Deepavali Valthukkal (Happy Deepavali) to everyone celebrating Deepavali, especially to the Indian community in Malaysia.

Although it is not a public holiday in Sarawak, this decoration of the cat statue tells us that there is a festival.  Previous year, I did not notice that this cat was decorated in Deepavali Style, and I didn’t even know when Deepavali was.

This is the first time we notice that the big white cat statue in Kuching is decorated with Indian costume for Deepavali.  We do not want to miss the chance to take photos with it of course.

SiewPeng and I with the Deepavali cat.

We put our hands together and say, “Deepavali Valthukkal”.

Look at the cat, it has a red dot on its forehead, and we have that too.  :P

The cat is wearing an flower amulet.

It is wearing  purple costume too, I am not sure what this costume is.  It looks like scarf, it also looks like Sari.  Tell me what it is if you know.

The decoration can be improved, but it is better than nothing.

The population of Indian is not high in East Malaysia, I do not have any Indian friends in Kuching too.  That’s why I do not know much about the Indian Culture.  I only know that Deepavali is also called Dewali recently.  I hope that you can tell me what the yellow cuttings hanging on the string are.

Again, we wish everyone who celebrates Deepavali, Deepavali Valthukkal.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I hope we did not miss any festival with the Kuching most famous big white cat statue.

1.  Chinese New Year 2009
2.  Gawai 2009
3.  Hari Raya 2009
4.  Christmas 2009
5.  Chinese NewYear 2010
6.  Gawai 2010
7.  Kuching Festival 2010
8.  Hari Raya 2010
9.  Deepavali 2010 (this post)

Yes, we have taken photos with this cat for 9 times.  :D

These were the food packages we found on the beach.  :(

Why must it happen?  Why human being keep on hurting the Mother nature?

They are plastic and not biodegradable (it might lasts for centuries) , and might be dangerous to the living being in the sea and on the beach.  The fish might be choked if they accidentally eat them.

These food packages might turn into archaeological artifact hundreds or thousands years later where people put them in auction, collect them, and invest in them etc.  They can be found in museum too.

Funny right?  … … … …It is not funny.

It won’t be the case because our Earth is poorly sick now, and I can’t imagine what would have happen to the Earth by that time.

Besides it hurts our Earth, it also make the place look ugly.

It is not difficult to put them into the rubbish bin.

I guest this package has older age than the others.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Parents always love their children.  So, please do not liter and destroy the Earth and give your next generation a good environment for living.  By doing this, you show a good example to your children as well.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

We did not see many seashells even during the low tide at Pantai Puteri, Santubong.  However, we managed to find some at the dry area of the muddy beach.

To keep them in natural look, I did not even touch them.

Look at the sand on the long-shaped seashell above.  I guess some photographer might pick it up and clean the sand on the shell before taking the photos.

We have seen a lot of photographer do this while shooting in parks.  They moved their target insects to another place for better background and lighting.

Sometimes, we need to get a balanced point between natural look and beautiful look.  There is no right or wrong in the methods used.

These seashells might be the most common seashells on Earth, and you may asked why I put it here.

Well, I have not seen a seashell for long time, and seldom have time to go to the beach.  Now, I can come to this page and look at them anytime I want.

I prefer to see seashell lying on the beach with a bit of sand attached to it, rather than a dried and cleaned seashell in a displayed collection with glass box.

Flower, seed and fruit can be found on the beach.  Sometimes they can travel for a long distance to have a new generation at a new place.

This picture tells us that our lives and our beauty are short.  Within a short time, these dried leaves will turn into soil and fertilize the beach.

Natural things do not necessary have good looks, but they have hidden beauty as they perform their roles such as generate oxygen, as a food to animals and keep the Earth ecologically balanced.

The message we want to bring to you in this post is :  Take nothing but only photos.

Coming up next:  Leave nothing but only foot prints.

These were the mini crabs at Pantai Puteri, Santubong.  They were really tiny.  Their sizes could be as small as a finger tip to not more that a palm size.

Beware, did you see a white pair of eyes looking at you?

When I was a child, my parents and relatives brought us (my brothers, sister and cousins) here, sometimes our grandparents followed as well.  At that time, from the adults, I learned that this type of mini crabs are called “MaQi” in Hakka, but until now I am not sure about their english / scientific name.  If you know please tell me.

As I said earlier, they are the best artists on the beach.  Look at their houses and the decorations next to their houses.

Big house for big mini crab, small house for small mini crab.

This is a shy mini crab.

Some of the mini crabs can even stay in small shells.  From the day they enter the empty shells, they carry the shells where ever they go.

It might be heavier to move, but it provides extra protection and shelter.

Big sand balls are done by bigger crabs, small sand balls are done by smaller crabs, agree?

Doesn’t it look like a crab-style castle?

Lets continue to have a closer look at the beach on Pantai Puteri, Santubong Sarawak.

There were countless of tiny sand balls and holes on the beach.  These holes were the houses for the mini white semi-transparent crabs.  I am not sure about its name, but in Hakka (a dialect in Chinese), we called it “MaQi“.

The mini crabs say, “We are tiny but we are great artists, we can cover a wide area of the beach with our housing estate.”

They left their foot prints in snowflakes shapes.

They dig holes on the beach, and they make the sand that they have dug in tiny ball shape and put it outside their houses in artistic shapes.

I also noticed that, some of them did not make the sand into ball shape but into cube shape.

First I thought these were foot prints, but look carefully, the waste of the carvings is next to the pattern, therefore they were definitely not foot prints.

This wave shape was not made by crabs, but by the sea water and the waves since centuries ago.

Some crabs are living here too, and what they dig out is muddy.  As you can see it is a bit grayish near the crab’s house.

We stepped on this area, and our feet sank into the mud for about 10 cm.

The beach said, “I am muddy, but I am beautiful.”

One of our foot prints.

Other visitors have also left their foot prints as well.

Many things in the Mother nature are considered natural, but might not be artistic; humans think that their creations are artistic, but they might not be natural.