Snooping for Information

The other day I had a diplomat pay a courtesy call on me asking me whether this aseantourguide.blogspot is mine. I didn't realise the diplomatic intel community knew of my existence but I guess it's not that hard to put two and two together. So I guess, this blogsite will get regular monitorings by the diplomatic people as well. Hmmmm... Anyway, welcome to all of you.I was looking through my

Family Titles in Brunei

On my recent blog on Brunei's Time Line, one commentator got carried away and she started to talk about events in the past before moving on to nicknames. I enjoyed what she wrote and I offered for her to write a whole blog about it and I will put it up. But up to now, I have not received anything from her. So, Hajah Yati, if you are reading, my offer still stands. And for the rest of you readers

Brunei's American Hill

I didn't realise just how close our relationship to the Americans were. By the 1860s we had a diplomatic relationship with the USA. In fact in 1865, the United States Consul to Brunei, Claude Lee Moses obtained a 10-year lease for the territory of North Borneo from Brunei in exchange of a yearly tribute of $9,500. He later sold all his rights to a Hong Kong based US trader Joseph W. Torrey.

Brunei's Time Line

I had lunch with my alumni at a restaurant called Wecan Elite - the best description for the location I can think of is it's in an apartment block behind Pizza Hut Gadong. I had a tough time searching for it, apparently it is quite popular and I must admit the food was good (that's a free plug for Wecan). There are not many of us but the few that we have are enough to keep our group alive and

Much ado about TAP

Someone asked me about a previous posting of mine which among others I said 'forget TAP' when it comes to preparing for your retirement. My former officers are asking why the sudden change of attitude since I used to be the head honcho of the agency? I thought I will take the opportunity to clarify my earlier blog. It was never my intention to advocate a total abandonment of TAP nor to insinuate

Bukit Markuching Revisited, Again

Bukit Markuching is in the news again. Quite a lot of things seemed to be happening at the place. In a way, it's typical for Brunei. New things always attract attention. We see the same thing for restaurants and other places as well. Restaurant owners have to keep reinventing themselves every few months, otherwise people will just tuned off. I remember visiting a few that was so crowded during

Brunei place names

There is one hill somewhere along Jalan Tutong, way past Tanjung Nangka which has an identity crisis - maybe not the hill, but certainly whoever it was that named it all those years ago. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera when I passed by the sign, otherwise it would have made a very good visual photo.Anyway, the hill is called Bukit Gunung Batu. For those who do not speak Malay, Bukit means

Origin of Place Names in Brunei

Sometimes the origin of place names in Brunei is a mystery. Some we can only guess - Kota Batu must have some stone fort built there somewhere in the past. Muara is fairly natural. Muara is the mouth of the river and of course that's basically where the big mouth of the river entering Brunei is - so Muara became the name.Gadong most probably comes from the word 'gedung' which means 'warehouse'

Brunei-Cambridge GCE

I read with interest the many blogs and comments on the English O level - arguments about whether it should be dumbed down and there is even talk about abandoning the O level itself. I don't want today's blog to throw the subjects open but I just merely wanted to put forward my two cents worth.This topic is admittedly not among my forte. I personally have no problem with the GCE O level itself or

$10,000?

I read a Singapore blogger posting who presumably works in a bank coming across the Brunei $10,000 note and posted the picture of the note up. I think she said something along the line that it was the largest note she has ever seen and she said that the money resembled 'hell money'. At first I wasn't quite sure what she meant by 'hell money' until I realised she was referring to the 'paper money'

Happy Father's Day, Again

Note: I wrote this blog much earlier expecting to publish it for the Father's Day and saved it in my office's laptop. But with my short break at the Empire, I did not have access to that laptop and I had to write another one for Father's Day which I didn't particularly enjoy as much as this one. Since I thought this is a much better blog than the one I published on Sunday and not to mention the

Teachers in Brunei Society

I was reading the comments about my blog on the Brunei Education System. I love the comments as one of the objectives of this blog is to bring to the attention of readers of issues in Brunei Darussalam, our beloved country. I believed passionately that we collectively can do so much better than trying to change the world alone. What is important is that we can share in this task and we have to

The Brunei Money

Whenever I am stuck on something I turn to one of a number of books on Brunei that I have in my collection. The one that caught my eye today is entitled "Brunei and Nusantara: History in Coinage" written by William L.S. Barrett published in 1988 by the Brunei History Center and printed by Percetakan Seasons Sdn Bhd. This book was published in conjunction with the official opening of the Brunei

Happy Father's Day

Today is the third Sunday of June - the American date to celebrate Father's Day which has also been taken up by many countries. It has been said that it was started by a lady who admired her father who brought her and her 5 siblings up singlehandedly. It was first celebrated in her hometown in 1910 before being celebrated nationwide. By the time RichardNixon became President in 1972, the

Bukit Markuching, Revisited

I have ruffled a few feathers on my local holiday blog this morning on Bukit Markuching (just corrected from Merkuching, thanks Hazirah, though if I am not mistaken the official signboard says Merkuching, though all the archived news says Markuching). It's good to know that the local spot has a very good following who have been quite vociferous in letting me know my mistakes through the comment

Holidaying in Brunei Darussalam

I finally managed to get a few days off starting Thursday until today. If you think that I have not been working very hard, let me tell you that this is only my second leave (3 days) since last January (5 days) and before that my last holiday was in October 2004. So in the space of 20 months, I have only taken 8 days off (and yet I am entitled to have 60 days off in a year). Do I hear any

Ghosts in Brunei

Borneo Bulletin last Sunday had a story about ghostly tales in Brunei - especially of ghosts and spirits moving into vacant houses. Tales about 'spirits wandering' at Kampung Perpindahan Lambak Kanan and in Rimba. Some of the more favoured spots - ghostly hot spots - are said to be the coastal highway road, banyan trees, fishing ponds, beaches and at a school. BB reported the usual claim to be a

Commencing your new life (Part 2)

Damon Darlin of the New York Times (yes, I know, it is my favourite reading and if it wasn't for NYT, I will be struggling for materials) wrote recently about financial planning for the young graduates. I agree with him that even though you thought you are the smartest person in the world when you graduated and you have managed to get your first job already, you need to know how to manage your

Commencing your new life

It's June. In UK, this is the graduation month for final year students. I remembered when I underwent my undergraduate graduation 19 years ago. Though this year I really have to symphatise with all Brunei students in UK. I just hope that everyone gets through with all the lecturers going on strike and all that. For those of you who somehow managed to get through all those exams and those strikes

Family

I ran into a stranger as he passed by, “Oh excuse me please" was my reply.He said, "Please excuse me too. I wasn't watching for you."We were very polite, this stranger and I. We went on our way and we said goodbye.But at home a different story is told, How we treat our loved ones, young and old.Later that day, cooking the evening meal, my son stood beside me very still. When I turned, I nearly

Brunei's Education System

At the last Friday prayer, one of the people who I always bump into every Friday but never really got to know well other than on a nod and smile basis, came over to me. He was asking me where I worked as he saw me sitting on stage at ICC when he was receiving his diploma. He was in his 30s and we chatted about why he is studying now when he already has a family to look after. He was very happy to

The Brunei Coal Mine

On Borneo Bulletin, about a month back, there was a mention about turning the old Brooketon Colliery in Muara into a heritage park. The Museums Department wanted to turn the historical 62 hectares coal mine as an open site museum to promote the country's eco tourism. It is currently already a protected site under the Antiquities and Treasure Trove Act. A number of readers must have been wondering

The house of 12 roofs

I am not generally a superstitious person but sometimes events can happen that makes us realise sometimes there is a fine line between the supernatural and the real world. One case in point I remembered was back to the time when I was involved in the preparation of the Youth Ship Program, which I blogged about a few weeks ago, was the cultural dances practices. At that time, the only place which

How round can round gets?

Quick Quiz - What is the shape of the ball used during the upcoming World Cup in Germany starting tomorrow? .... I can sense the hesitation .... You want to say round but you are afraid that this is a trick question. No, this is not a trick question. According to Adidas, the official ballmaker for the World Cup, when Germany kicks off against Costa Rica, the ball used will be 'rounder' than any

All I ask for is honesty

There was an interesting little news that I saw on Brudirect quite a while back under 'other reports' about British policemen moonlighting among others as models and masseurs. More than 1,000 of them reported that they held part time jobs in addition to being a cop, which surprisingly also include them working as florists, hypnotherapists, entertainers, plumbers and caterers. And it's not just

Malay Days

A few days ago, I blogged about how everytime we say the name of the day in English, we inadvertently pay homage to either a Roman or Germanic god of old. A reader commented I should also blog one about how the Islamic/Malay days came into being and several other commentators have come up with their own versions. Like they say in the cooking show, let's take a finished blog out of the oven as I

06/06/06

Today is 6th June 2006 which you can abbreviate to 6/6/6. Ordinarily this is just a date but very attractive numerically because of the triple 6s. But for christians, the number warrants attention is said to be connected to the Mark of the Beast. I remember this as more than 20 years back, one of my then favourite group when I was studying in England was the Iron Maiden, a heavy metal band. One

Unsung Heroes

One of the relatively unknown heroes and heroines in the civil service are the folks at the Community Development Department or Jabatan Pembangunan Masyarakat. This is the department that served the welfare needs of everyone in the nation. It used to be part of the old Department of Sports and Welfare when it split to become the Social Services Section and later the Social Affairs Unit at the

Sunday and the rest of the week

Did you know that 'Sunday' was originally a Latin word and that for everyday from Monday to Friday, you are actually honouring the Romans' and the Germanic's gods?It was speculated that the dividing of the week into 7 days goes back to the Babylonian time, even way before the Romans. Most probably this is due to the 7 planets known at that time. But it was the Romans that first adopted the

Welfare, History and National Day

When I blogged about the Brunei Annual Report 1961-1962, I was highlighting the changes in attitude of Bruneians with regard to welfare. The welfare programs were already in place then but the number of people who actually applied for welfare was very minimal, the word used in the report was 'rare'.Our lifestyle has changed, the easy availability of credit previously was one factor, some have

The Da Vinci Code

What did I do in my last night in Jakarta? I went to watch the most famous of all current movie 'The Da Vinci Code'. Yup, the movie that you all can't watch in Brunei. I wasn't going to bother watching it but L* who accompanied me to Jakarta said we should try to watch it as watching it on a pirated VCD will not beat watching it on the big screen. Besides we needed to unwind after a whole day of