Kulitis

Leave a comment Posted by on March 8, 2014

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Kulitis plant (amaranth) in my tiny container garden, my source of green leafy vegetable for viands such as tinolang isda, munggo soup (with malunggay from garden), tinolang manok and for anything else that needed leaves. This plant grows anywhere even in poor soil condition. Not so many know it’s edible. My neighbor says it’s a weed understandably because kulitis is such an underutilized crop in the country.

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Repurposed bamboo from binungey kakanin I had in Bolinao as container for my kulitis plant

Edible plants such as kulitis is my kind of vegetable, those warm weather ones, those pinakbet and Bahay Kubo ones that grow in lowlands and not those lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, not those highland high value sort, you know those Ceasar salad kind even if I live and work in the city.

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Bilong bilong tinola with kulitis

Food, Garden , , ,

Water Village: Seafood Trap

Leave a comment Posted by on March 7, 2014

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Several fish or crab traps are left to dry by the wooden bridges of the water village. How convenient that one can catch food at one’s doorstep.

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Apparatus, Brunei Darussalam , , , , ,

Adorned With Tomatoes

Leave a comment Posted by on March 6, 2014

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Fish for sale are decorated with tomatoes (and green chili peppers) which gives me the impression that they are fresh. I suppose that’s the purpose of tomato adornment. Next time I’ll ask the vendor.

Metro Manila, Seafood , , ,

Muslim Women Vendors

Leave a comment Posted by on March 6, 2014

Muslim women sellers in Tamu Kianggeh, Bandar Seri Begawan.

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Lady selling palm fronds for packaging food such as ketupat

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Lady selling vegetables such as cassava leaves which is the primary ingredient of pucuk ubi, their version of ginataang gulay and it was very savory

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Lady selling an assortment of edibles such as kuih cincin and non-edibles such as barut, a cloth bandage to treat abdominal ailments by wrapping around the abdominal area smeared with herbal medicine

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Lady selling dried fish fry and dried shrimp fry

Brunei Darussalam, Market , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Water Village: Sepak Takraw Court

Leave a comment Posted by on March 5, 2014
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Residents having an evening sepak takraw match over the water

Brunei Darussalam , , , ,

Religiously Clean

Leave a comment Posted by on March 4, 2014

As a visitor, it is but natural to see, and acknowledge the structures a particular place is quite proud of because these have also become the collective identity of the place itself. In Brunei Darussalam, most of the visitors’ destinations (no matter what one’s religious affiliation is) are these two great mosques – Omar Ali Saifuddien and Jame’Asr Hassanil Bolkiah.

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Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque

As Christian, the idea of cleanliness in a place of worship of other religions such as Islam, is fascinating and admirable. So when I visited the said mosques in Brunei Darussalam, I took few snapshots of shoe racks and ablution facility as concrete Islamic examples of the phrase Cleanliness is next to Godliness.

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Shoes not allowed inside the mosque

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Faucets provided for washing ritual before prayers

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That outdoor corridor leading to the Jame'Asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque is a space for leaving shoes

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Shoe racks in this outdoor corridor

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A closer look of shoe rack number 25

Belief, Brunei Darussalam, Structure , , , , , , , ,

Wayang Kulit

2 Comments Posted by on March 3, 2014

The making of Indonesian leather (kulit) shadow puppets (wayang) is done by hand in several stages involving different artists just like the time-consuming and tedious process of making hand painted batik fabric.

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Punching holes one by one meticulously on the drawn outline in the buffalo hide

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Is there a word for extremely detailed?

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Putting on base paints

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Just an initial layer of paint and still more paintings to be done

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Layer upon layer of painting and then finishing it with gold leaf

This is how it looks like at the back of the white screen during the show. The stick attached in the middle is wedged to the banana trunk so that the dalang (puppet master) can move the other sticks attached to the limbs.

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By means of light behind the screen, the leather puppets come to life

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A dalang giving us a sample show in this puppet making place somewhere near kraton in Yogyakarta.

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His right foot has some kind of metal attached between his toes to hit a some kind of a tiny gong to produce sounds during the show

Art, Indonesia , , , , , ,

Water Village: Clothes Hanging

Leave a comment Posted by on March 2, 2014

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Brunei Darussalam , , ,

Holy Geometry

Leave a comment Posted by on March 1, 2014

Behold this grand holy structure in this sulatanate nation of Brunei Darussalam where one can’t get enough of its stunning sight.

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As for me what I saw first were the numerous but finite number of octagrams (eight-point stars) from the grounds up to its minarets in the said grand structure (aka Jame’Asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque).

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Two squares where one is placed on top of the other makes an eight-point star (octagram)

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Octagram ornamentation in the mosque gate

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Octagram in this garbage receptacle

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Mathematics is truly beautiful

Art, Brunei Darussalam, Structure , , , , , , , , ,

Travel Sense

Leave a comment Posted by on February 28, 2014
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My unassuming duffel for 4 days in this country carrying all of my little girl’s necessities as well as mine. Traveling light means one can easily roam in one’s baggage

Making do with the most essential of personal essentials by abandoning stuff that are part of one’s daily routine for a transient journey is an element of travel itself and this make sense to me. Letting go of material worries means more space in one’s mind for enlightenment.

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One can perceive then that we don’t really need much in life to live in a state of content

Brunei Darussalam, Wisdom , , , ,

Water Village: Primary School

Leave a comment Posted by on February 27, 2014

A primary school on stilts in Kampong Ayer where students arrive and depart in motorboats. 

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In Brunei education is free

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The school is connected to the water village by this walkway. While walking here I saw a small crocodile swimming away from under where I stood

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Behind those walls students are being taught to embrace the Melayu Islam Beraja ideology

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It's not everyday one can see a school above the water

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Jetty nearest the school where students arrive and depart

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School entrance near the jetty

Brunei Darussalam, Structure , , , , , ,

It’s Natural to Squat

Leave a comment Posted by on February 26, 2014

When it comes to public toilet, I prefer squat toilets since there’s no physical contact involved, that I’m truly grateful for one if my kid is with me. No more wiping and disinfecting preparation as you can’t make a 7 year old do the art of half-squatting without making a mess on a sitting toilet.

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A modern version for a natural and sanitary way of doing one's business in a public facility

Whereas this type of toilet is prevalent in Asia, I have yet to see one in the Philippines apart from a makeshift hole-in-the-ground when there’s no toilet facility.

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Squat toilet with tank

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This toilet in Bandar Seri Begawan airport has sensor for automatic flushing

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Pretty one somewhere in Malaysia. There's a bucket for manual flushing but it doesn't matter as long as there's always water

Fixture

Water Village: Sail Thru

2 Comments Posted by on February 24, 2014

How to take out food or drinks, in a restaurant on stilts, in the water village without stepping inside.

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Restaurant in the water village

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The same restaurant with fake flowers as ornament

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Drive thru concept

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Basket tied to the railing by rope is used to lower food and drinks

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Mostly water taxi drivers are the customers

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Here's your keropok and drink mister

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Another customer placing his satu ringgit (1 Brunei Dollar) in exhange for the drink

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Under the Borneo sun, a water taxi driver must hydrate

Brunei Darussalam, Improvisation , , , ,

Ambuyat

Leave a comment Posted by on February 23, 2014

Filipino is to rice as Bruneian is to ambuyat.

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This sago paste is also known as ambuyat

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Eaten like rice (except the chewing part as this is swallowed) with several viands as accompaniment

Brunei Darussalam, Food , , ,

Water Village: Modern Houses

Leave a comment Posted by on February 22, 2014

If you have read about Kampong Ayer which is a huge network of water villages in Brunei comprising of about 42 villages and home to about 30,000 Bruneians, then you have also read about its existence for a long time already that it’s considered a heritage of this country. So what I have in this particular post is a village in Kampong Ayer where houses have evolved into modern look. In fact I stayed in one of those.

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The modern look of house in the water

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A network of modern houses in the water village. It's raining almost everyday and it's high tide.

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Below each house is a space to park their own boats

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Bridges have evolved into concrete in this village though majority of bridges (outside of this village) are still made of wood. One can also see the sewer and water pipes

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See the modern village behind the old one

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Low tide. Brunei Darussalam flags are everywhere for their upcoming National Day on February 23

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A modern jetty too for the residents

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Inside the modern house where I stayed. When feasible, I'd rather do homestay for a closer observation of the place and locals. Hotel is corny

Brunei Darussalam, Structure , , ,

Water Village: Shell

Leave a comment Posted by on February 21, 2014
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Shell station is closed perhaps because it's a Sunday

Brunei Darussalam , , , ,

Sun Drying Keropok

Leave a comment Posted by on February 20, 2014
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Like a giant crabstick and slices of it will be sun dried

This particular eating place, in one of the water villages of Kampong Ayer, makes its own keropok. I asked the all-around lady helper if it was made from udang (shrimp), but she answered crab. So I guess it’s ketam (crab), and it tasted like one.

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Sun drying

This keropok was good that I had about 6 packs of cooked ones in the course of several times I went there for a meal.

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Took a snapshot in this angle to capture the passing water taxi

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A closer look of the keropok in the winnowing basket

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Keropok as an accompaniment to my evening meal

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A pack of cooked keropok cost 1 Brunei Dollar

Brunei Darussalam, Food , , , , , ,

Ketupat

1 Comment Posted by on February 19, 2014

The puso or hanging rice of Cebu isn’t local in that city as what several have claimed  in their writings (even without basis). I’ve eaten puso in Leyte and Negros provinces and have seen it outside the country in Indonesia. Finally I got snaphots of it in Brunei where I had it with satay and where it’s called ketupat.

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Cooked white rice packaged in weaved palm fronds

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Sliced open by knife, same as how they do it with puso in Cebu

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Satay stall in Bandar Seri Begawan where ketupat is 1 BND for 3 pieces. Paired with satay when eaten, just like how it's paired with skewered barbeque in Cebu

Brunei Darussalam, Food , , , ,

Off to School in a Boat

Leave a comment Posted by on February 18, 2014

Around 7 in the morning, primary and secondary students from the water village were off to school located just within the water village (Kampong Ayer) or in schools in the land across in Bandar Seri Begawan. 

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Well behaved school girls

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Lone schoolboy among the group. He's wearing songkok (Brunei's traditional headwear for men)

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Rush hour for students

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I'm not confident when it comes balancing myself in boarding and alighting from the boat, while they all looked so used to it

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School boys

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Commute to school via water taxis or via schoolboat like those two with roof over there

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School girls all covered up

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A schoolboat

Brunei Darussalam, Public Transportation, Transport , , , ,

Kampong Ayer River Boats

Leave a comment Posted by on February 17, 2014

Wooden speedboats designed for river transit to Bandar Seri Begawan from the water village known as Kampong Ayer (and vice versa) and also within this vast water village.

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Woman going down the stairs to board water taxi after finishing her market errand at Tamu Kianggeh

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Tamu Kianggeh at the left, a local market

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Picture taken from my water taxi ride

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Brunei Darussalam, Public Transportation, Transport , , , ,

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