The not so attractive side of BSB.......

It has been quite a while since I last updated this blog. A lot had been happening family wise but not much to blog about.......

The water village where I was born and grew up in (and a lot of other areas in the water villages in BSB) had turned into something like a slump area lately with the arrival of "outsiders" into the villages, taking over houses from the original occupants who had mostly moved on to land. These pictures below were taken last Monday, 8th Dec, the morning of Eid ul-Adha. This was just less than 1 kilometer west side of the SOAS Mosque......... Not something that we would be proud of to show to arriving tourists........ I hope the Authority will do something about this situation.....

Male supermodel in the making ?

Mushrooms

Took my family to visit the Brunei International Halal Food Products Expo 2008 at the International Convention Centre this morning, the final day of the Expo. Among other things, we bought some mushrooms (still in their plastic 'planters') partly because my son wanted to continue growing the mushrooms and partly because I wanted to take photos of them.......well, here are some of the photos I took of the mushrooms in my makeshift 'studio' using window light only and a polystyrene sheet as a reflector......

Around my garden

Tried out a Sigma DC 18-200mm 3.5-6.3 HSM lens for some close up photos around my garden. Here are some of the results............I think I still need a Nikkor Micro lens though.......(I hope the missus get the hint......!!)

My family pets get some time out of the pond water to enjoy the limelight..........

Jame' Asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque

Had been rather busy in the last month that I could not do any update on this blog, and also a pity that I did not manage to take even a single photo of His Majesty's 62nd Birthday celebrations...........

Here are some photos I took recently of the magnificient Jame' Asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque in Kampung Kiarong, a few kilometers from the capital.

The Mosque was built to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the accession to the throne of His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah, the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Negara Brunei Darussalam. The brainchild of His Majesty, it is considered as one of the grandest mosque in the region and was officially opened on the 14th of July 1994.

BSB Waterfront

Here are some of the pictures I took around the Bandar Seri Begawan waterfront along the Brunei River just before the heavy rain in the evening of 8th June. Met some people I know, and one of them was Hj Kool of PB who honked his BMW horn while I was crossing the bridge near the "Gerai".... I was hoping that nobody would recognise me.....but I forgot to take my cap along to disguise myself as a tourist....... It was a fruitful 1 hour photo session though, with 2 rainbows over the water village on the other side of the river, beautiful rain clouds above and water taxis plying the river.....

Photos of the Monument commemorating His Majesty's 60th Birthday..... the cloud got darker and a few minutes later the rain came. Had to run back to my car....

Sunset at Jerudong Beach

Dropped by Jerudong Beach after sending my son to his tuition school last Tuesday at around 6pm and was stuck to this one spot taking photos..........there was so much photo opportunities with the beautiful sunset, artisan fishermen coming in and going out to sea and these young men doing rod fishing. A pity I had only a short time..........