Happy New Year and Targets for 2009!

It has been a fast christmas and new year if you are alone...you will find them pass you by so fast, unnoticed. Spent my days alone in the house watching live telecast of other countries' happenings when over here in Brunei, everything seems so quiet or the celebrations just not worth the effort or money to attend to. New year I have to set a few goals for myself because I think I might spend another year here and time is abundant with so much lesser distractions...

a. to start golfing...something I promise to do...and I started it! Barely two weeks...

Its a very nice golf course beside the Berakas Beach...waking up at 6am and heading to the course...you can hear the ocean waves while swinging...

b. learn a language...french...here i come...

c. to start my long lost passion of painting...

Happy 2009 and Bless all Health and Wealth!

My Favorite Meal

This is one of the simple sliced fish soup with bee hoon I found to be best in Brunei and it is my favourite lunchtime meal...in terms of taste and price. It is quite different from our home Teo Chew style sliced fish soup which normally uses scrimps in the making of the broth. This clear soup is simple Kem Chai (salted vegetable), tomatoes and Yu Chap (all parts of the fish) boiled together to create a slightly sweet and sour savoury clear based soup. Something nice is the sliced fish meat which is surprisely tender and chewy. I haven't found out what the chef did to the fish meat...

The small eatery can be found in Jalan Gadong Simpang 15, at the end of the this building beside a computer shop...

Kota Kinabalu

This idle town in Sabah is a good getaway if you fancy the sun, sea and food... there are great diving sites, parasailing, fresh seafood and wonderful beaches. The town aren't really big, but it should have most things you desire for in a beachside town.




The town has nice shopping malls and still contain places of rustic charms. You can walk about the city even without a cab. There aren't alot of streets (maybe just 5 big ones) and by walking, you can get close to the way of life the locals have.




Seafood is abundant here. Get to choose from the aquariums fresh catches of the day.




One thing you shouldn't miss is the offshore islands in this corner of the world. They can be easily in the top twenty best spots in the world.

Temburong

The trip to Temburong, Brunei's natural tropical grandeur was interesting. Waking up very early in the morning, and going into the mass tropical jungle, you get to see the forest "breathing", with clouds of mist from the dense vegetation rising up into the sky... breathtaking sight.

In Temburong, you get simple activities like rafting and trekking. It is a way to be close to nature where you physically have to like it or not you just don't really enjoy. The boat ride brought us up to areas into the jungle where few people been to.

Rapsodi 2008

It is my first time to step into the Brunei TV station - the old building beside Brunei's Library (hopefully will get a chance to tour the new TV station someday) - to attend RTB and Suria collaborated Annual Musical "Live" performance from both the countries 'Rapsodi 2008'. Although the live performances beamed "live" for both nations lasted an hour and a half, it seems eternal for me...must learn Malay asap...hardly able to gasp what the singers are singing...but at least I know Rapsodi means Music in Swedish... yeah?

Lake Ride

The second trip to Tasek Merimbun last weekend was fulfilling as we took the boat ride to have a view of the famous dark water lake in Brunei. The weather was really bad the day before, and lucky enough, our day was a 'dry' one but the clouds were magnificent. The sight of the lake on the boat ride was awesome and while swirling through the mangroove, it kind of reminded me Kranji River back home...

There is a new bridge that will lead you to a BBQ, camping site, a small island on the lake... not advisable to stay overnight... crocodiles loves BBQ food...

Tasek Merimbum

The largest black water lake in Brunei Darussalam - Tasek Merimbum. It is one of the Asean National Heritage Sites whereby declared as vicinity for nature reserve. Remarkably rich in flora and fauna, you get really close to nature when you take the trails. The water lake is really a pretty sight and there are boat rides to get around, if you lucky, encounter some crocodiles...

Dusun is the earliest settlement in the area, and to me the Dusun population do look like Chinese...which I think might be strongly linked to a Chinese original...maybe back to 1421...where Zheng He started to roam around...