Brunei Holidays : Taman Hutan Berakas

Holidays in Brunei, Taman Rekreasi Hutan Simpanan Berakas (Berakas Recreational Park) Brunei Darussalam, trailing the jungle than pass through the campaign huts area, jogging track and finally reach the beach....This park is really an interesting place for you to relax, jogging, hiking, campaign, picnic and whatever...You won't regret if u come over this place. I love the scenery and the fresh air here.

 love this evergreen park

 feel relax

 uphill...downhill..here we're go the jungle

 Jungle track to the Berakas beach

 Berakas Beach

 sunset in Berakas Beach

source :

http://lizakbar71.blogspot.com/2010/12/jungle-tracking-at-taman-rekreasi-hutan.html

Pekan Bangar in Brunei Darussalam

  

Pekan Bangar 

Pekan Bangar is Temburong Town In Brunei Darussalam. It is the second largest district out of four districts in Brunei Darussalam. For further information you can surf about its geography. The ticket fare to Temburong cost for an adult is $6, senior citizen (Warga Emas) is $5 a student is $5 and a child below 12 is $3. This fare is only one way trip to visiting Pekan Bangar Brunei...so you have to pay with the same amount if you want to return to Bandar Seri Begawan...

Pekan Bangar

Pekan Bangar

Pekan Bangar

Pekan Bangar River

Rainbow in Pekan Bangar

Welcome to Temburong

Pekan Bangar river

Pekan Bangar highway

source :
http://lizakbar71.blogspot.com/2010/12/trip-to-pekan-bangar-temburong.html

Brunei Tours Tips

Your most economical option to visit Bandar Seri Begawan Brunei from Manila is most likely Cebu Pacific, which frequently has promo airfares to Brunei. The caveat is that flights are not daily so you have to plan your Brunei trip carefully, and you most likely have to take days off from work.

Assuming you take the same flight schedule we did, you will have the following itinerary:

• Depart Manila on Saturday, 11:45 PM, arrive in Bandar Seri Begawan on Sunday, 1:40 AM
• Depart Bandar Seri Begawan on Wednesday, 2:25 AM, arrive in Manila on Wednesday, 4:20 AM

The schedule is tricky and you have to be very careful when planning your Brunei Tour around this itinerary.

Tip #1: book accommodations correctly
Arrival in Brunei is on Sunday at 1:40 AM, which means you still need to sleep that night. This qualifies as a Saturday check-in (albeit a very late one). Departure from Brunei is on Wednesday at 2:25 AM, which means that at around midnight, you should be heading to the airport already. As such, you don't need to book a room for Tuesday night anymore (otherwise, you pay for a room you won't really use). Given this, make sure you check into your hotel on Saturday and check out on Tuesday. That's a total of three nights - Sat, Sun, and Mon - which makes sense because you will spend 3 full days there (Sun, Mon, and Tue). A group of Pinoys checked into the same hotel and they made the mistake of not booking a room for Saturday night, and no standard rooms were available which caused them a significant amount of hassle.

Tip #2: if you are on a budget, stay at the Jubilee Hotel
It's a very basic hotel, probably 2-star, with basic amenities and no room service. However, the Jubilee Hotel Brunei is pretty cheap - about BN$70 or P2,400 a night - so if you are not fussy and just need a place to stay, this hotel is for you. The biggest selling point, though, is the free airport transfer: transportation is provided to the guests during pick-up (yes, even at 1:40 AM!) and departure. Given that taxis to and from the airport cost about BN$30, you save $60 or about P2,000. That means you effectively spend "only" P1,700 a night on accommodations. That's a steal in my book. The hotel also has free wifi access.

Tip #3: buy a travel book and bring it with you
It isn't too difficult to get around in Brunei tours so you are better off spending about P1,000-P1,500 on a good travel book instead of spending big bucks on a tour. I find Brunei tours to be quite limiting in terms of flexibility. Figuring out what you want to do when you want to do it allows you to explore the city more, and it gives you a lot more time to take the photos you want. You could also read the internet to prepare for your Brunei Tour and mark the places you want to visit, but I prefer having a book with me so I can read and re-read the details of the places I want to go. It also helps a lot when your plans change and you have to figure out what else to do and how to get there.

Tip #4: Proposed agenda
We share what we did in each of our three days in Bandar Seri Begawan Brunei. But there were things we wanted to see that we were unable to visit. As such, assuming health and weather conditions permit, here is my proposed itinerary:

Day 1 (Sunday)

• Late morning: Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque. Try to climb the stairs of the minaret to see a great view of the city, or take the elevator (we didn't get to do this).
• Mid afternoon: Jame'asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque.
• Early evening: Jerudong Park Playground. This amusement park is closed on Mon and Tue, so Sunday will be your only chance to visit. (We weren't able to go here since we were too tired.) It might be hard to get a taxi from the Park when you are there, so try booking the transportation from your hotel.
• Note: if you are Catholic and want to hear mass, you can go to the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption. You can catch the 9:30 AM mass if you wake up early enough, but if you miss it, you can still catch the 5:30 PM mass.

Day 2 (Monday)

• Early morning: Royal Regalia Museum. If you are interested in buying souvenirs, this is actually the best place to do it. A lot of items carried in their souvenir shops like post cards and magnets are cheaper than anywhere else and they have some inexpensive shirts that you can't find anywhere else. Try to go the museum at around 830-9 AM so you can leave by 1030-11 AM.
• Late morning/Noon: take a trip to Seria to visit the Brunei oil fields. The bus terminal is in Jalan Cator and buses to Seria leave every 40 minutes. The trip itself takes about 2 hours. If you catch the 11 or 11:40 AM bus, you should get to Seria by 2 PM at the latest. Once you are in Seria, you can take photos of oil fields from afar and the Billionth Barrel Monument up close. You can also visit the Oil and Gas Discovery Centre. It is closed on Tuesday hence my recommendation to visit it on Monday. You can spend a couple of hours here before heading back to Bandar Seri Begawan in time for dinner or maybe some more souvenir shopping.

Day 3 (Tuesday)

• Mid-to-late morning: Kampong Ayer water tour (including a trip to the mangroves for a backyard view of Istana Nurul Iman)
• After lunch: You have the option of dropping by Istana Nurul Iman for a quick photo op outside the gates. If you don't feel the need for this, you can instead move quickly to
• Mid-afternoon: Empire Hotel and Country Club. Take photos while the sun is still up in the afternoon. You could even have dinner here before heading back to the city center. Make sure you check out one of the souvenir shops here since they also offer some items like shirts and pewter mugs that cannot be found elsewhere.
• Evening: you could make a return trip to the main mosques so you can take photos of them in a different light.

The important thing to remember is that some of the sights are not open daily, so make sure you map out your itinerary to take into account days and times of the day when these tourist spots can be visited.

source :
http://christianpobre.blogspot.com/2010/11/brunei-travel-tips-and-suggested.html

How to Renew or Make New I/C in Brunei

Oct 26^th, 2010 at 2:59pm  

About Brunei Darussalam I/C , When I'm Living in Brunei Darussalam, I am sharing my experience in renewing IC at the Brunei Immigration office in Bandar Seri Begawan to make life easier for you expats in Brunei.

Things to Bring
1. Passport
2. Photocopy of your passport photo page with your details and the page where your employment pass is stamped on.
3. BND20.00 for the fee.
4.Remember to bring along a pen

Steps:

1. As you walk through the main door at the immigration building, turn left immediately into the I/C section.
2. Walk straight to the counter and ask for a form. Fill up the form and submit it to the person at the counter. You should be given a number. It should be a number starting with 2xxx if you are a foreigner. Citizens and PR would get a number starting from 1xxx.
3. Look at the electronic display queuing number. Look only at the number starting from 2xxx. Look at how far down the queue is your turn. If the current number is 2001 and your number is 2101 then you are 100 away from the next person.

4. It takes about 1 hour to go through a queue of 50 persons. So if you are 100 person away from the current number then you should go off to do some other things like shopping and come back in 2 hours. There is no point sitting there for 2 hours.

5. There are 10 counters of which Counters 6-10 are for foreigners and the other Counters 1-5 are for locals. Usually there are lot less locals renewing their IC so the local queue would be empty by around 10:45am. When the local queue is empty, they would then allow foreigner to come into counter 1-5 and speed up the queue.

6. At the counter, your fingerprints and photograph will be taken electronically. You will need to pay $20.00 to the officer. You will be given a temporary IC which is also your receipt to pick up the IC when it is ready in 2 weeks.

7. Go back to the same office after 2 weeks. Submit your temporary IC/receipt to the main counter at the IC section. Your name will be called and you wil be given your new IC. Occassionally your I/C may not be ready within the 2 weeks and you would be asked to go back again.
So what I suggest is that if you don't have an urgent need for an I/C, pick it up after 4 weeks. 

Source :
http://forum.bruclass.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1288076390

Sejarah Ringkas Jabatan Daerah Belait

Daerah Belait adalah daerah yang terbesar diantara empat-empat daerah di negara ini yang mempunyai keluasan 2791.368 km persegi. Daerah Belait mempunyai 8 buah mukim iatu :

1. Mukim Kuala Belait               - 80.502 sq.km

2. Mukim Kuala Balai                - 295.3398 sq.km

3. Mukim Seria                          - 168.730 sq.km

4, Mukim Liang                          - 142.781 sq.km

5. Mukim Bukit Sawat                - 303.306 sq.km

6. Mukim Labi                           - 361.804 sq.km

7. Mukim Sukang                      - 812.245 sq.km

8. Mukim Melilas                       - 602.803 sq.km

Pusat Pentadbiran Daerah Belait dahulunya terletak di Mukim Kuala Balai yang mana ditubuhkan dalam tahun 1926 dan ditadbir oleh seorang Pegawai Daerah Belait yang pada ketika itu Yang Mulia Pengiran Dato Shah Bandar Pengiran Anak Hashim.

Dalam Tahun 1929 setelah minyak ditemui di Pekan Seria, Pusat pentadbirannya pun berpindah ke kawasan Kuala Belait yangmana bangunannya terletak di Jalan Mckerron pada masa ini. Pada ketika itu Pegawai Daerahnya ialah Yang Mulia Dato Shah Bandar Abang Seruji. Sistem Penolong Residen mula diperkenalkan dalam tahun 1930 sehingga dalam tahun 1960 seorang anak tempatan pertama telah dilantik menjadi Penolong Residen Daerah Belait yang pada ketika itu Yang Mulia Pengiran Haji Abu Bakar.

Dalam Tahun 1984, Pusat Pentadbirannya berpindah lagi ke bangunan barunya persebelahan dengan bangunan lama di Jalam Mckerron sehingga ke hari ini. Pegawai Daerah Belait yang sekarang ialah Yang Mulia, Awang Matusin Bin Orang Kaya Sura Haji Tuba.

http://jabatandaerahbelait.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/jdbkhedn

THE Brunei Forestry Department improving recreational parks

THE Brunei Forestry Department is continually improving recreational parks in the Sultanate to further entice the people to go back to enjoying nature.

Speaking to The Brunei Times , Senior Forestry Officer Noralinda Ibrahim said yesterday the Brunei Forestry Department was tasked not only to preserve the woodland and at the same time promote recreational activities through the establishment of forest recreational parks throughout the Sultanate.

She said that one of the policies which had been adopted by the government under the Brunei National Forestry Policy was to ensure that some of the forested areas would be designated for recreational purposes. 

And ensuring the availability and safety of these recreational parks is one of the tasks fulfilled by the Brunei Forestry Department, she said. 

"In this regard, the government has set aside different types of forest and converted them into forest recreational parks," she added. 

Noralinda added the reason why these parks were under the Brunei Forestry Department was because they were situated within the area of a forest reserve and each park has a uniqueness which showcase not only outdoor recreation activities but also being promoted as eco-tourism destination. 

Bukit Shahbandar Recreational Park Picture by Brunei Times

She added that these parks within the forest were built for educational purposes as these serves as outdoor laboratories for researchers and scientists. 

When asked about the budget in maintaining as well as further expanding the recreational parks, Noralinda said, "All the forest recreational parks are given substantial sum of a budget under the National Development Plan. The development of each park is done on a priority, depending on the budget allocation for each year."

"The parks are given a lump sum budget as mentioned it all depends on the development project that are being proposed during a five-year plan."

"Upgrading and enhancing the parks are part of our development strategy," she said. "Development for all the parks depend on its use and public requirement," Noralinda added. 

To date, the Brunei Forestry Department is managing a total of nine recreational parks in all four districts. These include Bukit Shahbandar, Berakas and Bukit Subok in the Brunei-Muara District; Pulau Selirong and Temburong in the Temburong District; Sungai Liang and Luagan Lalak in the Belait District; Tumpuan Telisai in the Tutong District, as well as the Ulu Temburong National Park. 
The Brunei Times 
http://www.bt.com.bn/news-national/2010/10/08/parks-forests-being-improved

Brunei Holidays : Fishing Spot at Teraban River

kampong sungai teraban brunei

Holidays in Brunei, Are you guys looking for the new spot for fishing in the Belait Brunei? Well, you read the post right here. This morning me and Shazana's Production crew have make a documentary for the Brunei Darussalam Interior Ministry.In This morning my boss asked me to bring them to the Sungai Teraban (Teraban River) for filming "one village one product". After filming in one of the houses in this village, we went to the next location where a new fishing location in opened at the Sungai Dua, Kampung Sungai Teraban Belait Brunei.

Its my first time coming to this place. Let me describe few things about this place .. Its located at Jalan Sungai Dua, before the intersection Sungai Teraban oil station. Actually there is no provide parking space here, but you guys have to park your car just beside the way. There are two cottages here  is connected by bridge .. So for anybody who the fishing interests, you can just fishing here and its FREE .. 

If you like fishing too its OK, the view of this cottage was facing the South China Sea and I would say that the wind here was comfortable, I'm not fishing fans but if you just take the wind here was best nevertheless.

-picture above is the hut facilities for rest or fishing-

just for a quick recap guys, amenity provided here is in-sponsored by three local villagers spending roughly $ 35,000. The place open in April this year by the Regional Civil Belait Brunei Jamain Haji Momin and this place actually open-up to attract more crowded fishing enthusiasts to come here and at the same time again to enliven the atmosphere here. 

Chairman of Kampung Teraban River (right) to the location of future fishing trip here this afternoon

. 

So if you guys plan to let it come and maybe you know where they are located, you can always contact the villagers in the area here or can contact the Chairman of Kampong Mohd Mersidi.

source :

http://airil-shamril.blogspot.com/2010/08/maritah-memancing-di-tempat-baru.html

These 3 weeks, we are busy fishing.... we in fishing mood ..... :-)

Fish caught at Muara Beach... last week

Fish caught at Tungku Beach this afternoon....

Is it pila-pila fish?
not sure, but this fish body is flat,
likes to hide in the sand and the belly is white in colour...

Do anyone know if there's a package for those who want to fish offshore?
But for just a day trip...i want to catch "kerapu" fish... :-)

Bukit Tempayan Pisang ahead

This fish was caught on our 4th attempt at fishing at the beach....

We dont even know that kind of fish is that.... heheh