De-icing the Plane

Off again to Syria but not on a jolly this time. During transit in Vienna, my connecting Austrian Air plane was stopped for a good spraying before take off. The weather was very cold so there must be some ice build-up on the aircraft's wings and that warrant some de-icing work to be done. First time ever I saw this.

Back to the trip itself, had a 4-hour meeting with some officials. The meeting was tense, the air was choky with a few smokers in the room but at the end ended in a successful outcome. Good end to the year!

The Pilgrimige Season

The Hajj season is starting. In Brunei the first flight to the Holy Land is on Sunday. Our sisters, brother-in-laws, sister-in-laws, an uncle and aunty are performing their Hajj this year. Our prayers to them for safe and blessful journey to perfoming the 5th pillar of Islam.

This is a photo inside Masjidil Haram taken in 2003 when we performed the Hajj back then. Don't ask how this was taken, it was not easy to pass through the tight security. The Hajj journey for us was quite an experience itself. First and foremost was of being patience in the midst of some 3 million humanities who were also making the pilgrimige.

University Ranking - A Guide for Nerds

Ever wonder where all the Nerds around you have gone? There is an annual publication of university rankings around the world, published by these two organisations- The Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) and Quacquarelli Symonds (QS).

1) Harvard University (USA)
2= Yale University (USA)

2= University of Oxford (UK)
4) University of Cambridge (UK)
5) Imperial College London (UK)
6) Princeton University (USA)
7= University of Chicago (USA)
7= California Institute of Technology (USA)
9) UCL University College London (UK)
10) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA)

The School

With its large expatriate population, at least some 20000 in all, there are a number of schooling choices. The more popular ones are the International School of the Hague, the American School of the Netherlands and the British School in the Netherlands.

Our kids attend the British School. Ish is at Year 6 in the Junior School located in Vlaskamp while Zim and Fiz are in the Secondary school in Voorschoten in Year 7 and Year 10 respectively.

http://www.britishschool.nl

The Real Thing

Which one is it? - The Mint Tea. For us Restaurant Makkah in Beverwijk make the best mint tea. The tea powder is actually strong green tea from China but the fresh mint leaves makes all the difference.

Here's how to prepare:

1) The tea is first put in the teapot and "cleaned" by adding a small quantity of boiling water, that is poured out after one minute (this operation lessens the bitterness of the tea).

2) Mint and sugar are added, and water at the boiling point is then poured in the pot.

3) After three to five minutes, a glass is served and poured back in the pot two to three times, in order to mix the tea.

4) Tea is then tasted (sugar if needed may be added) until the infusion is fully developed.

5) Tea is poured into glasses from height in order to form a froth.

Saturday at Rotterdam

After a year here, we finally set foot to the nearest city which is only a 20 minutes drive away that is Rotterdam. It is a port city, in fact the largest in Europe and was the world's busiest port from 1962 to 2004, when it was overtaken by Singapore and later by Shanghai.

The Christmas shopping season is on now. There are ample seasonal decorations around the shops and along the street to cheer up the shoppers - shop more, shop more, till you drop! Also this is the time to see a very Dutch tradition on the street - Sinterklaas, a Dutch version of Santa Claus - a man with a long white beard wearing a red bishop's dress and hat together with his mischievous helpers with black faces and colourful outfits called Black Petes or Zwarte Pieten in Dutch.

Winter is finally here

This is probably the worst time to be in Holland. Its cold, rainy and shorter day-hours. In fact it is still dark by the time I reach office and again dark when going home. Sunrise is at about 8.00am in the morning while sunset at about 4.50pm.

This is also when the public transports are crowded and got really stretched and unreliable. The reasons - Dutch starts to abandoned their bikes. Who wants to cycle in this cold wet weather? It is said that in Amsterdam alone 500,000 people use their bikes daily. Imagine all these people are now using the public transport.

Open House in Oldenzaal

Yesterday we headed 200km East in the direction of a small town of Oldenzaal close to the German border. Its the house of Mohd BJ, a native Dutch married to a Bruneian. We were treated to a sumptous amount of food including some very traditional Bruneian cooking.

Also BJ showed how an IPhone looks like - fabulous - I want one! This is definitely what every teenager and also older ones really really one.

The trip back was quicker, took 1 hr 50 mins in the driving rains and that's included a fuel stop.

Back to Cold Europe

Now back to Europe. Took a 25 minute flight from Damascus to Amman to get a connecting flight to Vienna.

The Damascus-Amman-Vienna was operated by Royal Jordanian Airlines with proper business class seat configuration unlike if you fly on Air France or Austrian Airlines.

In Vienna, we boarded a Fokker100 to go to Amsterdam, was absolutely freezing on the tarmac. Back to cold Europe!

Syrian Hospitality

On the last day, I was invited by my Syrian colleague for dinner.

He lives in an apartment with 3 bedrooms. Five years ago, he paid it for US$120K but now would be around US$400K. Since the invasion of Iraq, nearly 2 millions Iraqis moved to Syria, mostly the more affluent one and they are responsible for driving up the house market.

The Beauty and the Beast

The beauty is this great piece of very fertile land spread out like a large carpet as far as the eyes can see. The beast is the gigantum forces of mother nature below which could create earthquakes and volcanic activities but provided the ingredient and the minerals for making these lands fertile. Each come one after the other thus alternating between disaster and bounty.

For people of this land, there is normally no choice. The best they do is to reap the benefit for the land, be grateful, and prayed their lives and families are spared when the next big earthquake strikes.

The Children of God

Alwasy a good distraction. There are at times when group of local children would come around to our group and curious to see what we were doing.

On this trip we have been looking, studying and witnessing the effects of a major fault system that goes through this part of the world.

These children and a few generations before them have not seen and experienced the might of this fault system. The last major earthquake was 875 years ago. Historical data shows that the area is overdue for another big one. Insyaalah these children and the people of this beautiful land will be spared and continue to enjoy the prosperity and blessing out of this great land.

Lunch by the Roadside

Our field trip brought us to some of the wooded and hilly part of Northen Syria. The sceneries are breathtaking and definitely great place to take rest. We made a stop at this small roadside place which use the original clay oven to cook turkish pizza or known as lahmacun locally.

Lahmacun is basically a round, thin piece of dough topped with minced meat (normally lamb), often sprinkled with lemon juice. Our group of 20 hungry lads must have made a very profitable day for this lady. She can rest and closed her shop for a few days now.

The City of Apamea

This is the ruin of the Roman ancient city of Apamea. Built before 300 BC, the city grown and flourished to hold half a million people. The central promenade alone (picture) was 2 km long. The armies protecting the city even possessed upto 500 elephants

But located in a geologically unstable area, the city suffered a series of setback and destruction by erthquake. The last big one that eventually destroyed it was in 1152.

Ground Nuts

This was the first time I saw groundnuts being slowly dried out on the field after harvesting. The process takes about 2-3 weeks to allow enough moisture to escape.

Groundnuts are grown best in light, sandy soil. They require five months of warm weather. When the seed is mature, the groundnuts change colour from white to a reddish brown. The entire plant, including most of the roots, is removed from the soil during harvesting.

The City of Hama

This is the view from the hotel of this charming city located in Northern Syria, eternally associated with the Norias.

There used to be about 220 norias scattered throughout the city, of which only 20 are left. Nowadays they only function as attractions and more often than not many restaurants are built around them and the norias providing a wonderful scenery.

Noria of the Orontes River

This is an amazing engineering dating back to the old ages. Norias or known as water wheels are very ancient, funtion to carry waters from the river up onto aquaduct or canals well above which lead to various quarters of the city.

The Norias diameter can be up to 21 metres and contain upto 120 boxes to carry the water up onto the collecting aquaduct well above the water level.

Invisible forces of Mother Earth

This is a spectacular picture showing an ancient aquaduct split by a series of earthquakes along a fault line. The total displacement is about 19 m created by 4 major events over the last 2000 years or so each time resulting in upto 5 m movement.

A major fault system called the Dead Sea fault system stretches from the Red Sea through Jordan and eventually to Syria in the North. This fault system is literally a weak point on the Earth's outer layer which act as a slip zone to accomodate differential movements between the different Earth's plates. The forces pushing these plates are enormous which explain the devastating earthquake events at areas around the fault system.

Ancient Dam

A view of a well preserved ancient dam in Central Syria. The structure is largely intact although it is now completely silted up. You can use the bus in the background to guide as scale.

Despite solid and lasting construction, the dam was apparently a failure because it quickly silted up. In such dry terrain, loose sands and silts easily ended up in the reservoir behind the dam. With time this has built up and eventually completely filled up all the spaces resulting in making the dam redundant. This is what also happening to all the modern dams that are being used right now, unless one can reduce the amount of accumulating silt behind the dam wall.

Syrian Meze

Syrian food is rich in vegetables, grains, fruit, nuts, beans and aromatic spices. Syrian cuisine is probably the best in the Arab world - that's what the Syrian claimed anyway.

Syrians often serve selections of appetizers, known as meze, before the main course. Meze are normaly made up of salads known as tabbouleh and fattoush serevd with pita bread and dips such as humus (chickpea), mutabal (eggplat with yogurt), muhammarah (reddish stuff) and Baba-Ganouj (eggplant salad)

Thats only a appetizers to begin with.

The Kingdom of Heaven

This is the famous crusaders' castle which fell down to the great Mamluk Sultan Baybars who laid seige on it for months. That resulted in the crusaders deprived of food and supply and no sooner gave up and surrender.

Located on a demanding position, it controlled the passage from the coastal area to the plain of Syria. It was also the northern headquarter for the crusaders in their mission to take Jerussalem.

The castle known as Krak des Chevaliers is located close to the Lebanon border. With its thick outer and inner walls the castle was almost impenetrable and housed about 2000 soldiers. Inside one could appreciate the shear size of the constructions.

Bagdad Cafe

Just back from 9 days in Syria. Was a very good trip - attending a field trip. This cafe is about 200 km to the Iraq border. The situation across the border is very precarious and is probably currently the most dangerous place on earth.

On the last day I went some 50 km near the border to visit the area that I am working on. The area is three times the size of Brunei. The environment is quite dry, semi desert and empty except for groups of bedouins scattered across the land with their obliging herds of camels and sheeps.

Terracotta Army in British Museum

We thought we could save a lot of money by not going to China and see the Terracotta Army at the British Museum instead. On checking the web, the exhibition was already booked up into next year.

Anyway we have not been to the museum and so out of curiosity went there for a quick visit. Its located near Holborn Station. The Museum complex is huge but rather disappointing. The exhibition halls are just too far apart and the atmosphere is just a bit too modern for a museum.

Oxford University Tour

It took 1 hour and 10 minutes to reach Oxford from Central London. Oxford is known for its University but also has a lively shopping centre unlike Cambridge.

We joined the University tour which lasted 2 hours. It is a good introduction for the kids and hopefully they get inspired by it. The tour took us to the Exeter college, one of the 39 colleges. The University is really full of history and achievements. It is proud of producing 23 out of the 47 British's prime minister for a start! Equally to get in is not easy - one has to be the nerdest of the nerds.

The Dressing Room

The changing room looks small. Apart from the football jerseys that hang across the room, the place is quite empty. But this is where Arsene Wenger inspires his players during halftime.

The guy also used his Japanese experience to provide input to the Emirate's stadium design by using Feng Shui rules, for example rounded edges etc. Seems to work though as Arsenal had only lost once in this stadium.

On the Pitch

The pitch was in an immaculate shape. New technology is being used to stimulate healthy recovery of the grasses with the use of powerful lightings to provide artificial sunlights. It really makes a big difference as the field looks amazingly good even though nearly 20 games have been played so far this season.

At the end of each season, groundmen who are responsible for maintaining the field are recognised by a special award. Apparently Spurs' groundsmen won it last year!

Touring the Emirates Stadium

This is one heck of a stadium. We managed to get on the stadium tour which runs a few times a day but selling like hot cakes. There were 50 people in our tour alone and took about 2 hours.

The tour started at the director's box where the club's main shareholders could watch the games with the best possible view. This was followed by the arrival hall, dressing room, touch line and finally the press room. Also included as part of the tour was the club's own museum.

Nahar Cafe in London

It took us quite a while to find this restaurant. Initially we wanted to eat at Satay House but did not feel easy as wine seems to be served there as well. Mawar Restaurant on the other hand was still closed for some reasons that we won't discuss here.

Back to Nahar Cafe, the last time we were here was in 1993 when Fiz was only 10 months old then - now 14 years later (Fiz is 14 years old now!). We tried mee mamak, mee tiauw, roti kosong and nasi lemak. All were excellent. The place is well visited by both Asians and Brits alike. Its located at 190 Sussex Gardens at basement level below the Mara building.

White Hart Lane

On 26th Nov, we went to this stadium which yours truly has supported the club since 1979. Located in NE London, the stadium can be reached by local train from Liverpool Street Train Station.

Apparently there was no stadium tour available on the day so we just went round the stadium and the shop. Martin Jol the manager got sacked the night before after a dismal start to what promised to be the year where Spurs could challenge the big Four.

Science Museum

This is a good place to visit to learn the rapid development of technology over the last two centuries.

Many original inventions are on display and they really open our eyes to realize the ingenuity and preseverence of those great people who invented things that we now take for granted these days.

Long Weekend in London

This was the third time this year we drove to London. This time round coincided with the Autumn half term holiday for the children. We set off early at 4 pm and reached Calais after about 4 hours in what was a smooth ride except for the delay between The Hague and Rotterdam.

Stayed in London for 4 days, made a number of useful educational as well as shopping trips here and there. Also met relatives and friends, all with happy faces. We also went to the movie a couple of times. At least Fiz is happy with her new supply of novels from Waterstone.

Trip to Ardennes

Its the turn for Ish to go to Ardennes this year. Located in Belgium, about 4-hour bus ride from the Hague, Ardennes offers a great outdoor opportunity for young kids to experience outdoor activities, learn new skills, develop communication and cultivate team spirit. Something that we adults still continue to learn and develop as we go along in our career.


Ish spent a total of 4 days, doing lots of activities and most important of all having the fun of his life.

Hari Raya in Holland

The celebratory atmosphere during Hari Raya is not lost at all as a good number of Bruneian, Malaysian and Singaporean did organised their own 'Open House'.

In Brussel, staff from the Brunei Embassy organised theirs on Sunday. Almost the whole Bruneian troops from Holland made their way down to Brussel, a 2-hour drive from the Hague and about 3.5 hours for those who live further up north in North Holland. Its nice to see such a big gathering of Bruneian once in a while.

Sunday Football

The mornings of second and third hari raya were spent on the football pitch watching Ish playing competitive football. Sports for kids are well run here where teachers and some parents make up a lot of time organizing them. Ish's team was playing against a team that came all the way from England - lost 8-2 though. The loudest bunch of course were the parents.

On the Sunday, they played 5-aside and on a smaller pitch, Ish team got 3rd placing overall.

The Khutbah

The Hari Raya khutbah was given by an invited lecturer from Indonesia. The khutbah was excellent - regarding the importance of reading the holy Quran.

The message was that reading the Quran is the first and foremost duty for all Muslims. The holy book was the first one to be revealed to our Prophet long before the command to perform prayers. Only then were fasting, paying tithe and performing Hajj were mandated. Unfortunately the holy book nowadays becomes more of something to keep in the house to scare off the devil. Most people hardly touch let alone read it - some even for years! The least one can do is read a few pages after Suboh prayer.

Selamat Hari Raya

Sorry........... It has been a busy month during Ramadan and didn't have the time to update the blog. This year's Hari Raya in Europe and Middle East fell on Friday. Brunei and most of Asia however were a day later.

Mesjid Al-Hikmah was the focal point for Indonesian and the small community of Bruneian here. Literally the Mesjid was packed. We were there one hour before the prayer started at 10 am. Because of the huge crowd, the prayer had to be done twice to allow the second group to perform their prayer.

Sungkai at 8:08 PM

Fasting month started on Thursday 13th September here. It was already decided a week ago by the Islamic Council. In Brunei moon sighting on Tuesday failed to see the new moon and hence fasting also started on Thursday. In fact, every where around the world, except for Libya, started on the same day.

Here, day hours are still long as we are still in late Summer to early Autumn period. It will get worse in the future years as Ramadan month moves forward 2 weeks every year. We wish everyone gain all the blessing and joy of Ramadan. This is the month to increase our amal and reminds ourself of the less fortunates. Ramadan Kareem!

This photo was when we had our sungkai at Beverwijk market.

Food Fair in The Hague

There was a food fair at the Malaysian High Com last Saturday. This was one of the events to celebrate the country's 50th independence. Lots of food on offer with seat and tables laid out in the compound for people to enjoy and eat the food. The weather however was a bit wet later in the afternoon.

A number of countries are celebrating their 50th independence this year. 1957 was one of the key turning point for the British Empire to allow countries to self rule. Some succeed to prosper, lot of others failed. Brunei opted for British Protectorate status before gaining independent 27 years later.

Turkish Restaurant in Singapore

On transit in Singapore, we headed to this favourite restaurant of ours located at Far East Plaza along Scott Road. Its located on the first floor. The food differs slightly than the ones that we find in Turkish restaurants in Holland.


We then proceed to do a bit of shopping in Orchard Road before heading back to Changi for our midnight flight.

Bowling at Empire

The kids had a small gathering with their ex-JIS school mates at Empire. There were 32 kids altogether and we had to use 4 lanes but more like they were running all over the whole place - very chaotic indeed.

The short break in Brunei came to a close. We had a good crowd of family members at the airport sending us off. All in all we had 125 Kg of luggage accompanying us. Indeed it has been a lovely return home, seeing everyone and at the same time eating and enjoying the food that we missed over the last year.

One Big House

This is one heck of a house! Still under construction it is located on top of a hill somewhere in Rimba and belong to our biras/brother-in-law. It got a sleeping quarter for driver(s) above the garage, 2 amah rooms, a number of store rooms and at least 6 bedrooms with their own toilet rooms. It is like two big-size houses stitch-up together.

Our own house is now 11 years old. Completed in 1996, we have left it empty for the previous and current overseas postings. It desperately needs some renovations just to keep it a bit more modern outside and make the kids happy. It cost 320K then. This is the only photo we could find, one of our kids took it on the final day to the airport.

Bandar at Night

On 31st August, whole family went out for steam boat at PortView Restaurant for a birthday treat. The restaurant is located on the river bank and offers a good view of Kampong Ayer.

After dinner, we went for a stroll along what used to be the old wharf. At 10 pm, there were still hives of activities here. There is also a new monument commemorating the Sultan's 60th last year. Standing at the wharf, one can see the real Bandar glittered with beautifully constructed buildings against the hilly surrounding of the Bandar itself.

A Swedish Sports Car

In Brunei and also probably everywhere in the world, car features strongly in stamping down one's status. There are plenty of car choices in the market right now, both luxury and affordable. Apparently this second generation Volvo C70 is currently the only one on the road in Brunei, just bought by our youngest brother.

Launched in Europe in 2006, the car looks heavy for its size due to numerous safety features, typical of Volvo design and reputation. This 2-door coupe convertible features a retractable metal hardtop that can raise or lower in less than 30 seconds. The car is mounted with a thirsty 2.5 L 162kW Five-cylinder turbo charged engine.

Mertabak at Millineum

During our home-coming in Brunei, we ate out in lots of places. Bruneians love food and there are excellent varieties of food on offer.

Eaing out in Brunei is much cheaper compare to Europe. Lets see where have we been in that 3 weeks - Millineum, Airport, Le Taj, Rang Mahal, Emperor's Court, Aneka Rasa, Port View, Capers, Pondok Sari and a few more and not to forget Tanda Kasih in Tutong.

Jame' Asr Mosque

The Jame' Asr is the largest Mosque in Brunei. It is beautiful but can not be compare in terms of originality to the Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque. The Jame' Asr is reminiscent of all the big mosques design in the region, from Malaysia to Pakistan, where its centre is a dome surrounded by 4 minarets.

Again like all recent national mosques built in the region, this one is built away from the main populated area. Hence it is quite empty except for the friday prayer. The nearby Kuilap shopping area is a bit far to walk from. This shopping area however is desperate for its own surau.

The Splendour of a Great Mosque

The Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque is one of the most spectacular mosques in Asia. Built in 1958, next year it will be 50 years old and yet is undoubtedly still Brunei's main landmark. Imagine how it likes back then in the 50's and 60's.

The main dome is covered in pure gold, adding to its magnificient sight. It is said to be unique in design, not seen in many Islamic mosques across the world, where it is the outcome of incorporating Renaissance and Italian arcitectural style.