyclosa bifida munching 
  Originally uploaded by budak.

Unlike its dishevelled cousin, Cyclosa bifida (right) reveals its stock as an orb-web spinner, producing a more conventional vertically-inclined fly trap close to the ground. As this species is more of a neat freak with no camouflaging elements on the web, it usually drops to the ground or swings towards nearby vegetation as a primary evasive reflex. This fellow (or more likely dame) was busy sucking up the juices of some poor bug and so ignored my attempts to blind it with a Speedlite. My duck kind of likes this species better than the one above, as it has a rather shapely abdomen resembling certain appendages that similarly produce sticky white fluids. And besides, there's something ever so attractive about ladies who suck... 

Squash bug (Aspilosterna albovittata)

  bug Originally uploaded by budak.

These largish (1.5 inch long) bugs seem to be season. I found good numbers of them lounging on wayside shrubbery, pondering the fate of their little patch of secondary forest so close to the heart of the city that it's a wonder the land has not been optimised (I am told this particular plot of real estate is owned by post-Malaccan royalty and hence beyond the clutches of Knight Frank).

At first glance, I almost thought they were longhorn beetles (Chrysomeloidea), but that's a silly notion actually, since there is probably very little old growth in the area and won't be unless something nasty (like greatly feared ducky diseases) wipes out the local population of Homo sapiens to offer the earth a respite.

  bug Originally uploaded by budak.

The bugs were hanging about on the branches and were non too sociable. I tried placing one in front of another and the latter  decided to just let go and drop to the ground than face its brethren. As far as I can tell, these are bugs (Hemiptera) in the family Coreidae, which are commonly known as squash bugs after their fondness for certain host plants. Their thoradic shield boast two protrusions that may serve as camouflage or defense against predators and this species has a distinctive irregular flank stripe that is quite effective in deceiving casual eyes into seeing a split twig and white space rather than a slow-going sapsucker. Should illusion fail to defeat dickheaded ducks, stink glands on their legs present a more pungent deterrent by effectively destroying my duck's already slim chances of enjoying indecent company. Not that I get much of such pleasures actually, given the dodgy menagerie that twits at my duck these days....

The reefs of Cyrene

  pretty lil worm 
  Originally uploaded by budak.

Lying between the western port and the smokestacks of Jurong Island are the Cyrene Reefs, a temporal expanse of coral rubble and seagrass meadows. The reefs are exposed only at low tide, when they emerge from the murky sea to reveal a world of sand and serendipity. The Malays call it Terumbu Pandan (pandan reef) after an aromatic coastal tree (did screwpines once grow here when sea levels were lower?). Etymologically, Cyrene rings of cold, hard walls and hints at the reefs' possibly unwelcome status amongst seamen hoping not to run aground on flats that lie invisible at high water, beyond sight but not fragile hulls (today a ring of floating beacons gives away the reefs' position and aids boatmen attempting to dump a horde of reefwalkers on the shore just before dawn).

  cushion star 
  Originally uploaded by budak.

At least six species of seagrasses have found a niche here, forming a green network of petioles long and lesser that shelter creatures both crabby and puffy. We found patches of blooming sickle seagrass (Thalassia hemprichii) and the remnants of flowering Enhalus acoroides, as evidenced by empty bracts and fruit that have not expelled their seed. Sheltering in the meadow and fringing reefs are countless crabs and armies of snapping shrimp.  The fanworms here have not yet learnt the meaning of fear, retreating not even when molested by my duck. Beneath the sulky sky, bright stars shone in the sand, taking the tube route to their daily hangouts and tempting my duck to rest his head on a pretty pillow for a nap on the nautical map. I resisted, knowing that to succumb would render my duck vulnerable to the neighbourhood urchins eager to take a stab at my soft and squishy parts. Having failed to lure via slumber, the evil echinoderm entourage tried seduction instead, drawing my duck to a hotsandbed of sperm shooting stars in unabashed embrace. Arms and tube legs entwine and exhort my duck to join them on the soft substrate. Fortunately, my duck, though no chaste bird, wasn't in the mood for a grind on the ground – stray silicon belongs in hard drives not my hard dive.

  slugs 
  Originally uploaded by budak.

With so much sex taking place right within sight of the nation's engines of economic growth, the reefs of Cyrene are likely to find few fans in this city where moments set aside for recreation and even procreation must be regarded as opportunity costs lost to more productive toil. What more when the reefs pose a permanent hazard to sea lanes and impose an untenable toll of several minutes – a detour that would render these waters inhospitable to international commerce and uncompetitive in a world where time is a commodity too precious to be wasted on wishful wet dreams and living wealth that cannot be counted.   

  miao 

hilo pussy pals, me now make quick post while the ducky expels his tom yum brunch in the loo. i tink he got some problems with his plumbing, need someone to come and dig hard hard to unblock. lucky i run too fast for him to lock me together in the room while he squats on this throne....

so, i is wanting to give all you peepur a health warning hor. me is told the dumbo big ass kuku bird is dishing out his so-called ducky hugs freely (acherly even if he pay i tink noone wan also) and worse!! some poor clueless peepur even wan a duckie huggy!! Aiyoh! They dunno wat they asking for! Just look at poor me in the picture – clamped in the duck's disgusting limbs and held up like a piece of meat by a fowl who should be the meat instead *yum*. If this isn't enuff to disuade you nice peepur, it's obvious that ducky hugs make you look fat and risk infecting huggies with all sorts of horrid nasty ducky diseases. You'd start spending too much time hanging around other feathered things or end up like them!!

okie, me better go... the donkee duck now finis his stinky business liao. seems he got something preciousss stolen from him today. but he still like quite happy flappy like dat! think his backside not the only thing that got unplugged today....

the duck got a letter again! After so many years he still dunwan pay his TV license! he only pretend neber watch TV la... acherly he got foldable tv hidden in his big fat backside, which he take out every night to see Fiona Xie's bouncing boobies and Joanne Peh's boyish bum la. thatwhy he say he not afraid if those gahmen peepur wan come and search for tv!

P.S. me tink twitting is really for birdbrains but for the sake of letting peepur know what naughty stuff the duck is up, me shall be the first miao (i tink) to twit at twitter.com/Angelmiao !!

  miao wake up 

Behind the flat across the carpark is a school which was vacated some time last year. On the grounds there used to be a sweet little garden with herbs like gingers and pandan as well as fruit trees like bananas, palms and a few larger baums to provide shade. I never took a photograph as the garden was such an ubiquitous feature of the neighbourhood. But sadly it's too late now, as the small plot has just been reduced to a featureless lawn. The 4-5 fairly mature trees are now barely visible stumps cut all the way to the soil and virtually all traces of the once lush shrubs and fragrant greenery have vanished into the blackhole of some bureaucrat's masterplan. Whatever they hope to do with the premises, it certainly doesn't involve retaining utterly useless bits of vegetation that require periodic watering, pruning, fertilising and harvesting.

  ramen eater 

For some reason, I had never managed to take a picture of Ken's ramen until last week, despite frequenting the joint (thanks to the TGWTTIHS who introduced the place) and the nearby health centre – the rich double-boiled broth and perfectly al dente noodles with crunchy bamboo shoots, a boiled egg with succulent runny yolk and fat slabs of char siew are becoming a ducky comfort food. A savoury bowl of Gemütlichkeit costs $12 and the resulting sense of warm umaminess is best capped with a mug of draught Asahi. They also have bottled Sapporo, which is similarly crisp but somewhat less gassy. Besides the house favourite stewed boiled egg ramen, there's also cold hiyashi noodles, a few spicier bowls and juicy gyozas. The selection isn't mindboggling like Ajisen's but it's more than enough to keep hungry ducks coming back. Noodle House Ken is located on the left flank of Orchard Plaza (that seedy shopping centre fronted by electronics and luggage shops) in a ground floor unit by the pavement overlooking Orchard Point (home to OG and Spotlight) and is flanked by dingy looking tourist traps. You can squeeze into the narrow ledge of the original hole-in-the-wall outfit and dine to the kitchen whiff or request a less authentic experience in an extension two doors down the corridor. Apparently, there's a stash of hentai somewhere but my randy duck hasn't found it yet! And for those who'd appreciate the information *ahem* the building offers a wholesome selection of after-dinner entertainment and relaxation facilities that will rub you the right way...

  tomyam 

Early (late, depending on how you see it) on Sunday, my duck got a call to try a fairly unknown eatery in a half-forgotten part of the city where Tyrwhitt Road meets Kitchener Road. Nowadays, this sleepy corner close to Jalan Besar is roused only when there are football matches at the eponymous stadium. Behind the sports centre lie the mouldy remains of the Victoria School, and right across the decaying institution is an elevated coffeeshop unit with  poor lighting and retro tiles. Besides the drinks stand, there is a halal stall, but the main draw here is an establishment serving Northern Thai cuisine. The usual cohort of pineapple rice and seafood tom yum are on the menu, but we wanted to try the highly recommended fish fritter tom yum soup. Sleepyhead resisted three wake-up calls so my starving duck ordered an entrée of fried ngoh hiang with a sweet and spicy dip. The house specialty is a tangy tom yum soup with a heady swirl of sour notes (in the best possible way) and the creamy richness of laksa long gone from the streets of sanitised Singapore. The munjen asked for an extra spicy bowl (which my duck attempted to hoard before the switch was noticed) with the power to loosen blocked bowels punch through nasal congestion. Frolicking in the soup are generous portions of fried fish fritters with tender meat that manages to resist being overwhelmed by the surrounding heat, probably thanks to the firm batter coating. Now, if they'd also serve some special Thai massage Thai-style milk tea or tamarind juice to go with the food, it'd be all so perfect....