A (kinda) Different Mothers' Day Picnic

Scene 1: Bedroom
Time: 6.00am
Date: 8 May 2011

Mama: Angelina, wake up sleepy head...
Angelina: (one eye open) Hmmm....five more minutes, purrrlease....
Mama: If you don't get up now, I'm going to take Nikki instead of you....
Angelina: OK OK...I'm awake now....(stretch, lick, flick tail) Where are we going?
Mama: Didn't you say you wanna go for a picnic?
Angelina: Not this early....can't we go around lunch time?
Mama: Nope, we have to start early as it's about one to two hours of driving, depending on traffic.
Angelina: Wow! I love riding in the car. Are you or Dad driving?
Mama: Dad. Hey...he's still asleep.
Angelina: Wake up, Dad!
Dad: Huh???

Scene 2: In the car
Time: 7.00am

Mama: You two sure took your own sweet time to get ready, eh?
Angelina: Mama...you know...I'm a girl. I got to do heaps of girl stuff before we can go out. What's your excuse, Dad?
Dad: No comment.
Mama: Like father, like daughter.
Angelina: Relax Mama....are we going to your village, Mama? Are we going to "visit" grandma?
Mama: Yes, we are. I want you to know your roots and family too.
Angelina: Wow! I like that. Are we there yet?
Mama: We haven't even left our area.
Angelina: Sorry....I'll go snuggle in the back seat then.

Scene 3: Mama's Village (destination of the day)

Wow! Rice plants! It's fruiting now.....

This mimosa like creeping plant is edible. The locals call it kangkung puteri or susupan.

The rice ears upclose. Rice comes from this? Awesome...

Dad's hard at work...that contraption is called "kunci air" or water lock (weir???) that controls water as and when needed by the irrigation canals.

See how clever the villagers are? Instead of using concrete, they use mangrove stakes as bank reinforcement, it's organic and environment friendly too.

I used the zoom lens to capture this. That big tree with large leaves on the left hand corner is a breadfruit (local name: sukun) tree. This tree can be found in abundance in the village. 

I think this an abandoned old village type house.

Back to the rice plant - some naughty snails laid eggs here. They're pests and causing headaches to the farmers.

Dad's hard at photography work again.

Dad chatting up two guys who were spraying rat poison in the rice field. They must be thinking: rice paparazzi?

I like this shot. So, I put it here. I think this is part of the water control system.

Another nice shot I took. Dead guava tree against the blue sky.

A lonely banana tree....hey Monyet King, it needs a monyet as accessory.

We got to take some of these papayas home. They are sooooo delicious!