Greetings fellow Officers,
Trying to make the weekly target happen.
This morning I went to the Land Transport Department to get my temporary driving license and then I registered at Asohraya. My law test will be on the 31st of this month. In the meantime I can start learning how to park and maybe do the hill (I can only get to the streets after I have passed the law test). So just now I went to Asohraya again to pay for the 10 hours, and I've got my teacher. The first of my lessons starts tomorrow!
There has been a lot of hype about the 2nd Heart of Borneo project, the local industries, the nation's development and the reinforcement of the ban on schoolteachers to carry out tuition out of school hours at their private residences.
I think the Heart of Borneo aims to preserve more than half the country's area as primary forest. This is Brunei's contribution to the international agreement between the nations that are on Borneo's soil namely Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Local industries such as food manufacturing should be aiming to produce more basic and staple foods, said Dr Hj Ibrahim (Senior Lecturer of Chemistry at UBD) at an event a few days ago, as today's local manufacturers go above the basic stuff e.g. crisps and that sort.
Brunei has set to leave about only 5% to be developed, the rest may stay as natural rainforest, and this means that the opportunity for real estate developers to build multi-storey residences e.g. flats or apartments has opened up (Did no one think of multiple stories earlier? Look, value for money, buy less land and make taller buildings therefore more people renting per unit area of land, more revenue, that stuff. See, a sixth form student who doesn't do economics nor business studies can come up with that!). The amendment of the Strata Act has indeed come in at the right time, to enable subdivision of building ownership e.g. one floor or half a floor per owner (correct me, anyone, if I am wrong).
Regarding the private tuition issue, tuition schools are still alright, it's just the private tuitions that are banned. Parents are reluctant to send their kids to tuition schools and have argued that their children should have the same teacher and tutor in order to have that 'consistency'. But, on the other end of the spectrum, can't the student themselves work harder up to the point that tuition is not needed?
Hope you find this informative. Stay in touch. Enjoy yourselves.
Regards,
Office Boy a.k.a. Local Correspondent
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
From Your Local Correspondent #1
I am sorry for not updating you with news about the local scene as I have somewhat promised you. During exam preparation days I usually do stuff at my own pace and I wouldn't be bothered by other stuff.
The supposedly hot news should be the fire gutting 3 shops side by side along Jalan Pretty, Kuala Belait. namely KFC, Pustaka Remaja and the chicken rice restaurant on Tuesday morning, the 13th of October. I haven't been to Kuala Belait town for more than a week. Haven't seen the remains of the shops.
In the next paragraph you will read words like might, most probably, possibilities... I have to use them because the facts below, from newspapers, seem feeble because maybe these people are not sure of the accuracy of their statements.
I don't know exactly where the fire started, but it might have come from KFC's store room or the KFC staffhouse (on top of KFC) or the floor above the chicken rice restaurant (maybe a staffhouse too). Possibilites of the cause of fire include an unattended iron or washing machine, or a refrigerator wiring fault. The fire was most probably noticed at around 6am Tuesday morning. What I can recall from the papers is, the Fire Department received a distress call at 6.08am and they rushed to the scene. As usual, firemen from the BSP Fire Brigade came too, and astonishingly two fire brigade water vehicles (boats) were dispatched too. Dispatched for what purpose and where they were told to station themselves, I don't know. No one got injured, but of course there was a great loss incurred. Pustaka Remaja has estimated a $100,000 loss. They've just got new stock in recently, their stockroom was on the first floor, above their shop, burnt in flames. The water that was used to extinguish the fire had wet the books downstairs and voila, double trouble.
A couple of weeks back (as far as I can remember) there was a serious blackout that affected nearly the whole country; it happened two days in a row. On the first day some houses didn't get the power supply and some still got it, on the second day the ones that did get the supply the previous day didn't get the power supply, and vice versa. Call it exchanges. If you get me. On both days the power went off for some 4-8 hours. It went through till night time. Shops were out of candles. Went for a ride at Pandan 7 area on the first day of blackouts and it was pitch black (Beverly Hills included) except for Soon Lee. I think they've got generators to get the power running and to prevent looting. The Department of Electrical Services has said that there was a 'technical fault' at Bukit Panggal or Gadong, or both of them, not really sure, I didn't read the papers properly on that one.
This month, there's an Oktoberfest in Germany, a 16-day fair, held annually in Munich, attracting 6 million visitors, including people from abroad, as far as Brazil, and lots and lots of beer poured (and drunk) during it (read up Oktoberfest on Wikipedia if you don't know about it) and guess what, we have the Ford October Fest up in Beribi. First things first, name says it, it's sponsored and/or organised by Brunei's sole Ford dealer. Well, in Brunei's October Fest there isn't any beer... They've got 3 main events: the FORD Tug of War Challenge, a Ranger Strongman: Man Vs Truck Competition and a Ford vehicle exhibition. I don't know much about this fest, just put it here for the sake of news.
One last thing. The shop near SMSA, Metussin's Groceries, re-opened sometime during the Raya season.
Hope you find this informative. Enjoy your studies. I will update after the 16th of November (the day of my last A-level paper), one month from now.
Office Boy a.k.a. Brunei Correspondent
The supposedly hot news should be the fire gutting 3 shops side by side along Jalan Pretty, Kuala Belait. namely KFC, Pustaka Remaja and the chicken rice restaurant on Tuesday morning, the 13th of October. I haven't been to Kuala Belait town for more than a week. Haven't seen the remains of the shops.
In the next paragraph you will read words like might, most probably, possibilities... I have to use them because the facts below, from newspapers, seem feeble because maybe these people are not sure of the accuracy of their statements.
I don't know exactly where the fire started, but it might have come from KFC's store room or the KFC staffhouse (on top of KFC) or the floor above the chicken rice restaurant (maybe a staffhouse too). Possibilites of the cause of fire include an unattended iron or washing machine, or a refrigerator wiring fault. The fire was most probably noticed at around 6am Tuesday morning. What I can recall from the papers is, the Fire Department received a distress call at 6.08am and they rushed to the scene. As usual, firemen from the BSP Fire Brigade came too, and astonishingly two fire brigade water vehicles (boats) were dispatched too. Dispatched for what purpose and where they were told to station themselves, I don't know. No one got injured, but of course there was a great loss incurred. Pustaka Remaja has estimated a $100,000 loss. They've just got new stock in recently, their stockroom was on the first floor, above their shop, burnt in flames. The water that was used to extinguish the fire had wet the books downstairs and voila, double trouble.
A couple of weeks back (as far as I can remember) there was a serious blackout that affected nearly the whole country; it happened two days in a row. On the first day some houses didn't get the power supply and some still got it, on the second day the ones that did get the supply the previous day didn't get the power supply, and vice versa. Call it exchanges. If you get me. On both days the power went off for some 4-8 hours. It went through till night time. Shops were out of candles. Went for a ride at Pandan 7 area on the first day of blackouts and it was pitch black (Beverly Hills included) except for Soon Lee. I think they've got generators to get the power running and to prevent looting. The Department of Electrical Services has said that there was a 'technical fault' at Bukit Panggal or Gadong, or both of them, not really sure, I didn't read the papers properly on that one.
This month, there's an Oktoberfest in Germany, a 16-day fair, held annually in Munich, attracting 6 million visitors, including people from abroad, as far as Brazil, and lots and lots of beer poured (and drunk) during it (read up Oktoberfest on Wikipedia if you don't know about it) and guess what, we have the Ford October Fest up in Beribi. First things first, name says it, it's sponsored and/or organised by Brunei's sole Ford dealer. Well, in Brunei's October Fest there isn't any beer... They've got 3 main events: the FORD Tug of War Challenge, a Ranger Strongman: Man Vs Truck Competition and a Ford vehicle exhibition. I don't know much about this fest, just put it here for the sake of news.
One last thing. The shop near SMSA, Metussin's Groceries, re-opened sometime during the Raya season.
Hope you find this informative. Enjoy your studies. I will update after the 16th of November (the day of my last A-level paper), one month from now.
Office Boy a.k.a. Brunei Correspondent
Monday, October 5, 2009
{from london}
At Marble Arch
Hello fellow Escargo Officers, and everyone!
It seems like we've all been trying to get a hold of uni life so much that we haven't been posting! I've been away from the computer for I think almost a week now but found out that I'm only the third among us to blog. No problem! To be honest though, I (still) have some time on my hands as I haven't started uni yet. We had some informal events this weekend, tomorrow's everyone's first official meeting with their departments (I think) and proper studying starts on the 12th. And oh, a mechanics test on Wednesday which everyone has to pass either then or next month.
We weren't intentionally looking depressed. It just happened.
On one of the red buses out of Central London (went to IKEA)
Norfolk Square, outside of Brunei Hall
So that's all I'll talk about, academically, for now.. Alright! This afternoon, while I was jogging through the picturesque Kensington Gardens, I felt inspired to blog here for Escargo. And so I walked the 20 minutes from our flat to Brunei Hall, to get a hold of the internet 'cause our broadband hasn't arrived yet. Mentioning that, I must say my life at present, and for the past week, has been centred around Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. Literally.
Hyde Park & Kensington Gardens from the sky.
Green dot: Brunei Hall, yellow: home, red: Imperial College (hope you can see them!)
Picture this: Hyde Park's in the middle. From the northeast corner to the north is Edgware Road, with shops you'd expect to find more in Lebanon than London. To the east is Oxford Street, still affordable.. And where these three (Hyde Park, Edgware Road and Oxford Street) meet is where our flat is: Marble Arch. To the south of Hyde Park are Imperial College and the museums. To the north are Bayswater and Paddington, where Brunei Hall is located and where I am typing from now. So yeah, everything's centred nicely around the Park. Walking through the Park can either be a shortcut or a longcut, depending on how you see it!
Waiting for the No. 10 to Exhibition Road
Managing a bite at (probably) the newest addition to the Malaysian cuisine scene in London: Delima
Home
Thanks Zimo for letting me use your pics. Oh you don't know yet haha.
Royal Albert Hall, which is just outside the College, from south, by night.
My address would be:
64 Cumberland Court
Great Cumberland Place
London W1H 7DQ
Phone: +447518605654
Cheers mate!
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Loughborough
Assalamualaikum,
Many sorry for some unforeseen circumstances that didn't allow me to blog much. Anyway I have been in Loughborough for a week already, and Alhamdulillah I am well settled in in this market town.
Currently I reside in,
90 Gracedieu Road
LE11 4QG
L oughborough,
Leicestershire,
UK.
Hehe It's just a half and hour from town to my house. So if you wish to crash my house just notify me ha ha. Planned to post some pictures but unfortunately I didn't bring my USB camera cable, so yeah.
Will post more soon.
Salam.
My story... My New Beginning...
Assalammu'alikum~ ^^
It has been a while after my last post~ apologies for that~ been busy with settling in Loughborough, housing, room, University scheule, shopping, visits, events... ahahaha but enough with that and on to my story, my first step to United Kingdom and my first wonderful friends and wonderful moments... ^^
Just before we landed, the sun rises over a thick layer of cotton candy like clouds... The orange red illumiation just over the horizon. The sight was magnifcet... breathtaking... I feel like I was reborn... feels like a sign of a new beginning... a fresh start... ehehehehe ^^
The Sunrise
Anyway, there I was with my completely new friends, there were 10 of us... well actually 11 freshers, but one girl straight away went for Bradford (alum ku sempat kenalan sama ia XP)... so the10 of us, the boys: me, Muiz, Faizun and Azmi; while the girls are: Fathiyah, Hayatul, Nurhazimah, Yuny, Izzati and Zatil. Thou we just know each other, we get along pretty well~ a wonderful group XD we hung out together at Brunei Hall, we went (walk) around the area together (mesra lah~ ahahahaha XD) cool group~ I guess no other students of a same flight ever experiance the bond we had, a wonderful one ^^
Here are several photos we had:
B : Fathiyah, me, Muiz. F : Kaka Gmah, Yunnie, Zatay, Zatil, Hayatool, Azmi at Brunei Hall Lobby
Faizun, me, Azmi, Yunnie, Zatil, Zatay, Kaka Gmah, Fathiyah, Hayatul in front of Brunei Hall
Yunnie, Fathiyah, Muiz, Kaka Gmah, Zatil, Faizun, Zatay, Hayatul, Azmi and me at Brunei Hall Lobby 
Us while walking around London XP
Out of the 10 of us, 1 went to Loughborough (me), 2 went to Bradford (Muiz and Zatil), 3 went to Nottingham (Fathiyah, Hayatul and Azmi) and 4 went to Cardiff (Kaka Gmah, Yunnie, Zatay and Faizun). All the best to everyone~ and do have fun~ and and and update me through you facebook^^
We have done it... now it's yur turn... ahahahaha study hard, achieve excellent grades, apply for scholarship and hope to see you around United Kingdom~ hahahaha XD
(Photos courtesy of Hayatul)
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