Charcoal Factory and Flying Foxes

Jacky, our very adventurous friend, had been to an Island recently and had discovered a Charcoal Factory that the locals had built and thought it would be a good day out for some of the newbies (and oldies!) so we tagged along with her. We got a boat from Bandar to one of the islands for an hours trek through the rainforest. It was very scenic and quite steep in places, but the view was beautiful.

We went past the water village and stopped outside one. I was very surprised at how big the the houses were. Its very decieving from the outsdie but inside it seemed to go on forever. The house was also well furnished. I had this view that the people weren't that well off in the water village but they seemed to be doing just fine!

(Inside one of the houses. How does it all fit??!!)

After the jungle trek, we got back onto the boat and went to another island where they had a board walk through the mangrove trees.

After this, we went to another island to look at the charcoal factory. As you can see it was all hand made and not what I expected! The island itself was a bit strange and the animals were in a horrible state. It just seemed to me it was all money money money. I think the man who owns the factory did everything at minimum cost and this was reflected in the conditions the men were working and living in.

This was supposed to be our last stop but Jacky had mentioned to the boat driver that she had been told there were some flying foxes nearby. The driver did say he didn't think there would be any at all because he's never seen any, but he would take us. The boat through the narrow river was sooo creepy!! We know that there are crocodiles in this part of the world and we were so close to the bank, I was terrified! It was like being in Jurassic Park! But what made it seem more real was when we turned the corner and saw this:

All them blobs on the trees are bats! To be exact- the large flying fox of South East Asia, Pteropus Vampyrus (I know, Vampire!! Edward?) I was so excited! They were making so much noise and there were literally hundreds of them. The were 4 other trees full of these bats. It was amazing!

The day ended very much on a high and we were exhausted. But it was all thanks to Jacky for organising it all. One of the many adventures of Brunei!

An Update for the month of September

I have been quite lazy in updating my blog (sorry!) but there were so many pictures to go through that I kept putting it off. But enough is enough! I am going to do a quick post on what we have been up to- mainly because I am getting a lot of pictures for October which I am going to have to post about eventually and I need to get this over and done with before I can move on (OCD of some sort!).

Anyways, this month there were a lot of birthdays and different styles of parties. A close friend of ours turned 30 and had an Irish themed bday party which was a lot of fun!

Priya, Simis daughter, turned 8 and had a river cruise bday party with pizzas. The kids loved it and even managed to catch some fireflies. The full moon was also out and the whole river looked magical. It was beautiful.

Some other friends of ours had a beach firework party with hot dogs and burgers. The sun set as usual was spectacular and the fireworks were pretty impressive. They had these sparklers that changed colour as they burned which were really cool.

At school, Yusuf has joined the Football ASA and is loving it. It was a very proud moment for Zaheer to see Yusuf on the field and he may or may not have cried a little. I think he's trying to fulfil his lifelong dream of becoming a footballer through Yusuf........

(Yusuf is in the red cap and white t shirt)

It was also Yusuf's turn to bring home Barnaby the Bear (last year it was Pablo the bear). All he could think to do with Barnaby was play Ben 10. So here he is blowing him up. His teacher was quite amused.

(Poor fluffy being squashed)

And here he is introducing him to Fluffy (which is a boy bear apparently.........)

And finally, for those of you interested in the local insects, Zaheer took this picture of a centipede that was found on the school grounds which was also poisonous! It was huge!!

We also went to one of the islands near Brunei for a day trek with our good friend Jacky and to see a charcoal factory. We also saw LOADS of flying foxes (really big bats) but I took so many pictures that it will be a post in itself. I will try and post that this week sometime.

A visit to the Sultans Palace

Every year on Hari Raya (Eid), the Sultan of Brunei opens his Palace doors to the public. On this day any man can come in to meet the Sultan and every woman to meet the Sultans wife. Last year it was closed due to the swine flu pandemic so this year we were very excited to be able to make this trip. It is definitely one of those things you have got to do if you are coming to stay in Brunei for a while.

We set off at 7 in the morning as it does tend to get quite busy. On arrival we could either take the bus to the entrance or walk for about 10 minutes. We thought we'd take the scenic route.

It wasn't too busy at this time so we were hopeful we'd be able to see the Sultan and his wife and leave quite early. Like I said- hopeful.

(The entrance)

(The equivalent of the Guards Regiments! He seemed slightly bemused at me taking this picture)

After we had registered and gone through the security checks, we thought it was waiting time but at 8 in the morning, it was breakfast time! I had thought we would see the Royals first and then eat but nope, they were feeding everyone first. The food was delicious although if you were vegetarian you would have to have gone without as all the food contained meat!

After we had eaten we had to walk a bit more to get to another waiting area. Thankfully they had loads of fans along the way but these fans were amazing in that they also blew out a spray of water and it was heavenly! (Simple pleasures....)

This was the waiting area. As you can see there were a heck of a lot of people and more were still arriving!

We were seated in rows and then had to wait for ages until our row was called but as we were sitting, a girl wearing a reporter badge came up to us and asked us if we would mind being interviewed for the local news. We all jumped up at the chance but mostly because we thought we'd be able to jump the queue a bit! The interview was slightly nerve wrecking in that they interviewed us one by one and I kept screaming 'I'm so excited!' over and over until they ended my interview! A kid at school did see me on the news though so I was quite proud of myself!

(Simi getting interviewed)

We did manage to jump the queue and thought, 'This is it! We're going to see 'em now!' So we walked on a bit more and ended up.........in another waiting area!! It.took.forever!! But this room was beautiful so it wasn't too bad a wait and everything was air con too.

(They like their gold!)

Then another queue........

and then we saw them! We went inside the room where her Royal Highness and their (5-6?) daughters were standing, shaking everyone's hands. Her Royal Highness did speak to us and asked us where we came from and what we were doing in Brunei so that was a really nice surprise. After we left the room we got given a card and a yellow box (the women's looked like a jewellery/treasure box) containing a chocolate cake which was gorgeous! Yusuf got given $5 too. He was quite happy about that.

We took some pictures of the garden but this plastic palm tree made us laugh loads! What was the point of it when there is a real, much beautiful one, right next to it???

It was a really good day out and we're glad we did it. We were finished by about 11:30 so the wait wasn't too bad. Zaheer and Yusuf can now boast they shook the Sultan of Brunei's hand (and I can boast I shook his wifes..........)

Recap of the UK (WARNING: contains lots of pics!!)

I know it has been absolutly agggggggeeesss since I updated this blog but things have just been so busy and getting back to everyday life after a long holiday always takes some time. Anyways before I start blogging about Brunei again, I though I will do a quick recap of what we did in the UK. We had soooo many people to see and so many things to fit in and there just wasn't enough time to do everything. Most of it was taken up with visiting people and shopping! But we did have a lovely time overall.

I have put all the pictures as a collage because there were just too many to upload and its easier this way. Just click on the picture to get a bigger view and you will be able to see them clearly (and if you click again it enlarges again).

1. Out and About

We missed the English countryside like CRAZY and wanted to spend as much time outdoors as we possibly could. So we went on a few walks in the Peaks (we live 20 minutes away) and had a few good picnics. The weather was beautiful and we really enjoyed it. I also managed to go to Alton Towers with my brother and sister and me and Zaheer also had a weekend away in Sheffield for the Tramlines Festival.

2. Family

More than anyone, I missed my niece and nephews the most. It had been a whole year and I was very excited to see them all. They had all grown up so much but cute as ever. I spent 2 weeks with them and still miss them. I also caught up with my parents and brothers and sisters.

3. Friends

We went to the Peaks for the weekend and stayed at a beautiful cottage with stunning views of the countryside with some of Zaheers friends. I also met up with mine a couple of times for a meal. It was nice catching up with them all and seeing how things were going for them.

4. My sisters wedding

This was the highlight of the trip. The first week back was my sisters wedding and it was hectic! The weddings in our culture last for a good long week, with every day being some kind of event or another but it was such fun! A good way of catching up with relatives and people who I hadn't seen in a while. My sister looked amazing and it was just a beautiful event.

(Mehndhi (henna) night)

(Wedding days)

Right, that's over and done with!! I will be back to posting about Brunei soon.

xx

A year in Brunei...........

I can't believe we have been here a whole year! We have met so many amazing people, seen things we never thought we'd ever see, trekked through the beautiful Borneo rainforest and seen exotic animals we only ever heard David Attenborough talk about on his BBC TV series! I still feel incredibly lucky that we are living here in Borneo. It really is a once in a lifetime opportunity and we are trying to make the most of our time here.

We are however really really excited at coming back to the UK and have missed it so much. This last week has been one long excitement fest! We've been tying up loose ends, trying to finish off everything in the fridge, saying goodbyes to teachers at schools and friends who are leaving and having one final lunch at Excapade Sushi!

We are going to be in the UK for about 6 weeks and have so many things to look forward to. I'll try and update but am not promising anything! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

Birthdays, Leaving Dos and Staff Party!

This month has been a very busy one for us! First off, it was Zaheer's 30th birthday!!! It happened to fall on a work day so he had to blow the candles out at school. It was such a delicious cake- white chocolate and vanilla sponge with cream.

Simi and Salome (our very good friends) had taken the keys off me this morning as they had a 'special delivery' for Zaheer when he got back from school. I was intrigued and slightly apprehensive as to what could be soooo massive that it had to be delivered to our house. Well the minute we got home we were greeted with this:

(I think Zaheer liked it is probably an understatement)

His very own football table! Yusuf was probably more excited than Zaheer was!

After that I decided to take him out instead off cooking at home and finally get to spend some money on him! (I saved up this year!) Normally I get the money off him for his birthday meal (plus present!) so it doesnt really feel like I'm giving him something but this time it was all on me! (Well to a limit...) So on his 30th birthday we went to watch................................

It was such an AWESOME film!! I had been dying to see this (so had Yusuf). I loved the other 2 and couldnt believe it had been 11 years since Toy Story 2 came out. But this film was just as good as the rest. A perfect ending I thought.

(I even went all out with the popcorn!! It was his 30th..........)

We then went to Kimchis which is a Korean restaurant (I think) and the food is just gorgeous but Zaheer last minute decided he wanted a good old curry so we went to Tandoor instead. The food here is always good and it is a beautiful restaurant- something that is quite rare in Brunei!

(Yusuf having fun with his poppadom)

I haven't actually bought Zaheer a present just yet but it is one in the making so he will (eventually) get it.

The day after Simi had organised a joint Leaving Do and Birthday at the Palm Garden Hotel.

Some good friends of ours will be leaving in July (don't go Clare!! Sob sob) and it was a good way of celebrating their time here.

Zaheer also got another birthday cake!

It was a really fun evening. The food was delicious and the company was a lot of fun. We are really going to miss our friends. I suppose that is one of the bad things about being an expat.

Then on the weekend it was the Staff Party!! I had really been looking forward to this just because of the Shooting Stars sketch.

It was organised by Rob and Scott and was the funniest thing I had seen in ages. They even made their own A-Team trailer which was just so so funny! They had us in stitches and it was just such a good start to the night. The food was cooked by Tandoor and was delicious. Overall it was a brilliant evening.

And that was the recap of the last couple of weeks. My next post will probably be the final one before we leave for the UK (yaaaaaaaaaay!!) on the 9th July.