The Pondok

Before our arrival in Brunei I remembering hearing about all kinds of bizarre things and wondering what on earth they were...  one of which was a Pondok.  Well, I'm pleased to report that we have our very own pondok now - here's the shots before...

and after:

The pondok is an extra room on the side of the house, but ours has mesh instead of windows - so it's kind of inside/outside at the same time!  The idea is that the wire mesh keeps the monkeys out (which works), and the plastic mesh keeps the mosquitoes out (which doesn't really...  oh well, we have citronella candles).  The hammock has proved an excellent addition, although we find ourselves fighting to get to it first every evening!

Although in this shot it looks like the view out of the pondok is the car, the main attraction is that the sun goes down in that direction, so we like to sit in here and watch the sunset, listen to the call-to-prayer from the local mosque and enjoy a 'sundowner' (usually a gin and tonic).  I'm not sure those last two things are mutually compatible...

The sunsets here can be pretty dramatic, so it's worth the occasional bug-bite to see them.

Our fairy lights from Vietnam add to the ambience.

However, it's been bothering me that the ponkdok still looks a little empty.  It's an awfully large space and we don't have that much to fill it.  The huge blank wall at the end of the room certainly wasn't helping...  so I was delighted when I found these fantastic stickers in a local shop (WW Mart, for my Bruneian friends).

The designs are great, but unfortunately they come with no instructions whatsoever, and only a miniscule picture of what the finished product should look like.  Still, I managed pretty well with the first one:

I was pleased with this - very sweet I thought.

The second one wasn't quite so straightforward so I ended up chucking the picture away and going completely off-piste, making it up as I went along...

Hmm, not quite so successful, but I do like the overall effect (I didn't use the second birdcage sticker).  It seems to make the room look a bit more finished.

I won't know which way to look when I lie in the hammock this evening (Rob's not here so I'm guaranteed to get to it first!)