Brunei - a note

Brunei is a land tucked away in the fringes of Borneo Island. A small country that, to most people, does not offer much treat to the eyes. It appears quiet and almost sleepy compared to many roaring Asian tigers. It is a tiger by itself, probably a quiet and tame type. Still, a visit will not be too much for the curious traveller.

Royal Brunei

We used a Malaysian Airlines code shared flight with Royal Brunei from Kota Kinabalu. The trip was very short. It took only 20 minutes, which was much shorter than the fight from Kuching to Sibu that may take 35 minutes. The service at Royal Brunei is a glimpse of hospitality about to be discovered by any traveller. It was good. It was friendly. The pestle upholstery in Royal Brunei Boeing 737 was warm and soothing. The air hostess was pleasant. They wore kebaya like uniform with the split in the sarong covered, allowing the hostess to remain mobile yet maintaining modesty.

It was odd to me that the planes seats in the economy class begins with 26. Seat number 26, in MAS and AirAsia, would be placed at the back of the craft.

As I had to travel with an infant, the stroller had to be left at the craft's door before entering. Logically, the stroller had to be placed again at the door when disembarking. The staffs probably had over looked us, so it was not done. Another staff was concerned, so, she went out all her way just to fetch our stroller and hand it to us while we were at the immigration counter and just before we arrived at the luggage carousel. That is what I call excellent people sensitive service. Bravo Royal Brunei!

There are only 36 taxis in the whole of Brunei

Before departing for Brunei, I asked a friend who is working in Bandar Seri Begawan about public transportation. Taxis are rare items in Brunei. It is not cheap either. That left me worried. I expected that most of my cash would have to be used to pay for transportation if we need to travel a lot.

At the airport, nobody was manning the taxi counter. But not for long, a man came to attend to us and pointed us to the next taxi driver in queue. We told him our destination. He referred to fare guide before telling us on the exact fare. No meter was used. Our driver was a friendly 50 plus year old man. Donning the skull cap or haji cap, he told us that there were only about 36 taxis for the whole of Brunei. Most Bruneians own cars. Cheap petrol price was one of the factors for owning a car. The fare cost about BND 25.00 for a 20 kilometre trip.

You do not crawl on the roads in Brunei

There were no traffic jams in Brunei. No joke! Probably we arrived when it was not rush hour. Even so, the driving was such a breeze. The road was too quiet, even to Kuching standards.

We were given a car to drive by a relative. Since we had to go to University Brunei Darussalam in the morning, I anticipated a typical KL-like jam. But no. The traffic crawl looks more like a normal traffic in KL.

I was warned not to honk. Even if the driver ahead is slow to respond at green, or, the indicator is not turn on at the junction, be very patient. The consequence of honking - a road rage could ensue.

About the cars here, I was tempted to note that there were no modified cars around until the last day, when I saw a "sportified" Toyota Vios in Yayasan Mall. Sporty skirting, spoilers and stickers were added to exude the sporty feel of the car. It looked like of the cars in the move "Fast and Furious".

Another observation that I noticed was, there were very few motorcycles in Brunei. The only place that I saw motorcycles were those used by students in UBD. When I mention motorcycles, what I meant was the small 100 cc - akin to the Honda cubs, commonly found on the roads in Malaysia.

Clean Bandar Seri Begawan

BSB is really clean. I never saw any cleaners by the road side, picking up litters. Even the supermarkets were litter free. I was impressed. Who else could have maintain the city's cleanliness if not for His Majesty's own subjects. They uphold the real teaching of Islam - cleanliness is part of the pillars of faith. The toilets were equally clean.

BSB was well maintained. The decorative trees and shrubs were well trimmed.

Shopping in BSB

I am not too sure if things are much cheaper in Brunei. I would expect that the products here is cheaper as the people here are not taxed. There was no government service tax applied to the food that we ate. I can confirm that cars are much cheaper here. A new Kia Sportage cost about RM 60K ++ here. That is almost the same price as the Proton Preve. Chocolates are cheaper here. Friends recommended us to buy home some chocolates.

The dominant supermarkets in BSB is that run by Hua Ho, a company ran by three brothers. All of them had different business designs that caters differently to different consumers - from the high end or premium items to the lowly cheap items.  I had the chance to go to Manggis Mall, which was exquisite and high end. It was no too bad and not too luxurious either. Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Jakarta or Kuching, for that matter offers better malls.

There are not many shopping complexes in BSB. Two of the famous ones are The Mall, located at Gadong and Yayasan Complex, located right smack in the middle of BSB. Both of them looks high end-ish. Between those two, I like Yayasan Mall better as there were more things sold in the supermarket. Further it was easier to drive to Yayasan Mall from our hotel.

The Tamu Kianggeh is a wet market located by the Kianggeh river in BSB centre. It is quite a usual sight as we are used to see jungle produce, traditional food and daily supplies in an open air wet market in Malaysia. Local Brunei cuisine, such as the Kuih Jala and Kuih Penyaram (mexican hat cakes) and Cakoi is not unfamiliar in Kuching. So, we decided not to stop by it.

Eating.

Before coming to Brunei, many blogs mentioned about the famous Nasi Katok in BSB. It was basically white rice with a piece of chicken meat and sambal (spicy sauce). Another reason for it being famous is the dirt cheap price, considering the number of items assembled in one packet. We did not work hard enough to look for this dish, nor did we think it was a must try one.

The thing peculiar to me was the abundance of restaurants selling Kolo Mee and dim sum. They are halal. You can easily find these two dishes in The Mall at Gadong and Yayasan Mall. The high end restaurants beside the Mall in Gadong do offer them too. In contrast, it is hard to find halal Dim Sum in Kuching. Renaissance  Hotel in Kota Bharu offers buffet dim sum on Fridays. I really miss that, besides the nasi berlauk.

Another food that may be unusual to non Borneans is the ambuyat - a starchy sago-based food. In Sarawak it is called linud. Linud is often associated with the Melanaus. Although ambuyat was mentioned in many travel articles and travel tv shows, it was not easy to find it at food courts. Probably, it can be found in village stalls. May be I did not look hard enough.

Fun

If you are searching for fun, Brunei is not the place. It lacks it. The nearest to fun in Brunei is the Jerudong Park. It was quite a hit in the early years - as it was free and has a multitude of games - before the park loses its charm due to the poor maintenance. The number of rides were reduced. But today, it has refurbished, revitalized and ready to charm again. This time, entrance fee is imposed to visitors.

The royal galleria in the city is an important place for historical buffs. A large part of the section is dedicated to the prizes, awards, and gifts from leaders all around the world to the sultan. Cameras are prohibited in a large section of the galleria.

Important historical documents relating to the gradual cessation of Sarawak beginning from Kuching to Rajah Brooke were displayed. Brunei was once a huge expanse of land mass, almost occupying one third of Borneo Island. Documents and videos of the Brunei independent day was also shown. The Royal Galleria is worth a visit.

We were brought by a distance family to The Empire, a luxurious 5-star resort that faces the South China Sea. I was interested to step into this hotel when it was shown in one travel documentary, which mentioned that the price in one of the higher premium suites could fetch up to USD 30,000 per night! I checked the website to look for the cheapest room rates. The cheapest was RM 600+. The Empire has housed important VVIP delegates on ambassadorial tasks. The US president and the Malaysian Prime Minister have stayed there before.

It was a good feeling being able to visit a neighbouring country - so much like paying a courtesy visit to the people who might share similar roots and genetic ties that run centuries old. I hope to visit Brunei again in the future.

AFF 2014: VN vs Malaysia

The lost was not an easy one. The flair and the amount of support in the Shah Alam Stadium was just tremendous. In the beginning, we won on emotion. The feeling was great. It looked like a party has already started even before the game begun. However, soon, it seems, a big turnout does not correlate with the outcome of the results in favour of the homesters. 

Winning requires a winning attitude. Winning attitude comes from the players themselves. Physically, the players had enough rest since the last game against Singapore. But mentally, who knows? The human mind is a very complex hardware. A misconnection anywhere leads to a change in behaviour - for the better or not. A tired footballers' mind leads to a tired and lackluster play.

They may have been overjoyed with the winning in Singapore. Or, they may be pressured to repeat the similar feat in their home ground. Worst, in front of the overzealous home supporters. Naturally, to the players, no mistake should be made. All these to please the home supporters.

These are all distractions. Thinking about it is tiring. It takes a toll on both the mind and body. The current situation may have been taxing on the mind and body of the players.

But, they are in a competition. When you are in a competition, more discipline routines need to be applied. Sleeping early, no junkies and no smoking. In the World Cup, some team managers even refrain footballers from sex. The pressure is heightened as you move up the ladder. The focus is to reach the top of the ladder, without having to worry about the tail winds and height. 

Being focus also means that the players cannot distract themselves with the anger within. Reactive response to anger will trigger off unnecessary actions on the field. The team does not need a red or yellow card. It is not all about self. Being yellow carded shows how desperate a team is to win unfairly. A red card is like throwing in the towel in expectation to defeat. It is unfair not only to the other 10 left fighting on the field, but also to the paying fans and the sponsors of the event. And there is nothing cool about it being seen by children.

The defends is all in disarray. Too much rooms were given to VN strikers to manoeuvre in the Malaysian half. The recovery from attack to defense is slow. Most of the time, half the team were still wandering in VN's half when the counter attack is launched.

Then the fans. The local newspapers reported the clash between the Malaysian and VN supporters. In an online portal, a VN supporter were shown bleeding in the face, possibly due to some hard objects thrown to him. Wonder what impression will it create to the rest of the footballing world? Hostile Malaysian supporters? 

We want to win. They too want to win. Nobody likes losing. The competition is intense. But supporters will need to know their scope - to support the team to go on. Not supporting violence. Responding to their provokes, if any reduces us to their level. Human being human, the tendency to revenge is always a possibility. Now, with the bloodied image of a VN supporter, wouldn't that be a cause for crusade from his countrymen to hit at ours?

Its important that Coach Dollah pick up the pieces, nurse any injury and rebound back in the returning match. As for supporters, let our chant of "ayuh Malaysia" be a spirit burner for the players. 

Causeway Classico

It was an exciting game. The derby clash of the causeway was always one of the looked forward games in the history of football in both countries.

Malaysia was lucky to be awarded with a penalty kick in the dying minutes of the games. All pressure was focussed to Safiq Rahim. What if he failed to convert it? Surely, he will remember the Kallang roar for the rest of his life.

I was nervous too. For a long time, I have not felt such palpitation. There was a premonition that the Lions would score should the penalty did not convert. And Malaysia out of the championship.

Safiq converted. The Stadium went silent. The Malaysian side Jubilant. I felt a sigh of relief. For a few moments later, the penalty were played again and again - forgetting that the match has not ended and Singapore went on an attacking frenzy.

The replay stopped. By this time, the Lions were given the free kick from the right side of the post. Sensing that this was a do or die mission and just before the final whistle, the Lion's goalkeeper went up to help. My relief short-lived.

The kick was taken. A few brushes among the defenders and the strikers of both sides ensued. The Lion's goalie clad in bright yellow-green were obvious in scuffle. A lion had to be a king.

Then the ball bounced out into the open, away from the Malaysian goal mouth. If I was not mistaken, Amri won the ball in a challenge and heads the ball to Indra Putra, who made a few more runs on the flanks before pushing the ball into the open goal mouth for the third goal. The goal was unguarded.

That sealed it. Malaysia into the next round.

We are all hoping that things are getting better and better for the boys. Meeting the face paced vietnam is no easy feat. If Malaysia can get the advantage from the clash, Malaysia has a chance to avenge the defeat to the White elephant.

Ayuh Malaysia!

Its the same kurap again

Fungal infection of the skin is called kurap in Malay.

The kurap can appear like white patches or ring forms on the skin. It does not look good. To some, it is an indicator of a person's poor hygiene.

The bad part is, it may be difficult to remove. Especially when the offending factor is still persistent - dampness. Damp areas are seldom dried. It may be difficult to reach, or a person is too lazy to get a dry towel and wipe off the excess water.

That is why the kurap are always persistent at skin creases - armpits, the back, the nape, the groin and the foot. These are far flung places - so much like the jungle of Borneo.

Here, another form of kurap thrives. The kurap that has robbed the hard earned money of people who worked honestly. This kurap steals money. It also widens the gap between the poor and the rich. The richer gets richer while the poor remains.

This form of kurap operates in a clandestine manner. It needs to. Just as kurap does - thrives quietly under the protective layer of the epidermis. It is there, but not obvious. Only when you begin to itch and it looks unsightly, you will begin to look for the remedy.

Some times, it is too late. The roots of the kurap has gone beyond the depth of the skin. Topical medication is unable to penetrate deeply to reach the deep end of the roots.

At least it is getting treated - like the news clipping here:

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has arrested 30 people in Johor and Sarawak for illegal logging activities and froze 30 bank accounts belonging to 10 companies worth RM18 million.- The Star 23/10/2014

That's a lot of money involved. Most people do not have RM 10 thousand in their bank accounts.

As for the kurap of the skin - the body is trying to rid it of. But this form of kurap reported in the paper, our own immune system is possibly committing an act of treason. They are turning autoimmune.

... they were also investigating several state Forestry officers for possible involvement in the illegal felling of trees which had put the forest reserve under threat of destruction.

The very people entrusted to take care of the forest were bribed by logging company managers. The amount ranged from a paltry RM300 to RM10000.

The same kurap probably cost our examination system dearly not too long ago. The rescheduling of the exam caused undue stress for many people, especially school children.

This disease seems controlled though. But, it could be just the tip of the iceberg phenomenon. There could be more integrity issues occurring subtly in our dealings, daily. The thing is, it is hard to obtain proofs. It is often concealed.

Whistle blowers can get harmed. And this is not helping at all.

Reading all these can be frustrating at times. People who work really hard and honestly are not paid accordingly. While those whose job is "sedentarily no-brainer" earns the big bucks.

Just how long should we keep quiet?

The many treatments of neonatal jaundice

All babies are bound to be yellow - or jaundiced. The treatment for these jaundiced babies depends on the cause. Most of the time, the cause is physiological - it comes within 2 days and goes off after about 2 weeks. Physiological jaundice is harmless.

The other 2 forms of harmless jaundice are breastfeeding jaundice and breast milk jaundice. These are diagnosed last if there are no other pathological cause that could be traced.

I would like to share some interesting perspective that locals have regarding jaundice - especially treatment. After talking to so many people who offered advice on how to reduce the "yellowness" in newborns, here are some interesting findings. Most of it needs some scientific explanation, which I was unable to do yet at the moment.

"Mother should avoid ginger"

from http://cancerbattlefield.com/functional-food/ginger/

This is the most common and prevailing. Almost all Chinese, Malay, Melanau and Iban individuals mentioned the same thing. However, there was no uniformity. Some individuals were surprised when ginger was blamed as one of the causes of jaundice. In the Chinese community, ginger is important to prevent the mother from being cold, which could cause premature soreness of the joints at old age. Taking ginger is believed to improve the "blood circulation" as a result of the dilated blood vessels. Among the Chinese, ginger is commonly added into a favourite post natal dish called "Kacang ma". Today, it is common for non Chinese Sarawakian to consume "kacang ma" as well. Wine, which is frequently added, is removed for those who do not consume it. As for the Malays and Melanaus, fried grated ginger or "serunding halia" is a favourite post natal dish.

"Grapes"

Amazingly, grapes, which is not a local fruit is believed to reduce the yellowness in newborns. From what I gather, grapes were belief to "absorb" the yellowness in the blood of the newborn. There was another version where grapes were believed to hasten the maturity of the liver, thus improve the serum bilirubin levels. Green grapes were noted to be more effective than the red ones.

"Glucose"

A granny in the clinic whom I met recommended "sugar water" or "air gula" to be given to the newborn. The mixture of water and sugar is guaranteed to bring down the yellowness in newborns. However, she did not offer any explanation of the possible physiology of the cure. 

"Plain water"

There was another section of the community who believed that plain water given to the newborn is the best treatment of jaundice. Their explanation is logical and simple. As the baby is dehydrated in the first few day of life - due to the adaptation process to breastfeeding - naturally the concentration of serum bilirubin is raised. To dilute the bilirubin, use water. 

"kurma" or dates

Dates: sidratul.com

There are some pregnant ladies who started consuming the dates in the belief that it could help with the maturity of the liver of the fetus. Mature liver in the newborn of the kurma eating mothers will prevent jaundice. In my opinion, this could be the result of the overzealous promotion of arabic dates as the prophet's sunnah, which could be mistakenly perceived as a form of cure. 

"Liver tonic"

Some clinics have started to promote a "liver tonic" given to newborns to "improve the health of the liver". Lay persons attending those clinics tend to accept it wholly without hesitation as it is given by a doctor. The scientific basis still elude me. If it was cheap and has the chance to improve the bilirubin levels from those newborns who do not take it, then it should be a standard treatment in hospitals nationwide - or worldwide.

"Bathing in coconut water"
Some locals believe that bathing the newborn in coconut water could reduce the "yellowness", Although there was no prescribed dosing or frequency the child should bath, it is recommended daily. The coconut water will absorb the "heaty" material from the newborn.

"Turmeric powder"
Turmeric is a part of the ginger family. This curcumin containing plant is known for its anti inflammatory and anti oxidant properties.  But, anti-bilirubinaemia? A few Malay elderly recommends rubbing some turmeric to the forehead of the newborn. Since it is yellow and belongs to the same yellow colouring of the newborn's skin, it will "attract" the yellowness and subsequently absorb it. Another version of applying turmeric to the newborn is by bathing the child in turmeric laced bath.

These are some really interesting beliefs in a multi racial society like Malaysia. Although most of it sounds absurd - at times too "magically" true, a proper study is needed. In fact, a few studies will be needed to prove or disprove the hypothesis. It is interesting to note that there are substantial beliefs that associate neonatal jaundice with the liver. There is also an idea that jaundice is caused by "something" in the blood -  that correctly points towards the high level of bilirubin.

It is interesting that exposing the baby to the early morning sun - the nature's equivalent to phototherapy - is regarded as a "hospital treatment" and not among the first few choices for treatment of neonatal jaundice. Exposing the newborn to the morning sun is currently not recommended due to the severe complications that it could have on the child when parents / caretakers lapse.

As for me, I would prefer the early morning sun exposure - with some modification to make it safer. At the same time, monitor the levels of bilirubin in the local clinic. God willing, all should be fine.