Destination: Bandar Seri Begawan (25 - 26 June 2016)

FLIGHT DETAILS

HOTEL DETAILS

TRAVEL DETAILS

as usual, when i updated my travel log one year later, my memory on that trip would be hazy and very unclear. so, please bear with me... we booked this trip without even realizing it was in ramadhan (fasting month). that must be the reason for the cheap flight tickets, huhu... our trip to brunei was only for two days, one full day to be exact. we rented a car (toyota vios) there. there was a little bit of miscommunication regarding the car rental. the car owner thought our rental request was cancelled due to my lack of  follow up. i thought once the deal was confirmed, there's no need for me to reconfirm further.

our first stop is the souvenir shop, syarikat perniagaan bintang ria! through our short research, this shop offers the best price for souvenirs in brunei. still, it was expensive. so, we just bought souvenirs for ourselves. next stop is bandar seri begawan waterfront which located directly in front of the shop. we took a boat along the river and around kampung ayer. we we hailed the boat the same way we hailed a taxi. the view was refreshing. we stopped a while at kampung ayer cultural and tourism gallery. all the entrance to the gallery here or museums here in bandar seri begawan are free. unfortunately, halfway through our boat ride, the rain started to pour down quite heavily. we had to cut our ride short.

next, we visited two of the famous mosques in brunei; Masjid Omar 'Ali Saifuddien and Masjid Jame 'Asr Hassanil Bolkiah. along the way, we also visited royal regalia building (bangunan alat kebesaran diraja). only after all the visits, we went to our hotel in jerudong to check in. we paased in front of istana nurul iman. then, we stopped at a restaurant (forgot the name) to book a place for our breakfast. the restaurant is about 15 minutes drive from our hotel. we rest and freshened up a bit before we went back to the restaurant to breakfast. we tried ambuyat, brunei traditional food. it tasted a little weird for me personally. it's like eating starch/glue. but, some people may find it delicious. done breakfasting, we went back to the city and pay a visit to one of the mall there. the mall there. the mall is big but not as happening as the malls we have here in malaysia. we visited the night market, bought a few street foods for our sahur. we called it a day and went back to our hotel.

we drove to the airport early the next day and returned the car. so, this would be the end of my brunei entry. quite short, isn't it? hehe, well there's really nothing much to do here in brunei to start with and the trip is only one day. just got another one more entry to go. then, i'll proceed to my latest wanderlust, laos. actually, i just came back a couple of days ago! hope when the memory is still fresh, the entry would be refreshing as well!!! :)

school preparedness program (SPP)

yesterday, i joined mercy malaysia's school preparedness program. in this program, we are trained to be facilitator/trainer for the spp. spp is a program for school children both primary and secondary. in this program, the students are explained about disasters and how to face or prepare to face them. the training was interesting. we participated in the simulations originally prepared for the children. lucky for me, mercy had scheduled the program in segamat. so, i would join them in march for the first face and the second phase will be held in may.

fallen tree..

two days ago, we had a very heavy rainstorm. the wind howled like never before. around 6pm, i was watching television, when there was a flash of lightning followed by thunder. yup, it was normal during rainstorm but what made this one different from the others, is the sound after the thunder. the sound of a tree falling. i immediately opened my window and saw the poor tree already succumbed to the floor. it was a durian tree!!! less durian this year then. luckily enough though, the tree didn't blocked my way to work. the tree is still there today for the workers my parents hired to clean it up didn't arrived yet. if i am not mistaken, the tree might be older than me. as long as i can remember, the tree was always there. so, let us mourn for a couple of minutes for the loss of a good durian tree..

ps: sometimes, i try to write using bombastic vocabularies and powerful sentences to capture your people's attention..  but, i find it quite hard actually.. eventhough i love to read and my command of the english language is quite okay, i still fail to produce something amazing.. i realize i'm quite comfortable writing in simple sentences.. same goes when i'm writing in malay.. so, i apologize for my 'childish' writing.. :)