One of the things I enjoy about being out in town (or out of town) early morning is the opportunity to observe how others start their day. A popular cafe called Marilyn Cake House which is located right in the heart of Kuala Belait, my birth place and also where Zaika and RMS Diner eatery recently opened. This cafe is a very popular meeting place for many regular patrons and is also frequented by many expats. I suspect Coffee Bean’s strategic isolation within the confines of Brunei Shell Petroleum headquarters helps keep clients coming back even if it’s for a cup of coffee. Over the years, Marilyn has become a favourite stopover for me whenever my car needed to be in the workshop for longer than I want to wait. Let’s face it, it’s way better to be stuck in a cafe than at a workshop—more than just a case of music versus noise.

This picture was shot on the EOS 5D Mk II and 50mm at f/1.4. I really like how this composition in a meticulously tweaked black and white conversion brings out the easy going mood of the early morning.  The only thing I don’t get is how this Caucasian gentleman had orange juice first followed by cappuccino. If I subject my stomach to such “concoction” I think I would get myself in trouble!

An expat enjoys an early morning breakfast at Marilyn Cafe

Being on the road a lot means I can no longer put up with working from home. It goes without saying that we’ve become very dependent on technology to get work done and a modern day photographer no longer just post-processes his/her photographs but also blogs and tweets and I cannot think of a better example than JENNY SUN who epitomizes this trilogy of insanity along with LOUIS PANG (Jenny’s more nuts!). There may be others whose tweets I don’t yet follow but who take things to a whole new level of craziness (like going without sleep) but regardless this is now! So it’s little wonder some of us that we take our gadgets (and other income generating equipment) very seriously. Thanks to MARUL (be careful, he’s convincingly smooth) I purchased a brilliant twitter app called Gravity to install on my Nokia E71. When I am not editing photos, the E71 rates high as my next favourite companion on the road. Read my review of the Nokia E71.

My Dell Studio 17 and hot coffee neither one of which I can do without including the Nokia E71

I’m a die hard Dell user as much as many are die hard Mac users in the professional photography industry and as things stand today, my “gadget” is the Dell Studio 17 and this has pretty much replaced my once powerful Dell Dimension 9150 as the main photo editing machine. The 9150 was “OK” when I had the EOS 5D and files were a lot smaller than those from the 5D Mark II. But it was the 24″ and 19″ LCD that spoilt me and had me rooted in my seats for many years before I discovered the Dell Studio 17. The 17″ 1920 x 1200 high definition screen is just super sweet to use but guess what, the Core2Duo 2.4Ghz, 4GB RAM and Vista Home Premium aren’t exactly Tomorrow’s technology Today.

I recently looked a possible replacement: the Alienware M17x no doubt a worthy consideration but the silly part is that it costs way too much. Will the sponsorship bell ever ring ?

In Chinese philosophy, the concept of yin yang  is used to describe how seemingly disjunct or opposing forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world, giving rise to each other in turn. Many natural dualities – e.g. dark and light, female and male, low and high – are cast in Chinese thought as yin yang (in this case, Western and Indian). Yin and yang are complementary opposites within a greater whole. Everything has both yin and yang aspects, which constantly interact, never existing in absolute stasis. Don’t believe? Let’s look at this a little more … for this article, I take an excerpt from Wikipedia’s definition of Yin and Yang.

INTRODUCING ZAIKA & RMS DINER IN KUALA BELAIT
from the folks who brought you FRATINI RESTAURANT

Phone: Zaika 3347430, 3347420 | RMS Diner 3347455, 3347456

Zaika officially opened by DPMM FC Coach VJERAN SIMUNIC

Yin and Yang are thought to arise together from an initial quiescence emptiness and continue moving in tandem until quiescence is reached again. (quiescence means period of inactivity)” Absolutely! Before Zaika and RMS Diner came to town, the corner shop was empty . And because it was empty there was no activity.

Yin and Yang are opposing Zaika is Indian (OK, it’s North Indian. OK, OK, it’s Authentic North Indian) and RMS Diner is Western. I rest my case. If you still have doubts about this, go watch a Russell Peters video! Also at my table were journalists from various media organizations. All in all, 5 newspapers united by one common objective—to inform our readers that the food and service are superb!

VJERAN SIMUNIC ushers in invited guests including DPMM FC players

Yin Yang are rooted together. I would think so. I think the tenancy agreement was created at the same time and monthly rental is paid together. They say money is the root of all, erm, goodness. So there you go—rooted together. Further evidence of this lies in the connected “walk through” design of the two restaurants. I applaud the enterprising efforts of the owners

RMS DINER officiated by DPMM FC football player RENE KOMAR to the delight of HAFRIZ FAYADH MUSA

Yin Yang transform each other “.. every advance is complemented by a retreat and every rise transforms into a fall” Wow, sounds like a Transformers movie. Business dynamics would naturally dictate the energy anyway.

Glass on a Zaika coaster

Yin Yang are balanced “Because they arise together they are always equal” In fact they would be even more balanced if patrons fill up both sides of the restaurant.

This one got me thinking as perhaps the ONLY exception to the "Glass is Half Empty or Half Full" argument when you think about the current HSBC PowerVantage Plus campaign

A waiter making sure the glasses are 3/4 full

The margarita makes a come back to Kuala Belait it disappeared for many years following the closure of "KB Rrestaurant" Don't miss this signature drink at RMS Diner

The margarita next to an all time favourite and timeless classic, the iced lemon tea.

Waffle with ice cream and chocolate syrup. This is what happens when you have a tableful of journalists all distracted by the other delicious food still being served and we allowed this super delicious ice cream to melt before taking a picture. Liza of Borneo Bulletin cut a slice off the side which explains the "saw off" edges.

In The News
Congratulations to The Brunei Times for the launching of the e-paper in line with His Majesty’s 25th National Day titah and I quote the following from the BT Editorial … as a reminder to us all to better ourselves all the time.

” … we as a nation cannot rest on our laurels because we know that in today’s knowledge-based society just being good is not good enough. There is a tremendous difference between being good and being excellent and excellence – like the horizon – is a moving target. One has to constantly raise the bar and this is what we at The Brunei Times are trying to do. We are constantly pushing ourselves towards higher targets. No matter how difficult the task is, we have never stopped raising the limit as we’re competing with no one but ourselves …”

— The Brunei Times | Looking ahead with confidence

→ I would like to take this opportunity to thank The Brunei Times for the Personality of the Week feature. I’m deeply honoured by this gesture and I have also taken this opportunity to include this as part of my very belated About page which I have omitted since its creation.

The Brunei Times Personality of the Week
↑ click on thumb to enlarge
Download PDF (1.25MB) | Read this story on BT Online

The month of July is the month of festivity in Brunei Darussalam. The birthday celebration of His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei is one event that involves all districts and it’s certainly an event that attracts massive local and international media attention and also the loving support and commitment of the community. It goes without saying that such vibrant and colourful festivities also attract the interests of photographers whose numbers seem to grow exponentially year after year.

This year, I am honoured to have one of my images from His Majesty’s 61st Birthday Celebration featured on the 2009 July—September cover and another picture of His Majesty during the “Bersama Rakyat” session in my birth town of Kuala Belait.

Happy Birthday, Your Majesty! On July the 15th, His Majesty the Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam will be celebrating his 63rd birthday, and all of Brunei comes together to pay our heartfelt respects to our illustrious leader.

The Year of the Ox has by far been the most productive and meaningful for me (other than the year I got married and started a family) notably my first column in The Brunei Times which coincided with the 25th Silver Jubilee celebration of our National Day. The theme “Kedewasaan Bernegara” celebrates the country’s coming of age and achievements with His Majesty’s titah “Ask not what the country can do for you but what you can for the country.” I am thankful to His Majesty for giving my family and I the peace, harmony and prosperity—an conducive environment in which I’ve found my calling in promoting Brunei tourism through photography and writing.

DOMESTIC TOURISM. AN INSIDE JOB

BRUNEI SULTAN 62nd BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS

BRUNEI SULTAN’S 61st BIRTHDAY. A CELEBRATION OF VIBRANCE

An e-poster of the BRITAIN BRUNEI RUNNING FESTIVAL 2009 event here.

I wonder if this is an anniversary event as I hadn’t heard of it previously. It was also last Saturday and in my home town where it was organized. In the same afternoon, I also had an invite to the Canada Day celebration at the Sheraton Hotel. Between wearing a suit and a rather long commute (and appearing on national TV) vs a hot sweaty and casual afternoon, I chose the latter More photos from the event by Gavin.

At the start of the race. The leading runner ran as though he was in a 100 meters sprint. I ran to the nearest coffee shop shortly after the event!

The first time I visited Tasek Merimbun was an outing with David in 2007. The outing was supposed to be our timeout from work but as photographers, there is very little distinction between work and leisure considering we ended up lugging our equipment there only to have trip cut short because of a premature shutter failure on David’s 1D MkII. Anyone who’s not familiar with the occurrence of shutter failure, here’s an example (I hope none of you should encounter this).

A photo of me on the defunct bridge at Tasek Merimbun shot by David Cheok before discovering the shutter had failed

Two years on, I revisited Tasek Merimbun with Cikgu Mansor, Husini and Gavin, a trip I had been looking forward to since the the Class of May 2009 and the BBQ. It was also an opportunity for Gavin (a fellow Brunei PR himself) to meet his future tutor. Check out their blog for more pictures from our sunset rendezvous.

The $10,000 bridge that connects to Jelundong Island

Shot of the bridge from Jelundong Island

A hut overlooking the Tasek Merimbun river and sunset

A glimpse of the bridge from the island basked in the early sunset

Not exactly the tree of knowledge but this is one of many fruits from the “University of Life”

Husini demonstrates how the fruit is removed from the plant and describes the process by which cashew nut is obtained

Rare sight where the cashew fruit is seen in abundance including ripe ones that had fallen to the ground

I don’t know what these plants are called but they are wild and beautiful. I took this shot because it reminded me of a scene I had seen in an American film. Through creative use of Depth of Field and the right aperture, many effects can be produced right at home.

The wind-swept grass is a feature of the Tasek Merimbun landscape though not exclusively so. You can also find them at the Sungai Liang forest reserve.

An interesting tree with thorny features. Someone please tell me the name of this tree and the fruit (if any) it bears.

What an incredible visual of what I think is the bark of the same tree.

Fishing by the river a favourite past time. Like photography, you have to have bucket loads of patience to want to fish. Unlike photography, the fishing rod isn’t a tool which records one’s catch, great or otherwise.

Trapped.

A bees nest discovered by Husini that fascinated both of us who had our 100mm macro lens

My favourite shot of the day—the view of bridge and gentle ripples at twilight.