Brunei Pictures in "Trekearth Photos"

Coastline of Brunei near the International Airport 
enroute from Bangkok to Australia.

  Tourist attractions in Brunei from "Trekearth Photos"

Chris J liked the diagonal & blue green color combo here. Taken from an RBA aircraft. Brunei Darussalam is location on the northern coastline of the large island of Borneo.

waiting for majesty by markoci

Maulid Nabi (Prophet Muhammad’s birthday) in bandar. The crowds were waiting for the Sultan of Brunei Darussalam, who descends to the streets to walk among his subjects on this special day. Sounds like something straight out of arabian nights. In reality - dressed in rather plain looking clothes - he sort of jogged a few blocks with some bodyguards by his side and the crowds "chasing" after him. It was quite amusing, (no disrespect), pictures taken in the Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque.

Town square of Brunei by MichaeLo

This is the town square in the centre of Bandar seri Begawan, capital city of Brunei. I love Brunei!!! 

The town is so clean & quiet.

Sultan's Mosque by benkrut

Brunei is a small country located in the north part of Borneo (Kalimantan island). Thanks to abundance of oil, Sultan of Brunei is one of the wealthiest men in the world.
The picture of Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque was taken in the capital, Bandar Seri Begawan. The Mosque was build in 1958 by the father of current sultan, and is the biggest and probably the most beautiful in the Far East. The Mosque's golden dome is at 52 meters and can be seen from almost everywhere in the city.
The "impressive example of Islamic architecture" is beatifully finished with Italian marbles, Chinese granite, carpets from Belgium and Saudi Arabia and hand-made stained glasses from England.

 Fishing Boats by aloyho

As the celebration is now over, what Stephen (Sinquanti) dreaded most is adding up the bills. Well, he was right and now we all have to get down to some serious work.
So I am taking you to Jerudong beach which is about 20 minutes drive from the town where a lot of people get their supply of fresh seafood. It is fresh and comes in straight from the sea and people do not mind paying a bit more for it. Besides, people belief that no preservative is used here as compared to imported frozen seafood which may contain preservatives so that it will keep and look fresh longer.
As you can see from the size of the boats, these are small time business catering for local needs only. They do not go very far out to sea and their catch is mostly small fishes, shrimps, cuttlefish, ray fish, small sharks and small tunas. It is usually a family business though there are some rich businessmen who owned some boats and employed fishermen to do the work. The government also helped by providing loans to deserving fishermen to buy boats and fishing gears.
This shot shows the boats coming in with their catch in the afternoon. The weather was not very exciting.

PP –Slight sharpening only.

Flooded with People by aloyho

This is the last in my series on the Sultan’s Birthday Celebration. It was taken on the final night of the celebration and people were flooding the town to witness the floats procession and the final fireworks display in the town square. The Sultan himself personally drove to the square accompanied by his wife.
So, you will see the lights and the crowd in this busy composition. As the light is strong and bright I thought a silhouette crowd would not overdo with the colours and make our eyes overly tired. Besides, I also find the reflected light on the pavement something worth enjoying and paying attention to.
I must thank you all for your constructive critiques which I most appreciated, and for very patiently following through this series. I hope you enjoyed it.

PP – Slight cropping and adjusted levels.

Brunei Condominiums by aloyho

Here is another shot of the Condominiums seen from another location. You can now see another group of buildings of different shapes with the same metallic coloured tiles covering the walls.
The building with the orange roof in the middle ground is a girls’ secondary school. You will also notice that a sidewalk is provided for pedestrians along this part of the road.

Brunei Condominiums by aloyho

There was a time when the world's economy was good and a lot of condominiums and apartment flats were built to cater for the housing needs of foreign contract workers here in Brunei. I find these very interesting and have always attracted my attention. I love the metallic look of the tiles and also its shapes. These condominiums are situated along Ong Soon Ping road, only a few minutes drive from the town centre.

PP- adjusted the contrast slightly.

Bandar Skyline by aloyho

Bandar Seri Begawan is the capital of Brunei Darussalam. It was formally known as Brunei Town and got its present name on October 4, 1970 in honour of the Sultan’s father His Royal Highness Paduka Seri Begawan Sultan Haji Sir Muda Omar Ali Saifuddien.
This section is the oldest part of the town where you can still find the two storey shop houses. The three tall buildings on the left are that of the Islamic Bank of Brunei while the one on the right belongs to the Brunei Malay Teachers’ Association. It is a multi- storey car part cum office and shop lots.
I took this shot from across the river where the water villages are.

PP – As the sun was bright so I have to adjust the level slightly to brighten a bit of the middle tone which otherwise would be dark shadow. Cropped the top and bottom.

Kite's Season by aloyho

Here is another shot showing these young kids learning to be expert in kite flying.
As I mentioned earlier kite flying is also popular among adults. They take this past time a step further by competing to cut each others line. This event usually attracts a lot of attention and caused a lot of excitement as it is a competition between different villages. When a kite is spotted in the air, someone from the other village will quickly fly his kite and try to attack and cut off the line of the other. It is like a dogfight in the air. As usual some on lookers will bet to see who is the winner.
To win one has to prepare his lines well so that it is sharp. Glass pieces are carefully chosen and grounded into fine powder, then mixed with the sticky sap of the leaves of a plant similar to the hollies used during Christmas. This mixture is then rubbed over the thread and dried in the sun.
The kites must also be carefully constructed so that it will pull the string when the player released the line. A poorly constructed kite will only sway and float in the air when the line is released making it easy for the line to be cut by the opponent.
One also needs good maneuvering skills so that your kite will attack from the best position.
As for the prize, it’s just for the thrill and excitement of an afternoon after a day’s hard work. There is no trophy and for the looser, he will make another kite tomorrow and hope this time he will win.

PP – cropped to get the square format and slight sharpening.