Tiniest toads from the water's edge...

As I was relaxing by a boulder on the edge of a jungle stream on a hot day, I saw something tiny moving: a tiny toad the size of a 5 cent coin! and there were 3 of them...They were making a mossy boulder at the stream's edge their home under the shades of a Saracca thaipingensis tree...

Home of the tiny toads...clearwater streams through dense forests.

CNY do for the year of the Goat 2015...

This year, we don't have to go back to Melaka as the in-laws came and so I organised lunch my way...

The usual setting...

Something to snack on while waiting: raw cauliflower and aïoli flavoured with piment d'Espelette.

Weng Chow duck liver sausage and "Nga Ku" mash

Old cucumber and pork rib consommé  

Fresh water shrimp in spicy tumeric coconut broth (masak lemak)

Pong Teh on a bed of "Nga Ku" mash...

 Vegetarian dish: Mushroom stew with broccoli...

And for desert: Black glutinous rice pudding with savoury glutinous rice cake known as "Pulut Tekan"

Later that evening, friends came for a snack and some drinks...

simple fare: butter cake and Pulut Tekan

Quiet creatures of the forest's understorey...

The dark understorey of the forest bellies the many colourful creatures that make it their home, often a flash of the camera will bring out the unseen colours...

The Knight surveying its domain from a sun-lit perch...

A pair of mating Weevils.

An unusual Leaf Hopper...

A colourful tiny beetle...

A cryptic-looking Coconut Skipper

The Angled Cyclop comes to life under the camera's flash...

A Damselfly sitting quietly at the water's edge...

Unusual encounter with the Scarlet-rumped Trogon...

Trogons are generally shy and secretive birds and are not easy to come across. This particular one was photographed with my 105mm micro lense while I was shooting butterflies on a forested road shoulder at mid-elevation and it just came out quietly, remained on the branch for a few minutes before disappearing into the thick forest....

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Spot anything on the tree branch?

a flying dragon!