After the river trip, as nightime fell, our guide gave us the option of where we would like to eat ...A 'safe" Thai restaurant or would we like to eat local food ?? 

So there we were sat in the middle of a number of street style outdoor cafe's awaiting our guides selection of food items frm a number of diffeent places ..Each cafe had it's own version of a BBQ right outside on the pavement. The air thick with the smells of food and smoke ..... The table was on the river bank  and we could watch as the stilts villiage lit up and the sun set over the river where we had travelled a shot time before.... The guides set us up nicely and dispite our offer, ate at a different table .... I think they thought McD and I should have a romantic dinner alone :O)

Except the food just kept arriving satays , then rice in banana palm, then a fish dish they wouldn't tell us what the fish was called but I knew it as being sting or manta ray wings , BBQ'd Chicken wings,  a delicious noodle soup, and the main attraction for the chinese guide anyway - Clams (cockles) BBQ 'd... Shell fish ... Love them .. But shell fish from the mouth of this river ???? Oh boy ...... Though we did eat a few and delicious they were but we left most of them . The food overall was delicious ...Especially the satays ..Two plates of beef and chicken satays and dipping sauce ..Yum .. Almost as good as the ones in Bali Arbi :O) 

At the end of the meal the guide asked about the clams and we had to say unfortunately they came a little late and we were full .... We offered them to the guide and she took them home in a doggy bag ...    

And off we went again to the night market. A permenant market open only in the evening, it was a busselling and vibrant place ...A great atmosphere AND if I had just remembered to bring my mono-pod or tripod with me We would have had some great pictures ...............

I've added a few of the better ones ...But very dissappointing for me not to have gotten better shots .....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few more pictures in the next entry ....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brunei and the River Trip

 

I'm Still not well !!!!!!!!!!!!  Spent sunday afternoon feeling like death warmed up my nose like a tap being switched on and off ... Still spent 3 hours at the PC trying to build some power point slides - McD helping - for a presentation I was supposed to do this morning .... AND we lost the first attempt !!!!! Networked computing sucks big time.... McD ignored my onsetting nervous breakdown on losing version 1 and recreated Version 2 with great success I might add....AND THEN this morning I'm still like death and throats like someones been ramming a rasp down it all night and there was no way I was going in to do anything ...................................... 

McD reckons I have manflu .... The worst of all Flus in the world ...

ManFlu   

Actually I'm much worse than that ... AND McD went off to work and left me to suffer All alone .... :O\

 

OK - Brunei -

 

After the stop off at the villiage on stilts we were taken up the river and into the outskirts of the jungle there ... I loved it ...Could have spent a full day just watching the wildlife - the Birds and the reptiles in the mangroves ...

 

 

And of course the proboscus monkeys ... They call them "Dutchmen" locally because of their big noses .... Unfortunately the low light plus the high vibration of the boat engine meant most of my pictures were no good .... The big Male had perched himself at the top of a tree and promptly turned his back to us ...He didn't want to know ..but at one point turned his head to see what the noise was as the guide and boatman goaded him with 'monkey calls' ...

 

Obviously not too good at the monkey calls as he didn't turn around ....I did wonder what might happen if they had produced in monkey language something like "come on bignose, I'll take you on " ... .. He looked big enough to take us all on one handed ...

 

 

 

The big Monitor type lizard were rather plentiful along the muddy bank .... And very active ..always on the move as we neared them ... And not always to move away from us ...

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see we were never too far from civilisation ... Houses were dotted along the river

 

 

 

 

And then on the return journey we were able to see some of the mosques and villiage from a different perspective .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway - it was a few houre of absolute pleasure and next time we go to brunei I'm going further into the jungle ... it was awesome ... 

 

Next entry - why the "we are so going to Die" phrase just kept comeing up ..... And the Night Market.. 

A year in my garden #7.....

 

The weather has not been kind to anyone anywhere in New Zealand ... We've had the wettest winter on record and Wellington where I live has been the wettest main centre in the country (especially at my house) ...

We've had 2 months running where every weekend has had rain..Often downpours... 

My poor veggie garden .... 

On coming back from holiday we found the two planted raiseed borders were little more than muddy ponds .. Full to bursting with rain water and a puddle at a corner ... My fault of course We built the frames on top of clay and me wanting perfection in everything had built the frame onto the clay base with no gap for the water to escape ... Even the corner joins held firm ... You can be a little too perfect in these things apparently ... I had built the borders with a slight slant to let gravity take the water down hill, but then the water couldn't escape ...

I grabbed a pick-axe and drove it into the line between wood and clay and they emptied slowly over 24hrs ...Fortunately we've had some fine days with a dry wind and the soil has returned to how it should be ... The vegetables were surviving ... but we lost a cabbage or two where the water had rottet the stems...    

Bugger

So while building the 3rd border we've been less caring in our construction...  I've not dug into the clay so much and before starting to fill the frame I've roughed uop the clay (more crumbly where the 3rd border is ) .... 

So it will look rather higgledy piggledy  by we've done them all ... But so what - I'd rather have the veggies to eat thank you than a showcase set of raised borders ... In any case by we get the pots up there and the silly ornaments (I think a gnome or two might make their home up there :O)  AND A SCARE CROW McD !!! - YOU PROMISED !!!! 

Ahem...  -So by we have all that up there plus our monster sized vegetables filling raised boders to the limit ... Should look quite good I hope ...... :O) 

 

And then on getting back from holiday I fould the seed potato I'd bought and stored in the garage under the house ....It had sprouted big time .... The Jersey bennie were sporting some pretty impressive shoots and roots on them ... Even the two lots of purple Maori potatoes had taken off .... 

So 3 large buckets and a dustbin later (the borders aren't built yet cause of the weather) I at least have some planted ....The bucket/dustbin trial last year was reasonable successful in producing a good crop.. And tasted fantastic straight from soil to pot within minutes .... Moari potatoes should do very well in buckets needing the warmth .. I hope so ....

And of course what happens having had a fairly warm (albeit wet) winter!!  I plant the spuds and two dats later the weatherman is warning of frosts !!!!   AND - He Was Right !!!!

So there's me and McD tucking in the potatoes and the few Broad Beans just started to show in at night with newpaper Blankets ...!!!! ... But at least the frost was kept away from them ..... A heavy frost too as the neighbours roof and the back of the car protruding out from the carport were covered in frost ....... 

I've a pile of seeds to start planting ... But will have to wait another week or two for that me thinks ....... 

 

And then McD came down with a horrible sore through and Cold/Flu last week.... I got it by Friday... Today (Saturday) it turns out to be a beautiful dry Saturday Ideal for building more raised borders and filling them with compost/soil .... AND WE"RE ILL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I still got out and did a bit ..McD telling me off and calling me a fool for trying ... And typically my second trip up the steps to deliver a bucket full of soil to the 3rd border and I pull a calf muscle ..... And that put an end to that ...... 

Aprt from the lecture and rolling of eyes from McD as I limped back in of course ..............

yes I know Sweets ... I'm not 25 any more .... .

BUT in my head I still am !!!!!!!!!!!!!! :O)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The villiage on stilts over the river - Brunei

 

From about 10 degrees in Auckland, a 10 hour flight to 35 degrees in Brunei (plus the humidity), about 3 hours sleep in our wonderful hotel (42 inch TV - Oh yeh :O) and straight out with our guide ..First stop to visit the chinese stilt villiage over the water of the river eastury there...

 

Our boat was hand made from a tree trunk!! Large and reasonably stable but none the less hewn out of a log of wood with a sizeable propeller engine attached .... Getting on and off was a saga ... Dangerous really ..no hand rails ..VERY slippering steps and an 80lbs 40kg little chinese girl trying to steady me by holding my hand as I got on and off the boat ....I do biceps curls with more weight than that on one arm ..I'm 3 or 4 times her size ... Plus I have no balance ...My ear problem left me distinctly 'wobbly' at the best of times

"We are so going to die today ..." I mutter to McD as I finally make it to the bench seat on the boat ...

I seemed to use that phrase a few times that afternoon .....

 

There were more modern boats as well .... The eastury being quite a criss cross of boat traffic

On arriving we had to go through the same dangerous exercise in reverse this time back onto slippery steps cameras, bags etc in hand ..This time two 40kg chinese girls trying to ensure I do not take a plunge into the not so clean looking river ...

 

 

 

And then it got worse !! We are now on a walkway on stilts no handrail 12 high that wobbles ..Yes wobbles from side to side as i follow the girls ... It wasn't built for a 6foot 300lb Pom ...Oh no .. Plus in part the wood had rotted away so the walkway had holes in it in parts ... 

"We are so going to die today ..." I mutter to McD as I finally make it to the wooden house we were to visit and (I hadn't known) to have tea and a selection of brunei local cake delicacies ...

Now when travelling I do try to be careful of eating only the safer foods and liquids... Shell fish - I don't think so....Dodgy water - stay well away ... Food from places you are not sure of ...Uh Uh ...

But when we find ourselves invited to someones house and offered food and beverage I wouldn't dream of insulting our guests in not at least trying the foods offered ... Fine if you then don't like it ...A bit of humour a funny face etc and the jokes on us the winter pale strangers ....

 So after a glance to McD who understood my thoughts of "We are so going to die today ..." I  pick up the luke warm sweet tea ..

"It's safe water" the guide tells us ..The Sultan has fresh water pumped over to them.. God bless the Sultan I'm thinking ... The  tea was unusual ...Sweeter than syrup... but very nice and refreshing ..... Our guests speaking no English beamed as we drank it and I nodded to the man of the house .....

 

The cakes were a real assortment  ...Some I had had in Bali...little round dumpling filled with palm sugar, little aquares of spongecake that wasn't sweet as I thought it would have been ..  Prawn crackers. "They are home made" the guide tells us "They dry it all on the roof tops ...Shrimps etc" .. (Uncovered I was to find out a little later...  

"Yum" I say crunching into them ... 

There were about 6 diffent cakes - one was like a coconut macaroon. At the end of the tasting, of which we liked them all, we were asked if we wanted to take some away with us ... "just two from each perhaps ". I said not really sure what the custom was in these circumstances... we were given a little bag of cakes to take away. 

Handshakes and smile and nods all round with the man of the house. The guide told us that many visitors refuse outright to eat the food.  While they get paid for doing it, the lady of the house made the food herself and they all went to great trouble to look after the guests. The food was fine and clean and safe... It was a great introduction to our newly discovered Brunei and its people of the stilt villiage.

McD tried to Blend in with the locals by wearing her around the world "photography hat" A pin badge as a momento of where we have travelled.... 

 

The Sultan tried to move the people a few years back ..Offered them new housing on land ..Dispite the dangers and the dangers of fire (there had been one a few week previously) The residents refused.. this was their home ....

We were told we could walk around the villiage and take pictures ....Well we don't need telling twice about that :O)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the end of the walk and photo session we came across these small golden headed fish in the brown river water.... 

 

 

Back onto the boat ....More stress but then once settled we were told the next thing was the journey up the river into the jungle to see if we could get close to the Proboscis monkeys that frequent there  ....

 

Not my Picture