Sunday, December 31, 2006

WORLD | SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILADHA

Wishing all Muslim readers ... Selamat Hari Raya Aidiladha...

Saturday, December 30, 2006

BSB | Street Outing ... Part II

.. .well as posted earlier ... this is 2nd part of the outing ... after the rain had stopped ... we continue our quest to the near by "must-go" area.. especially for those 1st timer to Brunei .. i.e. The Kianggeh Market .. or Tamu Kianggeh .... which was just across the river of the capital ...

It was already quite late in the afternoon when we arrived .... so many stalls have closed .. or about to close ... nevertheless .. we still manage to capture some of the activities there ...

... as with other market .. I guess ... the one here are more less the same .... buying ... selling ... bargaining ... people watching .... photographing ... ;)

... looking ahead ... a senior citizen ... looking at us.... the photographers ... so might as well ... terima kasih maci .... :)

.... a young child .... gawking at his dad's boat.. perhaps ...

... in Venice, Italy .. they've got the gondolas .... have u guys ever been to Venice? .. well I haven't ... but u can watch it from the Travel & Living Channel ... The Globe Trekker ... especially if it's hosted by Ian or Megan .. fuuyooo ... will make u jump up your sofa ... n book your ticket straight away .... but enuf of that ... wake up to reality ... this is Brunei ... if u can't afford to go to Venice nor Floating Market in Thailand ... u can go to Brunei ... The Venice of The East ...

... " .. hei .. look at that ..." ... must be something interesting ...

So how do one buy something from the River Market ...?
Well... 1st ... step down the stair... careful .. it might get quite slippery.. make sure your shoe/slipper have a good grip ... and choose what u wanna get ...

.. so finally decided on what u wanna get ... say ... fish .. whatever kind it may be ....

... then ask for how much it cost ... $3/kilo ... perhaps .. $5/kilo ... or watever price it may be ... bargain if u wish .... flirt if u want .. (but flirt on your own risk...) ... it may reduce the price ... (especially effective with the opposite gender..) ... ;)

... then if everything's agreed upon ... pay for what u get ... sorry .. cash term only .. no credit cards .. no cheque ..... no IOU ... no bank loan .... no no no .... jus cash ... n of course must be in Brunei Dollar .. will not accept ... Indonesian Rupiah ... will not accept Indian Rupee .... nor Thailand's Bath ....

.. but if u don't like what u see ... well ... there are many other fishes in the river .... (sorry about the pun ....) .. but yeah .. just look at the photo above ... spoilt for choices ...

... Ms. Nita ( not her real name obviously ..) .. attending one of the market stalls ....

.... a view of Bandar Seri Begawan... from the other side ... .. tamu to the left .. n the mainland on the other side ...

... well done ... bravo ... merci bien .... that's what I like ... cleaning up .... such novel act will for sure keep the country clean .. n beautiful .... really appreciate it ... ;)

... alone ... waiting .. .. or perhaps .. just looking .... or ... hmmm....

... smile ... you are on gferro.com!

... where the B&W dispersed to become colour ........

.. Pusulistas Ikanaei Damiti .. or simply known as Pusu ... small in body .. but high in cholesterol ... very the very nyaman ... i.e. delicious ... either u .. fried it ... make into sambal .... masak merah ... tunu ... goreng sama nasi ..... makan sama talur ... fuuyyooo .. nyaman kali .. if mau campur kicap ... lada ... mesti lada "Brunei" .. eeer what am I talking here... abissh .. abis tia cerita ku tu ....

.. on the otherside of the Tamu ... stalls under the covered walkway ...

... as I walked along the narrow aisle ... a bunch of Indonesian guys were asking me if I could take a photo of their friend (the above photo) ... waduh ngak tau deh mas .. mungkin namanya Mas Embron kali .. dari Cilacap ... kayaknya macam pemain sinetron ... tumben lho .. tapi ngak apadeh ... bisa aja deh di potreten ... bisa jadi model sih ... or plainly translated as ... Jakarta is the Capital of Indonesia .. not Cilacap ...

.. then from the distance ... saw these group ... discussing about something ... I think the Starring is that senior citizen ... Pakcik Din (not the real name again ...) ... .. telling story about the glorious .. (or not so glorious) past .... thus making the other listening quite attentively...

.... ~ .. waktu pakcik di Gunung Kolijoko ... pakcik ketemu .. Ikan Paus .... pakcik karate .. di tengkuk dia .... dia pun mati kelemasan ..... ~ .....

... (speaking London even ...) ~ ... there .. I still remember the time ... there he was standing there ... looking at me ... Mr. Tom Jones .... n yea ... It's Not Unusual ... for me telling u guys this story ... ~ ...

... but heeeii .. what do u know ... these 3 photographers were watching me all those times .. n yea .. I got you back ... ;)

... then we're off again ... to Tambing ... n Yayasan ..... to be continued on Part III .....

Friday, December 29, 2006

BSB | Street Outing ... Part I

.. So .. we finally went out for an outing .. street photography was the theme ... joining the outing was David Cheok, Bruneian, AnakBrunei & Zadm ... it was actually a fine sunny afternoon .. so we decided that the flow would be... SOAS Mosque .. then the water village near it .. then the vicinity ...

.. 1st stop was Masjid Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien (SOAS Mosque).. the most photographed landmark in Brunei .. hence here I am .. trying to capture it from a different perspective ...

.. the famous Golden Domes in the Capital of Brunei ...

... shoes, slippers or the likes must be removed before entering any mosque ... or before entering almost all of the local Bruneian houses ....

... the official opening ceremony's plaque ... officially opened during the reign of HM Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien III .... opened on the 26th September 1958 ... whereby the main prayer hall can accomodate about 3,000 worshippers in one time ...

... a glimpse of what's inside the mosque ... worshippers can be seen praying ... and please barred one self from making unnecessary noises, and as the sign shows .. No Mobile Phone allowed i.e. please switch it off .... respect to others ....

... performing the ablution .. "cleaning" thyself before praying ... Islam teaches its follower proper hygiene.. especially in performing prayers ... an ablution area is provided in every mosque and it is seperated between male and female ... .. btw look at those ubiquitous spiral pillars .... reminds one of those roman style ...

.. a man .. saying a prayer in the mazes of the spiral pillars ..... .. saying a prayer. ... after ablution .... saying prayer after the call for prayer ... saying prayer before entering the mosque .... saying prayer to everything and anything.. as long as it is not forbidden in Islam .... in the teaching of Islam, the followers are encourage to say a prayer as often as possible....

.. the main minaret .. up-close and personal ... with the height of about 50m .... there's actually a lift inside it... to ferry off people to the top ...

... the classic hand-made stained glass window ....

... and loads of them ....

.. as well as loads of spiral pillars .....

.. another perspective of the main minaret .... before the advancement of the modern PA system .. or the loudspeaker ... a muazin ( an elected religious person) will go up the minaret .. and will do the azan or call for the prayer .... the minaret was also used in sighting the new moon in determining the Islamic Calendar ... especially during the month of Ramadhan, Syawal & Zulhijjah .... I was about to write the story during my childhood years where we used to walk around the minarets .. climbing the .. err.. but how can I write a story when it never did happen...?... so no such story ... ;)

... the court yard .... but what I can "story" you ... was up to the 1980s .. the courtyard was always be filled up by worshippers during Friday prayers and during Aidilfitri & AidilAdha ... i.e. Eid Prayers ... n at times up to the main road .....

.. then it started to drizzle ... ..~ raindrop keeps falling on my head ....~ .. and on the camera ... lens ... so gotta do a detour ... cancel the earlier plans ... but still we gotta carry on with our photography outing .... so we need to find shelter ... quuuiiccckk....!!

.. along the way to find shelter ... we found these stray electrical wirings ... hence to whoever is in charge of this .. please do something to rectify it .. make it good ... it is such an eyesore .. n also very hazardous .....

.. and also these ... if u wanna advertise .. do it properly ... clean it off thoroughly ... otherwise u can just advertise on my site .... if u really want to... do let me know ... ;)

.. hmmm .... waiting for someone eh ... ?

.....".. yeaaaah I want this ... ".. yeap .. it was Pay Day ... and schools are about to re-open ... so time to buy school stuffs ....

.. so we've got REST Room ... to rest or "relieve" one self rather .... then we've got RESTaurant .. .. (Rest-to-run) .. rest before we "run" again ... then now REST House ... .. a place to rest of course ... quite a popular spot for backpackers ... quite cheap yet "livable" ... in the middle of the capital .... easy transport connection ... easy to find food .... easy every way ... n notice that sign ... yeaaa ... got a barber shop .. so might as well get an haircut ... cut cut ...

.... a view of Bandar after the rain ... a reflection of the SOAS Mosque can be seen from the window of the building on the left ......



... Mr. Arman (Not his real name) .. walking past a closed shop ...

.. even the money changer was closed ... " .. how to change my money meh ...?"

... Mr.Salman (also not his real name ...) staring at something .... or someone ...? hmmm...

... haha ... what so funny? share- share lah ... eerr anybody knows his not-real name? ;)

...... then the rain stopped ... so we continued our outing to Tamu... then to Tambing..... n Yayasan..... n that to be continued on Part II .... ;)

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

SINGAPORE | Chinatown ...

... I think most major cities have their own Chinatown .... London .. Manchester .... New York ... Singapore .... n perhaps the biggest is in China! Hahaha .. obviously ... ;) ..

.. what's quite interesting about it were the architectures.. whereby the old design was preserve yet their were given new coat of pastel-coloured-paint... n now I'll bring u some highlights of Chinatown in Singapore ... but mostly architectural/structural photos....