Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Nonnie the unofficial tour guide

 

Sorry for the lack of updates… crap, that’s like my opening sentence liao nowadays… I’ve been really busy lately and only now I have the time to sit down and blog.

My cousins from Sibu decided to give Brunei a visit last Sunday and I played host bringing them around and it’s fun!


Sunday (13th Dec 2009)

Went to Bintang Plaza and met Hie Ching up. She volunteered in the Aids Awareness event and hence we had the chance to meet up. She asked if I have time to go Miri but because she’s only free after 4pm, I don’t like the idea of staying overnight in Miri (unless it’s with Bobby because it feels safer rather than me alone) and so I persuaded her to come to Brunei. And Chee Wen (the brother) is currently enjoying his holiday too so he came here too by bus.

Picked Chee Wen from the bus terminal and off we go. To Brunei!!!

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Jam at the border. It was only 3.30pm!!!

My plan was, drop my mom off in Seria, stop by Empire for a nice sun set and dinner at Excapade. But no jadi the Empire sun set because late already….


There, my cousins.

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Future pharmacist and current pharmacist.

We were super hungry! Once the food arrived we just gobbled it all down and then, 20 minutes later, we’re so full that we can hardly burp!

Sigh… eat fast fast lah!

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Salmon furai and Shishamo furai

 

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He’s beginning to feel the annoyance from me insisting taking pictures of the food before eating. What? I’m helping him to record all the food he eats in Brunei mah. Me a very good biau-jie okay~

 

 

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Sushi set and Kani Kurage.

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Fire Salmon Cheese, Fire Cheese Salmon, okay, I don’t remember the order.
But I love this! The texture of raw and semi-cooked salmon in just one bite with cheese, heaven~~~~~

And, I didn’t even notice the mayo was drawn in heart shape until Hie Ching mentioned.

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Ice cream tempura + Macha ice cream.

Chee Wen was damn excited when he saw ice cream tempura. And look at the size of it. I was teasing him when he cracked open the batter and dug up the chocolate ice cream, “Eh, look like you eating brain can….”

=p

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They’re like, “So many choices lah! Still got so many thing we haven’t try yet…”
And I replied, “No problem one, we just come back for lunch tomorrow lah!”

Damn good leh me!


Went to The Mall to shop around and they bought DQ.

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Notice the $50 note on her hand. Antique or not?
I was quite surprised with that note as I have not seen it since, I think…10,15 years ago? Even the staff in DQ wasn’t sure to accept or not until he got the green light from the his colleague.

Then Hie Ching told me that she had Brunei dollars, but they’re quite old so her dad (my kiu-kiu that is) couldn’t exchange it anywhere else. I thought she was saying maybe couple hundred bucks but no…!!!

When we went to Baiduri bank, she took out money from this angpao packet and started counting the money….

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Total, $3k!!!!!!

Ancient or not you see those notes?

The three of us waited at the counter while the bank staff brought the notes to a small office and examined pieces by pieces under the lamp (which we didn’t understand because after examining under the fluorescent lamp, she used those UV ray thingie again….), asked for my IC and filled in a form lagi.

The sense of guilt just crawled in as if I was a conman giving them counterfeit notes!

But true lah, if I work in a bank and suddenly got people bring thousand dollars of 20 years old notes, I also will feel very suspicious lah.

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I had not seen this note until that day!

My uncle (yi-chang) super am-kuk when he knew my cousin exchange all those notes because he wants to collect them so badly! And that, includes Bobby too. If I have some to spare, I’ll change some for collection too. Rare bah!

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Chilling at our youngest auntie place watching some ghost reality show.

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No photos for this part because all the photos are with Hie Ching since it’s her SD card.

We ate at Lucky, went to Yayasan and took fabulous pictures for SOAS Mosque.

End

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Monday (14th Dec 2009)

As promised, lunch at Excapade.

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My cousin was amazed by the generous serving of the salmon as compare to other places. Still, banyak nasi lah…..

It was so funny when Bobby *oh ya, he joined us for lunch and he’s back from his KL trip with his family. Bought me a bright red tshirt with Paddington bear on it which makes me feel like a 8 yo* went to the cashier, then my auntie ran there too and me three!

All three of us wanted to foot the bills but in the end, Bobby won. Because the cashier said, “Let the guy pay”. HHAHAHHA. Good one!

Dropped my auntie back home and we’re off to Empire.

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Silhouettes of a lovely couple. HAHHHAA. People referred Chee Wen as my boyfriend when I’m actually 5 years older than him. *proud*

 

 

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Toilet break

 

 

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Such a nice weather to take pictures~
Blue blue sky and.. crystal clear water.

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Ek-seh.

 

 

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Bollywood 1

 

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Bollywood 2

 

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Someone please tell me why the eldest among the siblings sometimes tend to be the shortest? My neighbour auntie also, she’s the eldest and also the shortest.

 

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I wanted to play at the kids pool…
And, what the… I looked pregnant!!!!

 

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Like ming-xing or not…

 

 

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Copycat. HAhahhaa. Just kidding.

 

We’re like kids riding the escalators up and down just to get a perfect shot.

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This is taken up when the escalator on the left is heading up and the right one is heading down. Very hard okay!

 

 

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Sawadeekap! Hahhahahaa

Went back to Seria while Hie ching took a quick shower and we all headed down to Miri again to send her off (because she needs to get back to work liao)

 

 

Tuesday (15th Dec 2009)

Breakfast at

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Soi Hing~

Sibu is super famous with their kampua mee, so I cannot kalah also. Must bring Chee Wen to kolomee in Seria (and I chose Soi Hing over mien-tang because,er, got aircon).

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Lo Mai Kai, Big Pau and kolomee biasa.

Kampua in Sibu only have measely amount of charsiew and maybe one or two wantan, unlike the one you see in the photo above. Damn banyak ingredients.

But Chee Wen said it’s very different, without the lard. Guo ran ah, eat kampua mee big one.


Brought him to my school to be my kuli-kang.

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Him, struggling to get the paint bucket open.

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Painted the shoe cabinet.
I picked the color OLIVE GREEN for my lab and… can you tell if the color is OLIVE GREEN??? But still, it’s a really nice color and I’m happy with the outcome. Can’t wait to see my computer lab tomorrow is brand new fresh color!

 

To Lee Loi Fatt we go~

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My usual drink, Liang-fen + red bean.

 

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Cuttlefish Laksa

 

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Cuttlefish + Prawn fritters + Yam + Tofu = $5


Rested at home (served food in my cafe world) and off, ke OGDC!

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He kept screaming and laughing pain when the nails were up.

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Die die must solve all puzzles.

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Especially this one.

I had to keep asking him to give up because I don’t want to miss the yummy french toast in Universal cafe okay.

 

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Forced him to take picture with nodding donkey because he’s in Seria.

 

 

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Tornado

 

 

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He didn’t want to try this… Haha, not as brave as me~

 

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The Mind Ball is super cool. You have to relax then the ball moves. When I was distracted, terus the ball moved back to me.

 

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Dinner is served~

 

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Time for French Toast tambah Cheeseeeeeee!

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I had to tell Chee Wen that this is not your average french toast. It’s their own creation that can’t be found elsewhere.

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Dip in ketchup, sugar or both~

 

 

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Home-cooked meal.

Didn’t eat too much because he wanted to try Ideal. Hahahaa.

He was like, “Eat, play, sleep. Never a second hungry. Like you’re feeding pig.”
HAHHAHAHAHHA.

 

 

Wednesday (16th Dec 2009)

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Breakfast at Wing Soon.

This kolomee is more like kampua mee because it has lard and char siew in it.


Went to Miri to send Chee Wen off.

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Bus Terminal.

 

The End.

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Touring in Brunei~                                       

7 comments:

27 said...

Nonnieeee.... I really want the old brunei notes!! Sayang eh you guys exchange with bank sudah!

48 said...

eh.. I oso collect old brunei notes one.. only 1,5 and 10 nya..
Never seen so big one.
So sayang eh..

Eh lee loi fatt still open one meh?
can go next time?
eh y no email ah u?

Nonnie King said...

27 : LOL! Imma ask my uncle when I go to Sibu if he still has any left then can bring back exchange with you all.

48 : Cos I've been busy mah.. plus once I blog you mah know what I did liao. Hehehheee. Sorry sorry

Of course KB still got lee loi fatt, at the 4 mushrooms there. But you come back during CNY, must try try see if got open or not wor

@lex said...

Gosh ! .. might worth more in a few more years .. :P

Brunei Foodies said...

i think most of the notes are worth at least twice it's value. i think on ebay you can get triple or more for it. i think mr.brunei resources would know better on the actual values tho..

sayang eh, i want that $50 note, the one with the late Begawan on it is even worth more...

Nonnie King said...

SL : Too bad, it wasn't mine.

Bulimic : Think it will be way better if I can change with you guys out here than the bank who took us like criminals.

27 said...

Mushrooms? hahaha thats a first of a new nickname I heard of Tudung Saji. Usually its B R A haha