Kampung Setia – Following the 1963 formation of the Federation of Malaysia and Malaysia’s refusal to return Limbang to Brunei, in September 1964, about 1,000 people from Kampung Ranggau in Limbang who had relatives in and identified themselves as part of Brunei had migrated to Brunei and settled at Kampong Ayer in a village later named as Kg Setia (Loyal Village), as a commemoration to their loyalty to the Sultan of Brunei.

Bandar – Ever wondered why the Bandar “skyline” looks the same throughout the decades. This is because a significant number of properties in the bandar area are owned by foreigners, thus the “its complicated” status when it comes to city planning stuff. These ownerships began all the way back during the British Residency.

Time Piece Monument at Bandar – Blink and you’ll miss it. Exactly the case circa mid-late 2000s when this historic landmark was replaced with a new and more modern looking clock, only to be reinstalled at the same spot a few days later.

Shots of beautiful lightning strikes over Brunei, 20 Nov 2021, 1939H

Check out IG @obmm.brunei for the stunning video

Rare chance to get to capture the complete semicircle of a rainbow in one frame not using a fancy photographer’s camera. So mesmerising. For a whole minute, I was fixated on the beautiful view, then the rainbow disappeared as the rain started.

Rainbow over Bandar and Kg Ayer, 25 Aug 2021 1819H

This will make an excellent postcard photo.

Stunning moon glow over Brunei. 24 July 2021, 1910H

Lunar Eclipse over Brunei. 26 May 2021, 1926H

This was in the 19 March 2021 Borneo Bulletin. I’ve not seen any post in any printed local newspaper with such title – Personal Apology. What was that about? Oh come on Junaidah Ali, you can’t just leave us hanging like this, looking sideways even in the photo.

Last Friday at around 0200 am I heard a loud screeching sound coming from the road. I knew exactly what sound that was, the sound tires make when spinning in a stuck situation. I went out to the balcony to check it out and true enough, I saw a car got stuck on a road curb and the driver was pressing on the pedal to get the car to move. It is a pretty high and wide curb, even seeing from a distance I could tell that there was no way he could get the car out of the sticky situation by doing just that. Poor guy. 

I kept watching as the man wandered out of sight then came back with some rocks. He placed the rocks against the tire as buffers, got in the car and pressed on the pedal again. Screech! screech! the car still couldn’t move. He would adjust and add more rocks, tried again and again, to no avail. It was amazing that the continuous screeching sound didn’t wake any man living in this building, at least, to go out and give him a hand. There was not much help that me and my cats could offer.

Every 5 minutes or so a car would pass by, slowed down, but amazingly none of them stopped to assist. Maybe because it was really late and they just wanted to get home or they did roll down their windows and ask if they could help when they slowed down but the man declined.

After about 20 minutes, a car did eventually stop. Out came a man and a woman. From their body gestures, they appeared to be his friends. So now, on top of the “rocky” strategy, they tried the “rock the boat” way to get the car out the shitty situation. The woman got inside to press on the pedal while the two men pushed the car. Well, the car still didn’t budge. While doing that, there were other cars that passed by, but still none of them, at least, impulsively stop to help. Wow! 

It was already close to 0300 am and I got sleepy. I went to bed and didn’t get to see the ending to the drama. In the morning, the car was gone. It better be.

A couple of days later, at a family gathering, I was telling my siblings about this story and my mom who just got out of the kitchen and missed the first part of it assumed that I was on the road and one of the passing cars. She immediately quipped, “Do not ever stop your car especially at wee hours. It could be a ruse!” Ooo…now I get it, I thought to myself. The people didn’t stop to help because of their moms.

I guess when you’re in a car trouble on the road at 0200 am, you’re pretty much on your own. I would just call the police though. 

02 September 2020 – Lucky to have spotted a pileus cloud this morning. Wow! The pileus cloud also called scarf cloud or cap cloud, is the lenticular cloud appearing above the cumulonimbus cloud forming a halo. The pileus clouds are short-lived. The one I saw disappeared just seconds after the picture was snapped.

21 August 2020: Got distracted while driving home from work by some fancy-looking cirrus fibratus intortus clouds on the sky today.