purple

Purple. Only mean one thing in Brunei. The purple buses. I wonder why the public buses are purple? SO we can see? So we can tell the difference between a bus and a non-purple school bus? I dont quite understand.



We also used to have the purple taxis. Cheap taxis. But thats gone now. Victim of politics. haha. Now we just have the more expensive meter-less yellow-on-white taxis. They;re quite good. Tho some of the drivers think they're Fernando Alonso. haha. But then again, all taxi drivers around the world think they're better than those wimpy F1 drivers anyway. right?

Makam

Makam diLuba. Not many of us remember this place, or even know it existed. Long colourful history. A Brunei Sultan was buried here. Violet and i more or less stumbled upon it when we were on a journey of discovery. Haha. Actually, Violet was taking me to her old neighbourhood in Bunut and she suddenly remembered this place existed.


Brunei has so many of these long forgotten places. This place seems forgotten. Neglected. The bridge needs some maintenance work. Lights need to work. etc etc. I think if the authorities were serious, they can make this country really nice and really worth exploring.

The Gate To Musical Fountain - Jerudong Park

The gates to heaven. haha. Well maybe once upon a time ago. But no more. Now its just a gate. The mystery to the place is long gone. Nothing much to keep within these walls. Which is a huge pity.



Violet took this pic. Lots of memories this place brings.

trees

I saw these bare trees the other day. It surprised me. It wasnt like this just a short few years ago. Apparently theres been a lot of earthworks in the area in the last few years. The swampy land has turned dry and i guess the trees just died. (Or is that the other way round?). Its really a pity. The trees look so tall and majestic before, high above everything else. I used to dream of being up there, so i can see everything around for miles on end. And I used to imagine also at one time being a sniper up there, shooting at enemies from afar. They wouldnt know what hit them!! hahaha... When i was a kid lah. Hey, everyone dreams of being soldiers right???


Hmm...Violet has gone and disappeared again. I wonder what happened to her? She took lots of pics recently.. Hey violet, where are you..???????

Istana

The istana gates. All nice and lighted up. Drove past the area the other night and the whole length of road was lighted up bright, looking so magical and majestic. Hahaha. Yeah u cant see it from the pic above. But we didnt bring our tripod that night and my hands are not as steady as i thought. SO most of the pics we took that night were blurry.



Over 90,000 pepple went to visit the Palace during the Raya open house, including myself. It was good. Quick but good. Pity we cant brng our cameras along. It would have been fantastic to be in there and take pics of all those people.

Soto in Raya

Selamat Hari Raya to all!!! We had a so-so Raya this year. Lots of food. And lots of old friendships rekindled. Lots of old family ties realised and strengthened.


Food. Yes Raya is about food. All kinds. But my favourite is still around in most homes..the soto. I love Soto. Correction..we love soto. hahaha. Mine with the yellow mee (mee kuning lah!) and Violet with the mee putih. Aaahhhh....

Violet and i went to visit her dad's gravesite the other day. Lots of people were there. As we approach Aidilfitri, we remember our loved ones who left before us..offering prayers and doa.


I took this with my cameraphone. I hope no ones offended.

bsb wharf

Have anyone been to the waterfront lately. Most of it is wasted!!!! Used as a silly carpark. That place is full of potential. Whats happening with the city planners?? Dont have any bright ideas lately?? Waterfronts are tourist areas..areas with so much potential to be developed as a tourist attraction. Everyones developing their waterfront. Well, everyone except us.


I saw these old ship moorings all bright yellow at the old bandar wharf area. Nice and bright. Next to that is the new monument that looks oh so tacky at night. I had a lot of troubl explaining to a visitor lately why anyone would build something that looks so un-monument-like. Couldnt we have done something other than an arabic-60???

The P Monkey

Took this pic of our latest tourist attraction a few weeks back. Saw him hiding in the trees tourist-watching. But once the boat bringing the tourists passed by, out he went sun-lounging. haha. He looks so cool with his big nose. Imagine sitting face to face with that , and trying not to laugh. haha


I was out with Violet to the river behind Kg Tg Bunut. Didnt realise that was where these babies were hanging out. Cool.

There is a company in Brunei that offer cruises along the Brunei River on these nice-looking comfortable-looking oh-so-cool-tourist boats. They do a good trade i guess especially among tourists and tour groups. I saw a few of them picking up tourists just to cross the river. They look so good. Proper. And with life jackets! Safe. And a tour guide to boot. I like.



I saw this boat bringing a couple of tourists to look at our dear cousins, the proboscis monkey. (eh Your cousins..not mine). I guess they saw a few because they were just drifting for a while with everyone looking on one side and pointing excitedly upwards at the trees. Violet mentioned hiring oe of these one day and having a quiet cruise down the river. Yeah one day.

The Shell

waterfront

Went to the waterfront area with Violet..to the Monument to His Majesty's 60th birthday. A gift from the people. I still dont like it. It doesnt do anything for me..would have been better if it was something more solid..more traditional. As it is, its kinda weird. But i love what they did to the environment of the waterfront area. Its so nice. Wish they could extend it throught the whole waterfront.



Took these pics there. Spent a good hour just pointing our cameras up and down the place. I didnt get much pics of the actual 'monument' thingy tho..nothing much to take there. Looks empty...not solid. Bad for pictures.


The water taxis did good business that day..lots of people travelling up and down the river. Up and down the boats. Good for photogs hoping to get good pictures. Love that.

Basikal Tua

Sesuci Embun Pagi

Keayuan Wajah Anak Kecil

This cutie was among a group of children hanging out by the cemetary in Batu satu. Violet loves taking pics of children. They were with some adults tho and they dont seem to mind having their picture taken. Thats the thing with Bruneians...If i were to take the pic, they would all scowl or hide their faces or show their annoyance. But if a beautiful young woman (which Violet is) were to take their pic, they would smile and pose and be happy about it. Even the men!!! I dont get it!


Taken by Violet. She thinks its cute. What do you think?

SOAS mosque again!!

The SOAS mosque taken from the old Edinburgh Bridge.

I was sitting on the bridge on Friday waiting and waiting for a water taxi to pass by in the foreground but would you believe it, for ten whole minutes, not a single water taxi passed by. Then just after i left, a whole fleet of them went by. Aiya! Would have been nice to have a water taxi in the foreground.


Enlarge the pic and see it closely. See if you can notice whats missing from the picture. I had to take out something just to make the mosque stand out that little bit more.

Tradisi

These are ankle bracelets usually worn during wedding ceremonies. Gold usually. Malay ceremonies usually involve gold. And design influences closely resembling indian wedding ceremonies.


Violet caught this during a niece's wedding some time back.

Sunyi

Hmmm... Violet's interpretation of "sunyi" or emptiness (?).



Pics were taken of the overhead bridge in Gadong. Lots of cars (and pedestrians) passing below but not a single soul using the bridge.

Our trees

Heh its been a long time. Both Violet and Me have been busy doing our own thing and going our own ways. Neglected this site. But now we're back and hopefully we can continue what we set out to do when we started this site...pics of our beautiful Brunei.


Our rainforest or in this case jungle-est. Beautiful from up a hill. All green (grey lah in this case) and the trees so proud. I can tell you that from where was, the air is oh so fresh.

SOAS with a 10mm

Another 10mm view of the SOAS mosque but from a different angle.


I like this shot better than the other earlier one. I like the distortions better.

Camping

V and i stumbled on to this camping group the other weekend. I think they were police cadets. Camping beachside. Which was pretty good. Bring a sense of adventure to some of these youngsters. Tho old folks need that spirit of adventure just as much tho. hahaha.




Singapore has national Service to get their young men all disciplined and ready for war. Malaysia has just started their training camps to get their youngsters toughened up. We have these camping trips???

"KULIT"

Taken by violet at the beach. Look closely...


Its just an empty shell. The insect-thingy has probably already moulted and grown into a bigger insect or maybe a baby Godzilla. Maybe. You never know.

overtime

This was taken yesterday. I thought its funny. I have never seen so many workers working on one wall before. The contractor must be late and the workers have to work overtime and double shift.


I notice that workers nowadays seem to take ages to finish a project. Could it be due to them being employed 'per project' instead of the usual per defined period.

Housing

View of Brunei's Government housing schemes. We're lucky to be getting these homes. Many take these for granted. They shouldnt. It affects others still waiting for theirs. Its still an effort to put these up. Its all money.


This was in Tungku/mata-mata (eye-eye) ? The two schemes were side by side. One is uniform in design and the other scheme, are chaotic...all colours and shapes. Still, nice neighbourhood to be in.

Fishing boat off Tungku

Taken off Tungku. They were just cruising along the beach, perhspa looking for a good spot to unload.

I was watching them cruise left and right, and left and right again between the rocks, until they disappeared.

while driving..

Lady in red

Love the idea of this lady in red wading all the way across that water to fish. Cool man.


This was in Serasa. Serasa is very good nowadays. Very nice crowd. Bloody good for cuci mata. many many people just hanging around there next to their cars just seeing and being seen. Nice.

the key ring

Hey V, i took this picture of your key ring. That woman-thing with the thick lips is weird babe. hahaha


Have a nice trip babe. Take lots of pics.

On the way to Miri

Regular travellers to Miri would recognise this tree. A tall bare tree next to the road. All by its lonesome. Violet and i rushed to take this pic. Couldnt believe we thought about it at the same time. She was driving, i was napping but when she stopped the car, i knew instinctively what she wanted to do. hahaha. Hey Violet, its been a month and u havent put your tree up yet, so....

The river

Another view by the Belait river.


I remember my geography lessons all those years ago. That all towns and cities grow by a river. Our ancestors commute by boats and thats why towns and communities all develop next to a waterway. Brunei is the same.

Belait River

We went along the Belait River while we were in KB. Not much to see there. The river is kinda dirty and brownish but it looks safe. No buaya in sight. Saw some men practicing their dragon boat routine..maybe practicing for the Hari Keputeraan boat race in July.


Saw these 2 ships moored there. Beautiful. Not sure i captured that beauty. Maybe Violets pics are better. I'll ask her to put it up here..

KB town centre

Kuala Belait, the town centre. We went there over the weekend. Went visiting and took the opportunity to shoot around. Havent been to KB for a while. One thing we noticed, not many people there as compared to Bandar. But...the wywy cafe is busy!!

The Fish farm Part.2

by Violet...hehehe

Fish farm

On the way to Batu Marang the other day, Violet got the idea to stop at this little fish farm somewhere along Jalan Kota Batu.


Normally they'd let you do a spot of fishing there, but as the weathers not so good lately, they stopped that for a bit. I dont understand what the lady was saying actually.

The place was a bit messy and it looks like they have a small maintenance budget, but the setting was actually good for a few pics. Especially with the very clear pools and the coconut trees.


We promised to come back to do some fishing next month. We'll see...

Kg Batu Marang pt.2

This is part 2 of the pictures from our outing to Kg batu Marang.

Kg Batu Marang

These are the pictures from our outing to Kg Batu Marang Friday evening. The place is a photographers heaven. Beautiful. I'm using my standard 18-135mm kit lens and Violets using her Sigma 10-20mm. A few things about the scene ; Its late afternoon about 6pm, it was very low tide, the peope were lovely and helpful, and the clouds, well, what can i say, the clouds were amazingly thick in some parts but almost none in others.

Everybody should do an outing to Kg Batu Marang. Seriously. When we were there, everybody greeted us. And they were soo helpful and friendly. Some took their pics with us. Enjoy the pics...












Like we said, do an outing to Kg Batu Marang!!