The first surprise came when I saw something hanging below a leaf at waist level. My first thought was that it might be an insect. Indeed, it was a baby cicada in moulting mode. I had seen adult cicadas and their leftover casts, but never a moulting one.

The young cicada looked more like a fish than an insect. Based on my research later, it would take about 4 hours for it to be fully transformed into a full-blown cicada. I did not wait for it to happen. Instead, I moved on after admiring the cute little creature for about 5 minutes.

The next excitement was just 20 minutes ahead. I saw a blooming pink flower at ground level, just by the side of the foot path. It was from a creeper with tendrils. After close examination, it appeared to be a flower from the Passion Flower family. I was surprised that to find a Passiflora species in the middle of the forest. After searching around the area, I did find another two flowers and some flower buds but no fruit. [Update: Passiflora quadriglandulosa]

I had found 2 plants new to me during this trip but had yet to determine their identity.

One of them was a climber with a fruit stalk that resembled that of a Piper species. [Update: Anadendrum microstachyum]

The other one was a shrub with colourful berries that might be an Ardisia species. [Update: Ardisia sanguinolenta]

Due to the wet weather in the last few days, mushrooms were sprouting everywhere. Below was just a sample of them:

The trip ended at around 3 pm. It was a long day but the effort was worthwhile, just like any other field trips.