Jerudong Park and Beach

We have been promising to take Liam to Jerudong Park since he went to a birthday party there and thoroughly enjoyed it.  The park used to be an amusement park in Brunei but as per everything else was not upkept and now there is limited rides but an amazing underutilized space.  The park opens at 4pm which is a good time due to the heat.  We arrived at the park and had been playing touch rugby for about 10 minutes when a security guard came over to tell us the park was in fact shut today as it was the Sultans Birthday but it would be open tomorrow.  Liam was obviously disappointed by this news so we packed up and went to the beach, where we played touch, dug sandcastles and had tea at one of the only Fish and Chip restaurants in Brunei, great view but disappointing fish and chips!!  (Will have to wait for NZ to have real ones again).  The next day was a public holiday in Brunei for the Sultans Birthday so we headed back to the park to play the promised games of sport for Liam.

Here Snakey!

Another we surprise for us outside this morning, our 2nd snake on our property. Not as big as the first but I thought just as scary. It was only approx 45cm and very skinny (probably a grass snake) but as we didn't know if it was poisonous we treated it with care.Liam found it as it was climbing up our grill as he was about to go outside. I tried to guide it into a 1.5l bottle but it wanted none of that and decided to rest near our window. After hoping for some divine intervention and this not happening I grabbed a stick to move it. Needless to say it wasnt happy and stuck its head up and scared me ........less! Jordan at the same time of running away as he to saw it rise up was laughing about my language. I managed to move it out onto the road and with a rock I managed to kill it.

Not only now am I a hunter of food from our banana trees but also the 'snake man'

Sultan's Birthday

Once again our school was asked to participate in a Bruneian celebration (Sultan's Bday). Up at 5.40 to get organised and to school to ensure I am able to catch the bus to the city. Many schools are asked to participate and have their students line up along the path to flag wave as the Sultan drives past. It was good to chat to our staff in a different environment and the fried pisang (bananas) were nice as we waited. One thing I can't understand is that we stand on one side of the road as the Sultan drives past and when he comes back from watching different activities in the stadium we walk to the other side to flag wave as he drives past again. I know it seems strange but it is the way it works here instead of having people on both sides of the road. Home at 10.30 for a coffee.

Tungku Beach

With the international school having 8 weeks holiday and the government schools only having 2 weeks (Aaron works for a Government school) the boys and I have 6 weeks together!!  The last 2 weeks we are all off to Cambodia, which we can't wait.  I decided to take advantage of the climate (unlike the current Chch school holidays) and try the beach again.  Slowly we are getting used to the rubbish everywhere you go which is unfortunate but a fact of life in Brunei.  The boys had a great time building sandcastles, crab hunting, and swimming in the extremely warm water, (even I swam in it this time).