Tourbrunei

One billionth barrel monument

bobbyofbrunei — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 23:22:36 +0000

I’m undergoing 2-day training at ogdc seria, and i’m staying in the area. The first day i noticed there were a significant number of chinese in buses coming to ogdc,so i asked the tourguide for more information. Apparently these were chinese from guang zho (i don’t know if i spelled that right). I asked the guy at the reception and he tells me that it is quite common for chinese tourists to drop by during festive seasons. My guess is they are visiting thei relatives in brunei n or elsewhere in brunei, n then taking the opportunity to tour around. I asked the tour guide and she informed me that the places of interest were OGDC and the one billion barrel monument.
I ‘ve been there before, but this morning i decided to take a walk to the monument.

Upon arrival u would notice what seems to be a brightly colored part of a train.

Then, you’ll walk through a sort of hall with bronze (i think) etchings of shell’s history in brunei.

Some of these were awe inspiring with i think were depictions of seri begawan. But some had images of strange animals that i guess the company had encountered at sea. My guess it was a dugong.

I never really would have thought that OGDC & The one billion barrel monument were tourist attractions. But it does play a part in keeping brunei’s oil n gas history and science for people to know and remember. One billion barrel is a lot.

Brunei Marine Aqua Tourism

bobbyofbrunei — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 08:03:54 +0000

I had no idea that Brunei Darussalam had a Beautiful Underwater View or Marine Life. Now I’m tempted to take up scuba diving…

Tasek Lama to Markucing

bobbyofbrunei — Sun, 23 May 2010 02:36:36 +0000

I went to Tasek Lama last week to hike to Markucing.

There was a public event that day so the guys I went with and I started late. But still early enough to see mists on the hills.

Mist on the Hills

It was easy to go through the hiking trails as it was filled with signboards telling you the distance to and from markucing.

Sign Posts to Markucing

There were some people that were hiking in the morning in the opposite direction. But they were just going through the long route around tasek lama. One hiker told us how muddy and slippery the track they went through. In liveWIRE leadership camp, we like to call it “Licakcin” a combination of Licin(slippery) and Licak(muddy).

The hikers

I used my wife’s mobile installed with endomondo to map the route. You can see it from the endomondo website.

Throughout the hike the endomondo app spoke every kilometer. So the rest were curious to see where we were. I launched google maps and showed that we were in the middle of forest in between tasek lama and jalan kota batu.

Checking our location on google maps for mobile.

One of the hills had a construction at the top. Later after the hike, I checked endomondo to findout that it was the highest peak there. at 247 m from sea level.

Climbing the highest peak.

From the peak, I could see (with the exception of one tree and the construct) a 360 view of Bandar seri Begawan. On one side you could see Berakas, Gadong, Bandar Seri Begawan. On the other side you could see subok to sungai muara besar, and probably either limbang or temburong.

A view Berakas from Markucing

When we arrived at markucing there were huts along the way and sign saying that we’ve arrived to markucing. I used my hiking back as a makeshift tripod to get a picture of me with the group.

The LiveWIRE hiking group posing in front of the markucing sign.

Along the way there were nice flora and fauna.

Young rambutan, we passed through someone's farm/garden.

A line of ants

Big Ant

A coconut tree-ish plant with spikes on the leaves.

Bunga Simpur. I notice they bloom mostly in the morning

Spiderwebs all over the hill.. spiderweb hill?

Rumput lalang? Their thin and sharp, you can get a paper cut.

I used my wife’s mobile installed with endomondo to map the route. You can see it from the endomondo website.

Wonderful Wasai Wong Kadir

bobbyofbrunei — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 03:08:00 +0000

Decided to go to a Wasai I haven’t gone in a long time. My uncle brought me to wasai wong kadir when I was about 12, more than 15 years ago today. Must be being a kid, it seemed a long walk from where the car was parked. Being an adult it took me a few minutes. 15 minutes if your quick, 1 hour if you were taking pictures along the way.

One of the huts along the way.

The Waterfall. You can either climb up directly from the left side, or you can climb up the hill the long way from the right side.

My big splash! believe me, I jumped in and did not reach the bottom, its deep, and I don’t know, and I don’t wanna know how deep it is. I think I almost did not have enough breath to come back up!

On top of the waterfall you can see small streams and waterfalls. Felt like this place would be a good inspiration for landscaping.

There were some small frogs on top of the waterfall. I managed to capture a picture of one.

The trip

its a long trip, 30 min ride from pekan tutong to sungai liang, 45 minute ride to wasai wong kadir, add another 30 minute if you were to stop by anywhere or get lost (don’t worry, you won’t :p ), There is a sign on the left side of the road about 8km before teraja.

There were things I wish I had thought off, and there were those that I was glad that I did.

Bring spare clothes, You’d be really tempted to go into the water, and you should! change into your dry clothes once you get out of the wasai, at toilet next to the parking area.
Bring food and drinks, for your breakfast if you had to skip it in the morning, as well your lunch if your planning to spend a long time at the wasai. You could probably drop by at restaurants before entering the Labi Road.

planning to put a map here, but google maps not clear in this area.

Pictures courtesy of www.attiev.com

Peaceful Tasek Merimbun

bobbyofbrunei — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 08:08:44 +0000

My wife wanted to take a picture of something new that she’s never taken before. So I suggested Tasek (Lake) Merimbun. I haven’t gone there myself since I was like 10. But I thought how hard could it be? It’s been said as the biggest lake in Brunei, so the government must have set some signs to lead tourists down the way. It was going through those roads rarely travelled. But we found it.

Signboard of map layout of Tasek Merimbun

It was cool, there a huge lake and an island in the middle. On the edge was a small hut, which I am not sure what it is for. It is not accessible as it is separated from the land by water and there is no bridge.

There were a lot of Lily Pads, but since we came there in the afternoon none of them were in bloom. We have to go there again sometime in the morning.

According to the map there was an island named pulau jelundong, and that we could see it and the bridge. So we decided to cross it.

We had to pay a dollar to cross. When we got to the small island, we saw signboards warning the danger of crocodiles in the area.

I’m not sure whether that reads right…
Caution: Beware of crocodile… your safety is at your own risk…?

I didn’t see any crocodiles. Although there was a local we saw jump into the lake from the bridge and swam back to shore… maybe they are only active in the morning? With a sign like that.. Would it scare or attract tourists?…

Anyway… The name sign was viewable.. but it said something else that was spooky… “kawasan kubur lama..” I’ll just say there no viewable tombstones there… I think..

On the way back out my wife took a few good pics of the island as well as the whole lake. Here is one on her flickr page.

The entrance to the island is apparently closed after 6.

I tried to find a good map to the place to share. But all I got from google maps is just the following. It is low resolution, but you could probably make out the road.

View Larger Map

Good luck in finding the place and enjoy the view.

Bukit Shahbandar

bobbyofbrunei — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 19:03:29 +0000

I’m currently (re)training myself to go to Mount Kinabalu. One of the ways that I am training is by going Bukit Shahbandar (or Shahbandar Hills) The following picture is of the “final” hill that has a tower which most routes get to in the end. of course you could go there first then go in reverse. For this hike, I decided to just go through the 5 hills route to see how long it would take me when I bring a camera and a tripod. it took me almost 2 hours. it would have taken me 15-20 minutes if I had run the route. 2 hours is usually a relax pace through the the 9 hills route. This next picture is of the playground before the hike. It was quite. Usually early in the morning, or before sunset on weekends this place is packed. The first hill is one of the hardest hills. It takes about 5 minutes walk. I’ve seen a very few number of people running up. Tried it a long time before, took me just over a minute. pretty cool if you could make it. Haven’t tried it recently. Before the top of the hill, there is a hut. First time I was here, I would have stopped by, but now I think its just a waste of time, cuz the top is just so near! So here we are at the top of the first hill. Go left and you would go to the “final” tower hill, go straight and you can go through the routes that have 5, 7 or 9 hills. So this time around I’m just going 5 hills, so I go on until the hill that splits route 5 hills from 7 and 9 hills. So Go left to go the “shorter” route, go straight to go a more challenging route. Going down here used to be challenging, but now it has been renovated with concrete stairs. The final Hill was of course the tower. and there are two exits. Either way is the same. Most people would go straight after the tower, and at the bottom turn right instead of going back to the first hill. Some people turn right from the tower. Enjoy the hike Some more pictures are available on my facebook. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=112024&id=550578077&l=ab4fe7f783

The following is the location of shahbandar hill in google map

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Bumper Car in Jerudong Still Works!

bobbyofbrunei — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 07:01:35 +0000

Previously, I posted about jerudong park. I didn’t mention about the bumper cars as I didn’t see them functioning at that time. I drop by again and found that the bumper cars were still available. My wife took long shutter speed pics of the rides that night. Here is one of the bumper cars.

It interesting to see that in all that random movement, there is an obvious circular pattern. Click on the picture to go to her flickr page. I’m going to post her other pictures as soon as she’s done with them. Check her website for more pics at www.attiev.com

Jerudong Park Entry is FREEEEEE!!!!

bobbyofbrunei — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 04:18:39 +0000

I stumbled on a news article that JP was gonna be free again. Well the Entry was, and I think that was good enough. I went and checked the day it was free on Saturday, 12 December 2009 to see what has changed.

For the uninitiated, JP was completely free when it opened up. From the entrance to all the rides. It wouldn’t be a surprise for every weekend the placed was jam packed. JP was so famous that people from miri, limbang and singapore would make a trip to brunei just to come to JP! But then JP change the rules by charging entrance and the rides. the traffic was less, JP degraded.

It felt so cool to have Jerudong Park entry to be free again. The parking lot was a bit more occupied then usual. Then at the entrance there were people actually going to the counter to purchase the tickets for the rides. I just went in.

Inside, the main field and the playgrounds were filled with children with their families. It was so heart warming to see parents spending time with their children.

I went to “the meeting place” which I never remembered to be the name of big snakes and ladders game. Never noticed the words of Goodness, Love, Faith and Truth on the border of the board. I remembered there was a bear with a rolling dice in its head, but it wasn’t there anymore. I guess have to bring your own dice… is there a dice app for mob? I know there’s one for iphone…

Passed by the place where I used to play rollerblades, felt a strong urge to play again.. Then I went around the carousel to see some kids playing in it. And some people riding those boat cycle things (what is the name of those things?).

On the far end, we spotted a statue of a triceratops with its 2 triceratoplings (yes i’m making that one up).

Played the Gliding Toy thing (seriously, some one please tell me the correct names for this things). I almost got some blisters on my palm playing those. My increased weight only made it worse. but I’d still play it again :p

The shooting range was still there. You’d shoot a target(i think using IR), and the targets moved and may shoot back water.I saw a little kid holding the rifle like a bazooka. That was cute.

It such as a shame that most of the rides were not there anymore, like the Pirate ship, I remembered playing that and waiting in line again to play until I got sick… literally. Well at least there is still the Mini Pirate ship, that tickled my stomache. funny feeling

Some parts of the place was still under renovation and some roadblocks were improperly placed. But I know JP Management and Staff will do their best to improve JP.

It was nice to see most of the playground being filled with kids. I think its a great idea just to have JP entrance for free. People will see the rides and they will pay to play them if they wanted to. I hope that JP will return to its former glory. As it would benefit the businesses surrounding it like the hotels and the restaurants to have more visitors from around Brunei and Beyond.

Good luck JP!

More Pics at my facebook photos http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=105736&id=550578077&l=214a043b94

Google Map

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Hello

bobbyofbrunei — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 13:52:20 +0000

This domain was registered a while ago. I just started filling this blog. The point of this blog is to share places to go in Brunei Darussalam. I’ll mostly just use my camera phone.