Killing trees at our subdivision

Deforestation is a word often used for the mountains or wilderness (referring of course to forests). Unfortunately, there are forms of deforestation even in settled areas. I'm referring here to the cutting of trees in a subdivision. There are many houses under construction where I live and it seems that most contractors and owners prefer the traditional clearing of a lot rather than consider even some of the existing trees to be integrated in the design of the houses. The result is a lot of old trees including Narra, Acacia, Mahogany, Mango and Kaimito trees being cut down. I find it somewhat ironic that these new residents mention one major reason they decided to build a house and reside in our village was the presence of a lot of trees.

What's left of a Narra tree that used to be home to several bird species including kingfishers, swallows and orioles. The neighbor across from the house where the tree was claimed the roots.

What's left of a mahogany tree that we thought would be spared by the contractor of a house under construction.

We also cleared out lot of many trees (mostly ipil-ipil) but integrated the old mango and narra trees in our landscaping. Those have grown and benefited us with fruits, shade and oxygen over the years. I hope others will consider a similar approach rather than just cut down everything and later grow a token garden for their houses.

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Light breakfast at a Shah Alam Starbucks

Our hotel accommodations did not include breakfast. We got a really good deal way before the conference and we thought we can just grab a bite for breakfast nearby. It turned out that there wasn't a lot of breakfast places near the hotel except if you count the usual eateries or restaurants at the ground floor of residential buildings. These are similar to the eateries in Singapore and I am sure the breakfasts there were okay and inexpensive. However, my companions that morning were not as adventurous as I am when it comes to eating at these places so we had to settle for waiting for the nearest Starbucks to open.

Tuna roll and iced apple juice - I already had my hot drink at my room at the hotel so I decided to go for some cold drink instead. The tuna was on the spicy side but I recall it was also like this even in the Philippines so its not a Malaysian thing.

More on meals during our stay in Shah Alam in the next posts.

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Watch strap replacement - Luminox diver 4221

The old silicone strap of my Luminox diver deteriorated and final broke more than a year ago. I replaced it with an ostrich leather strap while keeping the old buckle. I thought I would just get another, generic silicone strap and replace the buckle with the original one. I never got to do that but I'm now glad I didn't as I was able to acquire a suitable replacement strap.

The watch with the replacement strap after I installed the latter.

The replacement strap came with this buckle.

A wrist shot after I replaced the strap.

I can now use this watch for swimming again. It is a nice watch for casual wear. It helps that this is a diver and a hardy model. I acquired this the same time as my Mido Ocean Star. While I thought about unloading this watch a few times, I have always decided to keep it - at least for now.

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