Brunei Wedding Reception, 25 Oct 2008

Nowhere feels like home but Brunei, afterall I grew up and spent a good 30 years of my life there. I was really looking forward to being back in Brunei as I was missing my friends and family. Having the 2nd wedding reception in Brunei was such a good idea. After starting my new job with BHP Billiton, a break in Brunei was very welcoming. We arrived a week earlier before the reception to wind down before the big day. Stefan’s parents arrived in Brunei the next day from Frankfurt via Singapore. Stefan has been to Brunei before but this was the first time for Stefan’s parents. We put them up at the Empire Hotel for the duration of the stay. We also managed to squeeze in some activities visiting some places of interest around Brunei and went across to Miri for the Niah national cave tour, 20 km walk total in humid heat. BTW, that was the last time I will go into the cave again, it stank of bat poo and slippery. Luckily none of us slipped and fell. Met up for dinner with Xal and CK, where else to our favourite fresh seafood place in Miri. When we were in Miri, Yen was so kind to put us up at her place for 2 nights. That was the first time I met Arthur after seeing so many pictures of him. Anyway, the wedding reception in Brunei was held on 25.10.2008 at the Vanda Chinese Restaurant, Orchid Garden Hotel in the month of Syawal i.e. for those who are uninitiated that’s Eid Fitr or Hari Raya Aidil Fitri to mark the end of the Muslim’s fasting month of Ramadhan. We had the chance to go to friends’ (Lisa, Su, Maymon) open houses as well, so that was good and Stefan got to see how the real Eid Fitr was being celebrated in Brunei. The reception brought together friends whom I haven’t seen since I left high school and it was a good reunion as well. Everyone has moved on and one of my ex-schoolmate even has 6 kids now….talk about being productive. That could explain how the population of Brunei zoomed from 250000 ten years ago to 360000 now! Haha. Some guests flew in for the reception, Danny all the way from Aberdeen, Maya, Aurelien and his friend from Kuala Lumpur. I was so grateful to have some of my closest friends there at the reception to celebrate the occasion with me: Yen, Lisa, Hjh Noor, Su, Kolin, Eli, Chee Tee, Chong, Asmah, Yi Pei, Ros and of course our families. The next day, the Aberdeen crowd had Dim Sum at the Emperor’s Court, Manggis Mall, reminiscing about the old times when we used to go out as a group on a Sunday morning having Dim Sum in Aberdeen. That evening, we flew to Kota Kinabalu (KK) for a few days’ break. Hired a car and did the usual tourist attractions (the 5 islands hoping, hanging bridge walk, Kundansang market, Botanic garden tour, seafood dinner) but didn’t climb Mount Kinabalu, the highest mountain in South East Asia, ~ 5000 m. I wasn’t mentally prepared and ready to climb it but Insyaallah, we’ll do it next year! This was Stefan’s first time in KK and he got to appreciate the difference in diversity that the island of Borneo has to offer. I got to gorge myself on authentic Asian food, ABC (shaved ice with nuts, beans, corns, cendol, jelly and syrup) and young coconut juice. As usual ended up eating too much and put on weight which I’m struggling to get rid off now. Anyway, next stop, Germany for the last leg of the reception!