Joe,nuan ka ngirup kopi?Udah makai?

Joe is the tall(6' 7") English..ooopps sorry,(he prefers to be called British) guy who was staying at St. Columba's Church apartment or otherwise called 'rumah pada' from January 2006 to 23rd August,2006. Ya,THAT ONE! Punjabi? No lah, anak orang putih..( a white kid) (action: one has to move the lips /mouth at the same time pointing to that person just like Esther) One kid even mistook him for -----when he went to the playschool to teach Bible Study (?). Once, as we were walking along Petaling Street,some stall vendors shouted,"Peter Crouch" as we were passing by. Josap just smiled back. Jusip once commented that it's easier for M'sians to call him Joseph than to call him JOE. We ended calling him JAW instead. Ha..ha..JOE!.(Plenty of jaw exercise here if we're to pronounce the way that Joe would like us to call him.)
He was sent by a church organisation ( somewhere in the Midlands) to get a first hand experience living with the Borneons. No,no,he's not a trainee priest even though he was treated like one during his 6 mths' stint at St. Columba's.(He stayed in Brunei for a while,too,hence I said Borneo)This page is dedicated to Joe because in his email to me about 6 mths ago was,"I really miss being able to go for coffee all day long everyday, and so cheaply too,compared to London."

Towards the end of his stay,he,somehow switched back to drinking tea.
Some mornings and afternoons,Nel and I took Joe out from the Parish office for breakfast and tea. We did quite a bit of 'hopping from one kedai kupi to the next' ngirup kupi all day long,tiap-tiap ari.'
Tea for you,sir????????

Rubbish Bin,where are you?

Last month,a desperate person who probably had his/her rubbish bin stolen by some other desperate people decided to steal my bin. It was done in broad daylight at peak hours( @5.00pm-6.15pm). At this time of the day,this stretch of road is at its busiest because of the supermarket nearby. I really salute this person who was brave enough to steal the bin,probably put it in the back of a pick-up truck,van or lorry and drove away. God Bless the thief.....

The next day I went 'bin' searching around my neighbourhood but did not see any abandoned bin. Well, what to do..the 'A' Team (scavenger truck) would not take your rubbish if you don't put them in the green bin. So off I went looking for a rubbish bin and found a shop selling them next to AirAsia's office,near M2. I entered the shop and asked,"How much is that bin?". The lady answered,"RM165." WHAT! So mahal(so expensive) Tidak boleh discount? Tidak dapat.(no discount?fixed price!) The price includes having your Lot house number printed on the side of the bin. Now I know why that 'thief' did not think twice about stealing my bin because it was too expensive for the thief to buy a new rubbish bin.

I remember smiling to myself when another victim of a stolen rubbish bin wanted to 'rantai'(chain) his rubbish bin to his house fence. Now I, too, feel like doing that.

Thieves can make money from stealing these rubbish bins. They can easily sell them for RM50 or get the scrap metal where the wheels of the bin are attached.

It makes me wonder what was wrong with the black bin before this ruling that we have to use this green bin. This is daylight robbery!

Eating Places & food to eat...Sun City Food Centre Part 1

The kopi c kosong (white coffee w'out sugar) &

teh c (white tea)

Sun City Food Centre offers a variety of hawker food. Here you can see Capt Nelly of Girls' Brigade 1st Company Miri,on her way to savour the food together with the photographer. This food centre is near to the Sikh Temple.

A Stray Dog

The Chinese believe that if a dog strays to one's house,LUCK comes to the house. I am still waiting to check if it's a myth or fact/truth. This dog has been with us for almost 3 months. It refuses to go away. Rain,shine,thunder & lightning,it would just lie down near my gate,barking and chasing at people & at everything that passes by my place. It used to wear a dog licence-collar judging from the lighter shade around its neck. My cousin said,"It looks like a wolf." I do not like dogs or any kind of animals for pets. I do not know how to get rid of it. Any taker for this dog.?

The Other side of the border - Part 2

Food ! Glorious Food!

Yes, it's clorox, which costs $3.10 in Seria but it's even cheaper at the supermarket by Seaview Hotel. It costs $2.80 there. Cadbury's Snack bar costs $3.50. The scones bought at Supa Save,a supermarket catering to the needs of the expatriates. One can get a lot of imported goods from England and Australia there.. Worth going to and seeing for yourself the varieties of food/products offered. In total, we visited 6 supermarkets yesterday.

Cadbury's Flake cone ice-cream..to die for!

In case there are some among you who wish to make a trip to Brunei but do not possess a passport, there is the RM150 passport,of which you are only allowed to travel to Brunei only. Then,there's of course the international passport which costs RM300. All these travelling documents can be made in a day or two. By the way, the Immigration Department has moved to Yu Lan Plaza,near the Open Air Market. ( for those of us who do not know.)

Trip To The Other Side Of the Border Part 1

Seria Plaza

Notice how the cars stop at the pedestrian crossing to let people cross over.

YESTERDAY....NO,I'm not about to hum the Beatles's song,I'm just going to write about the trip we made to Seria & Kuala Belait yesterday. Having nothing much in particular to do, a friend suggested driving to Seria and off,we went.3 of us.(Cikgu Margaret,Cikgu Doria & I). I was driving since I pretty much know which road to turn to & if I went the wrong direction,I could quickly come back to find the exits.

Anyway,we left Lutong about 8.30am and by 9 something we're already in a coffee shop in Seria stuffing ourselves with chicken pau & mee kolok.(nadai mee kolok char siew sida dia) For the benefit of those who would like to know how to get to Kuala Belait,this is what you do: Drive to Sg Tujoh via the Asean Bridge of which you have to pay RM10 for the toll. The road is superb. Then a few minutes later,there's the Malaysian Immigration check point where they stamp your passports. A few 'yards' away,then,it's the Brunei Immigration. When I went there in September, we had to fill in the Embarkation form but this month we didn't have to. They keep changing the requirements. Wait til you hear this,effective 1st October,non-Brunei registered cars are only permitted to buy $10 worth of petrol and $7 worth of diesel in designated petrol kiosks. Why?The fuel is heavily subsidised by the Brunei Gov't and hence,the protection,I guess. Oh about the journey...before reaching Kuala Belait,one has to pass another toll. Here,the charge is $3. So,all in all,it's RM20 for the toll on the Malaysian side and $6 for the Kuala Belait toll plaza return. How long would it take to reach KBelait from,let's say,Lutong Bridge?..I would say about 45mins to an hour if there's not much traffic on the way. Is it worth going there? Oklah,for a change. It's clean,foreign and it's different. Stay tune for more!