Sandstone hill vs Limestone hill

[kuching]

In the past, I always thought sandstone hill is easier to climb, compared to the razor-sharp limestone hill. But today, I failed to reach the summit of the sandstone hill as the cliff is too steep & no much vegetation growing on the cliff that allow you to grab. And worst, the stone is very slippery after the heavy rainfall last night.

However, I managed to reach the summit of a limestone hill at the nearby area. It is a tough climb and dangerous too. I think my rock climbing skill (without using the rope) is improving a lot after so many climbs on the limestone hill.


Revisiting the sandstone hill, Bukit Tapang Batu. The water rentention is low on limestone hill as you can see the water is running down on the rock surface (no much soil at the summit area except leaf litter):






I'll come back to challenge this sandstone hill again. You can see the cliff of the steep sandstone....one small mistake will make you regret forever!






The staghorn fern, Platycerium coronarium grow on a small tree near summit area.

[kuching]

Hoya sp. Too bad I can't find the flowers.




Bulbophyllum sp. with yellow inflorescence. As usual, wild orchids are found abundantly at the higher elevation of a hill.






Next, I went to visit an abandoned Chinese temple at a limestone hill. There are orchids growing on the cliff & trees but the population is small as this limestone hill is the smallest in that area:

[kuching]

Last location is this limestone hill which got slipper orchids growing at the summit area. When I reached the summit area, I couldn't find any slipper orchids. Probably the commercial collectors came & collected all the slipper orchids.

The limestone hill:





I found this orchid which looks a bit like slipper orchid, probably this is Cymbidium sp. (?)





Another close-up photo of the orchid (Cymbidium sp. (?))

[kuching]

My heart is starting to pump faster when I saw Bulbophyllum (Orchid). This one no idea what species. Now is the beginning of inter monsoon season. The flowering season of wild orchid is not yet started!




And my heart is continue to beat faster when I found this rare.....Bulbophyllum lobbii !!! OH MY GOODNESS !!! I finally found it! Yahooooo! The flower should be very beautiful but too bad, no flower!





And, almost got heart attack after seeing this....Phalaenopsis sp. !!!! This species is different from what I found last month.





Another ....Phalaenopsis sp. (no flower)

[kuching]

Jewel orchid, Dossinia marmorata. According to one of my outdoor friends, this place used to be full of this jewel orchids......but now it become very rare. The commercial collectors only think of money & never care for conservation.





A species of orchid with very small flowers:





Club moss, Lycopodium sp. The leaves are almost flat. This species is very rare in the wild.





Another species of club moss, Lycopodium sp. ; this one is more common in the summit area. Club moss is not a moss but it is related to fern.

[kuching]

Alocasia reversa (One of my favourite aroids)






Hundred of Begonias growing at the summit area !!! The plants are around 1 metre tall.





Close-up of Begonia (species A)





Begonia sp. (greenish & bluish coloured leaf - new species)





Begonia sp. - another new species:

[hwchoy]

wah pianz all the orchids and hoya, beh tahan liao!

[kuching]

Updating:

The 1st Begonia which i'm showing is B. xiphioides.

Bulbophyllum which I thought is B. lobbii is B. reticulatum.

The Cymbidium may be C. ensifolium.

The 1st "Lycopodium" which i'm showing is actually Lycopidiella nummularifolia. A few years ago Lycopodium was split into several genera.

[kuching]

More on this link:

http://www.ibanorum.netfirms.com/sandstonehill.htm

[kuching]

Today I went to survey the Penrissen area but no luck to find N. northiana as the limestone mountain is very high.....& worst, it rained at 12.40pm, so I have to go back there again next time. The pic. below is one of the limestone hills in Penrissen area.




My Sunday trip:

http://www.ibanorum.netfirms.com/pen...-limestone.htm


saturday trip:

http://www.ibanorum.netfirms.com/kerang.html