Firefly

Kuala Selangor, December 25th 2010

I'm impressed how the Malaysians got the idea to make fireflies a tourist attraction. You even might think it's weird. But I tell you, it was an unforgettable experience.

I booked this tour through Air Asia Go. The tour fee includes transfer back and forth the hotel, dinner, and boat. It took about 2 hours from Kuala Lumpur to Kuala Selangor. It rained pretty hard while we were on the highway. I was rather disappointed because I prayed for bright weather. But I said to Wiwik,

"Let it rain now so it won't rain later."

I paid my debt of sleep in the van. When I woke up we had already entered Kuala Selangor. The rain had stopped. Wiwik said that the roads looked like the roads in Palembang.

Along the way, it seemed that there were several locations for the firefly tour, but ours seemed to be way, way, away.

At last our van stopped. A restaurant. "Let's have dinner first," said our kind Indian driver.

Hmmm.... this, looks like China Town. The restaurant smelled very Chinese, the food was Chinese food, and almost at every table I heard people speaking in Chinese.

This is how it looked like inside the restaurant. Noisy. Just like most Chinese people are. I thankful enough that people weren't dropping food remains on the floor like in real China.

The restaurant had a deck that stretched alongside the river. I spotted these 2 birds floating on a tree branch. So cute. Looks like mother and son. They seemed to have opposite destinations -- as mothers and sons sometimes do -- and yet, they were floating to the same direction for they were on the same piece of tree branch.

Clouds covered my setting sun. What a pity. I was on the right spot with the right gear but on the wrong time. Well, I think this shot isn't too bad either. Don't you think so?

 

Our plates were clean as silver but no one commanded us to move on. I approached our van driver and asked. He told me than we will move on in half an hour. Oh. I went out the restaurant but there wasn't much to see. Next to the restaurant was a small shop which sold many kinds of dried food. They smelled very Chinese to me. I bought a bottle of mineral water and the shopkeeper mentioned the price to me in Chinese.

I killed the time by leisurely covering my arms and legs with Sofel, an insect repellent. I was wearing shorts. Actually I had planned to change into long trousers, but you know, that Hop-On Hop-Off took so long that I had no time to get back to the hotel and change.

Eventually, our bus driver appeared and ushered us to move on. It was just several steps away from the restaurant.

Inside this "waiting hut" we still had to wait more than half an hour for our turn to get on the boat.

In Indonesia we call "firefly" as "kunang-kunang", but in Malay it turned out to be "kelap kelip". After the tour I thought "kelap kelip" suits better than "kunang-kunang". I'll tell you why later. Let me read this introduction on fireflies for you.

FIREFLIES

Firefly is a type of insect from the beetle family. The 'Pteroptye tener' species are the largest species found in Sungai Kuala Selangor. The fireflies here are unique due to their tails that produce lights. Each light flashed by each insect is produced at an accurate interval of 3 seconds. Imagine watching thousands of fireflies flashing their lights at an accurate rhythm from each other. The fireflies come at 6 cm in leght. (Hmmm, I think it should be "length".) The male fireflies flash out brighter lights from the female counterparts. (I don't understand this. A male has a female counterpart?) This is because the male must attract the female fireflies during the mating season. The fireflies lifespan lasts between 2-3 months.

And now this is about the tree where fireflies feed on.

FIREFLIES AND BEREMBANG TREE

The 'Berembang Tree' or known by its scientific name 'Sonneratia caselaris' is a type of mangrove tree that grows wildly along the bank of Sungai Selangor. It needs a damp and swampy environment to live. 'Berembang Tree' is important to the existence of these fireflies as it provides food for these insects. The fireflies will suck the juice from the leaves as food. 'Berembang Tree' also acts as the river's water filter. It filters dirt and poison from the river and produces clean water for other living things. These Berembang Trees that grow wildly along the Sungai Selangor's riverbank not only provides food sources but also as breeding grounds to the water creatures and fireflies.

Okay, here we go.

... into the dark.

It was windy. You really have to have your dinner before taking this tour or else you'll get sick. Besides the light from some restaurants by the river bank, it was a complete darkness. No moon, no stars. Nothing. We rowed and rowed. I prepared myself to get disappointed. I thought I wasn't going to see anything. Maybe we had been fooled by Malaysian propaganda.

Although dark, our boat was merry. Loud, to be exact. Yeah, those Malay Chinese people. Cheering and laughing. "Am I in China again now?" I asked myself.

"Tengok kiri, tengok kiri!" I heard our guide shouted. It means "Look to the left!"

I gasped. In this complete darkness I could see bluish white twinkling dots. Too bad our guide forbid us to turn on our camera flash. But when he did permit us -- Well, he didn't say so, but the other tourists started shooting with flash and he didn't say anything. -- my camera and flash didn't work. I tried several times with several settings, but not a single shot. Actually I had brought a speedlight. But the blame is once again on that Hop-On Hop-Off that took so long that I didn't have time to go back to the hotel and get my speedlight.

Some fireflies flew near to our boat. A Chinese kid called the firefly to come. I thought to myself, maybe fireflies don't speak Chinese. Our guide told us that we may catch them but not to kill any. We passed by several trees full of fireflies. Sometimes we were back into the complete darkness again and in a sudden our guide would shout again, "Tengok kiri!" or "Tengok kanan!"

At a point some fireflies got into our boat. I caught one twice. I held them in my half open palm. My palm flickered on and off. Another landed on a lady's face. She didn't shoo it away. Her friends laughed. Her face seemed to be flickering.

I knew firefly is an interesting animal from Dad when I was a kid. One day, one flew into my bedroom. I didn't kill it. It stayed on my desk until it died. Interestingly, although it was dead already, until a few days it was still shining when I turned off the light.

However, witnessing hundreds, or maybe thousands, of fireflies flashing on and off together was a thrill for me. Now I know why the Malaysians call them "kelap-kelip". In Indonesia we use the word "kelap kelip" to express flashing lights. Indeed, they were flashing like small bulbs on a Christmas tree.

"Is there any certain season or time for fireflies?" I asked the guide.

"They don't have a season," he explained. "But they usually come out on weathers like now."

Now, I'm thrilled for another matter. I was disappointed when it rained. I thought God didn't answer my prayer. On the contrary, He knew better. If the sky had been bright and full of stars, I wouldn't have seen this many fireflies. I just needed it not to rain. But, I needed it to be cloudy so it could be dark enough for the fireflies to hang out. And so was it.

Yayyy! We're back!