Borneo's Little Kingdom

Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque, Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam

Yippee, it’s the Eid holidays again! Eid Mubarak! Selamat Hari Raya Haji!

Not that there’s much of a celebration with the COVID situation everywhere at the moment.

Anyway, here’s a short picture post for Eid. Leaving pictures of our one day transit in the little kingdom of Brunei last year.

This happens to be the first time we (including yours truly) stepped foot on the island of Borneo. Yup, despite yours truly being Malaysian by birth and spending most of his lifetime in Malaysia, and considering that more than half of Malaysia’s land mass is actually in the island of Borneo! The closest I was to visiting East Malaysia (the Borneo part of Malaysia) was in 2005. Was planning to visit the Mulu Caves in Sarawak. Then had a change in mind, thanks to Dad who wisely advised at that time that dear old grandma was getting old, and would not have many years left to be able to travel. She wouldn’t be able to do Sarawak. We switched to Bangkok instead, where we had family, and did a family trip. I never regretted that decision as Granny never travelled after that, and passed away a few years later (2010).

Brunei wasn’t always little. It used to control the entire friggin island of Borneo (the coastal parts anyway), and beyond (parts of Sulu and the Philippines). A long, long time ago. Heck, maybe even the name ‘Borneo’ comes from Brunei, who knows?

Brunei now however, is a small country, with hardly half a million population. Its capital, Bandar Seri Begawan feels more like a sleepy Malaysian provincial town, than the capital city of a country. It’s so quiet and peaceful (no wonder they call it the Abode of Peace i.e. Darussalam) that you’ll not find a friggin taxi to bring you back to the airport for your flight out of Brunei. (We eventually found a tourist tuk-tuk operator at the park next to the Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque to call a car to pick us to the airport using Brunei’s equivalent of Uber / Grab… I forgot the name of the App. Let’s see, …it’s Dart! Google it, and download before you get to Brunei if you intend to travel by cab).

Here’re more mosque pictures for the Eid, before I sign off. Enjoy! May you have a blessed and peaceful Eid! With masks and social distancing… (What a let-down, but it’s gotta be done to keep everyone safe).




The serene-looking Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque




Comes complete with a Royal Barge! Nah, it doesn’t sail, it’s concrete!




Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque (Masjid Jamek Asr Hassanil Bolkiah), Brunei


Gate of the Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque


Jayden at the park beside the Brunei River. Across the river, you can see Kampong Ayer (literally Water Village in Malay, how ‘imaginative’ can you get?), the largest water village in the world (or so some claimed)


Brunei River, with water taxis to Kampong Ayer, Brunei – That shanty village on stilts on the far side of the river (left) was the heart of the Bruneian Empire from the time of the Age of Exploration! And it’s still very much alive today!


Yayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah (a mall), with the Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque behind


Eid Mubarak! Selamat Hari Raya! Time to go. Enjoy your holidays – The kids at Yayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah, Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei – Aug 2019

What Lies in the Red Hills…

View of the red hills of the gorge surrounding the Noravank Monastery, Armenia

Continuing on our adventures in Armenia, after a couple of nights staying in the capital, Yerevan, we headed out into the hills. Our mission – more mysterious monasteries. Yup, Armenia (and to a large extent, Georgia) is all about ancient monasteries and the countryside. Many tourists from our part of the world (i.e. the UAE) visit for the snow, but we visited at the peak of summer, during a heat wave with 40C temperatures all around. How likely do you think we’d be of seeing snow?!?

Our first stop south of Yerevan, was Khor Virap (which I’ve written about in an earlier post). Next off, 80+ km further to the south, is a remote monastery surrounded by quiet brick-red hills. Here’s our adventure of finding the Noravank Monastery!


We passed by the junction to Areni Village, which is famous for… wine! (What else, when the sign itself is a wine barrel?!) The signs sez Areni in Armenian (By the way, Armenia is one of the oldest wine producing regions in the world!)


Areni Village, from the main road. See that single church on the plateau, dwarfed by the towering cliffs? That’s a sign of things to come…


Is this the turn off to Noravank? Yes it is, the road between the towering hills


Here we go, into the gorge. "I spot with my little eye, something starting with ‘C’". There up ahead, churches up on the left


Noravank amidst the hills


Noravank Monastery, Armenia


Surb Astvatsatsin Church, Noravank


“Wow, this is fun!” “HEY COME DOWN JUSTIN, IT’S DANGEROUS! YOUR BROTHER WILL FOLLOW” (Sir, do you mind, this is a church…)


Yup, that’s the staircase. Stone slabs sticking out of the wall. That’s what you do, when you friggin forget to include staircases to go up to the second level in your design… “Shite! No place for stairs… Ummm…. Let’s just stick it on the walls and make it look as nice as it can. …There!” (I remember one place which had these amplified many times …the immense Chaturbhuj temple in Orchha, India. It had stone slabs sticking out as access to its towering dome. And these are unconnected, with some broken… No, never even thought of trying!)


There’s a hole! No, not going there! (Went halfway down, just for a photo. If I went down, what d’ya think the kids would do?!?)


Surb Karapet Church at Noravank


A priest arrives


A service in progress at the Surb Karapet Church. Armenians are a pious lot. Even in this remote place, there’re people attending services


Let’s go, before it gets dark!

Temple of a Forgotten God

No, this isn’t the Acropolis, and it ain’t Greece. It’s the Garni Temple in Armenia. It’s the only Greco-Roman colonnaded structure in the former Soviet Union.

While we bake in the UAE’s hot summer sun, trapped by COVID-19 and can’t go anywhere for a holiday, I will continue to write stories of our adventures of a time when travelling was OK. When will these times come back??? Sigh! What a waste of a summer…

Continuing on our adventures in Armenia, what’s a visit to Geghard without visiting Garni?

Garni lies on the road to Geghard. The Garni Temple was thought to have been built for the Sun God, before Christian times (meaning a helluva long time ago, …like 2000 years!). Garni is only 10km away from Geghard, but they couldn’t be more different. While Geghard is tucked into the sides of mountains, secluded, with dark and dank chamber-caves going into the hills, Garni is right out there in the open, on top of a rocky promontory jutting out into a gorge, with no trees or shade covering it. It actually collapsed in an earthquake in the 17th century, but it was re-erected using the same stones (like a jigsaw puzzle) sometime in the 1970’s. Here’re the photos.


Temple of Garni, Armenia




The Garni temple is on a promontory surrounded by a gorge – views of the gorge abound




At the Garni Temple …no, there’s nothing inside (what a let-down, huh?)




More views of Garni Gorge, from the Garni Temple


And here (one of the restaurants beside Garni Temple) is where we had an Armenian lunch before we proceeded to the Geghard Monastery (yup, we actually visited Garni before Geghard…) The lady serving us was programmed to speak only one word, ‘mm-hmmm.’ “Will it be fast?” “Mm-hmmm.” (It wasn’t fast). “How big is the portion?” “Mm-hmmm.” “Does it come with bread?” “Mm-hmmm.” Heck, she’s like Groot (from the Guardians of the Galaxy). We switched to sign language

That’s it. Short picture post done.

Where Water Flows Free Part 2 - Monastery of the Sacred Spring

Geghard Monastery, Armenia

And the story of Armenia’s free-flowing water fountains continues…

A long, long time ago (and I mean No Kidding LONG …like about 1600 years ago), a man named Grigor (who would later become St Gregory the Illuminator) decided to set up a church near a cave where an ancient water spring was, in the mountains in medieval Armenia. The water still flows today! But the church has been ransacked and destroyed many times by armies and earthquakes. The monastery (Geghard) that stands today, dates back to 1215.

One hot summer day, 803 years later (2018), the Ong family decided to go see the monastery (which has since became a major tourist attraction in Armenia). They explored the caves inside out. The unruly kids of the Ongs ran around the compound unrestrained and unhindered, like what kids are supposed to be. JAYDEN! JUSTIN! STOPPPPP ITTTT! Shhh… you aren’t supposed to shout in a church. Anyway, we took all our empty water bottles and filled them to the brim with holy water from the ancient spring, and that’s what sustained us for the rest of the day, and the next. No, no tummy ache, no bloated feeling, nothing. Thank you God, for the abundant water and for helping us squirrel out of our broken car predicament a couple of days later (which is another story, for another day, ahem).

Actually, we didn’t know about the sacred spring till I started writing this post. We just saw lots of locals carrying empty bottles into the dimly lit church interior and followed them. And Tada! Free flowing holy water! Here’re photos of our adventure!


There, up ahead, nestled between the mountains, lies the Geghard Monastery at the end of the road


Vendors outside the church selling dried fruits and churchkhela (those long candle-like things on skewers). Churchkhela is made from dried fruit and nuts and can be found all over the place, especially in neighbouring Georgia (…coz it’s a traditional Georgian candy). In Armenia, it’s called sujuk


Geghard monastery compound


Geghard Monastery


One of the altars, Geghard Monastery






The interior of the church / cave - there's a mystical feel about these ancient chambers


Hey, let’s climb the stairs …there’re chambers above too – the upper terrace


One of the chamber entrances on the upper terrace


The countryside around Geghard, Armenia


Anu, at a café on the approach to the Geghard Monastery. We kinda borrowed this place for a quick photo op

That’s all for now folks!