Saturday, September 20, 2008

Creepy Crawlies

It was just one of those days that the rain had forced some insects to run into my home..lol

A very common house beetle. It was actually quite small but I zoom to make it looked bigger and I cant made it turn around to smile at the camera...lol. It just flew away when I tried to take a photo of its front.

This house spider was crawling on my cupboard. It looked fierce...lol. It was only after I loaded this photo into my computer, that I realise the spider had lost two legs (there are four legs on one side and two legs on the other side). Poor spider. Of course it jump quick and ran away from me.

A short video of spider who looked so fierce....lol. I wondered what happened to its missing two legs.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Skywatch-The moon during mid autumn festival




As a lunar month is about 29.531 days long, the full moon falls on either the 14th or 15th of the lunar month in those calendars that start the month on the new moon. In any event, the period between full moons can be either 29 or 30 days.
So every mid autumn festival (which falls on the 15th day of the chinese eight lunar month), the moon is always full.
This photo was taken two days before the mid autumn festival so the moon was almost full.
For other sky watchers, you can go to Skywatch blog.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Flats in Chinatown


These few blocks of flats in chinatown are one of the few earlier old housing estates. The owners have since grown old, so majority of them are old folks. The youngs prefer to buy flats in newer housing estates.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Mid-Autumn Festival Variety Show


An outdoor stage. It was part of the mid autumn celebration in Chinatown. Most of the audience are senior citizens as the housing estate in here are mostly occupied by old folks.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Chang Er and the Rabbit


This is Chang Er and the Rabbit. They both lived in the moon.

Chang Er on lanterns.

Story of Chang Er (I am posting this story again so you dont have to look for them in my previous post)

Legend of Chang Er

Hou Yi and Chang-E
An archer, Hou Yi, saved the earth from scorching when he shot nine suns that originally circled the earth. As a reward, Hou Yi obtained the Elixir of life but he became so tyrannical that his wife, Chang-E, stole the Elixir and drank it. Chang-E found herself ascending to the moon and thereafter was escalated to status of Moon Goddess. Hou Yi in turn was given a cake by the Queen Mother of the Western Paradise (Xi Wangmu). He could withstand heat upon eating the cake and was sent to remain in the sun. With a special talisman he was able to visit his wife Chang-E on the 15th of every month. Thus the moon's brightness on this day. This legend is believed to have been started during the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907 AD) although some believe it may have started earlier, tracing it to the rule of Emperor Yuan (2346 BC).

Rabbit in the moon

Buddha had disguised himself as a hungry, old man and approached three animals; a fox, a monkey and a rabbit, for help. The fox caught a fish for him, the monkey brought some fruits but the rabbit offered its own body as meat by throwing itself into the fire. In gratitude, Buddha resurrected the rabbit and sent it to the moon to be venerated.

(Source: http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_804_2005-01-13.html)