The Blue Crested Tree Lizard also known as the Indo-Chinese Forest Lizard, Indochinese Agama and White-lipped Calotes was first described by DUMÉRIL & BIBRON in 1837 who gave it the scientific name  Calotes mystaceus.

The lizard is able to change colour, albeit slower than a chameleon, from a drab brown to a vibrant cobalt blue. A few of these have been hanging around the garden at Deejai Backpackers and at the new Deejai Garden on Ratchamanka Road in Chiang Mai's old city.

In the heart in Chiang Mai a fight to the death unveiled itself for the world to see. In the black corner was an army of small black ants only a couple of millimetres long, their opponents were a couple of small centipedes, who were not team players. At 11am I first saw the ants hauling the first centipede towards their nest, a battle that raged for around 30 minutes until finally the victim still alive was hauled underground.

Story continues below.

Riding back from Mae Sai to Chiang Mai I stopped for just a short break in the Khunchae National Park, Chiang Rai province.

Just at the side of the road was a small stream where a few butterflies of the Lycaenidae family, also known as Blues and Judies were puddling. In fact in a 30 minute period I was able to photograph 5 new species our site and make fairly solid identification on 4 of them.

Only a few Lesser Grass Blue's (Zizani otis lampa) were prescent.

Also making an appearance was a Forget-me-not (Catochrysops strabo strabo).

Finally this unidentified Lycaenidae butterfly