Halal Food Fair in Rotterdam

The estimate of the value of global Halal market range from US$500 billion to US$2 trillion. Staggering! The US$500 billion is based on an estimate per capita Muslim spending on such products of US$300 per year, the world Muslim population is about 1.6 billion people. Muslims are expected to account for 30% of the world's population by 2025. Currently the Halal food market accounts for only 12% of global trade in agro-food products, hence there are still major growth opportunities in this area.

Now many countries, including non-Muslim, such as Canada and Australia, are hot on heels on these. Europe was the first to venture back in the 70s, such as Denmark and the Netherlands, servicing the Middle-East and the Far-East needs. But the growth in the Muslim population, increasing concern on Halalness raised a new spectre of opportunities. Everyone has to be quick to set an early entry. This food fair is one of those small steps made by a distributor from Malaysia. It’s an open playing field. Siapa lambat nda dapat!

Windy Rotterdam

A nice walking area along River Rhine. Today we went to Rotterdam to see a Halal food fair organized by a Malaysian distributor. This is the view next to the food fair.

The port of Rotterdam is the largest in Europe. It’s not easy to appreciate the size of this ‘gate to Europe’ as the port facilities are stretched over a distance of 40 km. The whole port area itself is about 105 km2 or a fifth the size of Singapore. The other important statistic is the number of cranes – over 300 in all servicing the thousands of ships coming in and out every year.

An Exclusive Tour of Amsterdam & The Hague

Here's some photos from last week....Holland is an interesting place to visit. There are lots of small museums each worth spending a short hour or so.

20 years of finding oil…..

It is said – If you want one year of prosperity, grow grain. If you want 10 years, grow trees. If you want 100 years, grow people. A friend of mine just quit his job from this big company with a pecten sign. When we were both introduced to the oil scene back then, people said there's only 20 years of oil left. So there we were with many people quietly involved in the search. Alhamdulillah, all the rezeki are from God Almighty, the next generation of Bruneian will benefit from it. It is the time to pass on the baton. We have grown the people. Our younger explorers are there to take over.

The explorers’ playing field will get bigger soon. Iraq is opening up this year. Lots of companies will jump in, needing all the already scarce expertise worldwide. According to American Association of Petroleum Geologist – the best paid geologist is when you have 20-24 years experience. The average international salary for that group is now US$141K. But that’s nothing compare to young Lewis Hamilton whose new contract reportedly worth around £10m per year, or £200,000 per week. This guy does not need to find oil. He burns it big time.

This one is for Jordan

Egypt Holiday Photos

Here's some photos from our trip to Egypt last year. A bit late ..but we only found out just recently how to make a video clip!!! so sad......

Hijrah 1429 and Fiz's Birthday.

Two big things happened yesterday. First was the new Hijrah year. Its definitely not forgotten here. Everybody in the office were reminding and greeting each other.

The second was Fiz turning 15 (Yes FIFTEEN). No special celebration. Just a big card - well actully a very big card (see photo).

Our Earth and OJ287

Something for all of us to ponder deep in our mind. That's Earth. That's home. That's us. Looks massive. But the earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. On BBC news today, astronomers have weighed the biggest known black hole or super Sun in the Universe. The object, called OJ287, is 18 billion times more massive than our own Sun. That’s 6000 TRILLION times (6,000,000,000,000,000) more massive than our Earth.

And there are black holes and suns in every galaxies. Astronomers say that there are probably more than one hundred billion galaxies in the observable universe. So our Earth, on one of it, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever lived, is actually just like a dust, suspended in this massive Universe. Masha'Allah!

Winterberg Family Photos

Everyone having fun......

Girls on Film........

December Holiday Photos

Happy New Year 2008

Hi all. Since this blog was started in early 2007, we have managed to put 199 posts in all. The blog very much captures our activities and many trips during the year.

Last night was crazy night in Holland. Its end of the year firework night where you literally burn money to make a loud bang. All the neighbours have their own stocks and would be ashamed if you don't join in as well and show your own fireworks. Its estimated the Dutch spent about 50 million Euros on the night alone on firework, its like war, very noisy and smoky. The whole country turns alive at the turn of the clock.

Happy New Year to all. Hope you all have good health, all the success and received plenty of blessings from God AlMighty. Amen.
Here's a video from home.

Another one is a youtube of Amsterdam same night - much similar to what we experience at home - like war.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjzB6HVgYmw
This one is from the Hague last year
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wHtD1YAxTg

Vollendam

The next must stop for any visitor to Holland is Vollendam. Located about 30 minutes drive from Amsterdam, this fishing village is famous for offering your photo taken in traditional Dutch costumes. There are now quiet a number of these photo shops offering similar services. The cost is quite reasonable starting from 17 Euros. The photos are ready within 30 minutes. There are also a number of souveniers shops that you can go to while waiting for the photos to be developed.

First Albert Heijn Store

The first Albert Heijn store is apparently located in the De Zaanse Schans. The building is still preserved (for tourism and historical purposes of course).

From this small beginning, the brand has grown and is currently the largest supermarket chain in the Netherlands. There are now about 700 regular Albert Heijn stores, ranging in categories 1 (small) to 5 (very large).

Windmill Country

If one want to see traditional wind mills which are still working, the best place to go is a place called De Zaanse Schans in Zaandam. Its just North of Amsterdam about 45 minutes drive from the Hague.

Apparently there used to be a thousand windmills in this place but now has reduced to about 50. A walk around the river bank with row of windmills lining it is recommended. One could also go up to one of the windmill for a small fee and see the mechanical aspect of this big machine.

Gokarting in Uithof

We went to a place called Uithof about 20 minutes drive from our home for Go-karting. This place offers a number of sporting activities such as skiing, ice skating, rock climbing, go karting and so on. For go karting it costs 12.50 Euro per race which is about 12 minutes long.

The children had a go as well and were quite excited that they also ended up racing twice. Initially they looked tense when they stepped in to the kart in their full uniform and helmet but soon they were at ease and driving like Lewis Hamilton! Here's Ish ready for his first drive.

http://www.deuithof.nl/

Chocolate City of Brussel

We headed back from Paris to Holland on the 27th December. We stopped along the way in Brussel which is about 3 hours drive from Paris. We had a walk around the historical part of the City where one could see many beautiful buildings especially in the City Square that have been standing for at least 400 years. One of the building is curently undergoing restoration (see photo).

Brussel offers a number of famous chocolate brands such as Galler, Godiva and Leonidas. There are also a number of shops selling the famous Belgium waffles which are irrestible to eat especially when walking in this cold weather.

Eiffel Tower Glittering

In Paris, we went to a few places for the usual photo snaps. This must be our fifth time to Paris. First we went to Place de Clichy for food, a place where one can find many halal restaurants.

Later we went to the Arc de Triomphe which forms an impressive backdrop for any photo. Napoleon conceived of the idea to dedicate to the glory of his imperial armies. The structure was completed in 1836 and still standing proud. Next we went to Le Defence before sight seeing around the Eiffel Tour.

In the evening we were treated to a great dinner by our uncle and aunty who are currently on posting there.

Christmas in Disney

We drove for two hours heading South and stayed overnight at Aachen, a German city close to the border with Holland and Belgium. The roads were quiet as most people have already headed home for the Christmas break. So driving was easy and smooth. From Aachen we set off early in the morning and took us another 4 hours a distance of 424 km to reach our hotel (Hotel Mercure) in Marne La Vallee, located on the outskirt of Paris near to Disney Park.

The next day was Christmas. We went to Disney Park and joined by our relatives in Paris. It was really crowded as many Parisians decided to spend their Christmas in the park as well!

Sledge down the Slope

Because of the time, we didn't go for skiing. Instead we went for the much simpler snow sledge so the kids can have fun as well. Like skiing, one can go up the slope using a ski lift. From there it was quite fun going down slope on the sledge with the kids. The speed was quite exhilarating. We did it quite a number of times until it was getting late and time to move on.

One can rent all the equipment on site for a reasonable price. Its advisable to buy proper water-proof snow jacket and trouser as well as proper snow shoes. They only rent out ski shoes which are quite stiff for walking if you are not using it for skiing. Here's the website of the ski park that we went to.
http://www.sahnehang.de/Galerie.29.0.html

Fun in Sauerland

Second day, we went early and drove into the hilly ground of Sauerland, a rural and heavily forested area spreading across most of the eastern part of German's North Rhine-Westphalia province. This is also where the F1 BMW Sauber name come from and the F1 Nurburgring is quite closeby. This area is famous for winter sports and skiing, a much nearer option for Germans and Dutch alike. However the high grounds are not as high as the Alps. There are up to a hundred ski parks scattered all over the area, in most cases heavily relying on snow making machines to ensure the slopes are covered with snow. We finally settled on in a park in Altastenberg which is 5 km away from Winterberg town itself.
http://www.skiinfo.com/Big-Skimap/Altastenberg-EDEALTASTEN-930-en.jhtml

To reach Altastenberg, we had to drive slowly as the roads were slippery and quite foggy. One should also check this website before going.
http://www.checkcams.com/sauercams/

Christmas Market in Dussedorf

We set off on our short European tour on Saturday 22nd. First stop was the German City of Dusseldorf, a 2 hours drive from the Hague. We checked in at a hotel on the city outskirt and drove to the city for a tour of the famous Christmas market.

The city walk was pretty cold (-5 Deg C) but we managed to cover quite a bit of ground, weaving pass through the over-crowded market. The market atmosphere was definitely quite unique. Many stalls were set up and lined up the many shopping lanes in the City selling toys, seasonal items, food and so on.

Cold Winter in Holland

What a great sight! This is the Parliment House with the frozen lake at the front. The temperature has plunged to minus 5 Deg C. Walking in town in this cold weather is not really comfortable unless you wear layers upon layers of clothing to keep you warm.

During this end year holiday, we have been traveling quite a bit. We went off in two cars and headed to Dusseldorf and Winterberg in Germany and later to Paris, before heading back via Brussel. Driving on the motorway is a lot less busy compare to the Summer period but road conditions are a bit more challenging as there are more slippery and daylight hours shorter.

White Hari Raya

Its now a beautiful sight outside with every trees looking gloriously white. The temperature has been sub-zero for nearly a week now. And lakes are slowly beginning to freeze. Hope it will stay on so that the lakes and the canals are completely frozen. One can already see people skating on them.

Last night we celebrated Hari Raya Haji at our house with takbir. Our house in the meantime is pretty full with our family from Brunei spending their holiday here. Last day of school is today so the holiday season is just around the corner. We already got plan for the next ten days!

Watching Movies

Last Saturday whole family was watching movie at Pathe in the City Centre. Me and Ish watched 'The Golden Compass' based on the book entitled the Northern Light by Phillip Pullman. This is the sort of mythical child adventure similar to Harry Potter. But after watching Lord of the Ring and Harry Potter, another dose of similar epic is I am afraid one too many.

The girls watched 'Enchanted' and came out more entertained.

Wind Power

UK is planning to build around 7,000 wind turbines offshore by 2020. The offshore wind farms would generate enough electricity for every home in the UK. Currently offshore wind farms already produce two gigawatts - enough for 1.5 million homes. European Union is targetting of generating 20 per cent of energy by renewable sources by 2020.

Back home, there were studies done by ITB and some UBD students in the past on feasibility of wind as source of energy. Some said its not suitable for Brunei. What a load of rubbish. In Holland it is seldom windy and yet the place is littered with wind turbines everyway.

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.