Trip back to Brunei from Kuching

We couldnt booked a hotel from Brunei before our trip as it was all full and the only ones offered are the expensive family suites... we opted to go to Hotel Grand Continental. Though it was a bit out of the way, but its still near the Waterfront, Kuching. Only after we returned, we were told that next to hotel there's a famous Kuching Laksa, sold somewhere near there. In our next trip... By the way, the hotel is really value with $$$, it costs less than RM200 for us to get a big room (king size + single) and with 3 brakefast meal... Getting ready to go back to Brunei, passed by Serian Town...

Sri Aman rest place. Usually people pee at this rest stop. If you see this stop, get read to turn to the right, going straight on the road would lead you to Sri Aman, instead of the road to Sibu...

Gosh, another 700++km journey back to Brunei

As forcasted, it was rainy along the way....

Site and Scene of Kuching 3

Its fruit seasons in Sarawak... All along the way from Sibu to Kuching, there were lots of Durians along the way. However, when we bought one at Kuching market for RM18, we decided not to waste $$$ and our body (fat) for that.. hahah

Scene of Kuching from the other side of the river...

The Chinese Museum, Kuching. Entry is free

One of the many city statues in Kuching, though it was said that the origin of Kuching town was either derived from the Mata Kuching tree or "Ho Ching", the Chinese word for a water"Well"

In Brunei, we have the NBT's annual decoration for the major festive season, in Kuching, it was ...... (have to check the name of the hotel) hotel with its nice decoration, thought it cant beat Brunei's NBT decoration... heheh

Site and Scene of Kuching 2

The journey will not be complete without the visiting Sarawak Museum....

The Merdeka Palace hotel is just next to the Museum... its quite pricey

Sentral Police Station, 1931

Pasar in the heart of Kuching City

The Harmony Arch... i think, i read about this arch when it was officially opened by the Chief Minister last year or so...

Site and Scene of multicultural Kuching

Chinese temple

Sikh Temple

Mosque with graveyard infront... was a bit surprise with this scene as I havent come across a graveyard next to a mosque. For churches, yes but not a mosque

The oldest mosque in Kuching? Very unique

Cheap fruits

Trip from Brunei to Kuching 2

Uncompleted huge Chinese temple along the Sibu/Bintulu road

Scene of Sibu Town...

The traffic to Sibu

Trip to Kuching from Brunei 1

We have been talking about going to Kuching, Sarawak for several months and while asking, many had advice not to take the 1000km route from Brunei to Kuching. Stories of hijack, Bruneian cars being attacked and rough locals in some of the major towns along the way, didn't stop our determination to reach Kuching by using cars...

Armed with a map and lots of water, we set off from Brunei around 8.30am with the aim of reaching Sibu town to stay overnight. The reason being that, since it was our first trip, it would be better to stop at Sibu for a rest. The whole journey from Brunei to Kuching takes about 12 hours, 6 hours to Sibu and another 6 hours from Sibu to Kuching.

According to some, they could reach Kuching in 10 hours if you're fast enough, but we have seen one fatal accident along the way back, when a car ram into a oncoming bus. It was said that some lorry, trucks, bus drivers and other vehicles refused to let overtaking cars pass by and enter immediately if there's oncoming car on the opposite side, just to spite the racing cars.... regardless of how it would endanger the lives of the people. From our observation, it's better to be safe and overtake only when its safe. Imagine the people who drive up the mountain in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, then you will see the same way of people driving to Kuching like that, no matter how big or small the cars are.

Here are some of the photos taken during the long trip.

Dead and young palm oil trees along the road from Miri to Bintulu... (Old Road)

Niah Cave rest stop

Logs cut - a common scene in Sarawak

Chinese kueh...

My mum loves to eat this Chinese"kueh" however, she didn't know how to do it... Determined to find out how to make this, she bought several cooking books and tried to make it today....

How it looks before it is steamed...

Coconut leaves are used as the base

Have to use books to check the correct recepie

In a few days time, it would be the "tang chueh" celebration. Chinese are supposed to make and eat the "tang chueh", pray to our ancestors for it, as it mark the coming of Chinese New Year soon... (I think anyway.. haha).

By the way, to all Muslim readers, Selamat Hari Raya Haji (Aidil-adaha) 2007 which is celebrated in Brunei today, 20th December 2007.

Bukit Pagon

When we were studying geography at primary and secondary level, we were told that Bukit Pagon is Brunei's highest hill (or mountain which was the actual word the teacher said).

Now, if you look at your Geography book, I wonder if this is still true.

Why?

Look at the Map of Sarawak and you will see that the Sarawak (Malaysia) government map will show that it is in the Sarawakian territory.

So, who is right? Does Bukit Pagon belongs to Brunei or Sarawak?

If it belongs to Brunei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade should do something about it, I think. Dont let the Malaysian just re-draw the territory without us protesting. This is what's happening in Singapore Vs Malaysia's Pulau Batu Putih.

We should bring this matter to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). We don't want things to repeat themselves after what happened over 100 years ago....

Vanilla cocktail Cake...

Nothing to do... just buy a cake to eat...

There's also something wrong with my camera. Gotta re-charge the battery.

ps.... The cake is getting eggier (more eggs added), the cakehouse need to check the quality of its cake...

Dogs needs a good home/owner...

If anyone wants a dog for Christmas, New Year or Birthday, do have a look at Pertama Jaya's notices....

Pictures of Recent trip to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

The magnificant view of Mount Kinabalu, from Shangri-La, Tanjung Aru.

The Orchidville in KK, well, its not that interesting or worth to visit unless you have a lot of time to kill. Its quite far from KK, taking about 45minutes or more to reach this area.

Buah Kampog...

Durian tree and banana trees

Kelapa Sawit (Oil Palm) fruit.... is it ripe already?

Oil Palm fruit when its still young?

Papaya tree

Brunei Richest???

"Brunei is ranked as the richest economy and third biggest spender among the developing Asia Pacific economies, according to a report by the Asian Development Bank.

The Associated Press and Bernama, Malaysian national news agency, quoted a study by the Asian Development Bank saying "Brunei was the richest economy with a per capita GDP of HK$269,971 or BND$49,866.92 (US$34,629.00) (rate as at Dec 10, 2007) which is more than 13 times the regional average which is HK$20,432 (US$ 2,621) and more than 40 times larger than the lowest ranked economy, Nepal the region's poorest.

The study, the 2005 International Comparison Programme Asia and the Pacific: Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) and Real Expenditure, was released hereon Monday. The report showed wide disparities in Asia's living standards.

Coming in second was Singapore with HK$235,923 (US$30,262.29) followed by Macao HK $211,907 (US$ 27,181.82), Hong Kong HK $ 202,941(US$26,031.73) and Taiwan HK$148,275 (US$19,019.80).

Nepal has a per capita GDP of HK$6,146 (US$788.349), Bangladesh HK$7,215 (US$925.483) and Cambodia HK$8,266 (US$1,060.31)."

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A recent report by the ADB. But how true is this? Are we really rich or only certain part of society is very rich?

If one goes to BSB, would you think that the city is rich? Compare to the City of London or Singapore. Does it shows that BSB is a city of wealth? Look at Brunei's infrastructure, is it comparable to world's richest cities?

Joke of the day...

Five months ago, supplier came to a contractor's office and demand the contractor to pay a $6,000 debt.

Contractor say, please wait, because government payment haven't come in. Its the same with other contractors.

Supplier (sales manager) said, no, if u don't pay, then will send lawyer's letter, etc etc.

Five months later, supplier (sales manager), nicely knock on the door of the contractor. Ohhh... can you order the item from us? we will give good price.

Contractor, why? afterall, less then $10,000 debt already shouting up and down for repayment. supplier say, ohh nooo.. that's wrong, its the office mistake.... (By this time, contractor won a major project and all suppliers have been calling to ask for business).

Next day, big boss of supplier call up contractor bos, who was overseas and asking for business.... not enough... salesman called everyday looking for the contractors boses...

Moral of the story: You know how business is done and knowing how is the payment in Brunei. Don't be arrogant as people fortunes can change. When you need that person, it might be too late. Being humble is the best policy.

25days to New Year 2008

In 3 weeks time, we would welcome the arrival of New Year 2008.

Some have reflected upon what has been achieved in Brunei.

Despite the announcement in Brunei Times on RBA buying new and used Boeing aircraft, that, to someone in the industry is very very far-fetch... RBA simply do not have the budget for it, at the moment. This is quite sad actually as RBA could be a major player in the industry if it is properly managed and not abused. The Government has no choice but to support this national airline.

The Pulau Muara Besar Project? Well, international and experienced port operators doesn't seemed interested in it. This a far car from 10 years ago when PSA came to Brunei, thinking that all the business generated by the Jerudong Park and other projects would make it a profitable venture. Unfortunately, Asian Financial Crisis put to an end to many economy boosting activities.

The Methanol Plant... well, the earthwork project is still going on.

Housing Projects.... the waiting list is still over 60,000 people with about 300 houses being develop every year!

Govt payment to contractors? Apparently it's even worse now... according to some friends, companies are not being paid for over 2 years become someone haven't sign the necessary documents. Hence, when contractors loan in the bank ballons, someone else is earning NON-HALAL salary for not doing the work mandated by the Government.

1 million tourists vision again? Maybe the Immigration Department would have update data so that the figure could be released the week after new year 2009 so that they would't get blamed for unable to give the data as it was said in the 2001 Visit Brunei year.

Govt telephone operators still not working.... I mean, i called up one department today from 2pm to 4pm... operator wouldn't pick up! Gosh.... so the forecast for public sector services, still require major major improvement....

Nevertheless, Brunei is the best country to live so far as it has a stable, social and political environment, unmatched in any countries, free from earthquakes, typhoons, major flooding, water shortages, desertification and major violence. Indeed, Brunei, is the Abode of Peace.

Clean Energy in Brunei?

That's a good news.... at least the government is thinking of other energy resources beside gas... from nuclear power, to hydro-electric dam and solar energy panels.... though the last option seemed the best.

For the solar energy business to take off, the govt must give incentives to the people to use the technology. Pilot projects can be done with the houses built for the national housing schemes, where energy usage seemed to be and power doesnt seemed to be well supplied - i.e. just look at the street lights....

Anyway, I for one wouldnt mind having solar energy power panels on my car park roof it could generate the light to light-up the night.

Taxi update from Singapore

Yesterday's Straits Times announced that Taxi drivers in Singapore will be increasing their taxi fares soon.... i.e., the meter will jump faster than before

The Worst Taxi in ASEAN goes to....

The proton saga of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The cars are so small that they cant fit more than 4 people in a taxi! Taxis are dirty and drivers do not want to use the METER (ehhh... sounds familiar la in Brunei.... BUTTTTT at least in Brunei our taxi is huge! heehee)

The Malaysian Government should just ban that old Proton Saga running in KL - making places congested saja...

Malaysia - Look at Thailand and Singapore - Drive a TOYOTA.... its probably more economical and environmentally friendly - haha

80% un-used budget???

80% of B$1billion budget for IT infrastructure in Brunei not used in the last 5 years?

Wow, I didn't even know we still have that much. Why not they used that $$$ to improve the internet connection... the prices of these facilities should be cheaper now that US$ is going down and we can be a "Smart Country" as Singapore is "Intelligent City".

I nearly had a laugh when I read that University of Tanjungpura students visited UBD to look at its IT infrastructure. Sorry to say that our IT infrastructure is terrible compared to those in Singapore or UK universities. Even Unimas of Sabah is bigger than UBD. KK is possibly the biggest city in the Borneo Island now.... Should our planners do something drastic now?

Been a Long Time... What does ERP means?

When was my last visit to update this blog?

Can't remember.... anyway, I learned a new term from Singaporean taxi driver recently.

To the Government, "ERP" means "Electronic Road Pricing" but to ordinary Singaporeans its "Everyday Rob People" - this is quite true as drivers who had to pass this road toll do not understand why they are charged for something they had paid for already... i.e. ROAD TAX.

To add to the injury, car prices are so expensive, as well as the Certificate of Entitlement... then the oil or petrol prices is at about $1.90/litre now... we in Brunei should be thankful that its just 53cents per litre while diesel is just 37cents.