Old Brunei Palaces

It would be quite impossible to find anybody in Brunei who don't know where Istana Nurul Iman is. The degree of knowledge obviously tapers off as you go down the list of Istanas or palaces in Brunei. Istana Nurul Izzah in Jerudong, Istana Darul Hana in Jalan Tutong, the guest palace Istana Edinburgh in Jalan Menteri Besar, Istana Darussalam in Kampung Sumbiling, Istana Manggalela in Belait and

You can't do that!

Last year, I was attracted to a book called "Don't sit on this book" written by Philip Cheong. It was an interesting book as it is a collection of Chinese taboos and superstitions. The things the Chinese can or cannot do. Philip Cheong is a Master at the Fung Shui Academy in Malaysia. He pointed out that one of the interesting things about taboos is that as they are passed down from generations

The Brunei Book Fair

The Book Fair is finally here. Book fairs in Brunei are a mixed affair. I don't know whether this is a reflection of our society as a whole or is it because of our small size or something else. I have been to book fairs in other parts of the world. There all I see are books and many and many more books. In Brunei, I see books but I also see computers, compasses and carpets among the book sellers.

Is Bukit Beruang (Bears' Hills) full of Bears?

I was at Bukit Beruang yesterday to attend another wedding. For those who sort of vaguely remember seeing the name - it's a resettlement area on the way from Tutong to Kuala Belait. Bukit Beruang was originally a small village until they turned the nearby area into another perpindahan or resettlement area. It's populated mostly by Tutong people and a few other non-Tutongians who applied to get a

National Day - the aftermath

There was a lot of nationalistic feeling yesterday judging from what I read and all the people I talk to. I certainly enjoyed myself marching with 112 people from my agency in front of His Majesty. The performance on the field despite having seen several rehearsals and knowing what to expect, was still as exciting as ever. I know the things that had to be done to get everything to go like

Happy National Day 2007!

Defining Moments in Brunei in Books

I thought I will share two books with you on the day of our 23rd National Day celebrations. These two are written in Malay and and one is written partly by our own Brunei historians. Both are published by Dewan Bahasa Pustaka Malaysia and both surprisingly published in 1995, though one of them has been republished in 2001. The two books entitled “Sejarah Brunei Menjelang Kemerdekaan” written by

Join the 23rd National Day Celebrations!

This morning as was yesterday morning, I will be at the Padang for the National Day rehearsal. Yesterday morning was the first time I was able to come and I got to see what everyone will be seeing on Saturday. It was a full dress rehearsal but our team was not yet wearing our full suit. I was told that mine is still making its way from a factory in KB plus the fact that the Admin Head Honcho

Makam di Luba

If you drive along Jalan Tutong, immediately past the Shell Filling Station at Kampung Bunut, you will see a simpang entering into Kampung Bunut with a sign that says "MAKAM DI LUBA". For the non-Malays, Makam means a grave normally associated with royalties or great men and women. I like many countless others have passed by that road sign so many times ever since we build a house further up

Visit Brunei Year 2008

My little boy, my better half and I spent our public holiday yesterday visiting some of our more touristy places. It was partly for fun as it has been ages since we last went there; partly for my 7 year old, a new interest in museums after watching ‘A Night at the Museum’ and partly for me, it was duty as these areas fall under my purview for funding and with the upcoming VBY2008, I have to be

Unusual Brunei Transportations

Today I thought I will share some very old photographs of unusual transportation in Brunei which for some reason did not catch on until today. If they were still around, it would be fun to see them.Both of these were operated by Brunei Shell about 40 to 50 years ago. The first is more common in other countries. But unfortunately in Brunei, there were used in only two places - one was in Brooketon

Gōng Xǐ Fā Cái, Hóng Bāo Nálái

Happy Chinese New Year to readers celebrating it. You know it’s funny. Whenever it’s time to look at the new moon to decide the new fasting or end of fasting, people will bring up their Chinese calendar expert – ‘…mengikut bulan Cina, hari ani guarantee nampak anak bulan – bulan china 3 hari sudah…’ etc. Yet, nobody asked if the Chinese calendar is a lunar calendar like the Muslim, how come the

Cinema Memories in Brunei

In the 1960s and 1970s I remembered going to the padang in Muara watching movies being played there. There will be lots and lots of people there – all watching black and white movies. I don’t think the movies were in colour then. I remembered my dad used to own one of those home movie projectors and every time we stayed at my auntie’s place in Seria, he would play one of those silent movies and

Chuchill Memorial Again

It took me a while but I finally got it - the elusive photograph of the Winston Churchill statute. It's here. The photo is from the back of the statute but at least for Bruneians who have never seen it, this is what it looks like. The statute was taken down sometime in 1991, almost 15 years ago. If you are aged 20 and below, you would not remember it even if you did see it in those days.I found

100th Anniversary of the Capital on dry land

Yesterday, HRH The Crown Prince officially opened the Exhibition to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Brunei Capital moving officially to dry land. It was the first British Resident McArthur who suggested that the capital to be moved to dry land in 1906. The capital began to take place on dry land where it is now. I wrote about this earlier.I have to admit the Bandar Seri Begawan Municipal

What do you know about Valentine's Day?

I wrote the valentine article exactly 12 months ago last year for my predecessor site on spaces.msn.com and prepared it sometime last week to republish it today. I didn't realise the Friday sermon would come first. The Imams are technically correct that Valentine's Day is named after St. Valentine. However even then, Valentine's Day was named to replace an even older pagan festival. Anyway, I

So, is El Ninõ coming?

A couple of weeks back the media was talking about El Ninõ - how that would bring severe drought to Brunei over the next couple of months after the heavy rain in December. My mother in law was worried enough to ask for her water storage tank to be inspected. She was worried about the drought as everyone did. For the uninitiated, El Ninõ is a climatic phenomenon occurring irregularly, but

National Flag and National Anthem of Brunei Darussalam

I was reading the program book that came together yesterday while attending the raising of the giant Brunei flag to mark the start of the 23rd National Day celebration. It contained a lot of information about our national flag and our national anthem. I thought I will share the information with everyone.I have touched on the information about our national flag in my post about the flag in July

Victim of hit and run

Assalamualaikum Mr. BR,This is a tough email for me to write...Anyway, you must have read or listen to the news, a 41 yr old man was killed in a fatal road accident this morning, 10 Feb 2006. That man was attending to a flat tyre at the highway when he was hit by a pick-up truck driven by a foreign national. That man was Allahyarham Haji Hussin bin Haji Mustapa, he was my brother-in-law, i.e. my

Clean Brunei?

The other day the Brunei State Mufti was talking about dogs in Hyde Park in London. Caught your attention, didn’t I? Anyway, he wasn't talking about the dogs per se but he was talking about the dog owners. He saw them picking up after the dogs and actually putting the droppings into a plastic bag. He even saw one guy putting the bag into his pocket. His point was that these people are responsible

Ministry of Education's Strategic Plan 2007-2011

The Ministry of Education launched its strategic plan for 2007 to 2011 recently. I wasn’t able to attend the launching itself but our agency's representative was able to attend it and gave me a copy of the plan. The launching ceremony was quite huge compared to most launching of government ministries’ strategic plans. I thought among others, the Ministry of Education’s plan for the future is

In memory of Brunei's Churchill Memorial Exhibition Building

I am writing an article for a travel magazine and one of the photographs I needed was that of the Churchill Museum. You remember? The famous Churchill Museum with the statute of Sir Winston Churchill and his famous two finger V shaped signature? (V actually stands for Victory but in the 1960s that two finger V shaped sign became a symbol for Peace.)And guess what? I could not find a single

Unique Brunei Durians

During the end of a meeting yesterday, my senior colleague was talking about an old friend of his, now very much his junior, who is based in Bangar, Temburong. My senior colleague was talking about that friend getting him Durian Senokoh which he said is very nice. I am not much of a local durian connoisseur but I am pretty sure I have not come across that particular name. So I looked through my

Pekan Brunei

On 21st August 1971, Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar Ali Saifuddien Sa'adul Khairi Waddien, then known as Paduka Seri Begawan Sultan graciously consented to unveil a monument to commemorate the renaming of Pekan Brunei or Brunei Town as Bandar Seri Begawan at the Town Padang. That plaque still stands if you visit the padang. (By the way in that photo, you can also make out the old cinema, the Boon

The Ambuyat

The other night, our agency was hosting a bunch of international people here in Brunei. During dinner, I overheard one of my colleagues trying to explain to them about Brunei’s local food – the ambuyat – how it was prepared and where it came from. I realized that even though most of us Bruneians know what ambuyat is, and probably know a little bit of how it is prepared, some of us might know a

More on Brunei's Philatelic History

I thought I will follow up on my brunei stamp history to correct my earlier posting on Brunei stamp. In my previous posting I noted that "...it wasn't until 1952 before the government issued the first Brunei stamps with the picture of His Majesty Sultan Haji Omar Ali Saiffudien, the 28th Sultan thus beginning the modern era of Brunei stamps..." However I have since discovered that this is not so.

Hidden Food in Brunei

My posting on the banquet held in honour of the visiting Lao PM brought comments from both sides of the fence. I remembered when I mentioned to someone that I will be attending the Birthday banquet last July, someone begged me to take photos of the banquet and post it. I was a bit hesitant - there is the grandeur and the luxury and not everyone is comfortable with that. But I relented and did it

The Welfare Trap in Brunei

Sometimes my mind wanders. The other day, one of my officers was telling me a story about one of his relatives having 4 wives and 25 children - all living in the same house. I thought that was an extreme example of tolerance about people being able to stay together especially the spouses under one roof. Unfortunately we were talking about poverty, about his relative's children who had difficulty