"Nikon or Canon, sama saja. experiment so you'll get the right setting and know how to use it. any camera will do as long as you know your camera."
-a local legend







unlike previous Aidilfitris, did a special open house for mates this year on the 5th of Syawal. i usually organise it somewhere around middle of Syawal during everyone's free time. due to shift training and everyone's personal commitment was the reason why i open house was earlier than usual.

i would like to thank all those who made it to the open house even with the surrounding discomfort. sampai berpaluh2 pun still stay lama2. my airconditioiner fucked us up last minute, dlm 2 jam lagi kan start. we thought maybe gas saja yg abis. turns out it was the compressor that gone haywire. compressor stock check udah brapa lama then installation lagi mau take at least 2-3 hours. we had to buy a pair of tower fans which wasn't that satisfying. mun tau bali saja tia portable aircond atu. simpan hose panjang2. or mist fan kah. inda alang2. haha. sasak.








so once again, thank you so very very much for coming. mudahan next year ada chance and aircond nda rusak. i can see a lot were expecting the once per year laksa. sorry for that. we were just trying something different for this year. i should have made more Harumakis (inspired by the Love). a lot inda ampit. Alhamdulillah laku. buleh buat business. hehe.

the event started with the arrival of Iskandar's group who i couldn't make it to his open house which was earlier that afternoon. sorry Iskandar. the winner for this year's open house would be Qayyum, Saufi and Jambri (bottom set; top right) for staying until 2AM. without the availability of food pun masih dtg and stayed until late. thanks very much mates. as for Shaq (bottom set; top left), eversince the first time i organised open house, inda pandai miss. Shaq is kira our tukang meriahkan suasana. susah hati kami mun ya nada. haha. thanks a lot bro. you're the best~

sorry to those who i didn't attend their open house. thank you so much for inviting and Insyaallah ada ku dtg beraya nanti.

it was nice seeing everyone again.

first and foremost, Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri 2009M/1930H to all muslimin and muslimats around the world. segala silap dan salah in all sorts of form by yours truly sangat-sangatlah diharap supaya diampun kan. i guess it's not too late to greet everyone here even though i had done it through short text messaging and official friendster-killer, facebook.com. anyway, wishing you a very good Raya this year. enjoy~





Alhamdulillah, anak bulan was not sabit kelihatan which resulted to the postpond of first Syawal in Brunei. if it was otherwise, i would have missed Solat Sunat Raya in the morning. i was having night shift during the moon sighting. Raya Eve, as always, the most fun part of it. i just love the feeling of last minute preparations and of course, firecracker battle. me? mana buleh miss berjuang di medan perang. wuuhoo! and taking pictures of those beautiful fires in the sky was really a challenge. in a split of a second, boom, the best shape was gone. slept at 3am.


RAYA AT NINI AJI



then it was first day of Raya. just like every year, headed to Nini Aji's place first after Solat Raya. not much happened here, only 3 families including us when we were there. Nini Aji didn't make any Nasi Warna Warni this year but sausage definitely was a fine replacement. hehe. around almost lunchtime, it was time to go to visit kubur in KB.


RAYA AT NINI AMOI



haha, lapar tah udah bapaku tu (left most small picture) right after, went straight to Telisai. this is where Raya mood started to kick. probably because it was a kampong which made it fell like beraya di kampong... i don't know. relatives from as far as bandar came down to pay a visit and all. had an unpleasant news after being acknowledged one of our relatives passed away. attended the burial after visited Nini Boy's kubur. my condolences to the family. semoga roh-roh mereka dicucuri rahmat. Al-Fatihah.


SOTO UDA AJI




the moment i've been waiting for the whole bloody day, Uda Aji's soto! not to be missed every 1st Raya. rugi~ i must say this is the best soto ever and available only once per year. buleh kalahkan Soto Aji Tuah udah eh. hehe. how good is it? tu Mama udah start mengaut ah. yang lain baru otw ambil mangkuk apa. haha. there is one more special thing about every 1st Raya, Uwa Iga's lemang. i think he is the only one left in the family who is so specialised in lemang making. almost 2 Raya's udah kami inda ampit but this year, he kept some for us. yay! we also visited almost all relatives available in Telisai until midnight.

and that's how this Raya was so far.

MONDAY (Kiulap)- probably my last sungkai outing for this year's Ramadhan. Excapade is a no strange name for Japanese food lovers in Brunei. even to those who sort-of-dislike Japanese food as well. been craving for this eversince JaiAlai invited us to break the fast at KB Branch Excapade some time last week which i had to decline due to night shift training.






now, what are a must order for me everytime going to Excapade? first, Harumaki(in picture). basically a Popia Cheese. easily made at home but there is something about eating it there that make it taste so good. second, Tempura Ice Cream. Ice Cream Goreng. how the hell did they make the ice cream not melt? a definite must dessert. third, at least one dish of salmon, in Monday's case, it was Salmon Fire Cheese (in picture) and Salmon Mentaikyo. nyum~ last but not least, a drink in the form of Mint Lemon Tea which i purposely change to Milo Milk Shake (in picture) due to my crave for the one's at Red Canopy. oh, we have Canopy at BLNG canteen btw and they make the best Milo Milk Shake ever.

i don't quite remember what kind of Ramadhan Special they offer but it has something to do with a rate of discount for privilege card holders. pakai my HSBC Headstart pun jadi tah ada discount sikit. heh. watched The Ugly Truth right after at the movies. very funny. i like it.





the view of Gadong's infamous Mall and Gerai Ramadhan underneath it from New Kiulap. simply just using 50mm f/1.8 lens and focus lock direct at the sun. me and the love were basically just having fun taking pictures around while waiting for sungkai.

my last shift cycle at a Water OT today. should be changed to Cooling Tower OT by First Night shift. im having sun burn due to the unusual, very sensational, what the fuck heat from the sun. fire burning~fire burning on the dance floor~ kuat eh panas nya today. nasib nda pacah puasa. haha.

SATURDAY (Kuala Belait) - there were two sungkai gathering invitations last saturday but in the end i opted for this instead of OGDC at Iskandar's since it's very very rare for all of us to be in one particular place at once due to each and everyone's personal commitment. well, not all made it but it's okay i guess. there will be some other time ain't it? it was a fun night. all my biggest of thanks to this year's organiser, Ajim (guy in Man Utd polo)

had our sungkai at KB Thai Bucaneer. the buffet was nice. then head to Seria for a bit of arcades and lepaking and... Liverpool manang! woot!





ohhhh that was a lazy hair. aher bangun. biasa. heh and oh, Bon Voyage to Zye and Jurin. goodluck with furthering your studies. BLAJAR!

p/s:- more of such pictures now available on my facebook, as per request.

opened just few months ago in KB, i must say RMS have one of the best lamb shanks i've tasted so far. easy scrap off with the spoon and easy bites as well. an extra tasty finish with the sauce. pretty much meet my needs for the crave of Bruneianly pronounced 'Giabok'... Sup Gearbox lah. nganya this one without the soup. anyway, no buffet or eat-all-you-can offered but a promotion instead which consists of a starter meal, a main meal and a sort-of light meal which normally cost around $30 will cost only $20 or you can replace the light meal with another main meal with the same promotion price. one price enough for two people. went there with the love and... we didn't finish up the foods ordered due to bad planning.




anyway, lamb shank lovers, you have go to try the ones here if you haven't.

went for a Sungkai outing with the Love's family yesterday at iLotus. invited by Aboi (center in small set of pictures below) to celebrate his recent job promotion. congrats! and thanks very much for the treat. hehe.






iLotus offered a wide variety of meals for last night's customers. delicious as usual. the grill section caught my attention the most and i absolutely love the warm fresh soya bean. different from Manjaro's style of supporting LoveFoodHateWaste Campaign, every unfinished foods will be charged at $3.00 per 100 grams and... ada jua lah yg dibayar in our case. except for some makanan grill that came late. late as in our tummy already full baru tah kan sampai. we got excused for that one. there were a lot of people who came which i think is nothing unusual every fasting month. the famous Rano from ranoadidas.com, Abil and long time no see Nicole were among familiar faces seen there.

puas ati makan but i ended up eating some banana thingy from Bakerlyn because i was practically craving for it and now im craving for Big Apple Donuts...