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.