Christmas

Having spent my Christmas walking around a quiet London last year, I'm so grateful to be with my family this year. I decided that we should do something more than just casual dinner so about a month ago, we made plans to do a secret santa this Christmas. Shopping for the perfect gift under such a low $10 budget was not easy! It was challenging yet fun. But I'm glad everyone got something awesome! I know I did :)


You must be wondering why the heck are we celebrating Christmas when it's clearly not our culture. Well, I don't really know exactly. We're greatly influenced maybe. I remember my first Christmas when I was young and we had this big Christmas tree propped in a corner in our old living room. I guess we celebrate it for a different reason.

We headed out shopping the day before Christmas and I honestly can't recall what we did, but here's us dining at Ideal.


Definition of a third wheel:

HEE HEE

Alright, until then, you can see loads of Christmas pics Shely uploaded on FB if you want to. I'm off to watch some YouTube videos before calling it a night. New Year is around the corner!

Happy Dongzhi Festival!

Today marks the winter solstice festival and I was lucky to have two meals that include tang yuan in both! Dad decided to go on with the tang yuan rolling without us this year and by the time I stepped into the kitchen, the smell of sweet tang yuan soup filled the air. Our lunch was the usual fried kueh tiaw tapao from the usual coffee shop near our place. It's a weird combination eating tang yuan with kueh tiaw, I know. But most importantly, I woke up late so I didn't have time to prepare lunch!

Fortunately for us, mom decided to order food for dinner so it was nice to come home from Seria to find readily prepared food. It's such a nice change from all the cooking and cleaning, you know.


Heavenly duck to mark this special occasion.

Mom is always ready for the camera!

We're really looking forward to Christmas this year because unlike previous years, we actually got a little something special planned so I can't wait for it. In the meantime, we've been cleaning the house a lot lately, clearing out unwanted stuff. We've actually got a scanner in good condition that we don't need so if anyone wants a fully functioning scanner, please let me know. 


Cheers from all of us. Hope you have a wonderful holiday!

Bowling


Strike or no strike?

Hello people of the world. How's the holiday so far? We've past the halfway mark so you better cherish every bits and pieces of this holiday before everything comes striking. No pun intended. On one of those forgotten days, I drove my sister and brother to the newly opened complex at Seria, much to their delight. We ended up playing two games of bowling and watched two 3D movies. I was quite dizzy after that as I've not gotten used to the 3D glasses on top of my actual glasses. Wouldn't it be nice if we can integrate 3D glasses with our regular glasses? That way we don't have to wear both at the same time.


Shely having a go at it.

How well did we bowl? Let's just say we hung our head in shame after the two games, and especially after being sandwiched between two pro teams. On our left, we had two young people who got strikes so often we lost count. On our right was a family who used their own bowling balls complete with wipes and gloves. We didn't even wear socks!

Up Top

I haven't gone up the hill in over a year so I decided to do so one fine day. From what I've heard, the road leading to the army training spot has been cut off to make way for the road construction project. It does indeed look different now as a result of the construction work. I wonder if the hill, or what's left of it, is still worthy of the name Bukit Lumut. But it does seem to be the only hill we have in this village and the only spot for moon sighting in Belait. That has to count for something.

I believe I can fly~

The dual way carriage road construction is under way!

Deforestation is inevitable in this case.

I've got the best view of the sunset in Lumut from the Lumut Hill.

The Wooden Toy House

I've always wanted to build my own house. The other day, I finally got the chance to. Well, it's not exactly one that I can even put my foot in but it's closer than I'll ever get. Here's how my brother and I created a house - from scratch!

Step 1. We gathered a few planks of wood. By that, I mean a $2.90 pre-cut pieces ready to be assembled from the low priced gift shop in Seria. After much effort in making sure the edges are smooth, we carefully put the pieces together.


Step 2. Then, it's time for some color! We collected all our painting equipment, including that bar of chocolate and diet coke, in case we get thirsty.


Step 3. Next, we tore the pieces apart to paint each piece individually. We started with the floor. We picked green, of course, because we love the nature.


Step 4. I wanted a red roof because it's such a cliché color for a roof.


Step 5. The walls are obviously white in color because this is Brunei after all.


Step 6. Finally, we placed all the pieces back together to admire our new home that we cannot live in. Isn't it a nice unstable house?


Alright, now that we're done, we don't really know what to do with it because let's face it, it's quite an eyesore and, not to mention, a waste of space!

Goodbye November

Before I begin my chatter, let me enlighten you with a very soothing photo of a hibiscus flower.

It's simply lush!

Now, where has time gone? A blink of an eye and gone are the months of October and November. Normally, I would be looking forward to my December holiday but it doesn't really apply now because I'm having this uncertainly long vacation where I try not to think too much about what's ahead and just enjoy it while it last. I'm not complaining, you know. I do enjoy waking up near lunch time and not dealing with deadlines but sometimes I do wish I'm doing something productive. Anything! (e.g. watering the plants or even scrubbing the floor! I kid.) But oh well, life is bigger, it's bigger than you and you are not me (quoting R.E.M's song).

I love it when my siblings hunt for games at the game store. For the record, I suck at playing games. So much so that I asked my brother to invite his friend over just so he could help me with the first part of Medal of Honor. But I still gave up very quickly so don't bother evaluating my noob level.


We dropped by the mall the other day to check out Skin79's 1st Anniversary. It's pretty cool. There were lots of enthusiastic people roaming the store so I bet purchases were aplenty.


I went to get me the prize I won via a lucky draw. And I got their gel product which I gave to Shely because I know she appreciates it more than me. But I still want to thank the organiser of the contest for the prize.


And one last thing, here's me driving around with a pillow on my head. Killing it! LOL

Spongebob Frenzy!

Warning: The following pictures are very bright, equivalent to looking directly at the sun.

I don't know how long I will keep talking about Spongebob before somebody starts complaining. But I'm going to make my own initiative by killing down the topic a little. To do so, I will have to compile possibly my last "Spongebob Hunt" items I found while I was out and about. Mind you, any new trend in this country spreads like wildfire. Since it's the Angry Birds era, nearly every toy shops/stores/booths you visit will have Angry Birds merchandise. Spongebob is no exception. You see him everywhere! But here I'd like to show you some of the better Spongebob stuff I found around town.

These are items found in ToysRUs. They have a cool collection of playing cards and puzzles, all at a very posh price, I might add.

Here is a more complete 5 selections all in one box. I am yet to find me a Squidward beanie bag.

This lenticular puzzle looks fun.

Here's one of the more common items: the Spongebob doll, of course. There are basically two versions, the flat printed nose and the 3D nose, both at the same price which is just ridiculous.

I found this at 1st Emporium. If you know what it is, please tell me because I'm still trying to figure out what it is.

You can bring Spongebob with you wherever you go with these assorted bags! Now wouldn't it be fun to bring this bag to work?

PvZ keychains

I'm not a regular at Gadong's Nam Hong Restaurant. Heck I'm not even a regular at the KB one. What am I a regular of? KFC, Ayamku, Jollibee and the likes, you get my drift.

This is only the second time I've been here so seeing how rare I eat at this place, I decided to snap some photos to put in my drawer of memories, for future references.

I'm not a fan of this area because it is almost impossible to find a good parking space.

I wouldn't say this restaurant serves the best food because there are better eateries around but its not too bad because I'm not particularly picky when it comes to food.

However, the "Seria kolomee" as they claimed wasn't as good as I thought, since I'm a regular customer at the Seria mee stall so I give this an average rating.


My brother ordered Western as usual. Yes, in a Chinese coffee shop he ordered a western! By the looks of it, I give it a rating as...meh! But I want to point out that they ran out of baked beans that day.

I honestly can't remember who I was with when I came here the first time around a few years back. I have to ask Sharon, it might be her.

Oh, one thing before I end this. Look what I found at Hua Ho!
I want ALL of them!!!

The Art of Cheating

I've mentioned before that I've been playing Plants Vs Zombies again. This time, I discovered a software called Cheat Engine and boy, the game has been a blast since then! Don't believe me? Here's how my Last Stand 5th flag level looks like.

I'm on fire!

Speaking of zombies, my sister has been very obsessed with a character from The Walking Dead. I, on the other hand, just find the series brilliant and can't wait for the next episode. I love how the series is full of twisted plots and surprises. It's always exciting to have something to look forward to in my otherwise dull life.

Cute

How's it going? These days I've been preoccupied by all things entertainment. Well, almost. I'm currently attempting to read five books. Yes, I can be very greedy at times. I've got two of Dr. Dan Gottlieb's book, a book by Barbara and Allan Pease, Business Icons and Steve Jobs Biography, all of which have bookmarks placed not even near the halfway mark. But I'm sure to get it going once I find my motivation.

In the meantime, I've also just completed the Plants Vs Zombies game in adventure mode for the 3rd time, this time using the awesome cheat engine I just discovered. I love cheating. In this context, of course.

As for TV, no doubt I've got many lined up like an assembly factory ready for me to watch. It's senseless to ask me to list them all but among them, I've recently picked up Falling Skies, American Horror Story and The Walking Dead Season 2. Oh, have I mention that I catch X Factor UK and DWTS too? Johnny Robinson is great and I love Ricki and Derek!

Here's a random picture of our two cats napping. Cute!

And we've got a dog too in case you're wondering. This old dog we call him Boy boy. No idea why my brother is "shooting" at him though.

Right, that is all for today. According to my brother, chocolate that contains 70% dark chocolate tastes really bitter #totallyrandomtrivia

Ritual

My journey continues with a trip to the mall with my siblings. It's sort of a tradition with us. We would just find a good weekend to go watch a movie and eat out. We even enter the same stores every time. Its almost an insult not to go in our usual stores when we're in the area. Although the stores here are considerably smaller-scaled compared to the ones in Leeds, you can still find almost everything you need here which is a nice touch to my local shopping experience.

The mall food court. Always a nice place to chill for us.

Shely picking nuts. I asked for the sweet one and I think she got the salted one.

Yup, still not happy with her selection.

My hunt for Spongebob items continue.. This one, in particular, looks cool but I have totally no idea what it does because it doesn't come in a language I can understand.

This was another day, another time and another place. My mum was getting her haircut so Stephen and I decided to tag along like little kids.

Free head massage. No guarantee the head will stay intact after the procedure.

Here's Stephen being extremely asian. I mean look at him! He got the whole package: glasses, shorts, palm resting on knee and an Old Master Q comic in hand. Classic apek posture if you ask me!


Guess what these are?

Portable cooling fans! Oh, I so love Asians' creative minds! ><

Reptiles

I'm quite fascinated by reptiles although I never thought I would actually hold one for no reason. I mean, living in this country, there is no excuse. Like it or not, you will encounter snakes and whatnots. I've had a snake suddenly dropped in front of my face while I was collecting the laundry outside my house. I've had a snake hissed at me when I nearly stepped on its tail while walking along the side of a building. You watch those guys at Animal Planet handling snakes like it's a piece of cake. Well, it's a piece of poisonous cake that kills.

But of course, reptile exhibitions portray a completely different story. Not only are the snakes well-fed, they are tamed and they don't bite. Hence, no excuse. You've got to hold them and feel their weight on your arm and stroke their shiny skin. I love how real and heavy they are.


I think at this point I was getting too comfortable with the snake that I was man-handling the snake too roughly, much to the displeasure of the owner. Sorry!

Have I told you I hate lizards, to a very personal level? Well, this chameleon certainly felt like a lizard so I did not enjoy holding it and feeling its soft body on my palm. Yes, that was my fake smile.
But I do love this black snake!