Strolling Around BSB

It’s absolutely refreshing that there’s a dearth of shopping choices in BSB. It’s awesome man. You don’t even have to think about shopping. The brain cells are freed up to consider other entertainment options. We place so much emphasis on tangible material acquisition which is sometimes unnecessary.

I'm so not used to cars stopping to allow me to illegally cross the road in Asia. The first few times cars stopped, I was pleasantly surprised, after which I decided to be law-abiding and used all the pedestrian crossings. While there're flipsides to an unhurried pace of life, at least in BSB, it seems less stressful in terms of lifestyle and deadlines at work. There's something attractive about the quality of life here.

Of course my perception of the country is largely enhanced by the hospitality shown by my personal friends, away and outside of work. I’m so grateful that the friends have shown me generosity when I tire of dealing with inept hotel staff who said they can't do anything about the icy water from the shower and suggested that I scoop water in a small glass from the sink (which has hot water) to bathe, and also insisted on a ridiculous policy when they disallowed a change of room or an upgrade paid out of my own pocket. Murphy really loves me this way. Luckily my friends love me too. They fed me, provided a warm bed, broadband internet access, comfortable air-conditioning and hot showers. *happy sigh

To me, Brunei has so much to offer. Well, I'm a girl who doesn't have to do National Service and therefore have never stepped foot into the jungles of Temburong. I’m rather disappointed that I’m not able to stay the weekend to explore the nature trails and treks further north/south. I’d love for a chance to dive in Brunei's waters too.

It Is A Shark

(Photo courtesy of AT)

Too bad I didn't have time to explore the wet market with the guys. The wet market was still open at 5pm and would only close about 3 hours later. There were also food stalls selling food. We zipped by it in the van a couple of times but we didn't get down. There was time today and it promised to be a fascinating walk. I was busy clearing emails and sneaking out to the friends' house before meeting up with the rest of the people for dinner. I had to pass.

The guys came back with such colorful photos depicting the vibes and a sense of place. AT passed me the camera to scroll through. He took alot of good shots of the market wares, the people and the raw seafood on sale. He offered his SD card for me to upload any photo desired. So sweet! But it was okay; nice to be able to look through.

I just wanted this one of the baby shark. I couldn't take my eyes off it. I knew it was dead. But it didn't look so dead! So with his permission, I lifted the shot off his camera. It looked like a tiger shark. My heart twitched. :(

Ambuyat

At dinner, I went straight to the counter that carried the plaque 'Ambuyat'. It's a Brunei dish whom many say we have to try it once. Locals eat it mostly at lunch. But at dinner, I guess it can be an appetizer. I hadn't tried it before. So I wanted a taste of it. There was a confusing array of sauces and dips. How to mix all of them up to eat ah? The chef patiently explained the ingredients and showed us how we should eat it.

That starchy gluey thingy is made from adding hot water to the powder of palm sago. One is supposed to mix all the sauces, twirl a small ball of starch and dip it in the sour mix called 'cacah'.

I skipped the shrimp and stuff, but accepted the cencaluk. Then the chef merrily scooped in something suspicious before I could stop him. It was fermented durians. ARRRRRGH. There was mango and lime stuff, cucumbers and all. An oily looking fish soup was drizzled over it as well. The entire dish was rather sour.

Chewing isn't encouraged. But I did it anyway and didn't see why one couldn't chew. Swallowing it whole might actually choke me. It makes for an interesting experience. I ummm.....am not fond of it. It's too starchy. While I don't mind the stink of the fish soup or sauce, I don't like the rest of the taste that defines the sour-ness of the ambuyat, the same way I'm not fond of sour stuff like preserved plums, Thai som tam and salads.

Yummy Thai Food At Bann Nucha

There is only so much of the food at the hotel’s café we can swallow. We walked out for a breath of fresh air and looked for a dinner venue. There are only so many easy-to-get-to places in Gadong. We ended up at The Mall again, and decided to try Thai food at the restaurant which looked rather authentic.

What a surprise to find out that it’s owned by a friendly Thai lady who says her food is good. In the end, we agreed that her kitchen churns out rather delicious homey Thai food. I was secretly overjoyed. It was quite unexpected to have a good Thai meal on this trip.

We didn’t over order at all, but just took a sufficient dose of spices and textures to tantalize our tastebuds. In fact I thought we under ordered! I skipped the rice and had to try the phad thai. That's how I judge the standard of a Thai restaurant. The phad thai has to be of a certain standard. It was good. Not too sweet and just right in terms of saltiness. From the tom yum soup, it was clear that they toned down the spices for the Bruneian palate, but retained the flavors of all the ingredients. Nice. The rest of the food was most satisfying. From the faces of the colleagues chowing down the meal, the food definitely hit a very sweet spot.

I was really full. You know I’m not much of a dessert person. But I couldn’t resist that red ruby. This version contained jackfruit. Awesome. The rest shared tiny bites from a plate of very sweet mango with the traditional sticky rice. What full stomachs. Nonsense. They even had space for some peanut butter and chocolate mini waffle thingy from another stall! Doh.

Bann Nucha
Unit 2.3.1, The Mall, Level 2, Abdul Razak Complex
Gadong BSB, Brunei Darussalam
T: +673 2456122 Mobile: +673 8903437

Kueh

The kuehs served at refreshments are mainly these 3 items. It's either the kitchen only knows how to make these well, or they think the taste of these couple of items will go down most easily with us. There was a day when cute little round begedils were served. I loved those. Yummm.

Very welcome after the overly-sweet desserts in Indonesia, the kueh-kueh in Brunei definitely doesn’t contain as much sugar. Less sugar brought out the flavors or flavorings and made it quite tasty. I've attempted a couple of pieces and didn’t mind them at all. Then there're always the egg sandwiches which are my default food really. Mashed eggs and butter go so well together. One cannot go wrong with an egg sandwich.

If the topics of discussion for the work portions are kinda dry, we look forward to meal breaks where we always hope to see something different from our usual food at home. I understand Indian food in Brunei is good. But our hosts haven't served that at all. Strangely, we've been having rather Chinese zi-char style meals. The best item so far is a fish curry at one lunch. I ate the most portions of rice that day. Rice drizzled with curry is just so tasty! That is the spiciest of many dishes by far.

At The Gallery

A number of colleagues and I signed up for a walk through the Sultan’s Islamic Exhibition Gallery. I stared at a Moroccan Qur'an in total fascination. It’s supposedly 1000 years old. The pages are brittle and torn at the edges. But the black ink used to pen the verses in Naskhi script stayed true and dark.

There were walking sticks displayed in the glass cases. The body, grips and tops are beautifully crafted in all sorts of material. I like the ones made of a single piece of ivory and banded agate. There’s also one made of a single shark bone which looks rather menacing and powerful. A colleague and I oohed and ahhed over all the exquisite craftsmanship till we suddenly realized that we were the last and the group had gone on ahead. Heh.

Other members of the group moved so fast through the portion on prayer beads that I had no time to linger and look at the various stones used for the beads. I saw so many pretty colors! Hmmmmpf. I do not like to rush through galleries. UGH.

Outside, a fossilized tree trunk lies horizontal on display. We were told that it’s been dated as 130 million years old. Some parts literally looked like stone. We were allowed to touch it. Rather fascinating. I enjoyed this brief interlude away from the technical topics of structures and systems.

Excapade Sushi

Okay, I didn’t mind eating out with the colleagues, but to have Japanese food at an eatery that is similar to a fast food outlet is just not something I can stomach. I’m particularly finicky about Japanese food. I said I was picky and didn't want to go for dinner. But they dragged me out anyway. So we went to this Japanese eatery called ‘Excapade’.

It was a little strange that all the grilled food arrived before the platter of sashimi and sushi. It made for rather strange taste. But the grilled stuff wasn’t too salty. Nothing complicated or mind-blowing; simply edible. The 2 dishes of fish were decent.

What horrified me was the platter of sashimi and sushi. It wasn’t about being impressed by such a generous serving for $40. It was how much rice they rolled in with the sushi. It was not unlike the size of an onigiri. I couldn’t do this platter. Just by looking at the slices of fish, I shuddered. I wasn’t at all interested to chow down on any of those. The cut and the quality of the fish just didn’t do it for me. If I can’t do Akashi at home, there is no way I can do Excapade here.

The sashimi of scallops was the surprise of the evening. Again, this portion was large and the pieces of scallops were thick. It was rather fresh. Not as sweet as the usual ones I prefer, but fairly good. The restaurant imports seafood directly under the label SnoFood which has the store right below its restaurant. That definitely helps to lower overheads for its ingredients.

For some reason, the table had only fish and seafood. There wasn't any meat even though the colleagues are omnivores. Nice. I didn't have to do subtle avoiding of dishes. Dinner was filling and not too unsatisfying.

The Economics Of McDonald's

I've not been to Brunei for a long while. It's rather refreshing to be in BSB again. It's a pity I've no time to go trekking or explore the seas- that would have been very enjoyable.

It was quite odd that I had a craving for McDonald's at BSB. I was curious to check out The Big Mac Index on all fronts. Ummm....I profess to reasonably conclude that the economy and culture of the country can be more or less summed up in the 1.5 hours at the only McDonald's in the country.

It was CRAZY man. The 2 levels of the fast food outlet were packed out. People were ordering McD's like there's no tomorrow. There was a giant children's party upstairs which probably had like 100 Happy Meals sent up. The trolley that headed upstairs came in and out of the kitchen 5 times, fully stocked. I stood in a queue that had 8 persons ahead of me for a good 35min. WTF! I was more amazed than miffed at the long waiting time. Granted, I was there at 1pm, smack in the middle of lunch, but still, the degree of slowness in the counter service was incredible, along with the onslaught of orders people made. Each person didn't just buy 1 or 2 meals. They bought 5, 8 and 10 sets! There was a couple of orders for 15 and 20!

I spent most of that 35 minutes observing humans, listening to their conversation topics, preferred language used among family and friends, looking at their accessories, shoes, watches and whatnots. It was most enlightening. In very stark contrast, the adjacent Jollibee outlet was near empty.

When I finally got to the counter to place my order, I saw that the kitchen was churning out food really fast. The bottleneck was at the counter. It wasn't really a matter of insufficient humans. It was just the staggering amount of orders that landed in their hands. Also, the staff painstakingly wrote the orders on paper in longhand, calculated it and then punched it out on the ancient cash register.

Yah, I sound damn suaku. But hey, it's quite mindboggling to equate such a rich nation with a complete dichotomy when it comes to its people and culture; pace of urban development and aspirations of its citizens. Don't ask me to check out the not-the-only Restoran KFC at The Mall next door. I is no like chicken.

Oh, and my upsized meal of fish fillet burger costs $4.45. It costs $6.10 at home. Tasted the same though.