Anyway, my last outstation trip, which was to Sandakan Bay, was a pretty fun trip... it almost felt like a holiday more than a working trip. And we were there while an actual audit was being conducted on some of our estates and mill... so I think I supposed to be quite stressed out trying to ensure they passed the audit, but it was quite smooth sailing. I'd been for another audit before, which was conducted by SIRIM at Tawau... that was a bit stressful coz' those auditors would nitpick on the smallest details that no one in their right mind would notice as an issue. This time at Sandakan Bay though, the audit was conducted by another certification body called BSI, and the auditors were an Australian married couple named Charlie and Robyn Ross and an Indonesian named Iman, and though their audit was also quite thorough, they were not as stringent on checking details as the SIRIM auditors were. And they were also very nice people to talk to, so it was actually quite an enjoyable audit process.
They also brought along two interpreters from Lahad Datu, James and Noryati, who were pretty much just along for the ride coz' they only had 'work' when the auditors talked to the workers or villagers. The rest of the time when they are in an office and the Aussie couple are looking through documentation, these two sit around and do nothing... so I got to chat with them quite a bit and in no time, we were all pretty buddy buddy. The 3 of us would be the crazy ones to want to stand at the back of the pickup truck whenever we had to go somewhere... just so we can enjoy the wind and the thrill of hanging onto the truck for dear life on the bumpy estate roads. Seriously, after a couple of extremely bumpy estate rides, I think the Motion Master at Genting Highlands would just put me to sleep.
On the last day of the audit, the auditors gave the good news that the estates passed the audit, so the estate managers had a celebration at one of the clubhouses that night... complete with good food, a pool table, and a karaoke session! Of course, I couldn't resist a go at the karaoke, and after a while everyone else just sat back and let me, James, Noryati and one of the managers do all the karaoke-ing... apparently we were quite entertaining. :P Here's the evidence of me and the two interpreters hogging the karaoke machine...
And this is a pic of the Aussie couple, Charlie and Robyn Ross, on the boat as we headed back from the estate the next day.
I find it quite fascinating that they can be married and still work together so well. Would be pretty cool if I could meet a guy who I can work with on the job... then I won't have to deal with being away from him so much when I outstation. And I'd have someone to watch my back when I'm doing nutty stuff like chasing down monitor lizards for a good photo. Or I would be taking photos of him chasing down monitor lizards. Though on the other hand, if I'm around him TOO much and we get into disagreements, I can't avoid him if I'm working with him, so I may end up starting to have murderous intentions. Plus he would have to be a Christian. Plus he would have to fulfill all my other less important but still significant criteria. Plus he'd have to like me too, and I'd also have to meet whatever ridiculous criteria he has for a girl. Hmm... I'd probably have better luck finding kangaroos living in a mangrove swamp in Antarctica.Right, enough fantasizing about non-existent species then. Of course, as on all my trips, I was quite camera-happy in Sandakan Bay, and in addition to indulging in my usual flower fetish, I also took quite a few pics of some rather interesting bugs. And to make this boring post a bit more interesting, I'm going to play a fun game called.... (insert corny game show host voice here) "GUESS THE INVERTEBRATE!!!"
Today on "Guess the Invertebrate", we'll start off easy with this little fella, here, who's fallen and can't get up.
This invertebrate is glossy black in colour, is about 15 mm in length and is a member of the order Coleptera. Can YOU guess the invertebrate?If you guessed it's a BEETLE, you would be just about as smart as anyone else coz' any doofus could guess that it's a beetle. Also, beetles make up 40% of the animal kingdom, so you would have a 2 out of 5 chance of being correct. The more accurate answer would be that this is a Black Beetle, or more scientifically known as Heteronychus arator.
It looked a bit more happy after I flipped it over.... Now... (still maintaining corny game show host voice) our second invertebrate of the day is a tad bit more difficult to guess.
This cute little larvae lives in a self-made casing made out of gravel, sand, twigs and whatever other junk they can find. Usually aquatic, it is rather unusual to see these creatures crawling around on a machine at a palm oil mill.... but nevertheless it does happen, as I can personally attest to. Can YOU.... guess... the... invertebrate???If you have completely no idea, I can't blame you coz' I wouldn't have known either if not for the fact that I used to do research work in entomology. So I can make a pretty safe guess that this is a member of the order Trichoptera... otherwise known in layman's terms as Caddisflies. Simply put, when this little bugger grows up, it'll look something like a moth. And NOWS... you knows!
Finally (STILL maintaining corny game show host voice), for our last invertebrate for today, we have this fascinating looking little creature to boggle your brains!
This funny looking thing is only about 1.5cm in length, has a shell like a snail and can be found crawling around on bathroom floors... occasionally also in toilet bowls. Very unfortunate for them when I have to flush. It also appears to have eyes on protrusions on it's head.So, can YOU... guess... the... invertebrate??? If you can... please tell me the answer coz' I have NO friggin' idea what it is either. :P
And that's all for today's episode of "Guess the Invertebrate!", so I'm dropping the corny game show host voice now... Of course, there was is no lack of other fascinating invertebrates I caught on camera, such as the following dragonflies.
Fortunately my uni friend, Yong, is able to identify dragonflies, so he was able to tell me that these three are Lathrecista asiatica, Neurothemis terminata and third one is *likely* to be Onychothemis coccinea or a female of some species. Yes, I won't remember the names either. No need to hurt your brains. Just look at the pictures and go "Oooohh... preeeetty..."I also got acquainted with the neighbourhood millipedes...
Isn't that just the cutest little bugger face you've ever seen? :) And look, they know the phone number you need to call in case of emergencies!
And then there are the cute looking snails...
And spiders...
And kids...
Oh yeah, they're not invertebrates... but they can still BUG the heck out of you (insert lame joke laughter here). These are a couple of kids who lives one of the kampung areas near the estate. They were just too cute to resist taking a couple of pics. :)Well, my long stint at office ends tomorrow as I head out for another trip to Malacca and Negeri Sembilan. Need to whip those estates into shape in time for another audit... by SIRIM unfortunately, not BSI. Ugh.
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