Malta's post election chaos!

Once every four years Malta's tensions, stress and emotions reaches exploding point as the general elections are held. Every four years the country becomes divided as each party whips the Maltese citizens into a frenzy through billboard advertising, TV ads, TV talk shows and mass meeting. Finally there is a semblance of quiet as the candidates end their campaign in the run-up to voting day. Finally the day arrives, where every Maltese citizen votes, and I mean every Maltese citizen, whether they are able to or not! If you live in Malta and are Maltese you vote. If you live outside of Malta the government flies you back to Malta to vote (within Europe). The healthy vote, and the sick vote. My grandfather, bless his soul, was taken to vote, and he's pretty much bed-ridden with cancer and dementia. Although to be fair, his dementia did not stop him from knowing who to vote for, the same party he has voted for since he was first allowed to vote, and his wish ended up coming true.

Oh, I mentioned that the government flies Maltese back to Malta to vote, well, that's me. I live in the UK but whenever there is a general election, council election, or referendum I pay a nominal amount, hop on an Air Malta plane and go do my duty as a Maltese person. I love it!

So, how does voting in Malta work and whom are the candidates? In short (as I certainly don't want to put you, the reader, to sleep) Malta uses the Single Transferable Vote system (STV). There are only two countries in the world that uses this system, The Republic of Ireland and Malta. This system, which was invented in the 19th century, is apparently regarded as one of the fairest ways to translate the wishes of the voters into parliamentary seats for candidates and parties. Unlike the UK and USA, for example, which uses a first-past-the-post system, Maltese voters are asked to numerically rank candidates on a ballot, and may choose candidates from different political parties.  There are three main parties in Malta: Nationalists (PN), Labour(PL), and Democratic Alternative (AD), plus the odd independent here and there.


And Malta's 2013 overall party winner with the most seats obtained in parliament is... (drumroll)... The Malta Labour Party! And this is where the chaos begins!

For two to three days after the election winners are announced Malta transforms itself into one huge party, with loud and noisy carcades. No shops open, and most Maltese are given a day off on the Monday, mainly cause it's impossible to get around Malta without getting stuck behind a carcade. So of course I just had to see all the action and tried to get some photos that captures the sheer emotional charge of the island.

Photos below were taken as I was walking from Gzira to Sliema.

 

 

 So, after careful observation of the revellers (me sat at a lovely bar/cafe with a glass of white wine in the sun... ah such hardship), I've come to the conclusion that there are three different types. The most common are those that decorate a massive truck then all pile onto it with loud music, beer, and bad dancing moves.

And here come the bad dance moves...

The second type of revellers are those that have foregone the pleasures of riding on the trucks and instead either hang their bodies outside their cars or stand/sit on top of their cars. For some the dedication to the victory of their party is such that they have spray painted their cars in the party colours and couldn't care less about the dents they're making on their lovely cars.

And finally the third type of reveller are those that take their life into their own hands by happily walking in the middle of the road not caring whether they get run over or not. Of course, their party won and that makes them invulnerable!

For me though, it's the slogans painted along the trucks and cars that amuse me.

So there you have it, Malta's post-election fervour. Four days after the elections things are finally winding down in Malta, business is back to usual and the trucks and cars are back to being used for normal, everyday reasons. Election talk has now come off the street and is confined to private homes and television. The Maltese have laughed, cried, and vented their emotions, that is until the next election!

On another note...

Unfortunately my good intentions of keeping up this blog went way south after I left Malaysia. I blame work! However I still want to finish off my Malaysia posts, mostly because I see my blog both as a diary for myself and to show my friends and family what I've been up to. Hopefully it won't be half a year before my next post though. Happy reading :-)

Gunung Mulu - Day 3

After a fretful night's sleep I woke up at 5:30 am wondering how the day will pan out. Lucy, our guide, explained to us after dinner the previous night what to expect when walking up to view the pinnacles. Statistically speaking the pinnacles walk is only 2.4km long but it rises to a height of about 1,200m. In reality walking up the pinnacles path was like walking up Snowdon or Ben Nevis in a Swedish sauna, only it's a lot steeper! For the first 1000m or so the path angle is about 45°, shortly after this the steepness of the path angle increases to 60°, 80°, and finally about 90° in some places. The really steep bits were the last 400 odd metres or so and the climb is assisted by ropes and ladders.

Dad at the start of the walk.

So after breakfast we set off to conquer the pinnacles walk. In my group there was me and my dad, and a lovely dutch couple, Ronald and Mavis, along with Lucy of course. The first 200m were nice and flat before we encountered our first rope-assisted ascent (although got to admit I didn't think it really needed a rope). After that it was just sheer determination and strength of mind to keep placing one foot in front of the other. Now, I know this is not very lady-like to say but I have never sweated so much in my entire life! I just kept myself focused and made sure I kept a steady pace upwards. The checkpoint was half-way at 1,200m. If we didn't reach this checkpoint by 11am we would have to turn back as we would not have made it up to the top and back before dark. Luckily dad and I reached this point by about 8:45am or so. By now I had warmed up properly (my muscles that is) and felt quite strong and confident about the rest of the climb.

At the half-way mark.

 At the 2km mark the first of the ladders appeared. Got to say that this was easily my favourite bit. Most of this last section was essentially moderate to hard scrambling, if you didn't use the ropes that is. Being an avid climber I decided to use to minimise rope and ladder use. At 9:50am I finally reached the top and was greeted by the amazing view of the pinnacles. It took me 3 hours to climb to the top and as the average was 4 hours I felt I had done fairly well. Dad, on the other hand, took him about half hour more to reach the top because, wait for it, he had to sew his shoes back together! Yup, ya heard me right! Back in Miri, before we flew to Mulu, at the supermarket dad commented that he had to buy some glue for his shoes. OK, I thought, it's probably just a small bit that's come undone. Nope, practically the soles of both shoes were almost off. When we got to the resort in Miri dad realised that the glue did not hold on his shoes. So what does he do, he gets some of his kite surfing line and sews the soles together! You would think that he has no money to spend.

  

 Once we reached the top all I could do is stare and say wow! The pinnacles are spectacular. The pinnacles are a collection of approximately 45m high limestone needles that cling to the side of Gunung Api (Fire Mountain). They are formed by the erosion of surrounding ground leaving behind these hard limestone features. They were definitely worth the climb.




The Pinnacles.

 Posing for photos.

 

 The whole group.

Alas this is not the end of the story. Going up was tough, coming down was even tougher! It wasn't the first 400m, descending down the ladders that was tough. Nor was it the next 1000m, although it wasn't a walk in the park. Nope, it was the final 1000m that really did me in. The stairmaster has nothing on the pinnacle trek, it was hot, tedious, painful on the knees, and by the end of it I had the wobbliest legs around. When I got to the camp it took all my willpower not to just walk straight into the river and cool off, clothes, bag and all! However I'm still pleased to say it took me 3 hours to walk down when the average is again 4 hours. I must admit I was so pleased that not only where my fitness fears unfounded but I did much better than I thought I would. As for dad's shoes, they now have a final resting place at Camp 5!

Gunung Mulu - Day 2

We had an early start to the day as we were travelling up river by longboat to the start of the walk to Camp 5, visiting a couple caves and a settlement along the way. Camp 5 would be our base for the next couple of nights whilst we climbed the pinnacles.

The river levels were particularly low due to lack of rainfall - dry season is May to September. This meant that we had to get out of the boat and push at times, which was hard work! Although the river did cool you down quite a bit. For me, I just was happy to be on a boat in the jungle, feeling like some Victorian scientist/adventurer off to discover the dark depths of the jungle. OK, I have a vivid imagination! :-D

Views down the river from the boat.

 

First stop was to Batu Bungan Penan Settlement to observe the tribal lifestyle of the Penan community. The Penan tribe were traditionally nomadic, and some still are, but most of the 10,000-12,000 Penan now live in settled community whilst still relying on the forest for their existence. I must admit I did feel a bit uncomfortable walking through the settlement, after all this was their home being put up for show. However they did have a small market of homemade goods for sale where all the proceeds went directly to the person selling the goods, and after talking to our guide Lucy, I realised how dependent the Penan settlers are on this income. Also some of the items they made were spectacular. I sorely regret not buying a large reed mat as the quality of the workmanship was really good. Instead I bought a necklace made out of these seeds from a rainforest plant, which dry really hard and a lovely shade of gray, with the pendant-part being a large, split seed. According to tradition this necklace is put around babies as it was believed that babies are able to see the spirit world and thus the necklace protected them from the spirits.

One of the locals washing in the river.

After the settlement we carried on upriver to to Wind Cave and Clearwater Cave. Again, these caves were as wonderful as the previous ones. The rock formations were amazing, and walking through the caves made you feel like you were in a completely different world. Lots of photos below, couldn't resist...


This reminded me of a mushroom cloud.

Clearwater cave from the entrance.

Monophyllaea pendula (meaning single leaf) growing above Clearwater cave. This particular species is only found here at the cave entrance.

Inside either Clearwater Cave or Wind cave (can't quite remember which is which).

 Erosion of rock inside the cave caused by cyanobacteria.

The rock formation that gave Lady Cave its name.

Another shot inside either Clearwater or Wind cave. 

Once we finished the cave tours it was another half hour boat ride (plus pushing) to get to the start of the 8km walk into Camp 5. It was a very pleasant and level walk which I thoroughly enjoyed, until I got stung by a sweat bee! No idea what species it was and don't really care cause the bloody thing hurt! Sweat bee's, like their name, are attracted to sweat and obviously will sting if disturbed. Camp 5 had an abundance of these bees, which meant we had to wash all our clothes regularly in the river to remove the sweat. This prevented the bees from becoming too attached to the sweaty clothing and laying eggs in them (as it was mating season of course). The upside to all this was the plunge pool at the river. Pure heaven! Unfortunately I don't have a photo of the pool as I was far too busy swimming and playing in the river rapids! Got to get my priorities right after all! Camp 5 was very basic but, for me at least, surprisingly comfortable. The beds were dorm-style with shallow canvas-covered mattresses were we hung our mosquito nets over. By now we were all pretty tired and after dinner we went to bed soon after as we had an early 5:30am wake-up call for breakfast at 6am and a start to the walk at 6:30am. I must admit I was pretty apprehensive about the climb and my fitness levels and I hoped that I would be able to keep up and reach the top, especially as Lucy told us that if we did not reach a certain point by a certain time we would not be allowed to continue and would have to turn back. With that in mind I fell into a something that resembled sleep.

Swing bridge on the walk into Camp 5.

Gunung Mulu - Day 1

Remember that part in BBC's Planet Earth where the cameraman had to wade through thick, steaming piles of bat shit and cockroaches in a dark cave? Well, that's where I was going! And I don't think I've ever been so excited to see piles of shit, literally! Dad and I were booked on a 4 day, 3 night tour at the world heritage site Gunung Mulu National Park, and I couldn't wait (and neither could dad wait to stick his foot in the shit either... see later in the story).

The flight to Mulu from Miri was a relatively short 40min, flying over the rainforest and jungle of Borneo, watching rivers lazily snake their way through the rainforest, with a few oxbow lakes (A-level geography coming into play here). I was squealing with excitement all the way throughout the flight, still couldn't believe that I was going to the jungles of Borneo, one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems on Earth. The Borneo rainforest is one of the only place in southeast Asia where tropical rainforests can be conserved on a grand scale. This rainforest is one of the oldest rainforest in the world, some 130 million years old. As for the flora and fauna, the stats are enough to leave you gobsmacked. There are about 15,000 species of flowering plants alone, not to mention the trees, ferns, mammals, birds, etc. And scientists haven't even finished discovering all the species! Suffice to say, Borneo's rainforest is a mecca for ecologists.

Once at the lodge we met up with our guide, Lucy, a Mulu native from the Berwan tribe. Our first trip out was to the Deer and Lang caves to see the bats flying out at dusk. Deer Cave contains the world's largest cave passage open to tourists, over 2km in length and 174m in height. Apparently it can hold London St. Paul's Cathedral five times over! It is also home to swiftlets and several millions of bats (naked, wrinkle-lipped, and horseshoe bats), plus lots of other creepy crawlies.

Swiftlet in a nest - the nest (made of the swiftlet's saliva) is what is used in the famous bird's nest soup.

One of the Deer Cave bats, although no idea which species it is.

To reach the bats we had an easy 3km walk along a boardwalk from the park headquarters. This was like an introduction to the Borneo jungle. I managed to take photos of some interesting flora and fauna unfortunately most of them came out blurred :-( mainly due to using a telephoto lens on a bouncy boardwalk with no tripod. However here are a few photos of what we saw along the way.

Random lizard.

Male millipede being carried by the female (bloody males, even in the insect world!). Apparently though it's the male millipede's way of relaxing the female to convince her to mate.

Part of a fern that is edible and tastes rather nice, the locals stir fry it with different oils and spices.

I managed to see the Borneo Pygmy Squirrel but unfortunately I didn't have my zoom lens set up on my camera so I didn't manage to get a clear picture of it. Here's the best pic I got of it. Oh, and they are sooooo cute! It is only one of the smallest squirrel around and endemic to Borneo. I really had to resist the urge to bring one back with me.


Below are some pics of interesting plants. The one on the bottom is fresh pepper.

 

 

 

The highlight of the excursion was, of course, the caves. We started at Lang Cave, with its beautiful stalactite and stalagmite formations, scalloping and karst formations before moving onto Deer Cave. These formations, as well as the caves, are formed by high volumes of rainfall and subterranean rivers eroding away the limestone of the area. Essentially Mulu has the largest cave chamber (Sarawak chamber), largest cave by volume (Deer cave), larges passages (Deer cave), and in the top ten longest cave (Dear cave linking with Lang cave and the Clearwater system). Nowhere in the world are so many large features so visible and accessible.

Another organism of interest we saw at Lang Cave was the cave glow worm. As the worm is very slow moving it secretes silk tendrils (snares) covered with mucus as traps for flying insects. Each worm can secrete up to about 30 snares, forming a beautiful, artistic picture, especially when light is shone on the snares. Unfortunately my photos below do not do the worms justice.

 

You knew when you were approaching Deer cave from the acrid smell that emerged due to the large amounts of bat poo (i.e. guano) deposited in the cave. Well, a million or so bats will produce lots of shi... err, I mean guano! Not forgetting all the swiftlets in there. Actually the bat guano plays an important part in the whole cave foodweb. Due to lack of light in the cave all the insects depend upon the organic richness present in the guano. Oh yeah, and before I forget, dad managed to sink ankle deep into the guano! Hehe, obviously he wanted to to get up close and personal to some bat poo :-)

Some photos of Deer cave below. Apologies for placing the photos below each other, haven't quite figured out the html code on how to place the photos side by side and have already spent enough time googling it and trying to figure it out. What I couldn't manage to photo were the huge mound of bat guano, some mounds at least 10m high! Although not as high as the 100m filmed for Planet Earth at Gomantong Caves in Sabah. I really wanted to try and get a picture record of the guano and all the insects (including cockroaches) found in the guano.

 

However, despite the beauty of the cave, the piece de resistance was watching the bats fly out of the cave at dusk. Thousands upon thousands of bats exit Deer cave at dusk to go forage for food before returning at dawn. For me this was particularly exciting as I normally help out the terrestrial ecologists at work with bat surveys back in the UK, including emergence surveys. I normally get excited seeing three or four bats emerge from a farm building during my surveys, let alone thousands! Sat in the bat-watching mini-amphitheatre I couldn't help feeling like a little excited kid. And when the bats finally emerged, all I could say is wow! A couple thousand bats emerged at each wave, flying out of the cave entrance and up the sheer cliffside before flying towards the jungle in a neat corkscrew fashion. This went on for at least half an hour before the number of bats finally started dwindling.

Obviously I took far too many photos, all of them pretty much looking the same, and turning into a pain in my neck to sort them all out. Hopefully the photos below convey the sheer amount and beauty of the merging bats.

The cave entrance and where the majority of the bats flew out of.

The corkscrew path that each wave of bats took as they flew across the sky towards the jungle.

An alternative bat formation to that of the corkscrew.

A close up of the sheer numbers of bats that emerge each evening.

All in all Day 1 at Mulu proved to be all I hoped for an more, and I couldn't wait for what the next day had in store for us. Finally, to finish off a few photos for the family and one cheeky toad!

All hot and sticky before the start of the walk.

 

Walking along the boardwalk with our guide Lucy.

Dad trying to get phone signal at our resort room.

Found this little guy calling his heart out on the walk back to the resort from the caves. I believe he's Ingerophrynus divergens but please do correct me if I'm wrong.