White Angel’s Trumpet
24 Apr 2009 1 Comment
in Poems Tags: Angel's trumpet, Plant, Poem, Writing
Colour of white
An appearance of purity
They are hanging there
Dancing
Rocking
Blown by morning breeze
Brugmansia candida
What a beautiful name
The pretty angel
But beneath its beauty
Something sinister is hidden
Poison is flowing
Dangerous
Deadly…..
Thoughts:
The angel’s trumpet plant on the side of my house is blooming. From my window I can see the large white pendulous bell flowers dance following the rhythm of morning breeze. Who has ever thought that such beautiful flowers contain deadly poison? It is not only the flowers that are poisonous, but every parts of the plant are deadly.
I adore flowers and very often I compare them with human and mostly women. So many flowers out there. They have different look and different traits and personality. So have women. What kind of women portrays the look and characteristics of Brugmansia candida? Pretty on the outside but nasty on the inside…….
Have you known a woman who is sweet and friendly in front of you, but nasty behind you? This type of women enjoys gossips and cruel innuendos. They enjoy talking to everyone. Behind the friendliness, they are vindictive and envious. To get what they want, they will do everything, even if it means hurting other people. They are tricky, deceitful and dishonest.
Oh, pretty Angel’s trumpet blooms, I still see you gently dance out there, blown by the morning breeze………………
Our Garden History
17 Apr 2009 10 Comments
in 4. Seasonal Garden Notes Tags: Garden, Garden History, Plant, Writing
Our house is an old weatherboard house which is well over fifty years old. In the past the garden was very basic with untidy lawn that had several fruit trees such as apple, pear. apricot and plum which was a very common garden style in 1940s. Along the driveway there were five massive trees; a camphor laurel, a soft bark gum tree, an English oak and a twin needle- pine trees on each side of the carport entrance. While the back yard had nothing but an old clothesline and overgrown grass and weeds.
The first project that we did was in the back yard. In 1993 we made a tiny rock garden which nestled in one corner of our small back yard. We bought the rocks somewhere near Werribee. This way we could buy straight from the owner who had dug up the rocks from their property, and it was much cheaper.
The real progress of making the front garden only started in 1998 after we cut all the huge trees along the drive way and most of the diseased old fruit trees. Without these trees the other plants in the garden will enjoy more sunlight and more of the scarce rain water. We made a new garden bed along the footpath. After digging up all the grass, we mixed the existed soil with topsoil and compost. We planted many new plants. Slowly our garden was transformed from a boring suburban garden into a colourful and well trim display of plants and flowers.
Corpse Flower
06 Dec 2008 4 Comments
in 6. Wonderful Plants Tags: Plant, Titan Arum, Unusual, Writing
There are things in life that we never forget. I still remember that time when a corpse flower bloomed in the middle of our sugar-cane field next to our house in Central Java. I remember vividly that day when I was still young. It was a very hot day, my older sister and I, wanted to eat sweet juicy sugarcane. We sent one of the men who worked for our parents to go to the field and cut few of the canes. Our Mom didn’t let us go to the field because sugar-cane leaves are sharp and furry, it could irritate our skin. Not very long, the old man ran back and called us to go with him. He said that we have to see the corpse flower.
There it was, standing big and tall among the sugarcane plants. A strange flower that I had never seen before in my life…. And the smell was nauseating, worse than a dead rat.
What is exactly this strange flower?
Corpse Flower or in Indonesian Bunga Bangkai (bunga = flower, bangkai = corpse) is known botanically by the name of Amorphophallus Titanum or Titan Arum. It is related to calla lili, arum lili and philodendron. This plant was discovered for the first time by an Italian botanist Odoardo Beccari in the island of Sumatra in1878.
Plant Descriptions:
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Plant: 6 meters high (19,d ft)
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Flower: Up to 2.9 meters (12 ft)
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Leaf Canopy: 4.5 wide (14.6 ft)
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Tuber: up to 100 kilograms (220,5 pounds)
This plant has 2 phases of life which occurs one after the other alternately: Vegetative (Dormant) Phase and Generative (Productive) Phase. During the generative phase, a single trunk with large leaves will grow. After a certain time/years, the plant will die off and enters a vegetative (dormant) stage where the giant tuber remains under the ground. If the tuber gets enough nutrition and water combined with right condition, in the next generative phase it will grow a massive flower. After the flower wilted away only after 3 days full bloom, the leaf buds start to grow. The tuber produces only one leaf at a time.
The colour of the flower is somehow mimics the colour of fresh dark red meat. It is always opens during the night and it will increase in temperature. The heat of the flower will cause it to steam and spread the foul rotting flesh smell to attract insect to the flower and help with the pollination. When the pollination occurs, it will produce small red fruits with seeds.
During my childhood many times I saw Titan Arums grew around our large property, but they were only the trunk and the leaves. It was an odd plant that had a soft green trunk with whitish grey irregular mottles. In our childish imagination it resembled a snake so my sister and I nicknamed the plant snake food tree. It was only one time in our life that we saw the flower, and it was on that hot day when we saw it there in the middle of the sugar-cane bush.
Titan Arum Trees at Bonn Botanic Garden
Edit - Thursday July 15, 2010:
I was so surprised that today this old blog is coming up the first on my Top Posts list…. and I also noticed a related post:
Rare, really smelly Sumatran “Corpse Flower” to bloom at Houston museum: http://www.gadling.com/2010/07/13/rare-really-smelly-sumatran-corpse-flower-to-bloom-at-houston?icid=sphere_wpcom_inline/
After reading about the Titan arum that is now blooming in Houston, Texas….. My reaction was “OH NO!” I don’t know if I have to be happy or horrified. They nickname the flower ‘LOIS’. How could this be? I know it is just a coincidence… but Lois is my name not a very smelly flower! He, he, he………
Smelly King Of Fruit
08 Nov 2008 4 Comments
in Nostalgic Food Tags: Durian, King of Fruit, Plant, Unusual Fruit, Writing
Smelly King Of Fruit
Will you eat fruit that taste like heaven, but smells so disgusting? For those that not familiar with this fruit, will think the smell is like over ripe cheese, unwashed stinky socks, or uncollected garbage on a hot day. The odour is overpowering it fills your house in a matter of second. So strong so it is required to be stored in a sealed container during the shipment overseas.
Durian The King Of Fruit (Durio zibethinus)
Widely known as the King of Fruit, Durian (Botanic Name: Durio zibethinus) is unique and exotic. The shape is round to oval; it can be symmetrical or unsymmetrical. It has greenish yellow to light brown in colour. The size is ranging from the size of a cantaloupe to bigger than adult human head. Durian is covered all over by sharp pointy spines, so it needs to be handled with care.
You have to open the fruit carefully along the segmented hard spiky skin (shell). If the fruit is properly ripe it is easier to split the segments. Once the shell is open, it reveals soft light yellow pulp that thickly covers a seed (pip) as big as the tip of our finger to a small egg. The smaller the seed, it is the better, because the pulp will be thicker. It is this aromatic sweet and creamy pulp that we eat. For those who love durian like I do, will describe the fruit as sweet, creamy custard like with a very distinctive and lingering aroma. It is a taste to die for.
The Tree: Durian trees can grow as high as 165 ft (50m), and they are commonly found in South East Asia. The tree will start to bear fruits in 4 years and it is said that if given the right condition, a durian tree will grow practically forever. Once the fruit is ripe, it can easily detach itself off the tree and fall hardly on the ground. So it is better not to sleep under the tree. The large fruit grow straight from the trunk in clusters.
Nutrition Values and Products: Durian fruit contains a high amount of sugar, Vitamin c, potassium, amino acid and is a good source of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. In South East Asia, like in Indonesia, Malaysia or Singapore, people cook durian pulp in coconut milk and palm sugar and serve it together with sticky rice. Also there are various lollies/candies, ice cream, biscuits, cakes and wafers with Durian flavour.
The biggest exporter of durians is Thailand. Although it is seasonal , this exotic king of fruit is available all year around (frozen) in most big cities all over the world, especially in Asian or Chinese food shops. To know if a durian is ripe is by the smell. However if you buy the imported ones usually it is quite good quality. Being kept frozen, it will reduce the aroma, but usually it will not change the taste and the sweetness.
The three of us in my family love durian (especially my son and I). People say either you like it or you hate it. But once you taste it and you like it, you’ll be hooked to the sensational taste the rest of your life. Some people also believe that eating durian will increase body temperature and it is also regarded as aphrodisiac. It is advisable for pregnant women and those suffer from high blood pressure to avoid eating this fruit.
Ikeya Seki Comet
26 Oct 2008 2 Comments
in Poems Tags: Comet, Ikeya Seki, Poem, Writing
Java, late October 1965 and I was 13 years old at the time. That night our father woke us up and told us to go outside to see “lintang kemukus”. It is a Javanese name for a comet. When I looked up, there almost filling across the dark sky was the bright tail of Ikeya Seki Comet. It was so bright and so big that I could see white things floating in it (I’m not sure what they are… could be ice particles or space dust ??). I was standing there with mouth opened wide and my heart beating so fast. Despite the breathtaking beauty, it actually scared me. Was it a message from God? I just felt so humble….
The night after, we checked it again and it was still there as brilliant as before. I heard rumours that the comet was a sign of disaster bound to happen. The old belief said that a comet as bright as that was a sign of bad luck or even the end of the world. The result was that it brought more fear in me. I could not look at it for too long as I started to tremble. (Back in 1965, my knowledge of comets was just about zero. To day we can find any infos as easy as looking at the internet) For many nights it was there until it started to fade and reduced in size and disappeared completely.
Link for another witness of this great comet:
www.home.aone.net.au/~byzantium/comets.html
Facts about Ikeya-Seki Comet:
Source: Wikipedia.
Comet Ikeya-Seki, formally designated C/1965 S1, 1965 VIII, and 1965f, was a comet discovered independently by Kaoru Ikeya and Tsutomu Seki. First observed as a faint telescopic object on September 18, 1965, the first calculations of its orbit suggested that on October 21, it would pass just 450,000 km above the Sun’s surface, and would probably become extremely bright.
Comets can defy all predictions, but Ikeya-Seki performed as expected. As it approached perihelion observers reported that it was clearly visible in the daytime sky next to the Sun. In Japan, where it reached perihelion at local noon, it was seen shining at magnitude −10[1]. It proved to be one of the brightest comets seen in the last thousand years, and is sometimes known as the Great Comet of 1965.
The comet was seen to break into three pieces just before its perihelion passage. The three pieces continued in almost identical orbits, and the comet re-appeared in the morning sky in late October, showing a very bright tail. By early 1966, it had faded from view as it receded into the outer solar system.
Ikeya-Seki was a member of the Kreutz Sungrazers, which are all fragments of a large comet which broke up in 1106. The two largest fragments of Ikeya-Seki, labeled S1-A and S1-B, will return to the inner Solar System in 877 and 1,056 years, respectively.(JPL).
It is also said that at its maximum length, Ikeya-Seki’s tail extended for 70 million miles, ranking it as the fourth largest ever recorded. Only the Great Comets of 1680, 1811 and 1843 had tails stretching farther out into space. While the comet’s head faded rapidly, the tail continued to be visible well into November even as the comet moved rapidly away from the Sun. (Joe Rao)
Ikeya-Seki Comet
Gaping mouths in awe and admiration
Massive, it could be seen through naked eye
Heavenly display very uncommon
Ikeya-Seki comet filled the night sky
Floating in the tail was clear white hue
So vivid, it’s beauty brought dread and fear
In wonder, my young mind raced for a clue
Feeling like in God’s present I shivered
For many nights it appeared before our eyes
Rumours of world’s end was going around
Then it started to fade with no disguise
Life still exists long after it has gone
Other comets are nothing to compare
To October Nineteen Sixty Five’s glare
Poem written by: Lois B
Strange Dancing Lights
02 Oct 2008 7 Comments
in Life Tags: Nature's Wonder, Strange Dancing Lights, Writing
The other day, I found some digital pictures that my son took on December 23, 2005. That night around 11.00PM (Melbourne time, Australia), I went outside to admire the Christmas lights decorations at the front part of our house. They were so bright and colourful. It was a cloudy night without any stars to be seen. Then suddenly when I was gazing towards the north eastern sky I noticed something very strange. There were these small milky white lights moving around in such way that they seemed to dance around. Sometimes it looked like they chased one another. Other time they seemed to spread out and then back closer together again. Then suddenly they seemed to move erratically and then they repeated the previous movements again……
I had never seen anything like this, so I called my husband and son to come out of the house to see this strange display. Then my son decided to capture them with his digital camera. He said that more than likely that nothing would come up because he couldn’t see anything through the camera lenses. This strange phenomenon last about 2 hours before they were reduced in numbers faded and disappeared completely.
Almost immediately, our son uploaded the images from his camera into his computer and to our surprise we saw very strange images.
He captured two different kinds of images. One is the milky white lights like the ones that we saw through naked eyes, and another different one that we didn’t actually see at all.
Images that we did not see, but captured by the digital camera
What are they?
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After we researched many different sources at the internet, there were few different theories to explain the images.Rain or water particles in the sky: Remember that night was cloudy, so it did make sense if the air was full of water particles. They say that a good digital camera sometimes can capture these water particles and the results are as above. The ones that look like glowing discs are water particles that stand still while the white one with the tail is the one that start to fall down.
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Orbs: Orbs are believed (by many) to be ghosts in the form of balls of light. They are life forms that travel in groups and are believed to be the human soul or life force of those that once inhabited a physical body here on earth (www.goststudy.com)
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UFO: Other people still believe that these images are unidentified flying objects or in this case is rather of dancing objects
How to explain what we saw? The most probable scientific explanation about the dancing lights is that there were electrical storm activities far away above the cloud that night.
But if you saw yourself that night you would wonder if electrical storms could actually made such beautiful movements…. The way the lights moved was more like a choreographed dancing. Other thing to wonder was that the movement of those lights was only limited to certain spot of the sky which is about 45 to 50 degrees up the Northeastern sky.
Close up disc-like image 
This image that we actually sawWhat I Hate Most Of Australia
20 Sep 2008 3 Comments
in Life Tags: Australia, Flies, Writing
Why Australian flies are so annoying? When the summer has started to spread the heat and humidity, these damn animals are everywhere. The most annoying to me is the small flies or what people here call the Bush Flies (Musca vetustissima)
Bush flies are small and they breed in cow dungs or just any dung I suppose. If the day is hot and humid, these sneaky little creatures are all over you. Walking along the street during the hot and humid day around Melbourne is not complete without the present of these troublesome flies. Funny if you decide to wear a white or light colour shirt, then they will certainly sit all over your back. I’m not so sure why they are attracted to white or light colour. Or may be because these flies are black in colour, so if they sit on something dark, they won’t be so stand out, and you can’t see them so clearly. It is really amusing to see some one’s wearing a white T-shirt with so many flies hitch hike on his back.
It is strange, many of them seem to just be happy to sit on your white shirted back, but some of them really love your face. Some people say just put Insect repellent cream on. But I can’t stand the smell and the feel of that sticky cream on my skin, even more all over my face. These little flies will sit on your lips, on your nose, near your eyes….If you attempt to do Aussie salutes (to brush away by moving your hand in front of your face) they seem getting more excited and the quicker they will come back. Some even attempt to go into your nostrils or into your mouth when you dare to open it. So don’t try to swear if you don’t want to taste a fly in your mouth. Some people say flies like the taste of our salty sweat, so we provide them with a refreshing drink.
Hitch-hiking Flies
During this warm, humid and sunny weather, if you walk around here in Melbourne, it is a common sight that people will hold a little branch from a tree (most common is off the gum tree). Continuously they will move the leafy branch in front their face to stop the flies sitting on it. One day I even saw a man was walking on the street with a fly swat, or some one was wearing a hat with an orange bag (similar to a net) over his head. But do not attempt to cover your head with a plastic bag, because you can suffocate yourself to death!
Here in Australia you can try to wear a cork hat to get the flies off your face. It is hats with a wide rimm with many corks are hung all round it. I’ve never tried one because I think it looks absolutely ridiculous and I’m not so sure if it will work. One more extreme way is by wearing a hat with a see through net to cover the whole face.
Cork Hat
The second annoying flies are the bigger ones with the name of blowflies (Calliphoridae). They are metallic green and most annoying if they are getting inside the house. They will fly like drunken flies back and forth around the room or around the window and make a loud buzzing noise. However, these flies are easier to control by using insect spray.
Talking about flies, although they are common for dirty germs spreading little animals, they also have some benefits to our environment. Some act as pollinators for some plants and most of them act as waste cleaner. They help nature to get rid of waste such as dungs or dead animals or other rotting matter. But why Australian flies like to sit on our face or back I still can’t understand. I used to live in Indonesia and flies there look similar but they leave us alone. So if some one asks me what is one thing that I don’t like about this Great Southern Land, my straight answer will be the flies……
Rani’s Hero
05 Sep 2008 1 Comment
in Short Story Tags: Rani's Hero, Short Story, Writing
Central Java 1925.
Slender, light olive colour complexion, shiny dark hair. She was a girl of natural youth and beauty. The 18 years old Rani was exuberantly happy that she was able to go home earlier. She helped her parents with their business selling vegetables and fruits in the market. The hustle bustle of the market day had started to reduce.
“Rani, you can go home now because most of the fruits and vegetables have been sold. You need more time to finish the embroidery on your wedding gown,” Rani’s mother said to her only daughter.
Quick and light little steps brought her down the familiar stony path. The wild rose bushes along the road were blooming. The white, pink and red flowers released the sweetest perfume. She stopped and picked some of the flowers, and she was going to put them in her sewing basket where she also kept her unfinished wedding gown. When she was trying to reach up for the flowers, her batik skirt lifted up and showed a shapely ankle. All the way home, her mind was thinking about Surya and about their wedding which would be held in another six months. Just like herself, Surya also helped his parents with the family business. In his early twenties, he was tall, darker skin, and his face was a reflection of strong determination. He travelled from town to town to sell batik clothes and sarongs. Rani remembered that day when he said: “After we are married, you can come with me and we will travel to many places together. I hate to go on my own. It is very comfortable to ride on my new carriage. You’ll enjoy it.”
While thinking about the joy of travelling with the man she loved, it couldn’t be helped that her mind was back to the nagging feeling that started to darken her thought lately. Surya took longer and longer trips in the last few weeks. Usually he was hardly away for more than three days, but lately he went for a week or more before returned home. The last time, he deeply apologized for missing their date to see the shadow puppet show. Rani thought that she should not doubt her fiancé. She had known him all her life because they had grown up together and she trusted him.
For more than 300 years Java, Sumatra and the rest of the Islands around them had been ruled by the Dutch Imperial Government. For many generations life for the local people had been hard. The Dutch made poor farmers do force labours. Educations were only for those in upper class especially for those who helped the Government. Most local products were sent to Europe, to their home land, especially tobacco, sugar and spices. Since the beginning of the occupation, the Dutch Government had faced many rebellions from all over the Islands. However, the struggles were never a united effort. There were too many different ethnic groups and different little kingdoms. Now since 1920, the struggle against the Colonial Government was more organised. The Young Sumatran and the Young Javanese Movements were united. They were recruiting more and more young men to join the fight in the last few years. Surya had been secretly joined this new movement. Just like many other young men, he dreamed that one day Java and the rest of the Islands would be free from the occupation. In the last secret meeting the Young Javanese Movement’s leader told them about a bad news. The Dutch Government had suspected their movements for some time and few of their members had been arrested. Now they were planning to start a guerrilla strategy and it meant that they had to live hiding in the wilderness.
It was not an easy decision for Surya, because he was left to choose between two commitments. It had been an agonizing life for him in the last few weeks. He felt that he had involved himself so much in politics, and it was too late for him to withdraw. He couldn’t imagine what reaction he would receive from Rani and her family. Even his parents condemned the rebels for causing troubles. They thought that it was a waste of young lives. The Dutch had ruled the Islands for too long, so most people couldn’t imagine living differently. However, Surya believed in freedom and better future for the next generations.
When he broke the news about his plan to his parents, her mother cried hysterically. It was a relief when his father gave him the support that he needed.
“Don’t worry about your mother, son,” Surya’s father said, “but you have to explain to Rani and her family. Tell them that your future will be uncertain. No body can tell how long you’ll be away and when it will end. There is no doubt that you can be arrested or God forbids that you may loose your life. The point is that you can’t tell her to wait for you. Either you drop your crazy plan or you tell her that she is free to marry some one else.”
After giving it the last thought, Surya did exactly like his father had told him to do.
It had been more than a month since Surya left to join the freedom movement. No one would know where he was. He had promised to send secret messages to his parents to tell where he was about. So far they heard nothing about him. He could be somewhere on the rugged terrains of Merbabu or Merapi Mountains, or he might be among the tall teak trees in Roban Forest. Rani felt that she was cheated, abandoned and unloved. “How could he be so cold after all the promises that he gave her?” she kept on asking her self the same question. Friends and families gave her supports by saying: “You have to be proud of him because he is fighting for freedom so the next generation can decide their own future, to have good education and to enjoy our land’s resources.”
The sharp afternoon sun blinded Rani’s tearful eyes. She felt like being drifted into uncertainty. She felt powerless. It was hard to accept that she should be proud of him and that he should be her hero. The cheerful laughter of the children who were playing and singing in the courtyard seemed to drawn her spirit deeper in desperation. It was almost the end of a long dry season, and the Mahogany trees started to shed their leaves. The gentle win blew them off the branches and lazily they drifted away taking with them her dream of happiness.
It was the end of August 1945. Indonesia was only a few weeks old since the Independence Day on the 17th of August. The Dutch Colonial occupation was ended in 1942 and the Japanese Empire took over. During the World War II, the situation was even worse than before. The brutality of the soldiers of the Land of the Rising Sun was unimaginable. Many people were left without food and they suffered from beriberi. When the Allied Force dropped the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and followed by the defeat of the Nazi and Japan, there was a void of government in Java and the surrounding Islands. In the middle of the chaotic time, some young freedom activists Sukarno and Hatta took the advantage of the situation and proclaimed an independent for a brand new country that was called Indonesia.
Rani just received exciting news from Surya’s family that he was safe and well after all this time. For more than fifteen years he had been in and out of jails, and in the last five years he had been put into exile in Surinam by the Dutch. Now after the independent, the Dutch had to release him and he would be home in a few weeks.
All this time, Rani had learnt to accept Surya’s decision. She vowed that she would never marry another man despite her parents’ persuasions and the embarrassment of becoming an old maid. She decided to help her people by teaching young girls useful skills like cooking, housekeeping, sewing and embroidery. She fought the oppression of the Dutch in a different way.
Once again, after all these years, she started to think about finishing the embroidery on her wedding gown which was still neatly folded in her large sewing basket. Her patience and faith to wait for her love one had been worthwhile. This time, she could feel the sunrays warmed her feeling and brightened her new found dream. Once again the delightful fragrance of the white jasmine and muraya flowers in her garden captivated her soul. Her heart was aching for the thought to see Surya again after the long, long wait.
The White Javan Tiger
28 Aug 2008 2 Comments
in Short Story Tags: Short Story, The White Javan Tiger, Writing
Specially written for a precious wild animal.
The rugged terrain of the dense tropical rain forest is rough and dark. Giant banyan trees dominate the scene with their big gnarled, clawed like roots. The undergrowths are intermingled with the dangling air roots of the majestic trees. Almost impenetrable by sunlight, the leaf debris covered ground is constantly moist.
She is half awake, but not so sure if it is a reality or a dream. The sweet and sensual earthy scent is filling the cool and pleasant air. Mysteriously, she feels it is timeless. Is it morning, day or night? The rustling of millions of leaves above whisper to her and assure her that it is a place where time refuses to exist.
So vivid is the reality of her new existence and surrounding, so that the memories of her other life, her parents, her friends, the university seem like a very distant memories.
She hears something is approaching, a quiet and calculating steps. She rubs her eyes to try to see the shadowy shape. Is it a tiger? She opens her eyes wider in order to see clearer. A big white tiger, and instinctively she knows it was a beautiful white Javan tiger. She is not afraid; the tiger is telepathically telling her not to be afraid. She blinks her eyes and as if in a dream, suddenly there kneeling in front of her is a young man. Strong lean muscles encase the obviously tall shapely body. She is not sure if he is really a man or a tiger. The two images flash one after another….
“Hello, I’m Tiger,” he said with a broad smile. “You are very beautiful, Kiyanti”
Gently he runs his long fingers on her hip length shimmering black hair.
As if hypnotized, she just lets him do that. He starts to caress her cheeks and the side of her neck. In total surrender, she feels the ecstasy of his touch. Very gently he peels away her white khaki shirt, her jeans and the rest. He pushes her slowly to the cool ground, on a bed of thick bed of jungle leaves.
Kiyanti feels his gentle kisses all over her face and body. In between the passion, she can see the flashback of a youthful masculine face and a white tiger face coming one after another. She feels his tongue is so smooth and moist, but deep down she also feels the roughness of a tiger tongue kisses.
She is drifted into the joy of love….away and away deeper into a world that is timeless. Her consciousness is devoted totally for her new lover, the white Javan tiger man.
It has been more than a year since the local newspaper printed a headline about Kiyanti, a university student who was reportedly missing during an expedition somewhere in the middle of rain forest in Java and never be found again.
Fact about Javan tiger (From Tigerhomes.org)
It is so tragic that the over populated island of Java has lost it’s once flourished population of tigers.
The Javan tiger, Panthera tigris sondaica, formerly ranged on the Indonesian island of Java and was last seen in 1972 and has become extinct in the last 30 years. Three tiger subspecies have been declared to be extinct in the past 70 years, the Bali, Caspian and Javan tigers.
Scientific Name: Panthera tigris sondaica
Range: Indonesian Island of Java
Average Weight:
Female: 75-115kg (165 – 253 pounds)
Male: 100-141kg (220 – 310 pounds)
Size (Length):
Female: Unknown
Male: 2480mm (8′-3″)
Diet: All tigers are carnivorous. Tiger prey consists mostly of pigs, deer, antelope, buffalo and other large mammals, although tigers have been known to hunt smaller mammals and birds.
Gestation Period: 100-100 Days (Averaging 103 Days)
Cub Maturity: 18 months – 2 Years
Cubs Per Litter: (Usually 2-3 cubs) Cubs are born blind and weigh 2-3 pounds.
Lifespan: Tigers live for 10-15 Years
Predators: Unknown, Man
Social Structure: Solitary (except during Mating Season)
Territory Size: Unknown. Today tigers occur in parts of India, Manchuria, China, Indonesia and Russia (Siberia).
Conservation Status: Extinct since the 1970′s.
Note: In Java and the surrounding island there are many legend about a tiger that can change itself into a man, or locally known as: harimau jadi-jadian. The legend and a special friend inspired me to write this short story.
