BOLD

December’s back and here I am, on a regular thirty something degrees Celsius pre-Christmas day, standing in my neighbor’s chili-pepper field. I am here specifically to take a few shots at a Durio zibethinus (a Durian tree) with my camera and collect a new picture for this blog.  Standing near me and my tripod is Ah Chai, the chili-peppers grower who is telling me how disappointed he is with the scarce number of oblong golden fruits which we can see, hanging from the huge tree ahead of us. “This season is not good” he laments. As I recall, the previous one, half a year ago, was not any better; climate changes?                                                          I seldom have the opportunity to talk to my neighbors; they are all farmers and our family is of the urban kind, yet “wanna be” hobby farmers. Everyday we commute in and out of the small country drive, we wave, we give way to motorcyclists, sometimes to a van, yet we rarely stop. The only friendship we have developed is