Brunei Darussalam - 13 July 2011

it rained on our last day in Brunei

Last day in Brunei was spent almost entirely at our customer site. From 8am until 430pm. It was also a Murphy's Law day, where what can go wrong, went wrong!

Our taxi was arranged to arrive at 4pm but up till 415pm, we were still saying our goodbyes. Hence, our ride went missing when we were finally ready. We need it to get to the airport, so my boss went with another teacher's car to find our missing taxi. Then one minute after they begun their search, our taxi appeared but now my boss is missing. Hahaha! But fortunately, someone managed to contact that teacher and soon my boss reappeared and all of us bade our final farewells, and we were finally on our way to the airport.

At the airport, the internet check-in line was chaotic. Lines were overlapping and passengers demanding their right of the way, and maybe some were even queue cutting. We stood in line for so long, until it was just minutes before our plane were to take off...

At last, managed to board the plane and soon settled in to the cool comfort of SQ plane. It didn't hurt that the steward was quite the eye candy, and it was also quite hilarious when my colleague actually said it to him that he looked handsome! Muahahaha! Can definitely see that he was flattered.

SQ flight meal

mutton curry rice

Brunei Darussalam - 12 July 2011

Morning comes early in Brunei.

Brunei newspaper

morning view from hotel window

quiet morning @6.26am

We started off our second day in Brunei with breakfast at the hotel. Had to go to our customer site early because the training starts at 8am. Hence, we had our breakfast at around 640am! So off we trudged to Seasons Restaurant at Level 2 of the hotel.

interior

table setting

nice decor

breakfast buffet spread

potatoes, anyone?

my breakfast

yummy beehoon and quiche

very thick porridge/gruel

ingredients mixed in

last plate

After a good breakfast, we headed to our working place. Our customer site has a slope (we don't get that many slopes in Singapore schools.... I think..) which I felt was quite steep.

imagine carrying > 7kg of stuffs up this slope

Our day zoomed past pretty fast while we were at our customer site. Soon, evening came and we were back at our hotel. The night's itenerary was to Empire Hotel and Country Club for dinner. Our Brunei host said that this is one of the favourite staycation place for Bruneians. He said that one would need 3 days and 2 nights to explore this resort alone. Wow.

So with much anticipation, we headed there. Empire Hotel was indeed a very big place and grand. There was this huge huge chandelier right after its entrance. We had to walk quite abit to get to the restaurant. Had to take escalator down as well.

chandelier at the hotel entrance/lobby

spacious

One of the remarkable features of the Empire Hotel is its pillars. It stands a few storeys high. Very grand indeed.

buffet place

I heard that the restaurant is quite popular and reservation is a must. It has a good spread of breads, salads and cheese, a section for cold seafood (oysters, prawns, crabs, and limited sushi and sashimi), a section for local delicacies and a section for desserts.

seafood

The oysters were fresh but skinny. For some reasons, the oysters had residual shell/stone in it, so needed to watch out for those. The prawns were nice and firm, but the crab was so-so.

desserts, I couldn't eat much hence the pratically empty plate..

For desserts, it has a bread and butter pudding look-alike with a different name. It actually looked like tofu and tasted like tofu but nicer. From the picture above, it was the white slab of wobbly stuff at the top right hand corner. Trust me, it tasted better than it looked!

cakes

Another highlight of the hotel, is its washroom. Visited the ladies, and it is even more spacious than my HDB room *sobs*.

ladies

tall pillars

exterior of the hotel

moonlit night

 After dinner, we went off to buy keropok (uncooked) because my colleague said someone told her that the keropok in Brunei is nice (as Brunei is near the sea, so seafood must be good that kind of logic). Hahaa, it was quite hilarious to go to a departmental store just to get keropok during its closing time. We reached the store at 930pm and they close at 930pm!

Then, our gracious Brunei host drove us to the palace and stopped at a nearby park to take pictures of the palace from afar. Well, I ran out of batteries and my camera can't take nice night shots, so that was why I have no pictures of any palace. But its gold dome shines ever so brightly in the darkness of the night.

With that, Day 2 ended, and we were dead tired.

Brunei Darussalam - 11 July 2011

The flight was on a Monday 9.05am, SilkAir via Changi Airport T2. But first of all, had to meet my boss at the office to prepare some stuffs and carry those to the airport. I had a duffel bag for my clothes and whatever necessities, a laptop and a small sling bag that contained important documents, camera and wallet. On top of that, had to take a 6.4kg box to our client site.

Check-in was a breeze, and we boarded our plane about 10 minutes before take off.

first time on SilkAir!

Airbus A320

Very soon onto our flight, we were served our meal. Can choose between Hainanese chicken rice or prawn pasta. I chose the latter.

prawn pasta

It was quite yummy. The prawns were fresh and just barely cooked. Nice. The plane ride was smooth and the sky was clear and nice. Was sitting at aisle seat, so didn't get to take pictures of the clouds.

The plane landed in Brunei on time. The landing was alright, but the plane seemed to be 'braking hard' (or what we call in dialect "jiam brake") after touchdown. But thankfully, everything was fine.

The weather in Brunei was hot! Probably about 33-34 degrees celcius.

cars at the airport

We're staying at Hotel Centrepoint (hahaha, Centrepoint Orchard?), right at Bandar Seri Begawan. Here's the address of the hotel:

Abdul Razak Complex, Gadong BE3519
Bandar Seri Begawan, Negara Brunei Darussalam

some scenaries along the way to our hotel

our hotel facade

hotel lobby

hotel staircase

We wasted no time in checking out the hotel room.

twin beds 'coz sharing room with a colleague

view from our hotel window (right view)

left view

all the available channels

can lounge here to watch tv

my bed!

green toilet bowl

bathroom

toiletries

Overall, the room was quite comfy. But unfortunately, it doesn't have free wifi. Wireless internet connection here is chargeable and the rate is about $40 per day (if I remember correctly).

my cup of coffee @ 5.10am in the morning

DND will turn on the "Privacy Please" sign door panel so that people don't click on doorbell

 

must put the keycard opposite

walkway to our room

at the lift

take the lift to Level 2 for breakfast!

After settling in to the hotel, it was time for a quick lunch before we proceed to our customer site. Didn't have to go far, as there's a restaurant called Fratini's just next to the hotel. Very convenient indeed.

stuffed (tiny) mushrooms

seafood pizza

mediterranean pizza

The food was nice, and until 17th July 2011 there is a 40% discount promo on pizza if you pay by cash. But best of all, this place has wifi!

After lunch, we headed to our customer site. It's about a 10-15 minutes drive from our hotel. Brunei seemed to be spacious and with green lungs everywhere. Think I did not see a single high rise except government buildings...

trees and signboard

HM Sultan of Brunei's 65th Birthday

Brunei is celebrating His Majesty The Sultan of Brunei's 65th birthday (15th July) and the celebration lasts for about 2 weeks.

Our car passed by some important looking buildings and those turned out to be embassies, high comms and ministries.

Cambodia Embassy

Ministry of Culture and Sports

We spent a few hours at our customer site, and then we headed back to our hotel.

lots of trees lining up the roads

residential units

someone's house

entering town area

office space for rent

According to our source in Brunei, a Mitsubishi Lancer costs just $24000. So it is not uncommon for one household to have many cars.

We rested abit at the hotel, and went out to source for dinner when night falls. Walked to a shopping mall nearby called "The Mall". It's about 5 minutes walk from our hotel.

The Mall

nice ceiling

The Mall houses a cineplex and it is just 3 storeys high. Seems like you may bargain for the price at the stalls on the ground floor. We settled for Secret Recipe because, it has wifi! Hahahaa.

caribbean fish

Connie's grilled fish in lobster sauce

dessert for sharing

Mrs Das looking happy with her ice-cream

The restaurants that we have been to thus far (Fratini's and Secret Recipe) seemed quite desserted when we visited. Maybe Bruneians don't usually eat out at these places? Not sure. The service staff are generally very nice. Service was good. We asked for a small glass so that we can share the ice-cream, and they brought out a cute small glass with whipped cream and some nuts. So that when we scooped the ice-cream onto this smaller glass, it looked like a replica of the bigger version. Hehehe.

mini ice-cream

After dinner, we strolled back to our hotel. Was quite surprised to see a car parked at a parking lot with its windows wound down and unlocked, with no one inside the car. Wow!

Then we had to cross a zebra crossing before we can get back to our hotel side. There was a pizza or mac delivery staff on his motorbike that literally waited for us to cross the zebra crossing (I think he waited for about a 30 seconds or more). So courteous and patient. Impressed.

That practically summed up the first day in Brunei. It was midnight when I finally settled into bed.