I created this online sketchbook after my second trip to the Malaysian rain forest at Pedu Lake in the northern state of Kedah in 1999.
Click on the image above to open it.
The clearing where the great bee tree stands is like the “Grand Central Station” of the forest. It’s a hub of activity. It’s where butterflies come to meet.
One morning at coffee, our friend Professor Mardan wrote down the words to the honey hunter’s song to Hitam Manis, the mythological female spirit of the bees, in my sketchbook. He wrote it in Bahasa and English.
A ginger flower growing by the side of the trail to the bee tree, blossoms and seeds found on the ground. Most of the rain forest, extending up to 200 feet above one’s head is relatively inaccessible, but much can be learned from what falls to the ground.
More Malaysia sketchbooks:
Ficus leaves with fruit
Norhaslinda, 2004
For the story of these trips, see my Malaysia Trip Journals
More to come…