Blogs from Brunei, Asia - page 12

**Dec14..I realized that I never finished this journal entry off. It was basically done, but I forgot a few things and forgot to post it up. So I woke up thinking “wow…this is my last full day in Brunei.” So I woke up to roosters in Sungai Teraban. Bapa (what I call my grandpa has a bird farm on his land. So roosters were making nosies, chickens were running around, the turkey was interesting and the ducks minded their own business far away. So lastday lastday. I didn’t plan anything big. I was suppose to hang out with safforo, but instead I chose to eat lunch with uncle yonghuat. In the morning, I had breakfast at Bapa’s with aira and her 3 kids. The three kids are funny ahha. Two of them were wearing spiderman outfits ... read more

So, uncle Yonghuat was supposed to drive me to Bandar to see Emie. But NO0o0o0o it didn’t happen. Emie had to go to Miri today as she had to prepare for UK. B0oo. So instead, I resumed packing. Auntie Alice took me to Soon Lee so I can buy a bunch of snacks that I want to take home. I came home and packed and packed. At around 4, Cico took me on a Journey to Kuala Balai. This is basically another village located deep within the Jungle. Well, I wouldn’t exactly call it a Village. It’s more like… deserted houses haha. People go there not because of the end place, but because of the journey. On the way to Kuala Belait, we basically passed by Virgin Jungle. We saw monkeys, hornbills, a mongoose, and even ... read more

Didi let me sleep in this morning. I haven’t slept in for a longgg time so sleeping in till 11am felt good. I woke up to having lunch with Woody (didi's husband which is my cousin) and the family. After that, didi and I just went over to soon lee where she bought my parents and I a few shirts which was really nice of her. In the evening, Auntie Quilan and her family took me out for dinner along with bapa, nana and uncle yunghuat. We went to the boathouse and MMmMm it was yummy. Stuffed myself with loads of seafood including fish, shrimp, squid and prawns. It was a great dinner; they made a toast of my grandfather, grandmother and I as we're all leaving to Vancouver soon. I was supposed to visit Emie ... read more

This day turned out to be pretty Adventurous! The plan was to go to labi and drive way south to the interior to visit the ibans in the longhouses (native borneo people in the interior of Brunei). The first longhouse we visited was named Mendaram. Emie’s (my friend) family is the leader of that longhouse so it was pretty cool. We were greeted by this extremely old lady, and another old man. The lady was about 4 - 4.5 ft tall, but unfortunately I couldn’t get a photo of her (felt kind of rude too). For the next hour or so, we basically sat around and talked. Bapa knew the old man, and more and more ibans started coming out of their ‘doors’ and greeted us. The old man also knew my family (including my aunts ... read more

Today, Auntie Alice and uncle george took me alllllllllll the way to Bandar (capital city about 1hr and 15mins away). Our first pit stop was the Brunei museum where I met a Gurkha (Nepalese soldier) guard. Apparently, he knew my father. What a small country ahha. The museum was nice. It wasn’t the most exciting thing in the world, but its something everyone should at least experience once. After the museum, we headed over to Kampung Ayer (Water village). It’s basically a village that is built on water. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time to go on a tour of kampong ayer, so I just stood on land while taking photos of the village and the gazillion water taxis. Met up with cico for lunch and headed off to the Yayasan complex (or w/e its called). ... read more

So I had to wake up extra early this morning because I was going to a .. BOAT RACE.. not just your normal boat race but a REMOTE CONTROL boat race with Akeng (my cousin) and his family (1 wife + 3 kids). We arrived there quite early. It was in a place called Anduki (every time someone mentions anduki, I think of anduccis) . Upon arrival, I could already hear the BUZZ of the little boat beasts. I quickly took out my camera and off I went taking photos of anything and everything. Unfortunately, it started to drizzle before the first match. And while the first match was in progress, the rain just started to pour. Because of this, we decided to just leave anduki. We went to tutong instead to the Department Store name ... read more

Hey Everyone, Long Story short.. I found a good wireless connection at the very corner of my room thus I'm uploading some photos! These are photos i took with family and friends... Later when i get home, i'll upload some of the "photographic" ones. HERES the LINK! http://www.flickr.com/photos/41393614@N00/sets/72157601799763800/ Enjoy!... read more

Oh by the way, I FOUND a new internet connection at the CORNER of my room. It only works sometimes though, so it’s a bit odd. So today, nessa’s leaving at 8pm. In the morning, we went to Ayamku with the family for a late breakfast. Took a few family photos. After ayamku, we went over to the cemetery where to see my grandmother (mama). I said my blessings and uncle george and auntie alice took me to see other family members who have passed away. After the cemetery, I went with Nessa to print her E-Ticket at Lihin’s office. Lihin’s dad and his friends all worked with my mom, so I met a few of them too. Seems like my mom was loved at work :P haha. Went back home and just hung out with ... read more

Caution: Long Blog Ahead ____ MIRI DAY! Miri’s in Sarawak which is in Malaysia. Brunei only gave me 14 days to stay in the country, so I basically have to go to Malaysia and come back into Brunei to extend my stay in Brunei (interesting eh?). Miri was nice. We went for Dim Sum at a hotel. It was quite full since it was the Malaysian National Day (merdeka). After Dim Sum, we went over to the market… the FISH market. DUN DUN DUN! Smelly fishhhh smelly fishhhhhh haha. ItSTUNK! And it was so WEIRD! They had LIVE fish on the table (without water) and they were flapping like crazy. Talk about freshness. And then we saw a frikkin STINGRAY. The were CUTTING A STING RAY UP! Whoa ness. So it was incredibly hot. Very Hot. ... read more

Happy birthday Lihin (manda’s boyfriend) and Brandon(vanessa's lil bro: mycousn)! Started off the day by going to the Seria Plaza to look for badminton stuff and get postcards. Couldn’t find the jacket I wanted to get for my daddy but I’ll look again later. Didn’t really do too much today. Nessa was packing. She’s leaving to London in 2 days so I just wanted to spend as much time with her as possible. For the night, we went to a great Thai restaurant for their birthdays. It was big family dinner; felt great to be around family and just have a nice dinner. Cico ordered loads of food but it was really yummy. Then, the cake came out! AHHA the restaurant played the birthday song on a radio very loudly. It was quite funny. Lihin was ... read more