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.

Kueh Melayu Brunei

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.

I am not an expert in Brunei cakes and won't be able to recall all the names except probably for a very few like Kuah Apam, cincin, pinyaram and sapit.

Parliment House

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!

The new Parliment building is really grandeur in size. Located in the Government Office Complex in Jalan Kebangsaan, it dwafts all other buildings around it. Bandar at the same time has extended its boundary, increasing by a factor of 8 or 10 in area. Hopefully this will result in better planning on its route of becoming a true city.

Ambuyat - Fiz's Favourite

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.

Ambuyat is eaten or swallowed by rolling the sago around two bamboo sticks (Chandas kata orang Brunei) then dipped into a sauce made from sour local fruits for example binjai. One can alos use fish gravy or curry gravy. Of course the best way to enjoy ambuyat is to eat with lots of dishes of fish, meat, prawn and vegetables.

Back Home in Brunei

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!

This photo was taken at Kampong Ayer showing a water taxi operator plying his business. Kampong Ayer is on the decline with increasing number of its residents moving to dry lands.

Ending of Summer - Home Sweet Home

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.

That Sunday the Dutch (and lots of Germans as well) thronged Schevenigen, a long stretch of beach in the Hague, in huge numbers, estimated to be around 290,000 people, creating massive traffic jams around the Hague. This picture was taken back in April when it was less crowded - imagine nearly the whole population of Brunei now sitting in there.

It has been exactly a year since we arrived here. This tuesday we will fly home for a 3-week stay.

Covered 4000 km in 10 days

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.

If there have been no traffic jam, total time driving should have been some 31 hours. But easily we ended up driving up to 45 hours.

In terms of fuel consumption, it was about 300 Euro per car. Hotel costs for 2 rooms for 9 nights per family amounted to about 1300 Euro.

Innsbruck - the Winter Sport Capital

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.

Just to prove the point, the Olympic Winter Games have been held twice here. From Innsbruck we stayed overnight in Munich before heading back to Holland. From Munich, its a distance of just over 800km taking about 10 hours to reach home.

Passing through Austrian Alps

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.

We noticed the motorways have comparatively more uphill and downhill driving and less tunnels to go through.

It Rains in Venice

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".

During the late 13th century, Venice was the most prosperous city in all of Europe. At the peak of its power and wealth, it had 36,000 sailors operating 3,300 ships, dominating Mediterranean commerce. Venice traded with the Byzantine Empire and the Muslim world extensively. During this time, Venice's leading families vied with each other to build the grandest palaces and support the work of the greatest and most talented artists.

Romantic City of Venice

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!

A boat ride from the bus station to the Piazza San Marco which is the main converging point for visitors costs 6 Euro. It takes you on a ride along the main canal, giving excellent views of the buildings lining up the canal.

Hotel Venezia

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.

We stayed in the city of Mestre on the mainland - the city of Venice is located on an island within the lagoon in front of Mestre. Venice is connected by a 5-km causeway to Mestre. We stayed in a hotel called Hotel Venezia, a lot cheaper than staying in Venice. There is also free parking. It costs 1 euro for a 20 minutes bus ride from the hotel to Venice.

World's Most Colourful Army

The Swiss Guard functions more for ceremonial purposes than anything else. They must be the most photographed army in the world.

Originally in the 15th century are Swiss mercenary soldiers who served as guards. But nowadays as long as you have a baby face and can stand up for a few hours should make you eligible to be recruited as one of them.

St Peter Square

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.

In front of the square is the Basilica of Saint Peter, the most prominent building inside the Vatican. It is said to be the largest church building in the world and can holds over 60,000 people. Inside however is swamped with tourists.

Colosseum in 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.

In a way it was quite disappointing to see what is left to be seen inside.

Hot Summer

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.

While Northern Europe is experiencing a wet (too wet in UK) and pretty cold summer, Southern Europe is experiencing a heat wave with forest fires everyway. Temperature in Milan was 36 DegC. In Hollad it was hovering on average between 15 to 20 DegC in July.

This is WAGS territory

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.

Completed in 1877, the covered double arcade, named after the first king of united Italy, is actually a street covered over by an arching glass and steel roof, typical of the design for nineteenth-century shopping malls. Nowadays famous brand shops like Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Ferragamo line up the 'street'.

TomTom brought us to Milan

With TomTom which is a GPS car navigation system, it is quite easy nowadays to travel. All you need is set your destination and TomTom come up with the optimum road journey for you.

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.

From Milan we took a fast train (EuroStar) down south to Rome, costing about 40 euro each way. It takes about 5 hours to reach Rome.

The City of Fashion

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.

In fact Milan is also renown as one of the world capitals of design and fashion.

Driving through the Alps

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.

The drives along the winding road along the mountain valleys are really scenic. What also helps is the number of tunnels built to make the roads safe and easy to drive. In all we passed through 47 tunnels before reaching Milan - the longest was called St Bernard tunnel which is 17 km long!

Zurich

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.

Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland, slightly larger than the whole population of Brunei. Zurich like all the cities in Switzerland is famous for branded watches. Interestingly watches here are cheaper than what we found in Holland, contrary to what we have always been told.

Strasbourg

Strasbourg is the seat of several European institutions including the European Parliment. The city is clean and infrastructures like the tram are quite modern.

One of the most stunning view is the Central Station when viewed from our hotel at night. This is an excellent infusion of modern structure to lightened up old building.

European Summer Tour

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.

The first day we drove through Belgium and Luxemburg before reaching the European City of Strasbourg in NE of France. The jouney took about 7 hours including a stop. Strasbourg is situated on the Ill River, where it flows into the Rhine. The city is located near to the Vosges Mountains and the famous Black Forest. As this is the holiday season, there were significant number of Dutch cars on the road heading to sunny south - as if the whole country is emptying.

Stuck in Traffic Jam

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.

Two weeks ago it took us 4 hours to reach Roermond which normally takes 2 hours. First we got stranded along A12 on the way to Utretch due to a road accident. The four-lane motorway was reduced to the hard shoulder (see photo) and car had to be diverted back. Passing the A20 from Utretch to Rotterdam, the traffic jam had already built up to 15 Km long after just one hour!

The next one was the A2 - comletely closed because of repair. This time we had to devise ways around town and country road to get us through.

Hair Braids

The Summer Food Fair is not only about food.

The large Nigerian community here has a stall where the ladies display their skill in making beautiful hair braids.

There were also various games. In all the food fair was well organised, well attended and lasted for 4 hours.

Summer Food Fair

We have been busy the last month. And so the reason for not putting any blog news lately.

The schools have been in celebratory and excursion mode during this period. Exams have long been gone. One of the events was the summer fair held at the Vlaaskamp school ground. Various food stalls were put on by the various nationalities representing the school to raise money for the school and other causes. The obvious favourites are the Malaysian stall where Nasi Lemak and Satay were snapped up quickly.

Cricket a Boring Game

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.

Back to cricket, I could never understand this game properly. Much prefer football.

Scene from Harry Potter film

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.

Its June. Students were seen to be preparing for the main event in their calendar year - the May Ball. Despite the name, is a ball held in June at the end of the academic year. They are traditionally formal affairs, requiring evening dress, with ticket prices of around £65 to £160. The balls are held in the college gardens, lasting from around 9 p.m. until well after dawn.

Punting in River Cam

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.

The tradition in Cambridge is to do punting on the River Cam which flows through the Cambridge town. The banks on either side of the river belong to various university colleges. It was quite a soaky experience as the weather has not been too kind when we did the punting. Nonetheless it was an enjoyable trip.

The Mathematical Bridge

There are many popular myths associated with the University of Cambridge.

One famous myth relates to the so-called Mathematical Bridge. Supposedly constructed by Sir Isaac Newton, it reportedly held itself together without any bolts or screws.

The City of Nerds

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.

Founded way back in the 1200 AD, the University of Cambridge currently has 31 colleges tucked within this small town of just over 100 thousands people. There are so much history in this place. The more famous colleges are King's, Christ's, Trinity, St John etc. They all somehow or rather started by church or monks.

Its Officially Summer!

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!

Its now 10 months since we arrived in Holland. Time really flies. Back home people seems to be busy with what Brunei is best for - endless preparations and celebrations. I do hope Brunei also do its best on other fronts. Otherwise its like a luxury liner, people inside living in utopia and the ship burning its fuels as it happily sails, knowing the fuel will dry up eventually and the ship ending up in the middle of nowhere.

View of the Shopper's Street

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.

Obviously one could not resist going to Marks and Spenser - obviously for the biscuits, Topshop and Clarks. But also to avoid those rediculous shops like Selfridges. Other non starters are HMV, Debenhams and House of Frasers. For Bruneian, the Woolworths store along Edgware road is always something they could not resist not visiting if happened to be in London - a nostalgic trip back to bygone student days.

Chocolate Fondue

Hey look at this! Chocolate flowing like a fountain creating a chocolate waterfall. Its best to dip with strawberries or marshmallows.

But first the chocolate has to be heated up in the basin at the bottom to make it into liquid. Then it is transported up to the top of the fountain from where it will flow down. It does look very messy at the end. But worth having a go.

Bicester Village

On the way back to London we passed Oxfordshire and stopped over at a well known shopping outlet called the Bicester Village.

This factory outlet got about 100 stores offering high-end brands more familiar to those living in UK. It was raining and at 10 degC is unusually cold for the month of May.

It tool another hour to drive back to London.

Shakespeare Lived Here

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.

Much Ado About Nothing

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.

Back to Shakespeare, I remember I took English Literature as a subject and that covered Shakespeare's work such as A Midsummer Night's dream, The Tempest, Much Ado About Nothing, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar and Macbeth. I flopped.