1st Posting - Changi / Brunei /Limbang

D Day – 14 Oct. Patrice was up as usual at 0530 to get ready to catch her bus to school at 0600. Can’t understand why edn system can’t start an hour or two later since all schs are single session.

At the airport Li Hoon , Michelle and Serene were the send off party. Won’t be for long when before they join us at the Nusa Tenggara islands – Sulawesi, Flores, Sumbawa, Flores, Lombok and Bali when Patrice is on sch holiday.

1st 3 Days in Brunei.
Day 1 – Brunei. We arrived on scheduled at 1700 hrs. To give us their full support Energy Minister, Pehin Mohd, was there to personally received us..DA Brunei, Col Tay S C too was also present to lend his support as old buddies. Upon reaching the Majestic 6 stars Empire Hotel. Neo Chian and I can’t wait to take a stroll with the setting sun and the splendor of this beautiful hotel.

In the evening Pehin Mohd invited us for dinner at the ever popular I Lotus restaurant and there to share their experiences and reminish on our past was Pg Ibnu, Pg Abidin, Pehin Jaafar, Pehin Halbi – past and current Maj Generals of Brunei Armed Forces. Dato Jocklin was there to navigate us verbally on the routes to take in Sabah and Sarawak and not forgetting all the massage parlors along the way. Six MGs and 3 Cols talking about the Dos and Don’t. Can’t have better support!!

Day 2 Brunei. A quick 45 mins of Qigong in front of the ocean absorbing negative ions and receiving energy from the rising sun, followed by a round of 18 holes at the

Empire Golf nd Country club . Extremely scenic seafronts , beautiful and perfectly planned landscape, this golf club stands as the No 1 course in Brunei. With Radm Larry as member, golfing at $75 / 18 holes is a real bargain.

The afternoon saw us sorting out our car 3rd party insurance coverage at IBB ( Islamic Bank of Brunei ) for our Bruenian and East Malyasian leg, at a incredible reasonable fee of $30. Highly recommended for its courteous service. .

We are then off to pay a short visit to Jalan Aman camp. Memories of my service fr ’86 to ’92 was charted at its heritage corners . Our car then roll out of Brunei Muara port in the latter part of the evening with seamless svc.

The evening with Spore High Commissioner, Joseph Koh and Mrs Koh hosting us for dinner , joined by Radm and Mrs Larry, Sin Chuan and a American Professor who specializes in Spiders. Yes 2 spider men, our High commissioner and his Professor friend talks about their venture over their last 10 days in the tropical jungle of Brunei.

Day 3.. Brunei / Limbang / Sabah
Went to pay coutesy call to Pehin Mohd and he had us digging our fingers into durians fr Brunei. Red durians, slightly orange colored durians. Small but has unique tastes of its own. We then visited Pehin’s backyard which he turn into veg gardens with fruits and flowers making his house that more beautiful and complete. The Pehin flag us off.

Crossing into Limbang ( Sarawak ) was smooth. . Geograpically after Limbang we had to go thru Temburong ( Brunei ) again before we proceed to Sabah..