It was a real pleasure to see an assortment of Brunei traditional cakes being served in one of our family doa aruah function. Doa aruah is normally held in the month of Sya'ban before the start of Ramadan.
What has changed in Bandar? Not a lot though - apart from more shops in Kiulap area, new highway in Kg Katok and the new Parliment building - otherwise the clock seemed to stop since we left a year ago! 
On several ocassions, we were invited and served this very traditional food of Brunei - Ambuyat. Ambuyat is made from pouring hot water into ambulung or better known as sago which is derived from a Rumbia tree trunk. Sounds simple but actually it requires lots of practice before one can make a good ambuyat mix.
Just arrived today in Holland from a 3-week return home. It has been a very hectic schedule for everyone including the children, meeting relatives and friends, eating outs and attending a wedding or two. The weather was typical of the tropic that we missed, raining heavily almost every night!
Last Sunday was the hottest day recorded for the year in Holland. At 32 DegC it was unusual as this Summer has been relatively mild with temperatures well below 22 DegC.
Alhamdulillah, the 10-day tour went well. The biggest worry was whether the 7 kids in the group could cope with the journey. The 10-day tour totalled up to 2775 km of driving and about a thousand km on the train. There were also considerable milage on foot especially on the many city walks - some up to 4 km a day.
This is one of the most beautiful city in Europe with its location between high mountains. The mountains also serve as an ideal place for skiing in winter with several ski resorts around Innsbruck itself. This is definitely worth a visit during winter time.
The journey from Mestre to Innsbruck was supposed to take 3 hours. Because of traffic jams, it took 6 hours. It seems a lot of people were also heading home from holiday. This route through the Alps is more scenic than the one through Switzerland.
Piazza San Marco, or known as St Mark's Square, is the main square of Venice, extremely popular with tourists, photographers and pigeons. A remark often attributed the Piazza "the drawing room of Europe".
We never realised that Venice is actually located on an island. Venice is world-famous for its canals. The islands on which the city is built are connected by about 400 bridge. One of the most elegant way to travel along the canal is to use gandola - a bit too extensive though!
From Rome we went back by train to Milan and picked our cars. From there we drove eastward to Venice. The journey took us 4 hours, delayed by a number of traffic jams along the way.
The Swiss Guard functions more for ceremonial purposes than anything else. They must be the most photographed army in the world.
Vatican City is located within the city of Rome, at 109 acres is the smallest independent state in the world. It is dominated by St Peter Square where a tall obelisk is located at the centre. It is said the obelisk dates back to the 13th century BC in Egypt before been moved to Rome.
Recently, this structure was included as one of the New 7 Wonders of the World. According to the info, the Colosseum was built in 72 AD dedicated to gladiatorial combats. Its hard to imagine that this structure once holds up to 55,000 spectators, that's like Old Trafford a couple of years ago. However the structure did not last the test of time with a number of calamities like earthquakes continuously threathening the structure.
This beautiful fountain, located infront of the Milan Castle or known as Castello Sforzesco, is a nice place to relax and cool down in the simmering summer heat thats hitting Southern Europe right now.
This is one of the landmark not to be missed in Milan called the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in the Piazza Duomo, claimed to be the world's oldest shopping mall.
In Milan we stayed in a hotel close to the Central Train Station and left our cars in a nearby garage which charges around 18 euro per day. There are at least a couple of halal restaurant around the station. You can also take a metro to reach the city centre.
Switzerland and Milan are world apart. It is as if every morning the ladies in Switzerland sweep their land and dump the dust in northern Italy. Milan is just that - dusty and a bit run down - apart from the high streets selling all the famous brands.
After spending a night in Ibis hotel just outside Zurich (city hotels are expensive!), we set off driving through the Alps on the way to Milan. It took about 4 hours. We also passed through a number of lakes such as this one where the city of Lucerne lies on the bank.
Next stop is Zurich. It took about 4 hours to reach from Strasbourg. You have to pay for road tax to enter Switzerland and costs about 27 Euro.
Strasbourg is the seat of several European institutions including the European Parliment. The city is clean and infrastructures like the tram are quite modern.
On 26th July, we (2 families)set off in 2 cars for a 10-day holiday by road southward to Italy. The journey brought us to 8 countries - Belgium, Luxemburg, France, Switzerland, Italy, Vatican, Austria and Germany.
Summer in Holland is synonymous with long traffic jam on the motorways. This is the period when serious road repair and expansion works are carried out.
The Summer Food Fair is not only about food.
We have been busy the last month. And so the reason for not putting any blog news lately.
In between lectures, we took our break outside and watched students play cricket. Sports is really a big thing in Cambridge. The are lots of open playing fields and so much greenery around you. One could see people having discussions in the open space while others were seen enjoying all sort of activities.
Punting along River Cam we were given a guided tour of the university history and explanation on the many buildings on the river bank. This one is said to have featured in one of Harry Potter's movie. Not sure which college this building belongs to but it is an awesome sight.
Punting refers to boating in a punt. Punt is a flat-bottomed boat. The punter generally propels the punt by pushing against the river bed with a pole.
There are many popular myths associated with the University of Cambridge.
Went to Cambridge to attend training at the Judge Business School. Riding in a taxi from the train station, I really felt at awe looking at all the youngsters walking by who supposely are brilliant undergrads or postgrads at the University. Well after all Cambridge has a reputation as one of the world's most prestigious universities.
Summer starts on the 1st June. The weather has been very pleasant - dry and temperature hovering around 22 to 25 DegC. The lawn has now finally been mowed and time for setting up our mini badminton court. The kids been imprving their recquet skill and kicking ball almost every day after school. Who can blame them. Its only becoming dark after 10pm. Maghrib is at 10pm, Isya at 12pm and Suboh is between 3 and 5.20 am!
Oxford Street nowadays offers good value-for-money for shopping. Primark, though not everyones favourite, has their largest store here and offers real bargains. It does bring a different variety to the normal brands along this largest shopping street in the world.
Hey look at this! Chocolate flowing like a fountain creating a chocolate waterfall. Its best to dip with strawberries or marshmallows.
On the way back to London we passed Oxfordshire and stopped over at a well known shopping outlet called the Bicester Village.
William Shakespeare lived well in the 15th Century in what could be described as a grand house. His father, John Shakespeare was a successful glove maker and so could afford to live somewhat affluently. This house has now been turned into a musem and one could go on a tour with a guide explaining on the details of the house and how people lived in those days.
On Sunday we went to Stratfordshire, the birthplace of William Shakespeare. This greatest of English writer was born in the 15th Century in this now famous town in Uk. Stratford-upon-Avon is one of the 20 must visit places in UK. Its nearly 2 hours drive from London along M40 just before reaching Conventry and Birmingham. Unfortunately the weather during the weekend was quite wet and windy. Otherwise it would have been one of the busiest bank holiday weekend in UK.
What do you do if you are stuck in your car for 6 hours. Watch the sunset go down as you realise precious time has been wasted on the road. The traffic jam was quite weird. At one section you could ride at 135 km/hr. Then after a few km, the whole traffic stands to a halt.
Another long weekend with the last public holiday before Christmas. We went to London again (macam keMiri saja) because the kids really love to go there again. This time we thought we were smart, leaving early at 3.30 pm on Friday. But what a trip.
It sounds like utter desperation. In Borneo Bull yesterday Bruneian are told not to hesitate seeking employment overseas. This is because of current high unemployment amongst graduates. It does sounds like somebody finally throwing the towel on trying to create enough jobs albeit the country being small and still rich. With unemployment, social impacts are bound to be felt more and more.
Visiting London is always enjoyable. Ask any Bruneian. Our HM just spent the last 2-3 weeks there.
There are many theories regarding how Stonehenge came about. My favourite one is that it is a British conspiracy to build something odd just to attract tourist. What ever it is, archaeologist think that it was built around 3200 BC. I don't really care and don't surprise me a big deal. In Egypt, mega structures were already built as far back as 5000 BC. So this is like building a small garden shed in the backgarden for the ancient Egyptian.
Stonehenge is located at Salisbury. Unfortunately the gate was already closed by the time we reached there at 7.30pm. We were not alone as many others were also dissapointed.
From Bath, we set off to Salisbury. Its about an hour drive through the country side.
On Saturday, on FA Cup Final day, we drove westwards from London to Bath. The journey took 2 hours. We went for park-and-ride meaning you park your car just outside the city and then take a ride on a bus to go into the city. Its very convenient and save you all the hassle of trying to find parking spot within the city.
The Natural History Museum is one of three large museums along Cromwell Road in South Kensington. This place is worth a visit for both adult and children alike. And its free!
From the London Eye, one can directly see the Downing Street, the official residences of the UK Prime Minister (No. 10) and the Chancellor of the Exchequer (No. 11).
From the London Eye, one can easily see and recognise many famous landmarks. Across the River Thames is this building where the two Houses of the UK Parliment (the House of Lords and the House of Commons) are located. The building is actually called the Palace of Westminster.
The best place to start viewing London is by going up in one of the 32 capsules of the London Eye, also known as the Millennium Wheel.
This is the place we stayed, near to Edgware Road and about 100m from Hyde Park. Hotels in London may cost you an arm and a leg, so consider yourself lucky if you happen to have close relatives or families in London. This place is also conveniently located near to many restaurants along Edgware Road and of course within a walking distance to Oxford Street.
Its a long 4-days weekend and this time we headed to London. The last time we were there was 9 years ago in 1998. Such a long time ago! At that time we also drove from Holland. The whole car journey took about 7 hours.
