Labuan Revisited - Part 1

I was shocked when I found out that AirAsia had retimed our flight to KL from the earlier 1500 hrs to 1600 hrs. As I had another flight to catch to Labuan at 1800 hrs, the time gap of an hour was too short to enable me to collect my baggage to be checked in again for the onward flight to Labuan even though I was already within the terminal. AirAsia doesn't provide direct check in of your baggages to your final destination.
Their staff assured us that AirAsia will put us on the next day's flight to Labuan at no cost should we miss today's flight since it was their fault. They will not pay for lodging though. With that assurance I called up my son Azrin to wait for us at the LCCT incase we may have to put up the night at his place. Hey what happens if I dont have a son living near the LCCT and I have to stay overnight for the next day's flight?

Tok Ma spending the last few moments with Balqis at KB Airport. Tok Ma wont be flying with us to Labuan.

The paternal grandparents and their daughter was at the airport to send Balqis off too.

We touched down at KL LCCT around 5.00 PM and we rushed on to the terminal with Azini carrying Balqis in her arms while I carried the few bags that we couldn't check in due to excess baggage. AirAsia allow us to carry just 30 kg for the two of us and we will have to pay any excess. At the baggage carousel, I picked up Balqis and exited the arrival hall to go to the check in counter at the other end of the building. Azini was left to collect the baggage. Luckily Azrin and Yani was waiting at the exit of the arrival hall as I could hand over Balqis to her and made my way with Azrin and son Irsyad to counter 51 for the check in to Labuan.
After explaining my predicament, the lady at the check in counter cooly accepted my check in and agreed to wait for my baggage to arrive. I have this feeling that her relaxed attitude with the flight due to depart with less than 30 minutes to spare could translate into another delayed flight. I don't care much if it was delayed as long as I can get on the flight.
True to my earlier hunch, the flight was delayed by half an hour, not as bad as the earlier delay in Kota Bharu. Now they have come up with an 'On Time Guarantee' whereby if you experience a delay of more than 3 hours and they fail to inform you in advance, they will compensate you with RM300. Don't get too excited about it as there are clauses that will ensure that it wont be that easy to benefit from it.

Azrin and his whole family was there to meet us. If the flight was not delayed from KB, we could have spent more time with them.

With the new Airbus 320, the journey on both sectors were super smooth. I had ordered online a meal of nasi lemak when buying my flight ticket on the KUL-LBU-KUL sectors. Lucky thing as I found myself so hungry and the quite tasty nasi lemak with al the usual condiments and a piece of 'curry chicken' was to my taste. Azini didn't want any even though I offered to buy another meal for her. I guess she prefered to wait and have dinner with her husband in Labuan.

I bet Balqis was the only passenger who glanced through all the safety procedures as written on the phamplet available in the back pockets of the seat infront of you.

We touched down at the new Labuan Airport at about 8.40 PM and there waiting for us was my son in law Lokman. Balqis was wheeled out in her pram and Lokman took Balqis from me at the door to the arrival hall. I tried to go back to the arrival hall to help Azini collect our baggage but was not allowed by the female security personnel who was guarding the entrance when I couldnt produce my boarding pass. After a short while Azini came out with the baggage. We drove back to their flat at Taman Mutiara, Bedaun, Labuan, Malaysia.
This airport is a new airport as I remember the old airport was much smaller when I was last here some ten years ago.
It was night and I couldn't see much of Labuan.
The next day my SIL and Azini were busy cleaning up the house. The house must be made such that anything within reach of Balqis must be stashed somewhere safer. Though she has yet to walk, she could stand up by holding on to chairs or table and just pull everything down.
Azini had to prepare to get back to college in Keningau for another 2 weeks of classes.
We left Taman Mutiara at 2.30 PM to send Azini to the International Ferry Terminal. This terminal serves the passengers going to all destinations such as Brunei, Kota Kinabalu and Menumbuk. Azini's destination was Menumbuk and the fare was RM15 by small ferries with outboard motors. Each boat will only carry 12 passengers. Anything more than that number is ilegall but up to sixteen passengers has been known to be carried by such boats.
Fares and timetables can be collected at the ticketing office. One thing special about this terminal is the announcement of arrivals and departures of ferries just like the way they do at the airport. Even final calls were made to passengers who had bought tickets but have yet to board the ferries.

The view of the International Ferry Terminal in Labuan.

At the exit of the ferry arrival hall there is displayed the places of interest in Labuan. How convenient.

After Azini had boarded the ferry we left the terminal. Lokman took me around the island and I was so excited when I saw so many places that I can come back and do some photo shoot. I wonder if I can find enough time to visit them all.Of special interest will be the birdpark, the chimney, the tunnel, peace memorial etc.

We stopped to have the best satay on the island at a place called Layang Layangan. I would choose their satay anytime over the current fare they are serving in Kajang. Their beef satey is far superior in taste. A whole young coconut will be served with the satay and the satay cost an affordable 50 sen a stick and no fat or skin will be put in between the meat as is often done in Kelantan.

Lokman and Balqis waiting for our order to come.


A whole cocnut is served with no ice or sugar added.

We had a nice view of the beach at low tide.

On the way back to Taman Mutiara we came across this sunset and I told Lokman to stop the car to enable me to take this luxuriant color of the sky over Labuan.

Glorious sunset. I must let Akmal fiddle around with the above photo using photoshp and let us see what he can come up with.

I waited again today for another display of colors in the sky but God created the special show to be on only on that particular Sunday evening. Who knows when the next show will be on.
My daily routine beside nannying Balqis to surf the net whenever I have the chance. If she is not asleep I will have to compete with her for the use of the laptop. She is really adept with the note book and will know which button to hit in order to alter the image on the screen. A good hit with her plam never fails to bring the result.

Balqis taking her turn at using the laptop.

Those are the account of my arrival and the first few days in Labuan. I must explore the rest of the island when I have the chance.

The Bird

I was devastated when I saw the dumbcane plant bent and the shredded nest lying at the base of the plant in the pot. The chick wasn't ready to fly yet and it couldn't have fallen off the nest on it's own. Somebody or something must have happened to it. Was it the work of any of my grand children? Lis (8) and Az (6) love the chick and the birds parent as much as I do. Could it be Irsyad? Could it be his his sister Ayen? Both of them knows the chick was there and I have personally explained to 3 year old Irsyad that we must care and love the chick till it is ready to fly and we will all give the bird a help to fly off. Two and a year old Ayen had lovingly caressed the bird which Irsyad didn't dare touch. No, not anyone of them.

The bent dumbcane plant without the nest.

The nest strewn at the base of the plant.

There were many stray cats or neighbour's cats cat around my house. We didn't keep any pet cat as my wife doesn't like the mess that cat does when it needs to poo or even the foot prints when they came in from the outside of the house when it rained. One of those cats must have pounced on the chick when it was making all those calls to the parents for food.

Wati the maid said she saw the chick on the ground but didn't know that the chick was a special one until we asked her if she had seen any such thing. We looked around the house compound to see if it was still anywhere around. We couldn't find it nor did we find any trace of the bird being cannibalized by anything be it a cat or any other animal of prey.

It definitely couldn't have flown off as the feathers were yet to be fully developed and looking at the frantic calls of the parents we felt something untoward must happenend to the chick. Poor chick and poor parent of the bird. After so much pain and labour they must have felt the lost of a newborn. There doesn't seem to be much difference between them and human parents when it comes to losing precious young ones.

Ever since I saw Pak Idrus of In Passing Malaysian doing a blog on nature featuring the squirrels coming to feed on the fruits left on the balcony of his house in Ampang, I have dreamt of doing the same thing about the birds and the squirrels that make my home their home as well.

As luck would have it, I saw a pair of birds that we local know it as burung kunyit building a nest on the dumbcane plant of my house. The choice of plant itself wasn't a wise decision as the plants are very weak in nature. There are no woody tissue in such a plant and wont be able to last. Another point of contention was the point where the nest was built was on the fronds of the leaf which I doubt could last long enough for the bird to grow up till it was able to fly off. The height of the nest was a mere 3 ft from the ground, too low by any standard. Location wise it wasn't good as it was too close to our main gate and all and sundry would be passing by. The mother when incubating the egg alter will be disturbed and thus the egg may turn rotten. Later on the mother bird will have problems feeding the chick as our presence and constant walking by will make the mother bird fly away thus interupting the feeding of the chick.

The potted dumbcane at the entrance of my house.

The new nest.

I can't blame them because they are mere birds with brain the size of a pea. This was an opportunity that I can never find if I want to do a blog about nature. Nature has presented itself to me at my door.

Several other places has been used by the birds to nest. Even this artificial plant was used. At least it is a far safer place being higher and well sheltered from the weather.

Even this artificial plant on the wall was used to build a nest by the birds.

The old nest.

Another favourite location is this plant which is quite bushy and strong. It is quite exposed to the weather though. There is still sign of an old nest there.

The garden plant the birds used to nest in.

Another old nest in the above plant.

How surprised I was when one day I saw two eggs being laid in the nest. It must have been laid a day each as I doubt any bird could lay two eggs in a day or at one go.At that time there just the three of us in the house, my wife Fatthiyah, me and our 7 months old grand daughter Balkis.

The two eggs laid in the nest.

The bird incubating the egg at night. Only the tail is visible.

When the bird started incubating the eggs, we tried as much as possible not to use the entrance near the bird's nest. Personally I went out of the way to allow it to warm the eggs without interuption unless we can't help it and had to use that very entrance because the car that needed to be used was parked there.

My observation indicated that this pair of bird is a very loyal couple. When one of them is incubating the egg, the other one will be looking for food. I guess the mother did the incubation more.

Silly me as I didn't note with certainty the number of days it took to incubate the egg until they egg was hatched. One of the two eggs did hatch producing a small chick. The bird continue incubating the egg and the hatched chick to keep it warm. I expect the other egg to hatch too but how wrong I was when it didn't. The constant interuptions from us when we passed by must have spoilt the other egg.

What happened was, during the incubation period my eldest daughter came back to deliver her third child. Her other 2 children Lis and Az 8 and 6 yrs old respectively were quite active and noisy when playing around the house. Though I taught them on how to behave when around the nest, as kids of their age, they are often boisterous and thus the incubation process was much interupted. It was lucky that one chick did hatch at all.

A day old chick.

I continue to record the daily progress.

Lis and Az inspecting the chick

The feathers started to grow

Always hungry and wanted to be fed. When the nest is slightly shaken, the chick opened it's mouth wide.The parents came to feed the chick
Feeding the chick





The last picture of the chick before the disturbance. With those feathers, the chick definitely cannot fly off.

My dear friends, I definitely couldnt do much to help the chick. My one desire was to see the chick fly off to continue producing chicks of their own. Could I have done something to help it?