SIEM REAP | Masjid Neakmah

Masjid Neakmah, or Neakmah Mosque, is the main mosque in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Before coming to Cambodia, I have made a research of the whereabout of the mosque, and my first day out in town, I have asked the tuk-tuk driver to bring me to the mosque, and even the driver himself was not sure of the place, and never heard of the mosque.

But I persuaded him just to drive ahead, and Alhamdulillah, after all those winding and bumpy ride we managed to get to the place.


Masjid Neakmah, also written in arabic, and their local alphabets.

The residents of this kampung or village, are mostly of Melayu-Champa or Cham Malay.


Located in one of the Malay Villages in Siem Reap, the road connecting it from the town area is quite a bumpy, non-asphalt dusty road, hence without determination, one might be hindered in detouring away from the town area.


When I arrived at the mosue, the doors were closed, so I only manage to capture the photo of the outside.


There is a Champ-Malay Halal restaurant next to the mosque, (the one with the red roofing).

I still remember vaguely, during my high school's History lesson, mentioning about the Cham Malay, whereby living in ASEAN, most of the nations were having more or less the same language, which predominantly is Malay.

There are many similarity in the Malay Languages, be it in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Phillipine, Singapore, not to forget the major Malay speaking country of Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam.

Example of the words in Cambodia that I can relate to the standard Malay is Psar (Pasar) meaning market, Kampung = village just to name a few.


Also next to the mosque is a Madrasah, or a religious school, the green signboard stated "Madrasah Qamaruddin Al-Islamiah, Kampung Stenmai, Siem Reap" , and it also stated the building as a Gift of Excellency Sieng Nam, 23.04.2002.


With that, I leave you with the overall view of the mosque.

BRUNEI | SAMBUTAN HARI KEBANGSAAN | Part III

This time around, I did not take a lot of photos, all in all, roughly less than 2 GB, or barely just a hundred photos only, as we were indulging ourselves with the celebration. Anyway, perhaps, these are the last set of photos.


The "infamous" girl photographers? Looking for their Romeo Razali?


Chimping over her LCD screen, making sure everything is in.

Everybody is busy doing their own thing, rushing here and there.


A heavy argument?


Some of the sponsored balloons.


One of the lady participants.


Time like this is considered to be a feast for the flyers/adverts distributers, sticking their pamphlet everywhere especially the car's wipers. If only they stick their flyers on Knight Rider, for sure they will be smooth talk by KITT.


Another ingenious way to place their adverts, "sure read one meh", as it is placed on the driver's
door.


Finally, I'll leave you with this photo, are we ready for change? or Have we change? Can we accept changes? It is quite easy to instill new ideas to the infants, but can the senior citizen change their mindset?

As what the wiseman says, Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

And what I like to say," Hujan Emas Di Negeri Orang, Hujan Batu Di Negeri Sendiri, Ambil tah dulu emas di negeri orang, udah atu bawa balik ke negeri sendiri!"

It doesn't need a scientist to figure out what I meant by that, but if you really look deep into the sentence then you will agree with what I said.

BRUNEI | 25th NDP 2009 | Part II

Some more photos of the day.


Slippery when wet.


The Young "Luke Skywalker" ?


Rations for breakfast.


Anxious for the big event.


Exchange of items.


Getting ready to walk the walk.


I thought this painted plastic bottles were famous, aren't they?


The participant before entering the stadium.


Some uniformed participants.


SM Mentiri, one of the secondary schools taking part in the event.

BRUNEI | 25th National Day | Part I

23rd February 2009, Brunei celebrated the 25th National Day.

I bet, all of the local webpages will be posting about today's celebration, and I hope, you can find something here which is not available else where.


Different people have different view in contributing their share during this day, for us, this is one of our ways to contribute, by sharing the celebrate moment with all of you out there.


Having a quick breakfast before the big show, as they said, do not miss your breakfast.


Last minute adjustment of the attire.


The "coach", making sure the participants are in order.


A great bunch students, all of them are prefects, from MD, as they said, the hostellites are requested to participate in the field performances, where as the non-hostellites were asked to participate in the flag waving.


Well, well, well, no prize for guessing who they are. Great gears Mister!


Another participants, doing his last minute touches. Rugged you atu Mister!


Some of the participants from the Ministry of Culture, Youth & Sports, MCYS.


The contingent from the People with Special Needs, having a chat with their Head of Contingent.


One of the many Zones, get your zones right, make sure you are either the Twilight Zone, Boyzone, "Zonas" Brothers!


Some pretty ladies who cannot resist to see me in gear, asking to capture their sweet pose.


Happy 25th National Day.

WORLD | Happy Chinese New Year

Chinese communities all over are celebrating Chinese New Year.

In Brunei, as usual, the main attraction early in the morning is at the Chinese Temple at the capital.


Red is considered to be a part of the tradition, and Gold as the icing of the cake.


Playing around with the Chinese character, writing it upside down, rearranging their orientation, characters, and such are an art that are mastered by few.


Even the grilles are painted red, not surprising, some part of the world the town are painted red.

To those celebrating the Chinese New Year, Gong Xi Fa Cai!

GREETINGS | Happy New Year 2009

Greeting Earthlings.



Happy New Year to all.

photo: The Empire Hotel & Country Club, Brunei Darussalam

SEOUL | Cheong Gye Cheon Stream

Cheong Gye Cheon stream is about 6KM in length, this is one of the historic places dated since the 14th century as one of the important pathway to go places. It was "unused" during the mid 20th century due to the urbanisation of the City, not until recently, it was restored and a dash of glamour were put to modernize the area so as to be the hip area of the city.


Restoration were completed in 2005, and "million" of people throng the area to have a closer look. For more details, one can read the plaque placed at the "start" of the stream


A poster promoting the area posted at one corner of the long wall.


A glimpse of the many "natural" design of the stream.

Some parts of the stream are re-design to make it have that modern feel, where as some area are just restored as it was, every few hundred meters, the designs will be varied accordingly.


Many people opted to just walk along the pathway, some jog, some just relax, enjoying the view or just reading their papers.


There are exits every few hundred metres, and there are also bridges crossing the stream within the exits, and if one are tired from the long walk, the subway station are just close by.


Another poster of " Seoul | A Lanscape of Silent "


Oh yeap, this is how the general overview of the stream looks like, and if you have watch the Korean Tourism adverts on TV, those "Hi Seoul", this is one of the places that where they did the promo filming.

Actually this was not my first time here, the first time I was here was few years back, which I have posted earlier here.

GREETINGS | 01 SYAWAL | EID MUBARAK | SALAM AIDILFITRI

Wishing U Happy Eid 'ul Fitri

Salam Lebaran, Minal Aidil Wal Faizin



Feel free to use the e-card above as it is.