A Weekend of Meeting Important People!

Over 3 weeks after Ramadan ended, and the celebratory month of Hari Raya Aidilfitri continues - these Bruneians sure know how to party!  Last year we had only just arrived in Brunei when Hari Raya was upon us, so we went to relatively few Open Houses, but this year we know lots more people and have therefore had lots more invites to various Open House parties.  It's such a nice tradition.

This weekend we had 2 particularly important ones... 

On Friday night we went to an Open House at the Officers' Mess on Bolkiah Camp.  This was hosted by the female officers who 'live in' at the mess.  It was spectacularly decorated with thousands of fairy lights, and the food was superb - stalls outside serving lamb, satay, kebabs, murtabak, etc, and a selection of curries and sweets inside.  Of course everyone was excited about the special guest, the Sultan himself, who attended with one of his sons.  Here they are, chatting with the hostesses:

After they had done this, the Sultan was invited to sign the guest-book for the evening...  which just happened to be right next to where I was standing!

After this he stood up and started doing the rounds of the room, shaking hands and chatting with the other guests.  He came straight up to the group that I was standing with...  it's amazing how tongue-tied one can suddenly become when the Sultan of Brunei is shaking your hand!!  Thankfully my friends picked up the conversation so I didn't feel too daft.  Now this all happened rather fast, and Rob had wandered off to chat to someone else, so of course he missed the opportunity to take a photo of me and His Majesty.  I was quite cross as I'm always the one who takes photos of other people with the Sultan and no one ever gets a shot of ME (case in point, here's one of Rob on Friday night:)

So just as the Sultan was finishing greeting people, I thrust my camera at Rob and rejoined the hand-shaking line... 

Rob redeemed himself - Success!!  I'm laughing because the Sultan shook my hand then looked at me and said "You again!" - and then did exactly the same to the girl next to me who had also lined up for a second hand-shake!  We told him he had a good memory, and he laughed.  I don't think I've ever had the opportunity to meet one of the British Royal Family face-to-face, but the Royals are much more accessible here in Brunei.  It's a much much smaller country of course, but they are very 'visible', often seen driving around (complete with hoards of motorcycle outriders), and attending public events.

On Saturday we attended another Open House that I was no less excited about - Maya's!  I first met my fellow Brunei food-blogger Maya a couple of weeks ago when she invited me to an Open House at her parents', but this was at her own house.  I was so pleased that Rob could meet Maya, and of course for us both to meet her lovely family (so welcoming!), and of course we were very excited to see her famous new RED kitchen - fabulous, lah?   (NB, 'lah' is the Bruneian equivalent of the Canadian 'eh'!  I'm such a cultural chameleon...!)

Oops, we appear to have adopted our signature 'kawai' pose again!

The food was - need I say it? - fantastic.  Maya's mother-in-law had cooked the savoury dishes which included Soto (a local chicken noodle broth with lots of condiments) and satay.

Rob helping himself to the Soto.

 The desserts were Maya's creations - strawberry-topped chocolate cupcake, mini cheesecakes and tiramisu.  *Yum*

Another sociable and food-filled Brunei weekend!

The White Ball

After the excitement of the Sultan's Birthday Parade that I blogged about on Friday, last night we had the 'White Ball' at the Palace.  This is somewhat of a misnomer because it is not really a ball; there's no ballgowns and no dancing - not even any music - but what it is is a huge sit-down dinner for thousands of uniformed people (mainly military and police) in celebration of the Sultan's birthday.  It's called the White Ball because everyone wears white.  Those in uniform wear their smart white jackets (or 'ice-cream suits' as we cheekily call them!) and the 'other halves' wear anything that's a) white and b) appropriately modest.

The Istana Nurul Iman is the Sultan's huge palace overlooking the river in central Bandar.  We have visited once before, last year for Hari Raya, when the palace is opened to the public for 3 days, but this was an altogether smarter and more exciting affair.  Unfortunately not all of the Loan Service got their invitations to the Ball, but we were lucky enough to do so, and excited to spend an evening at the Istana.

As we drove through town towards the palace we were wowed by all the fairy-lights that were strung up everywhere, on lamp-posts, roundabouts, in trees, etc.  It gave the place a really festive feel.  This theme continued as we entered the palace gates, and went into the palace itself.

We proceded through the entrance hall where we went through airport-style security scanners, and then - very amusingly - were stickered with little labels that said 'Normal Body Temperature'!!  The White Ball was cancelled 2 years ago due to the H1N1 outbreak, so I suppose they were just being super-cautious.

There were no allocated seats so we found some more Loan Service friends and sat with them.  I just loved all the royal crockery and cutlery, and the huge silver dishes in which the food was being kept warm.

Having come through a metal-detector on the way in, there was definitely not going to be any cutlery-pinching this evening (as if we would!) but I did keep the menu as a souvenir.

Chatting with LS friends who had been to this event last year, we realised that it was going to be a long evening, so we took the opportunity to wander around and take some photos.  We were rather tickled when we followed the red carpet back through the palace along the route that the Royal party would no doubt be taking, and came upon this little escalator!  

We made sure of course to get plenty of photos of the two of us on the red carpet too.

We sneaked a peek into the Sultan's dining room which was incredibly lavishly decorated.  We had queued through this room at Hari Raya, but it was lovely to see it all set out for dinner, complete with gold chairs.   The main attraction however was the air-conditioning!  We spent a few minutes standing outside the open doors, just enjoying the cool breeze.  Unfortunately we didn't qualify as VIP-enough to warrant a seat in here...  never mind!

At about 9pm there was a definite buzz in the air and we all stood up as the Sultan and his family entered.  As soon as they were seated it was time for macan - food!

The burners underneath the food dish had obviously stayed alight as the food was nicely hot, and really tasty.  There was a lamb dish, a beef dish with cashew nute, a chicken curry, a prawn Thai curry, chili fish and mixed vegetables, along with 2 types of rice.  We all got stuck in.  The amazing multi-coloured dessert was layered pistachio, raspberry and passion-fruit, and was delicious.

An intimate meal for thousands...!

Just as we were finishing dessert we all had to leap to our feet as the Sultan and his entourage were starting their rounds.  They shook hands with every single one of the guests, literally thousands of people.  It took over 2 hours.  I can only imagine the potential for repetitive-strain-injury for the poor man!  

Not surprisingly they worked their way along the lines at quite a pace, so the opportunity for photos was limited.  They were also surrounded by official photographers and cameramen, so we weren't able to get our own photos of us shaking the Royal hand.  I did catch them on their approach though:

 

His Majesty the Sultan, followed by the Crown Prince.

One of our party shook the Sultan's hand and then, desperate for a better photo opportunity, ducked into the next line, and managed to do the same again (while another friend with a great camera managed to get the most fabulous picture of him shaking hands with His Majesty).  The Sultan, to his credit, did a subtle but noticeable double-take at shaking the same hand twice - he was obviously paying attention!

The Loan Service working the white theme!

 

Excitement over, we then had to wait for the Sultan to work his way through our dining area, and then on to the other one.  We finally left at nearly midnight, tired but happy to have had such a fun evening - what a great experience!

Happy Birthday to the Sultan of Brunei!

Today is the Sultan of Brunei's 65th birthday.  It would be tricky to forget this date as there are signs and banners all over the country to remind us - plus it's a public holiday in celebration!

I have to say, I'm a big fan of the Sultan.  He seems like a genuinely nice chap - and I say that having met him a couple of times over the last year.  Brunei is a small country, and he's often 'out and about' meeting and greeting the locals (who adore him).  And of course, he often attends military events, such as the Hari Raya Open House at the Officers' Mess.

I also like the way that there are so many photos of him smiling, as well as more formal ones.  I think he's a very handsome man.

This morning we were up super-early as Rob had had an invitation to the birthday parade in the centre of Bandar.  Unfortunately it was only an invitation for him, so he dressed up smartly in his uniform and got a comfortable and shaded seat in the stands, while I was looking distinctly scruffy and had to watch the parade over the fence.  However, I still had a great time and really enjoyed wandering around taking photos of the spectacle.

Local TV cameras out in force.

So many important-looking people in their finery.  I think this headgear is wonderful.

The mosque was a stunning backdrop to the proceedings.

The Crown Prince arrives.

Huge motorcade, lots of cheering and flag-waving...

It's the Sultan!

What could these be for?

BOOM!!!!  Oh yes, the 21-gun salute!  Wow, that was LOUD.

The Sultan walks out to inspect the troops.

And returns in his fabulous gold landrover!

 The flypast, which included 2 of my neighbours (1 in a helicopter, the other in a plane).

The Sultan gives me a wave as he leaves..!

The Sultan's brother leaves in an amazing purple Rolls Royce.

Who doesn't love a man in uniform?  Rob looking very dashing.

I really enjoy events such as this in Brunei; after all it's what living here is all about in my mind, appreciating the history and culture of a different country.  I'll never get this experience again, so am trying so hard to make the most of it.  Next excitement - the Sultan's birthday 'White Ball' at the Istana (Palace) on Sunday night!

But until then, Happy Birthday Your Majesty!

Hari Raya Part 3 - Open Houses

The Bruneians (and maybe other countries in the Muslim world?) have a great tradition during the season of Hari Raya - that of 'Open House' parties.

These are exactly as you might guess, a time when friends and acquaintances are invited to visit and eat a meal at your house.  The invitation usually spans several hours and you just drop in whenever you can during that time.  Unusually - to those of us used to the dinner-party style of entertaining - you are only expected to stay about half an hour.  Go in, get food from the buffet, eat,  leave.  This means that you can go to several in one day... if you can manage all those meals!

Last weekend we went to two Open Houses on Sunday afternoon, both connected to my school.  The food was amazing at both, and we had a very sociable time as many of my colleagues were there at the same time.

Last night however we went to an Open House at the Officers' Mess here on the camp where we live.  We had heard a rumour that there might be a very special guest making an appearance, and when we noticed that the speed-bumps through the camp were being removed yesterday afternoon we knew it was true...  Yes, the Sultan of Brunei himself was coming (and he clearly doesn't like his car journey to be disrupted by speed bumps - who does?!!)

The Mess was brightly lit as we arrived...

And inside there were decorations galore, mainly in green and gold, the colours of Hari Raya Aidilfitri.

There was a great band playing traditional music:

 
We were highly impressed by the food that was being served in the tent behind the Mess.  There were even fresh Roti being fried.

We sat and ate with a Bruneian family, and chatted with a couple of the young officers who were officially hosting this event.  They had barely slept for days, organising everything, and decorating the Mess.

Suddenly the young officers were called to line up in formation...

The guests began forming an excited line too - the sense of anticipation was palpable. 

We joined the line too!  Why not?!

And preceded by a flurry of camera flashes, in walked the Sultan himself, followed by his son the Crown Prince.

He was casually dressed and made his way along the line, greeting everyone and shaking hands. 

We stood there excitedly, mentally repeating our greeting ("Selamat Hari Raya Your Majesty") and hoping that Rob was managing to get a few shots of our royal meeting (Rob had generously chosen to stand back and be the photographer, as he got to shake the Sultan's hand last weekend at the Palace!)

You can see from my broad grin that I was very excited - it's not every day that you get to meet a member of the royal family, and I've now met the Sultan, the Crown Prince and the Sultan's wife, and all in one week!

After his photo-call with the officers, the Sultan sat down to eat with the General, but then made his way round the Mess again, mingling and chatting.  He came and spoke to us again too and asked us how long we had been in Brunei, and how we were liking it.  Of course we were suitably complimentary - and obviously ended up talking about the weather.  We are British after all!

It's been a very happy Hari Raya!