Brunei, again!!

Went to Brunei again yesterday with my whole family, and this time, there was a tour guide guiding us around. He was some far far away relative that I didn't even know of, living in Brunei, so sorry folks who went Brunei with me the other day.

Since we depart at around 4pm, it was already night time when we reach Bandar. Had our dinner at uncle's house, and then we went touring around Bandar and Jerudong.

Night view of Jame ASR Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque in Kampong Kiarong.

One of the most popular mosque in Brunei, the ASR Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque was built in commemoration of the 25th accession of the Brunei Sultan, and I heard that the royals also prayed there.

Driving around Jerudong, the old ones were especially disappointed because of the darkness surrounding Jerudong Park. It was once the most beautiful theme park in Borneo, and was said to beat even Disney Land, and now it is deserted. My parents said our family went there when I was small, but I had only a vague memory of it. All I know is that the entrance was free, and there were lots of people from our country and others alike.

We head back to Gadong, and stayed a short while in front of Lexus (Brunei) showroom. The Christmas decoration was really stunning, so we took some photos of it. Even a lot of the locals went there for photographs.

Christmas decoration of Lexus Brunei.

Took this photo around my uncle's neighbourhood. Hm... when can our countrymen live like this, with our gates open wide even though the owners were already fast asleep:

Before going back this morning, we dropped by the royal istana, Istana Nurul Iman, where the Sultan currently stays. Construction of new buildings were going on, as the guard said there are not enough space for the royals.

Of course, we did not miss to have Excapade Sushi before balik kampung.

Gonna stop here now. 16 more minutes when the clock strikes 12. Wish you guys a very Happy New Year!!



See you next year,
Blue-Wingz

Discovering Niah

Today is Dong Zhi, or so called Winter Solstice Festival. Of course my family were celebrating. Had a great feast at my uncle's house just now, where Tangyuan became the "Star of the Day".


Continuing the trip of Lim and gang here, I will post some pictures about where we were 2 days ago, after the Brunei trip (they rested for a day in my house). After our light breakfast on Monday morning, we were on our way to visit Niah Caves. We reached Niah National Park an hour later.
Bought our tickets for 10 bucks per head, then we head towards the jetty, where a boat will send us to the other side of the river.

Museum of Niah National Park. Too bad it is closed on Mondays.

Tall trees along the way to the caves.

Rocks that were said to be underwater million years ago can be found abundant in the tropical forest.

Path to Traders' Cave.


Views of Traders' Cave.

Trader's Cave was the first cave we encounter. As the name says, the cave was used for trading, especially barter trades with the nearby villages ages ago. Going further down will be the West Mouth, the main entrance of Niah Caves, also the cave where we always see on the photographs and books. We were lucky enough to watch the 'live show' of local villagers collecting bird nests.

The West Mouth.

Villagers collecting bird nests.

Fresh bird nest on the floor, waiting for collection.

Unfortunately, my camera's battery went flat after this point, so the next pictures posted are of HSiang's courtesy. I did another stupid mistake of mine, I forgot to inform everyone to bring a torchlight. Out of choices, we used our cellphones as torch lights, and mine ran out of battery too...

We were walking towards Painted Cave through West Mouth, and it was very very dark. We can't even see ourselves, not to mention Harvard. Our only hope was the light emitted by Lim's cellphone.

Views we saw within the West Mouth.

After a long walk, we reached Painted Cave at about 1pm.

REAL wall painting seen in Painted Cave.

View of Painted Cave.

Sadly, we were not allowed to continue our journey to Painted Cave B as the path was blocked. So we have to trace back our path and walk all the way back to the entrance of the national park.

View from inside of West Mouth after we returned from Painted Cave.

Archeological site in West Mouth. It is believed that this site was the grave of the ancient dwellers.

Exiting Niah Caves, we went to have our late lunch in Batu Niah at 3pm. Our stomachs were growling madly for food after 5 hours of extreme walking and climbing. Left Niah and got back at about 5.30pm, so we went straight to Marina Bay for sunset viewing.

Views of Marina Bay.

Lim emo-ing.

Sunset as seen on the rocky shores of Marina Bay.

The sun is so tiny that I can pick it up with 2 of my fingers.

Okay, this concludes the trip of Lim and gang at the east (Curtin University and Grand Old Lady visit yesterday will not be posted).

It's raining cats and dogs outside again. I'm gonna have my sweet slumber now.



Nitez,
Blue-Wingz

Brunei Trip

Just heard the aeroplane carrying my friends flew past this area. Yea, they're flying back to their homes on board the second last flight today. Sent them to the airport 2 hours ago and we spent some time together until they got into the departure hall. Will see them 3 weeks later anyway...

So, here's the account of our Brunei Trip 3 days ago... After our breakfast in Sun City, we went to Bintang Plaza for the Bureau de Change. We got some Brunei dollars and started off our one-day journey through and fro Brunei. This was what we saw at the Sungai Tujuh (border line of the 2 countries) immigration checkpoint:

We have already experienced the above mentioned potholes before reaching the checkpoint.

Passing through the checkpoint, we reached Brunei territory almost immediately. We observed that our country's immigration officers were at least more careful when stamping the passports. There was something interesting when we reach Kuala Belait (part of Brunei) toll station, which is very embarrassing (not us) and unheard of in our country.

Harvard took some photos along our way to Bandar Seri Begawan:

Fenceless houses.

Oil refinery we saw when driving along the highway.

We reached Bandar 2++ hours later. We quickly got to a petrol station. 19 B$ got us 35 litres of oil (0.53B$/litre)!! After our calculations, it was proved that drinking a bottle of water in Brunei is more expensive than drinking a bottle of RON 85 petrol.

The Dewan Majlis of Brunei as we drove past the building:

We visited the infamous mosque in Brunei, the Masjid Omar Ali Saiffudien:

Views of the Masjid Omar Ali Saiffudien.

Yayasan Shopping Mall just opposite the mosque.

Next, we went to the pasar across a river. There were speedboats at the river, offering B$30 bucks for a ride, which we refused.

Just opposite the river, sat the Guang Zhe Zhun Wang temple. We went into the aged but properly managed temple for a look-see. Lim and HSiang offered some offerings and prayed here for a little while.
We later went to Yayasan Shopping Mall by foot from the temple. We strolled around the mall, at had our late lunch at 4pm at KFC (all the way to Bandar, and we had KFC lol). The best part was that, no freaking tax was imposed!! Citizens here don't have to bother to pay 15% government and service tax like we do, meaning, the price shown on the price list will be the amount you have to pay, how convenient it is!! And yet, government here still have to rise the tax starting next year. Well, that's one of the difference between the 2 oil exporting countries.

View of Masjid Omar Ali Saiffudien from Yayasan Shopping Mall Square.

Yayasan Shopping Mall Square.

Reached a franchise shop for some ice before returning. Bought this:

Served Upside Down OR It's Free!

Yes, it IS served upside down!! Tastes nice, a bit like McD's McFlurry as I ordered Oreo flavour.

It was 8pm++ when we reached home. Had Japanese curry my mom cooked until we're stuffed. I was complained by Lim as I did not fulfill my role as a tour guide. I sincerely apologise because I did not do my homework before going and caused all of you guys trouble.

Ok, so I will stop here now. Raining right now. It's gonna be a good night! =]



By,
Blue-Wingz

KK Trip

Came back from KK 2 days ago and it was fun!! Unfortunately, we got no chance to climb Mount Kinabalu. Quite free right now because the others are watching DVD in the living room, so I thought of posting something over here. This maybe the first time I posted so many pictures one go.

Day 1
I reached KKIA Terminal 2 at about 11am+. After the reschedule, Lim and gang's flight was changed to 7am+ in the morning, so they waited for me in the airport for almost 4 hours!! Lucky the one waiting was not me. Got onto an Innova taxi and went to Promenade Hotel, and the gang was all tired from waiting. Sadly, we had to wait for another extra hour as the hotel is still clearing the room. We strolled around, and sat next to the swimming pool, planning for the rest of the day, and of course, the next day.

** Saw Bing and 'someone' in the airport departure lounge!! Such a coincidental event. Both of them were boarding a flight to KL.**

The swimming pool of the hotel.

I 'Saw' someone sleeping.

Went out to had our lunch in Centre Point, leaving Ah Lim alone in the room. Walked around the complex until night time, and we didn't expect ourselves to window shop for that long. We later walked out of the hotel hunting for dinner. There was a Bazaar down the street, so we thought of having our dinner over there. Someone in the group ate something I never imagined, something squishy with lime squeezed on it. Uugh, flashing back still gave me goosebumps.

A prawn for 38 bucks?! They're definitely killing tourists.

The murtabak was real nice.

Had fried noodles for dinner.

Day 2

We decided to go rafting the next day. The excitement and fun cannot be described, though the train we traveled on was a big let down. Should have got a shot of the train, but none of us brought our phone or cameras to prevent theft or water. But I assure you, the train is waaay better than KTM as it gives you a REAL experience in traveling on a train.

We were so exhausted when we reached the hotel that 8.30pm. But due to hunger, we have to venture out of the hotel to look for food. Saw the KK version of Wong Kok when we were hunting down our dinner.
At last we reached our destination, and had a feast there.

Vege, fish, tofu and lemon chicken.

Day 3
Ah Lim said he was darn tired, so he stayed in the hotel. The 3 young ones, including me of course, took a cab and went down to Jesselton Port. We were lucky that someone tipped us off so we don't have to pay for 160 bucks per person to 2 islands for a day. The trip to 2 islands only took 50 bucks out of each of our pockets, including terminal fee.

Boats resting in Jesselton Port.

The view along the mainland beach on a speedboat.

The waters, separated into 2 colours.


The view of Manutik Island.

The islands we were supposed to visit were Sapi Island and Manukan Island. Both were breathtaking and beautiful. I was fascinated by the tranquility of the islands, especially Sapi Island. The snorkeling experience around the island was nice. HSiang nearly got bitten by a swarm of fish surrounding him. It was a bit disappointing when we snorkel around Manukan Island though, as the corals around the shallow waters of the island are on the verge of death. Human activity and destroying natural habitats was really scary and devastating. If you gave me a choice of Ketam or either of the islands in Tunku Abdul Rahman Park (including Sapi, Manutik, Manukan and Gaya), I will definitely choose the second. Oh, and someone forgot his slippers and realized it only after we reached the Manukan Island (We went to Sapi first).

Views of Sapi Island.

Remnants found around the waters of Manukan Island.

Jetty of Manukan Island.

Views of Manukan Island.

Found a gigantic sea turtle!! (Work by Anonymous)

Poor guy!! He lost his bra LOL!!

The dark skies when we're returning back to the mainland.

We had steamboat at night and got to bed early as the flight back was in the morning. Next will be our Brunei trip and I will update later when I have time.



Ciaoz,
Blue-Wingz