Dinner Tonight...

Seafood Fried Noodle...
Hot and Spicy Chicken Rice... not the usual darker colour sauce... more like honey sauced chicken...
The famous curry fish head at $16, its worth it coz the meat is a lot!

Venue: at a Gadong restaurant... hey traffic tonight is good, but will be terrible since tomorrow is PAY DAY - check out the long queues at the bank ATM machines!

Dinner Tonight...

Seafood Fried Noodle...
Hot and Spicy Chicken Rice... not the usual darker colour sauce... more like honey sauced chicken...
The famous curry fish head at $16, its worth it coz the meat is a lot!

Venue: at a Gadong restaurant... hey traffic tonight is good, but will be terrible since tomorrow is PAY DAY - check out the long queues at the bank ATM machines!

Rising sea levels... are we not worried?

To counter the rising sea level from melting polar ice caps, Singapore has approached the Dutch and is learning about building dykes here in the warmer climate of South East Asia.

“We start learning now because by the time the waters have risen (and) we want to start learning, that is too late. That’s is the kind of government Singapore must have…. (otherwise) we will not exist, that is all.....We will go back to an insignificant island.” - Mentor Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, 22nd April 2007.

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Singapore is already doing something about global warming, on how to protect their island, how about us in Brunei? The seria area is our country's lowest lowland and its already flooded too often that many people said that its actually sinking.... Our boarder to Malaysia on the Sg. Tujuh side, have anyone bothered to see how close the sea is to police post and telecommunications station where one transmission tower already fell....

The sea is creeping in land, and lets hope the relevant poeple are beach goers so that they could see the effect rather than concentrate on upland only....

Buying Cars in Brunei...

Brunei, a small country with just 380,000 population, yet with one of the world's highest capita GDP, and no income tax, the people indeed can afford to buy new cars more than once in their lifetime.

In Brunei, there's less than 10 major car importer that brings in Japanese, European, Korean and Malaysian cars. China made cars are coming in but Indian made cars (TaTa) already left since there's no demand for them.

From experience and listening from friends, the cars top cars are
a. Toyota Lexus
b. Honda Accord
c. Mercedes and BMW

Toyota cars are imported by North Borneo Trading (NBT) and has a very nice showroom in Gadong. Every year, NBT has made the effort to brighten Gadong area with its cultural festival themed decoration which never fails to "amaze" the public since its quite rare in Brunei that private companies made any effort the beautify the scenery. For the record, the servicing and services received from NBT are excellent. Toyota cars are also very fuel efficient and one aunty comment said that Toyota cars has the best air-con in all cars.. it will never break down.

Honda car importer in Brunei is unfortunately plug with many complaints. The showroom one can see is very minimally decorated, not as grand as NBT's and there's no brochure that could be given to customers!! The range of cars brought into the country is also limited, just about 6 models on display. The ones which are available in Brunei are not as many as the models available in Singapore, but I guess we cant complain... Many people complained about the services made by the inhouse maitenance people, yet since its the only sole distributor of Honda cars, known for its speed and fuel efficiency, Bruneians have to live with it, I guess...

Mercedes and BMW... well, i guess, these European cars are expensive due to its branding as well as the gimmicks available. At the end of the day, since Toyota Lexus brand of cars are not only cheaper to maintain, but also fuel efficient, many are all eyeing Toyota Lexus for their future luxurious car ownership.

d. Nissan

Nissan cars are not known to be fuel efficient and there are even problems with the X-Trail models which the company is no longer importing...

e. Suzuki

The newer models are cute and elegant looking and yet because these vehicles are not fuel efficient, I guess the long run practicalities outweights the decision to purchase this vehicles...

Why E-Govt Is Needed

Why an effective and working e-government is important in Brunei....

Lets start with, why certain departments such as the Immigration and National Registration Department should have a good internet website that could serve the public better...

1. So that the public can call the number and see if there's anyone working, or else, how long is the queue to collect the identity card or passport (by the way, do anyone notice why suddenly our IC is now called Kad Pengenalan Pintar, KPP which mean "smart identity card". Personally, i dont see how smart that IC is, i think the chip, which is already corroded is already useless, but hey, the next time we change our KPP is 10 years later...)

2. But before the above can happen, lets hope that the person in charge of the telephone actually works,if not your calls will not be answered and put through...

3. So that you dont have to encounter rude counter "women" who rudely give your the many forms to fill in. Macam tah bapanya print forms atu... and if nada kan bekeraja, berhanti, banyak lagi orang kan keraja...

4. So that the government can save paper printing the forms when all the forms are available in PDF forms (hint hint, thats how they do it overseas...) and the public can just download it and not go to the department concerned (ps, rude operator/counter people, say bye bye to your job which you dont even deserve! - aish, marah ku... memang, if you have been serve rudely by these ...... words cant describe them....)

5. So that the public dont have to come back and forth to the department, wasting their time and money (since those working in the private sector may not get a paid "day leave") and find out the rules have changed and they have to find more papers to attach the document.

6. So that the department can get less complaints by being rude to the public, especially the expat workers, the lowly paid expat workers,.... at least we can declare our courtersy campaign "is" working..... (yea right...)

Site and Scene, Singapore

The National Museum...
The Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce
Just love the $1 Ikea hot dog....
Dont know why, this building always facinate me whenever I go to Singapore and see it. It look so fragile, yet sturdy.... Sometimes, it look quite scary....

Godess Kuan Yin Birthday II

Some flowers which could be bought for offering...
Or candles...

The giant statue of Kuan Yin at the temple...

Godess Kuan Yin Birthday Celebration, Singapore

Cheng Ming in Singapore

I had the chance to see how Cheng Ming was done in Singapore. Being geographically small, even graveyards are quite small compared to what we have in Brunei and Malaysia. Initially, husband and wife are not usually buried together if both died at different time, but I was told that now it can be done at a price. We take it for granted that in Brunei, people do actually booked graveyards so that husband and wife are side by side and this is make things easier during Cheng Ming as descendents can pray at one place and not go from place to place.

Scenes at the Choa Chu Kang Cemetary, the largest cemetary in Singapore.

Choa Chu Kang Cemetary is not only the final resting place for the Chinese, but also for the Indians, Christians and Muslims. Usually after 20 years, these grave would be dug up and the remains will be burned and the ashes will be placed in a special building specifically to place ashes of the deceased.

Compared to the graveyard available in Brunei...