What’s in the Curry?

True to the Brunei spirit of feting oneself with the great food, we have been treating ourselves with what’s on offer in the local eateries here. One of the best dishes is this Kari kepala ikan we found in a simple locality in Berakas. Combined that with an order of chili crap dish, they really made an amazing combination. However one cannot live like that always. It’s all right to treat ourselves once in awhile but looking at the general attendance to restaurants here, Bruneian overall are not living a healthy life.

Having lunch with Dr Rock, now more of an urban species with his colourful tie and paper mountain than an outdoor ranger, the conversation revolved around the trends and opportunities abound in the society today. There are so many get rich quick schemes nowadays that those who have spare money get ever richer and money is so easy.

I have not heard of DINA before, an investment company owned by an Ustaz from Malaysia, until two nights ago. It is said that an investor get nearly full profit from just over a year. Amazing! Nothing is so much easier than that. Put a 100K and you receive 8K per month. You don’t really have to work anymore. Those who are into it, I suppose know better than yours truly. I don’t really bother to check the background in detail. But just now when I was browsing the web I saw this article!
http://aibim.com/content/view/32/1/

What ever it is, right or wrong, while we engross ourselves to make our selves ever richer in this world, let’s not forget those who are not doing well. These are some of the things that are widening the gap between the have and have-nots. Let’s also do our bits to these people in whatever way. Lets not just ignore them. Live is full of trial and tribulation whilst we live in this transitory world...

The Bleeding Heart

From the air, Brunei is still quite green. A large track of the surface has been gazetted as forest reserve areas and remains protected from human impact. At the same time large housing projects are required to satisfy the growing population. From the air however such projects created large scars amidst the 'green' carpet, clearly visible when flying in to Brunei. The Heart of Borneo (HoB) project, an ambitious initiative to conserve the richness of the forests doesn't oppose such development projects but rather promotes sustainable development through sustainable land use management. However one could see that the whole land in these particular projects have been stripped of any vegetation before building works started. This resulted in the creation of a local ecosystem (or lack of it) and exacerbating in soil erosion and uncontrolled flooding downstream. Even after the project is completed, there's hardly any trees planted alongside road or by the new tenants in their new compounds. Here is a perfect example of how one could do their bits to ensure 'Carbon Balance' is maintained and everyone (the new tenants) can do their bits in embracing these HoB concept - by start planting trees.

To Learn is to Begin

Our youngest is having a crash course in swimming this holiday whilst we are back home. Next academic year he is going on a trip and is mandatory that he knows how to swim. Today, on his sixth lesson, he was already swimming free style on the lap pool. What a transformation. I learnt that alongside him on that pool are the future swimmers of Brunei being trained by proper coaches. These 13 to 15 years old kids are really doing a gruelling workout. I heard sometimes they would come at 5.30 in the morning to do some running at the national stadium next door before swimming at this pool. What is great is that these kids are very motivated and their parents are fully behind them. This is much better than to see kids just hanging around and not really doing much. I only now realised that we do have fanstastic pool facilities and many people are using these facilities. It was quite crowded today with lots of coaches doing one-to-one or group coachings. Many of the learners are young kids. Indeed it is so easy to let your kids learn to swim, a skill that would be useful in the future, for fun or for own safety. Even some adults are also taking lessons as well.

Bros and Sis

A simple get together! It’s easily a crowd when there are 15 bros and sis in the family. But nowhere we could have everybody at the same time as there's always someone on posting overseas or at work.

Today the weather has been pleasant after the big downpour yesterday. Driving in such condition was quite hazardous as there were still lots of water puddles due to many potholes and uneven surfaces. These were specially so along the Tutong-Jerudong highway. And obviously quite dangerous and no wonder there were so many accidents along this stretch of road.

Hope somebody would take notice and inspect that highway for the good and safety of road users. Most of the repair works so far were minor and some even made the situation worse by making the road more uneven. One would be tempted to drive on the fast lane (right lane) to avoid these uneven spots. Having said that, some roads in town are always in immaculate conditions and seemed to be maintained all the time. Wonder why the lack of focus elsewhere.

One thing that has not changed is the infamous Kuilap roundabout. I always see dangerous situations here. There seems to be a flaw in the design. To me it's quite obvious and should be remedied straight away. But I presume those in this field knows better and who am I to judge. However, the effort to educate the public through the media on the proper way of using the roundabout is not making any impact. I still see people diving straight to the next exit from the inner lane of the roundabout or people circulating the roundabout using the outermost lane. These are basic things not to do when using a roundabout.

The Famous 'Ban'

Today when I sent my daughter to her friend's house in Ban 3, I couldn't resist taking these photos showing some progress being done to alleviate flooding during the rainy season. It must have been a long wait for those who live here to see something finally is being done.

Ban 3 is famous for always in the spotlight of being a ghastly flooded hotspot in Brunei. But not many people know that this area used to be one of the biggest paddy plantation area in the country - until it got converted into a large stretch of residential area. In the old days in the 70's, when yours truly lived nearby this place and spent a good part of the day playing in the paddy field, this area used to be routinely flooded by diverting water from the nearby river. An artificial dam was built on the river to divert water into a well maintained irrigation system.

The irony is in the name of progress, this fertile stretch of land was sacrificed and converted to residential areas. Now we know why Brunei only has a small fraction of its rice supplied locally. Obviously the constant flooding has been trying to tell us something all these years.

AKBS Book Launching

Had a peek to see the launching but I opted out as it was a real 'formal' affair. So I came back in the afternoon to see the small exhibition conducted by Pusat Sejarah on the third floor of The Mall. What a surprise to see the content of the book. In it there is a section depicting the photos taken by yours truly in those memorable yesteryears. It was a real treat that these photos are included. I am very grateful to Dr Muhammad Hadi and the group for the great effort for coming up with the book. It's not easy to publish a book as I did experienced doing one myself. It may be easier for Pusat Sejarah as they have the whole outfit and machinery to do it but it is still quite a daunting task. Well done again.

In the book, it is said that Brunei started to send students overseas in earnest in the early 50's primarily to prepare the takeover of administrations from the British Resident. Before that it is a norm to send teacher trainees to Malaysia - these people constitute the first batch of Bruneian with increase political sense - which worried some quarters.

Ugama students started to be sent to Madrasah Al Juned in Singapore in the 50's. But it was only in 1965 that Malay and English stream students from a tender age of 12 years old started to be sent to Singapore. Why Singapore? One of the (probable) reason was because just before that time in September 1963 Brunei decided not to join the union of Malay states aka Malaysia!

Tetamu Istimewa

Last week or so ago there was a small family gathering here. It was to meet a visitor to Brunei – Professor Madya Dr Sharifah Hayati, the Deputy Director of the Academy of Islamic Studies, University of Malaya. She was amongst the invited guest to give special talks during the Majlis Ilmu held at the ICC in Berakas. She gave a talk entitled, “Towards Making Families of Zikir a Reality”.

I missed the Majlis Ilmu week. From the web I found this article about what ‘Negara Zikir’ is about. It was a paper presented by the State Mufti, Pehin Dato Paduka Seri Setia Doctor Ustaz Haji Abdul Aziz. Among other things, he said that zikir is a great word, a paramount word and a word of purity. This is because it comes from Allah the Al-Mighty and portrayed very clearly in the Holy Al-Quran. The State Mufti pointed that those who practise the zikir are regarded by Allah as people of common sense or intellectuals. When such people do exist in a country, then there’s no doubt that such a country is a country of zikir where the masses always and lively practise the zikir. It is a country rich with zikir, administered through zikir, protected and maintained with zikir, and its knowledge, economy and social affairs are also of zikir.

The effort is good and should be applauded. Lets hope there are no exception to the rule when we start to embrace the concept.

Masjid Hassanal Bolkiah

This is my old place of solace. I stopped by for Maghrib on the first evening here and met many familiar faces, actually something like 30 of them, the regular jemaah. Everyone were hugging me. It was great to see these guys.

Today is Sunday. No wedding invitation but next week will be busy. We topped up the fuel tank. $21.50 ...that's 10 Euro. In Europe we would easily forked out 80 Euros for full tank. Not sure whether here we should be pleased with that or an opportunity missed by the Government to let the populace understands that the outside world has actually changed. We'll keep our mind open.

My first impression of Brunei a year gone - didn’t sense much changes. I presume I'm totally wrong here. May be. But then I thought there is this thing called RKN meaning to carry us to be the top 10 countries in the world some day. In the evening I watched the opening ceremony of the Olympic – what a spectacular display. 204 countries participated. But I won't be tracking the Olympic – I am not into these multi events things.

Welcome Home

The announcement said “The temperature outside is 31 Degree…” I must be home. Yes home at last.

Flying pass Brunei, I could spot our house - it's the one on the top left in the photo. The zoom lens worked well, although it must have been still about 5000 feet above and a few kilometres away when I took the shot.

Will be a busy few weeks to see relatives and friends and food places...., getting few things done here and there. The fight from Amsterdam to KL was not full. It must be mid Summer as the holiday season is waning or the airline industry is now starting to feel the pinch from the gloomy state of economics and higher prices of things nowadays.

It's good to see our house again. The outside is getting its share of battering from the weather and the hot climate. The inside at least is still in intact. My missus arranged for a small gathering and prayers the evening before. Outside the house, the few mango trees are bearing fruits. The few coconuts trees have long gone when we cut them down as they gown too high - they were supposed to be the dwarf type - but they still grow too high for our likings.

A good Article to Read

This is an excellent article from Wall Street Journal on above. With the high oil price, governments are clamouring to gain more out of the current situation. European governments are already taking as much as 80% profit out what customers pay at the pump station.

What Is a 'Windfall' Profit?
August 4, 2008

The "windfall profits" tax is back, with Barack Obama stumping again to apply it to a handful of big oil companies. Which raises a few questions: What is a "windfall" profit anyway? How does it differ from your everyday, run of the mill profit? Is it some absolute number, a matter of return on equity or sales -- or does it merely depends on who earns it?

Enquiring entrepreneurs want to know. Unfortunately, Mr. Obama's "emergency" plan, announced on Friday, doesn't offer any clarity. To pay for "stimulus" checks of $1,000 for families and $500 for individuals, the Senator says government would take "a reasonable share" of oil company profits.

Mr. Obama didn't bother to define "reasonable," and neither did Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Senate Democrat, when he recently declared that "The oil companies need to know that there is a limit on how much profit they can take in this economy." Really? This extraordinary redefinition of free-market success could use some parsing.

Take Exxon Mobil, which on Thursday reported the highest quarterly profit ever and is the main target of any "windfall" tax surcharge. Yet if its profits are at record highs, its tax bills are already at record highs too. Between 2003 and 2007, Exxon paid $64.7 billion in U.S. taxes, exceeding its after-tax U.S. earnings by more than $19 billion. That sounds like a government windfall to us, but perhaps we're missing some Obama-Durbin business subtlety.

Maybe they have in mind profit margins as a percentage of sales. Yet by that standard Exxon's profits don't seem so large. Exxon's profit margin stood at 10% for 2007, which is hardly out of line with the oil and gas industry average of 8.3%, or the 8.9% for U.S. manufacturing (excluding the sputtering auto makers).

If that's what constitutes windfall profits, most of corporate America would qualify. Take aerospace or machinery -- both 8.2% in 2007. Chemicals had an average margin of 12.7%. Computers: 13.7%. Electronics and appliances: 14.5%. Pharmaceuticals (18.4%) and beverages and tobacco (19.1%) round out the Census Bureau's industry rankings. The latter two double the returns of Big Oil, though of course government has already became a tacit shareholder in Big Tobacco through the various legal settlements that guarantee a revenue stream for years to come.

In a tax bill on oil earlier this summer, no fewer than 51 Senators voted to impose a 25% windfall tax on a U.S.-based oil company whose profits grew by more than 10% in a single year and wasn't investing enough in "renewable" energy. This suggests that a windfall is defined by profits growing too fast. No one knows where that 10% came from, besides political convenience. But if 10% is the new standard, the tech industry is going to have to rethink its growth arc. So will LG, the electronics company, which saw its profits, grow by 505% in 2007. Abbott Laboratories hit 110%.

If Senator Obama is as exercised about "outrageous" profits as he says he is, he might also have to turn on a few liberal darlings. Oh, say, Berkshire Hathaway. Warren Buffett's outfit pulled in $11 billion last year, up 29% from 2006. Its profit margin -- if that's the relevant figure -- was 11.47%, which beats out the American oil majors.

Or consider Google, which earned a mere $4.2 billion but at a whopping 25.3% margin. Google earns far more from each of its sales dollars than does Exxon, but why doesn't Mr. Obama consider its advertising-search windfall worthy of special taxation?

The fun part about this game is anyone can play. Jim Johnson, formerly of Fannie Mae and formerly a political fixer for Mr. Obama, reaped a windfall before Fannie's multibillion-dollar accounting scandal. Bill Clinton took down as much as $15 million working as a rainmaker for billionaire financier Ron Burkle's Yucaipa Companies. This may be the very definition of "windfall."

General Electric profits by investing in the alternative energy technology that Mr. Obama says Congress should subsidize even more heavily than it already does. GE's profit margin in 2007 was 10.3%, about the same as profiteering Exxon's. Private-equity shops like Khosla Ventures and Kleiner Perkins, which recently hired Al Gore, also invest in alternative energy start-ups, though they keep their margins to themselves. We can safely assume their profits are lofty, much like those of George Soros's investment funds.

The point isn't that these folks (other than Mr. Clinton) have something to apologize for, or that these firms are somehow more "deserving" of windfall tax extortion than Big Oil. The point is that what constitutes an abnormal profit is entirely arbitrary. It is in the eye of the political beholder, who is usually looking to soak some unpopular business. In other words, a windfall is nothing more than a profit earned by a business that some politician dislikes. And a tax on that profit is merely a form of politically motivated expropriation.

It's what politicians do in Venezuela, not in a free country.

A Bunch of Hypocrites

Now that the Olympic Games is about to start there are lots of documentaries and TV news painting the many other situations in China. Not far from the agenda always is about human rights abuse. Western journalists especially the Brits are trying to highlight human right abuses as much as possible in this incredibly fast transformed economic giant. The journalists would go around interviewing specific individuals particularly to talk about Tiananmen Square incident, human rights and so on. Imagine somebody doing this during London Olympic 2012, filming the pathetic part of London or foul of the British Government or asking human right abuses committed in the colonial period. The irony is more often than not law breakers like the two British and two American protestors who climbed a pole and put on a Free Tibet banner seems to be painted as good citizen, and were doing the right thing. Imagine a Chinese guy doing that at the Olympic game in London protesting the expansion of Heathrow airport. Or Brazilians protesting in front of the Olympic village the wrong shooting of fellow citizen by police in London a year ago.

One Chinese official said that there are still human right abuses in China but China has also changed. It cannot transform everything overnight. It’s like a super tanker; you cannot just turn around just like that. It takes quite a while. Saying that, China actually had achieved by providing one of the basic human rights – taking 300 million people out of poverty in the last 20 years. That was a massive achievement. The other good sign is that Chinese who left the country years ago, in disgust at the lack of opportunity, lack of freedom, official red tapes and so on are coming back in droves.

The Power of Internet

Nowadays with the power of internet, one could track the news back home through people’s blog much better than the normal media. That is great. Two things that dominate Bruneian blog scene – photography and food. There are lots of excellent photos to look at – really beautiful and spectacular shots. For me, I am not into it. I rarely use my SLR. A pocket camera is more often good enough for me. Although I did have a proper SLR (Minolta X-700) when I was 15. It was a top model at that time!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minolta_X-700

It’s good to see people are really into internet although the penetration of users is still at a low level in Brunei. It’s also good that the country is starting into action in its e-Government initiative.

Anyway back to the power of internet, I came across a couple of occasions that people mentioned, mostly indirectly in their blogs, about the food and coupon clamour. I was reading about the Prophet’s journey or Isra Miraj.

“In the seventh heaven, Prophet Muhammad saw Sidrat al-Muntaha--a very big tree of sidr. Then the Prophet ascended to what is beyond the seven skies; he entered Paradise. He saw examples of the inhabitants of Paradise and how their situation would be. He saw most of the inhabitants of Paradise are the poor people”

Just as for my personal reflection, a lot of fingers and shame were pointed to those people in both incidents for their ‘indecent’ behaviours. Let’s step aback. Lets reflect to what the Prophet observed during the journey regarding the majority of inhabitants of Paradise. Are we all not guilty here by judging people unnecessarily?

Tanglin Hill Reminiscence

A couple of days ago, I got an e-invite to attend the launching of a book about the history of the former government hostel in Singapore or known as AKBS (Asrama Kerajaan Brunei diSingapura) to be held at Rizqun Hotel in a week’s time. Hopefully I could attend it as I should be back then. The book is produced by Pusat Sejarah, but regretfully not many former students knew about it till late. Mr BR said most of the contributions were from the older generation of students.

Nonetheless it was a place where I spent a good part of my younger years away from family. It was then part of the government scheme to send selected students both from Malay, English and Ugama streams to study in Singapore from the age of 12. The scheme started sometimes in the 50’s but was stopped in the mid 80’s as Brunei had rapidly developed its local education institutions and built enough capability.

While on transit in 2001, I took a taxi to see how the place would look like after last seeing it for 20 years. I took a few snapshot of the place I called home from the limit of the gate. Indeed the place has been neglected and in disrepair. I don’t know how it looks now whether the government has done anything with this site – whatever - this highly valuable asset must be worth a fortune in land scarce Singapore. Indeed we are blessed with all the richness but not able to keep or look after things like this.

Has the scheme worked? Looking around nowadays, they are not many familiar faces that I know that really feature in both the Government and private sectors apart from a few. So where have these guys gone? These were supposed to be the cream of their time. My assumption is if you do an art stream, you would end up becoming an administrator and would have a fairly good chance to progressed quickly up the ladder. But most of the English stream guys end up doing science subjects and indeed many have excelled in these fields and remains in that fields. For me, I am happy with what I am doing and keeping my grey matter useful, whilst helping another developing nation and a big profitable company happy. That company made 7.9 billion dollars profit in the last 3 months.

Bookworms in the House

It took me an hour to fix the bookshelves that I got from IKEA yesterday. While doing that I remember I did four years of woodwork and metalwork as a compulsory subject when I was at Secondary school. That is an interesting fact. Nowadays if one enters science stream, this would be one of the last subject to pick.

Any way the reason for the bookshelves is because the kids’ rooms are overflowing with books. Their own book shelves are messy, too many books, and could only be stacked vertically. So I shifted most of Fiz’s books as she is the main culprit. I counted what she amassed in these two years we have been here – 150! That’s like reading 1.5 books every week. That’s a student’s life. What a life. I could only manage a book a month. That is if I am not too busy.

Waiting for Karadzic

(1945-06-19)On the way to town I passed the main prison here in The Hague. There was several television crews outside the prison's main gate complete with their satellite disc.

They are anticipating the arrival of Radovan Karadzic, the Serbian leader during the Bosnian war, who was indicted for war crimes. Karadzic was caught just a few days ago in Serbia after being a fugitive for 12 years and successfully disguised himself as traditional medical practitioner. Once extradition is done, he will be sent to this prison while going through the War Crime tribunal.

Then on the way I passed this nice and really cool building - fully covered with green - eco. This is apparently the headquarters of Europol or Europe Police which represents 27 member states in Europe. It has a army of some 600 staff. Europe is really becoming well beyond its one economy and one currency bloc.

Bungee Jumping

Today I went for a 3-hour cycling just to do a bit of exercise. I made a brief stop at Scheveningen to take some photos. Although it was already 6 pm, plenty of people were still there. But it must have been very crowded during the day today as the temperature was quite warm and beach friendly.

I went to the end of the pier to watch closer people doing bungee jumping. My zoom lens isn’t that powerful but good enough to capture the moment of no return – when the person had to jump. For most people it was not just for the exhilaration and experience but also to boost around that they have done it.

From the pier, one could see the Kurhaus hotel, an old but majestic building and is one of the most expensive hotels to stay here. The building was completed in 1885 and forms one of the more famous backdrop of many old photos. Even at this late afternoon, there were still some people on the beach, even swimming in the sea. The water must be cold, after all this is the North Sea and water seldom goes above 15 Deg. C even in the summer.

Evening at Vapiano

I joined a few Bruneians to have a meal at Vapiano, a new Italian restaurant in town. It was also to bid good bye to Aidi and family who were spending their last night in The Hague before going home. I have never been to this restaurant before but apparently it is our eldest daughter’s favourite hunting ground.

The menu are quite simple and cheap. They cook pasta or pizza it in front of you as you wait for your order.
The place is quite popular and always crowded.

In fact last night it was not only this restaurant but the whole street were full of people eating out and just having drinks. It’s the start of the weekend and the temperature for the first time time this summer hit 30 Deg. C during the day. Just around the corner, somebody constructed some amazing structures out of sands. These structures mimic many of the famous buildings found in The Hague. Quite awesome.

Ikea Day

Today, Saturday, was a full day. First off was the nearby IKEA store to buy a couple of flat packs which I plan to DIY on Sunday. Picking up the flat packs, I was wondering whether they would fit in the car. Each weighs 30 kg and 2 metres long. After a bit of a struggle, they eventually fitted in the car....phew!

Later on it was time to watch Live on TV the penultimate time trail of the Tour de France before the more ceremonial final stage at Paris on Sunday. Cadel Evan, the favourite, didn’t make it for the yellow jersey; it was Carlos Sastre, the Spanish rider. He will wear the yellow jersey tomorrow and to be officially declared as the 2008 winner.

The whole Tour de France has been an exciting race to watch over the month as these super humans battle each other through 21 stages totaling 3500 km, through mountains as high as 2000 m, averaging speed of 40 to 50 km on the straight with final sprint of up to 70 km/hr and when going downhill reaching speed of 120km/hr. Indeed these riders gone through extreme pain barrier as they race 5 to 6 hours every day.

After this will be quiet on the sporting front. Don't fancy cricket - there is some sort of tour, test matches and one-day international going on. I don't really understand this game.

Faces Behind the Figures

There has been a spate of fatal road accidents back home lately. More often then not, these fatalities remain as part of the statistic. Hardly any learnings or causes of the accidents are shared out. And such incidents are quickly forgotten and another opportunity for learning is lost again. Here's an article from World Health Organisation which shares some faces behind the figures. Hopefully if you read this you will learn from the incidents and change the way you use the road.

Voices of road traffic crash victims and their families

Behind every road traffic crash statistic, there are fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, grandchildren, colleagues, classmates and friends whose lives are changed forever. For every severe crash, survivors, relatives and friends can suffer physical, psychological, emotional and economic devastation.

These stories put a human face on the statistics presented in road safety reports. Each of the 1.2 million deaths and 50 million injuries every year has a story to tell. These stories emphasize that if prevention measures and emergency rescue services had been in place, an enormous amount of suffering could have been avoided.

These stories are drawn from the publication Faces behind the figures: Voices of road traffic crash victims and their families, a collaborative project of WHO and the Association for Safe International Road Travel.

Brazil: Thiago de Moraes Gonzaga
Thiago de Moraes Gonzaga died in a car crash just a week before his 18th birthday. The car was being driven by an 18-year-old boy who did not have a driving licence. "It was as if our family had all died together," recalls his mother, Diza Gonzaga, who now works to promote road safety.

Cameroon: Jane Njawe
Jane Njawe died while waiting for treatment at the hospital for five hours after being injured in a road traffic collision. Her husband Pius Njawe recalls the trauma their five children went through. Pius has dedicated himself to promoting road safety in Jane's memory.

Egypt: Deana Blanchard
Seventeen-year-old Deana Blanchard died while trying to cross a busy street without a pedestrian crossing in Maadi. "Every day I see men, women and children dashing and weaving through a blurred maze of cars, buses and trucks and I hold my breath praying that the speeding steel does not end another life," says her father David Blanchard.

France: Mathilde and Elise Jurgensen
Mathilde (7 years) and her sister Elise (4 years) were killed on the way to their grandmother's house when a drunk driver hit the car they were riding in. Their mother Genevieve Jurgensen talks about the emotional devastation she went through before coming to terms with their death.

Kenya: Lillian Mworia
Inappropriate treatment for Lillian Mworia's injuries following a road traffic collision contributed to her being paralysed. She recounts her experience that has forced her to stay in hospital for two years now.

Thailand: Satien Luangpiak
Motorcycle taxi driver Satien Luangpiak was involved in a road traffic crash but escaped with minor trauma to the head and shoulder partly because he was wearing a helmet. He strongly feels that helmet use should be strictly enforced as taxi drivers like him run the risk of losing income, or worse, their lives.

USA: Aron Sobel
Working as a volunteer in Turkey, 25-year-old medical student Aron Sobel died along with 22 others when the bus he was in crashed into a deep ravine. Although the dangerous "death curve" had been the site of many road traffic crashes, no action had been taken to improve the road. Aron's mother Rochelle Sobel recounts the strong sense of guilt she was overwhelmed with after her

Going Home

Today the family flies home except yours truly and they will be there for 6 weeks. I will only join mid-way through. It will be an interesting time ahead. The kids were worried what will I eat. I had a peek at the fridge and already got a plan for tonight at least!

The Schipol airport was crowded today. It’s the holiday season and schools just closed a week or so ago. Compare to Heathrow which just got 2 runways, Schipol got 5 and has plenty of rooms for expansion. One thing I always notice when at the airport is that there are always constructions of some sort at the airport, such as new additions to terminal, road widening etc. It’s a sign that airport authority is planning and continuously upgrading the facilities to accommodate the needs for now and more importantly for the future.

Afternoon Tea

Yesterday being Saturday was a busy day. We started off early in the morning at the Hague Hobema Market; in fact we were very early as the tenants were still busy setting up their stalls.

Later in the afternoon we went for coffee outside and in the evening watch the movie Hancock, another one of those superhuman movie that somehow superheros could only come out of America. And in-between packing stuff for the flight home.

Mid Summer

It's mid summer but does not feel like summer at all. Especially today the weather has been pretty cold at 16 Deg C at mid day and raining. In some of the introductory books about Holland, it is described as a country with low skies. Especially today when one could only see low and thick clouds hanging as far as the eyes could see the horizon. Nonetheless yours truly has been cycling to work regardless. But obviously with the full gear on when it rains! Today the ‘movable’ bridge along my route decided to operate to allow a barge to pass through. It’s a great sight but it wasted a good few minutes of my time to the office.

Back home it’s time of the year of opulence occasions. The time of the year where we want to forget and push issues aside and for the country to celebrate lavishly with all the pomp and ancient ceremonies. Time of the year where civil servants are rewarded with medals and honours, it’s one of the perks of being a civil servant. After all, Brunei has a high proportion of civil servants to the overall working population. May be at a level of 20 to 30%. Where else in most countries it is about 10 %. As for comparison we have about 23 Permanent Secretary as compare to 25 in UK government with the grade of Permanent Secretary.

The Gathering

Bruneians in Holland

There are not that many of us here, probably about 8 or 9 families altogether. It's not large but may be bigger than in other countries in Europe where Brunei either has an embassy or a representative office, apart from UK of course.

One would wonder why there is no Brunei Embassy in Holland yet there are offices in France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and Russia in mainland Europe. And yet every year there are lot of Bruneians who go to Holland on training as well as living here on work assignment.

It must have been because Brunei has little or no historical link with the Dutch. Where else countries like France, Germany and Russia are big countries and members of the G8 grouping which every country including Brunei could not afford to ignore. Belgium and Switzerland, being the seat of Europe and hosting the UN office respectively, are obvious to have a representative office there.

In any case Brunei interest in Holland is well served from the Brussel office. So there is no real need to have another one here. Running an overseas office is not cheap and if the government does not see the political, economic or social benefits, why do it.

BBQ on Sunday

Today we organised a farewell do at our house for Aidi and family leaving Holland end of this month for Shakalin. They have been here for nearly four years and now is time to move on.

It has also been quite a while that the Bruneian community here have been together in any form of gathering. So it was also good to catch up with what's each others have been up to. Luckily this time most could make it.

And also luckily the weather was permitting. After all it has been a week of real wet weather with instances of torrential downpours one normally associate to conditions back home. So obviously it was a real blessing and that we all could sit outside all afternoon.

It was also the first time we did a BBQ at our backyard. As I said almost all the Bruneian turned up. Children really enjoyed the day. They played badminton and football all afternoon, real pleasure to see them running around and full of energy.

Chocolate in Belgium

We set off early to Brussel today, a good two hours drive from home. In the Grote Markt or the Old Market at the heart of the city, one can find rows of chocolate shops lining up the market square. Indeed this is why we went here for.

There are many famous brands to satisfy everyone's taste so sometimes it is quite difficult to choose which one. It depends whether one prefers dark chocolate, brown chocolate, milk etc. But it is possible to ask for an assortment when ordering a box.

Apart from chocolate, there are also shops selling all sort of biscuits which are packed in nice and beautiful containers - perfect for gifts.