The Lost World Of Brunei – Part 1

16th January 2010.

After flying back from Jakarta, Indonesia, I spent less than a day in Malaysia before I would fly again to… this time… Brunei!

Many of my friends have never been to Brunei before, even though it’s in the Borneo (and that’s near!)

I wouldn’t have thought of visiting Brunei if not for Motorkross‘ wedding πŸ™‚

It was a short notice but heck, I wanted to make up for my unfulfilled resolution last year, which is to visit 5 countries in a year (not counting Singapore LOL)

Also, a lot of Forex traders in the community are from Brunei, where it all started. So I would expect to meet plenty of familiar faces. πŸ™‚

MissM600 aka Amal Jahairi had been very, very, very kind and nice to me – helped me book a hotel with Internet connection, brought me to some cool places in Brunei, hooked me up with the rest of the friends there. Thanks… “power lah you!” πŸ™‚

I didn’t know what to expect of Brunei at first. Seriously. Many told me that they either don’t know what’s there, and some bluntly said “exactly, because there’s NOTHING there” LOL

Brunei is a rich country, so I was half expecting their airport to be made of gold (my running gag about Brunei, haha!) only to learn how humble their airport and people are as a whole. πŸ™‚

And hey, look who was expecting me at the airport – Clifford Chin (rocco) and Muizz (watchme)!

(Oh don’t forget MissM yea, she’s not in many of the pics because she was the one taking all the pics… but you’ll see more of her soon!) πŸ™‚

First place we went to. Yayasan.

It was funny. There were inscriptions of Jawi on a tablet and I asked MissM to help translate for me. Only to find out she and Muizz are actually ‘bananas’ version of Brunei, HAHAHAHAHA! πŸ˜›

Then we went to Kampung Air (literally translated to “Water Village”). Interestingly, this is where Orange Roshan was born in.

Reminds me of Chao Praya in Thailand.

This is the Nahkoda Manis, said to be of folklore origin. I remember watching one of P Ramlee’s shows – it was about a son who forgotten his mom and went off to married a beautiful woman and lived life forgetting his mom. His mom became incredibly upset that she cursed her son, his wife and everyone else on the ship to turn into stone.

Well… this is the one.

More of Kampung Air – it’s practically a floating village with facilities like school, shops, etc.

Back on land, we met up with Orange Roshan and the rest of the gang – and I was treated to their local delicacy called the Ambuyat!

Unlike conventional food, the ambuyat is a starchy dough that is to be dipped into the cacah (a spice) before swallowing, no chewing!

Had 3 ‘reversals’. Haha, only the traders will get it. πŸ˜‰

Later we went to Dunes cafe. It’s another favorite hangout for the gang, besides Yappy Kopitiam. πŸ™‚

I learned a few new things about them. No wonder they are always ‘on Facebook’ – they bring their iPhones and hook on the net all around the clock! And because it drains more battery, they carry their chargers around too!

Brunei is very, very small – a population of no more than 350,000 people. And since only 20% of the land is urbanized, it’s common to run into familiar faces in a day. And practically almost everyone is connected to each other – distant cousins, uncles, aunties! Oh man, I wonder how they are gonna date! ;-P

With MissM and Tangerine (Wana H Salim). πŸ™‚

YEAAAAAAH

Yanti Ismail thinks she’s ‘hot’ πŸ˜›

Orange promoting Nokia?

Muizz selling off iPhones? πŸ™‚

(to be continued…)