new experiences at different places :)

i'm in miri now. staying alone at my cousin's house as both of them are working. luckily the laptop is here to accompany me. :) . just came back from brunei yesterday. i attended my cousin's wedding in brunei, in Kuala Belait-a part of brunei. before that, as i wrote in earlier post, i used bus to go to Bintulu. yes, i did. 10pm bus was good enough. the bus provided 3 seats per row. so, the seat was cozy and big enough for me to fall asleep in the bus along the 3 hours journey from sibu to bintulu. oh ya, i went to bintulu with my uncle. i represented my whole family to go to brunei as my dad was busy with his works, so do my mom. she had to look after my little sis. little sis??haha. besides, my sister is still schooling. tat's why my dad ask someone who are not schooling anymore as his representative to go to the wedding.

The journey to Bintulu took about 3 hours or shorter. it was at midnight, less people travel at night and the bus driver drove the bus with speed around 280km/h-160km/h=120km/h. lol. We arrived in bintulu at roughly 1 o'clock in d morning. then, my uncle who's staying in bintulu fetch us from the bus station to his house. oh ya!!at that time, the bus station looked creepy at night. it's my first time to see the bus station at time. usually, at daytime, the bus station is pack with local people and people from other places. my uncle and i slept overnight at my another uncle's place. we slept at 2 in d morning. 5.30 in d morning, we woke up and had our subuh prayer together. we had our breakfast and then, at 6 he sent us to my another uncle's place. confuse? i have two uncles staying in bintulu. hehe. and for ur information aka FYI, my dad has 13 siblings, so i hope u wont be surprise if the phrase 'my uncle' and 'my aunt' are keep on repeating in my post. the phrase are the same but they are not for the same people..haha

At selangau, transit place in between sibu and bintulu. it's 11.05pm now

arrived in bintulu at 0123 hours

Never see the bus station like this before. humanless..haha

I spent 1 hour at my uncle's house before we start our jouney to miri. played with my cuz and had another breakfast at his place. lol. at 7.30am, we left bintulu for miri. there were 4 of us in d car, my uncle and his wife and my another uncle from sibu. my uncle drove to miri by using coastal road. another road to go to miri. it takes shorter time to reach miri by using coastal road compare to the road that most of us used to go to miri. by 9.30am, we arrived in miri. we went direct to permyjaya and had our breakfast there-an indian food coffee shop. it's also the meeting point for us. why? my uncle fetch 4 more passengers to go to brunei. they were uncles with their wives. My cousin and his wife were also there as their house are very near. then, at 11 something, we went to brunei.

Miri and brunei is not so far. tat's y mirian and bruenian can easily each other country. usually, from miri, it takes only 20 minutes to arrive at sungai tujuh checkpoint. then, from there, after we got into brunei land, it takes only 2o minutes to arrive in kuala belait-where te wedding is held. our journey to brunei also took 40 minutes before we arrive in kuala belait. then we went to Seria, another district of brunei to check in hotel. after unloading our luggage, we went to Bandar Seri Begawan, the heart of brunei which are known as bandar among the brunei's citizens. it took one hour plus to reach bandar. then, the adventure started..all my aunts had the same quest SHOPPING!!

At Sarawak-Brunei border

The mosque with gold dome

Masjid Omar Ali Saifuddin

Me with the mosque

Shopping time n met with other family members from Sibu, Kuching and Brunei

Bargaining the songket

My uncle drove around bandar and then we went to our first stop,omar ali saifuddin mosque. we had our zohor and asar prayer there. but, for my 3 aunts, they went straight to yayasan mall. the mosque is very beautiful. very hard to explain by words. lol. after we finished our prayer, my 3 uncles and myself walked to yayasan mall as the distance is not so far. there, i could see lots of branded clothes and etc which are sold in malaysia's market at a very expensive price, are being sold at very low price. for instance, i could see camel jacket for 2++, levi's jeans for 1++ to 2++, and lee below 1++. but of course, they are sold in B$. if the price are converted in malaysia, there will be almost the same. however, the standard of living in brunei is very high-you can see lots of imported luxury cars there-audi, brabus, jaguar, volkswagen porshe-just mentioning some. at the same time, the bruneian are very hygenic and they have very high civic minded. my experience : 1)i hardly can see any rubbish, tissue paper, can or sweet wrappers on the road, pavement and public places 2)when i walked by using the zebra crossing, they will immediately stop to let me walk first though they were very near :) after yayasan mall, we headed to central point and the mall. there, again, it's for shopping purpose. as i'm not working yet, i didnt have enough money to spend. i've change rm100 but it turned into B$40. not fair :( haha. luckily i can control myself from shopping. i'm saving money for other purposes. haha we had our lunch at 5pm. is it still can be called as lunch??around 6, we went back to seria where the hotel is located. took shower, had maghrib and isya prayer before we went to the bride's house.

There, i started to see differences in between the malay culture in brunei and sarawak. we are served with lots of food. there were at least 4 stalls at that night where we can get different types of food. mee kolok, burger, roti john, malay food and etc-just name what u want and they are all there for u. later at that night, they organized a game. bingo!!it's a simple game but the prizes were not that simple. let me to name several prizes for that game. there are all simple prizes for the bruneians. television, freezer, handphones, fan, oven, air purifier, water shower and so on. impress??great aite??but i didnt get any of them. we went back home at around two. i stayed at my uncle's house. i cant afford to pay for a hotel room :( slept at 2 again :(

My grandma and aunt

Bingo game which is also known as lotto

Family from Sibu, Bintulu, Kuching and Miri

Family from Brunei

Me in Jaguar woot woot

The V8 Engine

Inside jaguar-the meter can reach max 280km/h

i'm driving jaguar woot woot woot

The next morning i woke up at nearly 9am. took shower, breakfast and went to the bride's house. then we were served with breakfast again..OMG where i want to put all the food ive eaten??my stomach cant afford them anymore. i chose to sit in the house coz it was very hot outside.

having breakfast

me

Uncle's place