Official Banquet for Lao Prime Minister

Last night, I was at the banquet hall of the Palace - Istana Nurul Iman – for the Official Banquet given by His Majesty in honour of Bouasone Bouphavanh, the Prime Minister of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. The previous banquet for a visiting head was almost a year ago when it was a State Banquet for the visiting Indonesian President.I thought the food wasn’t as lavish as the last one as

Collection of Jong Sarat

I spent the whole day at Rizqun yesterday at the Mall in Gadong. No, I am not on leave. I was attending an executive forum on central banks’ reserve management. The speakers were from the World Bank Treasury. It was full of phrases like ‘strategic asset allocation’, ‘standard deviation of volatility’, ‘asset classes’ and ‘efficient frontiers’ – sounds interesting? Ya, if you are into it. Reminds

Kampung Sungai Bunga

There are three modern Kampung Ayer resettlement villages - Kampung Sungai Bunga, Kampung Bolkiah A and Kampung Bolkiah B. These three resettlement villages are the ideal (by today's standards at least) of what the houses should look like. No doubt, aesthetically there is much to be desired as the houses each looking like the other becomes rather characterless and aesthetically challenged but at

A Tutong Wedding

I was in Kampung Penanjong, Tutong for the wedding ceremony of a relative yesterday afternoon. I haven't attended a wedding in Tutong for quite sometime, so this time round I was watching the ceremony closely. The first thing I noticed was that after the usual 'pusing naga' (the three circles) the groom had to break a couple of bamboo pieces at the entrance of the house before going in to sit at

Old Main Roads of Brunei

For today, not much words are necessary. I thought I will post photographs of the beginning of the various main roads in the main city and towns of Brunei. The first one is obviously Jalan Sultan in the capital. I am not sure what year this is but the Customs Building at the end of the road has been built. Though all the shophouses remain intact as compared to the shophouses of today.This is

Short History of Brunei Aviation

According to observers, the first airplane to fly over Brunei was a seaplane spotted over Tutong in 1922. Prior to the second world war, there was no airfield in Brunei. The first runaway was built by the Japanese during the second world war at the current Old Airport Government Complex. After the end of the war, that runaway was improved upon and a proper airport was built. The first commercial

Glimpses of Authority

Once in a while, I run out of ideas of what to write. Not that there is nothing to write about - there are just too many things about Brunei that no blogs in the world can cover it. So for today I thought I will share with you the views from my office. I took the title of the posting from the links of a recently started blog about the Maktab Sains Class of 1979 which labelled The Daily BR -