2012 Koh Samui Scenes & Wildlife

Heading north along the west coast we came across this small temple.

Further north we noticed a bit of waste ground with butterflies flying around. Time out to stalk them and get some pictures.

Nymphalidae Wingspan about 80mm. It turned out to just be a number of this species there. As usual in the tropics, butterflies rarely stop in one place for more than a sip of nectar. With a little patience, however, I was lucky to get this picture.

A bit blurred, but this was taken from the hire car, whilst driving back to the hotel in the early evening approaching dusk, so the exposure was slow, and the camera hand-held. However, it shows the main types of conveyances used by businesses to get their workers to and from the places of work. In the Far East, almost everything can be carried on the small motorcycles which abound, and we've seen all sorts of livestock carried on them as well as partners or whole families, from a pig between the driver and passenger to about 30 ducks trussed up and hung by their legs from a frame around the seat. They travelled along head down, but watching the world go by as the owner took them somewhere.

This was an unexpected event for guests, often producing shrieks from some women.

This Mynah Bird, would quietly hop up onto the chair beside you and then climb up on to your lap, looking for food, often un-noticed at first until the person realised that there was something moving just outside their field of attention. The bird was totally without fear, and quite at home climbing all over you.

Once it had got your attention, it would then, if the person was willing, hop onto your arm and wait for some food. A real "in-your-face" approach, although is wasn't noisy nor aggressive about it, just standing patiently until something was offered. There was no move to get on the table, so it was a very polite bird, and only wanted one thing.

Yes! A bit of bread was all it wanted, and once received it would hop down again and often fly off up into the trees close by. It became a source of amusement at lunch-times as we used to watch out for the unsuspecting target's reactions.