Last night I was floating along on a mesmerizing rowboat ride around the mangroves outside this little village an hour and a half from the hustle and bustle of Kuala Lumpur. Why? To see and experience the natural wonder of the Selangor Fireflies... literally THOUSANDS of twinkling, flickering fireflies light up the riverbanks of the Selangor river. The most astounding thing about this phenomenon is that they are all blinking... in unison!
Witnessing this phenomenon triggered a vague remembrance of something from a biology course about biological synchronization... of course, there are many examples of it, which are equally as incredible - chirping crickets, women's menstrual cycles, the pacemaker cells of the heart - but they don't evoke the same emotion for me as the natural light show in the mangroves. And now for the life of me, I can't remember the explanation for this synchrony, or even if there is one!?!
As our local oarman bore us up the river, there was nothing but the rhythmic sound of the oars plying the water... with the occassional break in stroke as he re-adjusted his grip, got tired, or gave us a small break in complete and utter mangrove silence. (Mangrove silence, as anyone of you has visited these interesting ecosystems teeming with life will know, is anything but 'silent'... but it's a natural and beautiful thing... until you start to wonder about the crocodiles...).
During an endless moment, as we sat in a complete and special stillness... everything became one... we were surrounded by the fireflies, perhaps one on every leaf of the mangrove tree beneath which we rested. Their little constant lights were reflected above in the thousands of stars in the clear night sky, and below in the mirror-like smooth riverwater.... I swear my heart started beating in unison with these creatures. It was peace.
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