Papaya

This beautiful papaya tree was seen in Bali, Indonesia. The papaya (from Carib via Spanish), papaw or pawpaw is the fruit of the plant Carica papaya, in the genus Carica. It is native to the tropics of the Americas, and was first cultivated in Mexico several centuries before the emergence of the Mesoamerican classic cultures.

It is a large tree-like plant, with a single stem growing from 5 to 10 metres (16 to 33 ft) tall, with spirally arranged leaves confined to the top of the trunk. The lower trunk is conspicuously scarred where leaves and fruit were borne. The leaves are large, 50–70 centimetres (20–28 in) diameter, deeply palmately lobed with 7 lobes. The tree is usually unbranched if unlopped. The flowers are similar in shape to the flowers of the Plumeria, but are much smaller and wax-like. They appear on the axils of the leaves, maturing into the large 15–45 centimetres (5.9–18 in) long, 10–30 centimetres (3.9–12 in) diameter fruit. The fruit is ripe when it feels soft (like a ripe avocado or a bit softer) and its skin has attained an amber to orange hue. It is the first fruit tree to have its genome deciphered.

Blue Canyon

Asia has many top class premier golf courses and one of my favourites is the Blue Canyon Country Club in Phuket, Thailand. The Blue Canyon Country Club rose to fame when the Canyon Course was selected for the 1994 Johnnie Walker Classic. This was followed by the 1996 Honda Invitational Tournament of the Omega Tour. The Canyon Course's reputation as Asia's best was reaffirmed in 1998 and again in 2007, when the Johnnie Walker Classic returned, making it the first golf course to ever host the tournament thrice in the JWC’s history.

Architect Yoshikazu Kato took great care to mould his design ideas for the Canyon Course around the natural environment of Phuket Island, making use of the natural woodlands, water features and topography of the land. The result is a striking, organic design giving a feeling of unperturbed spontaneity to the intimidating natural hazards and lush fairways.

The Canyon Course features 80 bunkers and water at 10 of its holes as well as plenty of narrow tree-lined fairways, several dog-legs, narrow landing areas and well guarded, slick Bermuda Tidwarf greens to challenge the most proficient of golfers.

The golf clubhouse commands one of the best views over the course that I have seen anywhere and what better way to finish a day's golf but to sit at the clubhouse terrace supping a cold Singha beer and eating some great local Thai food.

This panoramic HDR photograph was created from 7 separate RAW images taken with a Canon G9 camera, using AutopanoPro to create the panorama and Photomatix Pro to generate the final HDR image.

The Gary Innes Band Live at Finnegan's

The Gary Innes Band from Scotland played a one night only concert at Finnegan's pub in Desa Sri Hartamas on 27th November 2009 as a pre-cursor to their participation at The Selangor St. Andrew's Society Annual Celebration on 28th November at The Royal Lake Club, Kuala Lumpur. The evening was enjoyed by all and Gary, Ewan and Hugh kept the audience entertained by their music and their on-stage banter. There was much dancing and frivolity enhanced no doubt by the copious quantities of liquid lubrication on tap at Finnegans.

More photos can be viewed here.

Video of the concert can be viewed here.