New Hobby - Fishing

Fishing has never been my interest ever. I don't like to be under the sun and have not enough patience. But when I was six or seven years old, I love fishing at the monsoon drain near our barrack. Using fishing net! Those days, that was the only entertainment we had. No computer games. No play station. No expensive toys. Just paper dolls and kite, wooden home made toys by my late dad and kitchen set. That was an excitement.

Last year, in August 2009, my husband told me that his colleagues were planning to go fishing at Sangkar, across Mangrove Paradise. I was not so happy to go. Like I said it has never been my interest. But when my husband convinced me that it was only for fun and a family trip, I said "OK, why not?" So we went on the 15th of August 2009. It was FUN! Everybody was enjoying the trip and excited! And I can't believe it myself that I'm loving it. Especially when the fish bit the bait. Can't wait for the next trip. Cheers.

Raya Oh Raya...

It's been ages. I have been busy with Ramadan and Raya preparations. Alhamdulillah Aiman and Adib completed the whole month of fasting. And most excitingly is having my two girls back from Alor Setar, Kedah and Kuantan, Pahang Malaysia. Due to H1N1 we were not sure whether to book their tickets back to Brunei. But not having one of us during Raya festival is something very very incomplete. Alhamdulillah, finally they are back for Raya. Last year, both of them were in Tanjong Malim with their Nenek, aunties, uncles and cousins. Poor babies. =(

We enjoyed our Raya even though this year we did not "balik kampung". We had our open house on the 4th day of Raya. The first wave was amongst my colleagues and Najwa's friends. The second wave was much more bigger and tiring. We had to borrow Pengiran Babu's (Cal's mom-in-law) giant pots to prepare the dishes. Nasi Tebu is this year special menu. We also had chicken curry, sweet sour fish, acar and rendang etc.. etc.. to syncronize with the Nasi Tebu. Thanks Babu for the pots. Thanks to Mr Jawed for the recipe. We hosted the second open house after our close friends came back from their hometowns to Brunei. It's nice to be together again. =)

Hj Omar Has Gone Back For Good. -25th February 2009

I have known him for almost nine years. Ever since he came to my office selling Brunei traditional cakes such as katilapam (apam), jelurut, curry puff, cakoi, kacang kuda, steamed sweet corn, nasi lemak, hati buyah (paru goreng) etc.

I will buy at least a dollar a day from him. Well, not sure if I'm obligated or feel pitiful for him. But I just like to see him at the staircase while he displaying his stuff. Sometimes we chat. He rides on a bicycle everyday with his "kuih-muih" in the box at the back of his bicycle. Has been in Brunei for more than 40 years, hehe about my age! He started selling in Kampung Ayer, the native at that time.

He is 63 this year, but when I asked my colleagues they roughly guesstimated he is around 40-50 plus. Why? Because he doesn't look that old to us. I told my colleagues, "Guys, the moral is, sell our car and buy a BICYCLE!" We even make jokes with him to advertise in Yellow Pages. Haha! That was Azmi several years ago asking to advertise. He will just laugh and smile. Ah Tiong even offered him Yellow Pages' bag for him to carry along. I asked EL to sell his car and buy bicycle instead, to look younger than our age, but he said, "Ka Ann tah saja dulu" Funny! We laughed out loud once.

I remember when I was carrying Adib in 2002, I will look forward for him coz I'm craving for the "apam" and sometimes "kacang kuda" coz he was like "macam-macam ada"... and when I gave birth to Adib, my friend said Adib has his skin.. hihi.. no offence but I told them "kenan kali aa.." in Brunei language.

A night before he went back for good to India on the 5th of February 2009, we invited him for a dinner at home. He was so happy and felt sorry at the same time because he couldn't make it to our Open House during Hari Raya. He was just like a father and he reminds me of my father as well. You will be missed Hj Omar, by me and your customers in Brunei! May Allah be with you always!

Bersunat, berkhatan and circumcise...

6th December 2008. We plan to register Aiman for his circumcision. I never had experience with boys before. Well, my feelings are mixed. Nervous and worry. Nervous because this is my first experience and worry that Aiman will have to be under confinement after the "sunat". I asked my friends Mida, Hajah, and Faridah who have sons and experienced and gone through all these worries.

During school holiday I called up RIPAS and it has to be on queue and Aiman's turn will be on the 25th of December 2009. Private clinics in Brunei have the service but Papa wants a Malay Doctor to do it. We decided to send him to a private clinic in Limbang after consulting with Zalinah, she said Klinik Dr Abd Rahman is having the service. Alhamdulillah, we do not have to worry much about it. But I was still worry about how to take care of him. Messaged my elder sister and she advised not to drink too much water and avoid allergic foods especially seafood.

We pushed off to Limbang earlier just to be in time. Aiman was prepared for he had done some research about it by asking Mustafa, his friend and some other friends too. He was strong and confident. I'm proud of him. When we took him to see the doctor, he was cool. I know he was scared inside but as we explained it's part of Islamic practice and it is encourage to do so. Cause there are reasons for what He asked us to. Cleanliness and Healthy. That's the answer. So Dr Rahman asked us to wait outside while he does the minor operation. According to Aiman, Dr Rahman recited prayers before the operation. Papa has gone to the toilet, nervous he said. To our surprise, within 30 minutes, it was done! ALHAMDULILLAH. And Aiman was in his jeans already.. it was the "clamp" method. It's Adib's turn next and he said "not until I'm nine years old". :D

All in the Family

I had been waiting for this moment for a long time. Alhamdulillah, eQa and Wawa are back for their semester break. A lot of story telling from my two princesses. I can imagine the non-stop, talkative eQa with her 1001 stories. Wawa was a bit cool but we shared her stories too. The most happiest person on earth was Najeeha. She was overjoyed.

We went to Kota Kinabalu for five days and four nights. I missed the avocado juice and guava in Tanjung Aru food court. On the way to KK we stopped over in Limbang. We met Zalina. She is very helpful and kind too. She is just like a sister to me. I gave her some muffins and chicken pies and not forgetting her birthday present. She loved the present and the muffins. We gathered some infos from her on how to go about in KK. Thanks a lot Na!

29th November 2008 - Checked in Promenade Hotel Apartment the first day. Cosy and convenient for a big family like us.

30th November 2008 - Kinabalu Pine Resort was a bit too small for us but surrounded with pines everywhere. Very very beautiful. We always love Kinabalu Pine Resort. Smell of flowers linger at night all the way while walking to the karaoke room, but full house! Karaoke room is provided in Pine Resort but we have to share with others. I still remember the first time we spent nights in Pine, in 2003 or 2004 (can't remember the exact year) with my sister, Kak Ani and my niece Ita.. Kak Ani will never let go the microphone until she sings her favourite songs.. ;D. The room was packed. So we decided to go back to the room and took some pictures.

The next day we went to Poring for swimming and hot spring. Earlier we went to play with hundreds of fishes by the river. They were tame fishes. Encik Linden explained how they started it. Later in the evening, we had KFC in Kundasang. We were starving after swimming. As usual, the weather is extremely cold, especially at night. No wonder the hotels here do not have aircond room. We had dinner at Nabalu Lodge. The food was superb. Even Adib who is very choosy with foods loved the fried noodle. So we intended to shift to Nabalu Lodge the next night. Pakis is the name of the room we checked in. It was country like and beautifully decorated. Too bad we did not take the picture of the room. Aiman, Adib and Wawa played Monopoly and Scrabble they borrowed from the lobby. eQa was busy with her "Twilight" and Najeeha got hooked with her "New Moon " by Stephenie Meyer. We could see the peak of Kinabalu from the room in the morning before the cloud obviously covers it.

1st December 2008 - Papa and me went shopping for veggies. Had durian for breakfast. the kids are still sleeping and maybe packing up their things in the room. We ordered fried rice for them. Papa drove extra-ordinarily fast in order to book a hotel room because all the rooms are fully booked in KK. We tried to call again and again. Either stay another night in KK or drive back to Brunei the same day. Fortunately, we managed to get a room at Promenade. Alhamdulillah. :) Time to get my avocado juice... mmm yummy! and guava too! Shopping malls closed very early. We did not expect it at all. The first night we reached KK we hardly shop around coz they closed at 9pm. So we decided to go out earlier this time.

2nd December 2008 - Adib saw Aisyah's dad at the basement parking. They came here for holiday too. Aisyah is Adib's classmate.. ;) After breakfast, we checked out and went back to Brunei Darussalam.. Thank you Papa for everything! We love you..

Welcome back Princesses. WaWa 's ticket has been booked months ago before her school holiday. eQa decided to rehearse for her theater in December, so she is not coming back this semester. :( Miss you already. So WaWa is confirmed coming back to Brunei. Last minute, eQa messaged me saying that her theater had been postponed to a later date and she thought of coming back! Alhamdulillah.. I was so glad to hear that and quickly booked her ticket. The best part is Papa was still in Pakistan when she decided to come back and we planned to surprise him! The transit took few hours in KLIA and eQa met Papa there with Mak Uda and Maya. He missed eQa so much! Hugged her and kissed her good bye... and still not knowing that eQa is coming back. Poor Papa. When he arrived Brunei he told me that he was overjoyed because he met eQa. We were like oopss.. Papa shouldn't have known that she is coming back. We tried so hard to zip our mouth. Back in Brunei, we were so excited for WaWa's arrival. Everyone was ready at the airport. The flight was a bit delay. Papa cleared his work earlier than usual, just to wait for his Princess, Najwa/WaWa. The moment of truth: Instead of one Princess arrived at the airport, there were two of them! Can't imagine how Papa looks like when he first saw WaWa and eQa! Haha.. Sorry Pa. But he was so shock and happy at the same time. Exchanged hugs with my Princesses and said "how dare you cheated me.." hihi. :D Now that all of us in the family, we planned to go to Kota Kinabalu next week. Kinabalu Pine Resorts, here we come. :)