This week is March break for Steve and we thought we were content with the fact that although we had not booked a trip away, we both had plenty of work to do to fill up our week.  However on Saturday morning, realizing that all of our colleagues were off on great adventures to China, Myanmar and Borneo, we were feeling a little cheated.  So we rented a car for the weekend to do a few things locally that can’t be done without wheels.  Saturday night we got to practice our ballroom dancing and after church on Sunday we took a drive out in the country to see the fireflies at Kuala Selangor.

In spite of the fact that we have wanted to do this for almost three years, we really weren’t expecting too much.  We have after all seen fireflies before.  In the afternoon we visited the Kuala Selangor Nature Park a combination of mangrove swamp and forests.  A trolley ride took us up to Bukit Melawati, a hill on which you can see the remains of a the fort built in the eigthteenth century to protect the tin trade of the region. 

Along with the cannons and a lovely lighthouse, the hill is inhabited by hundreds of silverleaf monkeys who survive by using all of their charms on tourists.  It was amazing to watch them jump from branch to branch with their little babies holding on for dear life.

As we had eaten lunch at a rather questionable roadside stall we decided supper at Pizza Hut was in order.  As dusk approached we headed out to Sungei Selangor a narrow river along the banks of which, grow berembang trees amongst the mangrove swamps.  We watched a beautiful sunset as the flatbottom boats lined up along the dock to prepare for the evening of ferrying visitors up the river. It was raining slightly but our boatman provided us with umbrellas and the evening was lovely.

As we floated silently down the river we were treated to the most amazing sight. Glittering fireflies filled the bushes that hugged the river and glowed like delicate little Christmas lights. We had heard that they blink in synch with each other, but we didn’t see that. Given the myriad thousands of lights, some of them undoubtedly do, but there were too many to notice such subtleties. What we experienced was an ineffably charming ride through a most delightful display of nature. We thank the God of Wonders who designed such a unique and beautiful little creature to have a role in His creation.