Hello friends,

Just because I’m not updating this blog doesn’t mean I’ve been doing nothing! Hahah. Anyway, I have had an awesome awesome Ramadhan. And I’m just saying that because only the third day of Hari Raya, yet I miss it so much already. 😦 I do look forward to it next year.

During the last few days of Ramadhan, I went to a little village on the Island of Berambang called Kampung Pudak, to break my fast. A charming little place! To get there, one must park at the edge of Kota Batu, in Kampung Serdang, and catch a 10 minute  water taxi ride to the island. The Serdang-Pudak water taxi operates daily and if he is not waiting for you on the jetty, you may call him by the number he carved on the wall of the jetty. 🙂

Anyway, some background. Kampong Pudak is the famous village that was ravaged by a storm only a few months back. The roof of the little mosque was absolutely blown away by the scary storm winds and a lot of houses were badly damaged. Fortunately the Ministry of Home Affairs was very proactive in repairing these damages, in the attempt to preserve what is left of our traditional amphibious villages. The Sultan went down there as well to see the damages, and was angered  because while the villagers’ houses were repaired, nothing has yet been done about the mosque, that was just sitting there looking pathetic without a roof.

The following infamous conversation took place:

Sultan: Why is the mosque still not repaired?!
Minister: We have only allocated the budget to repair the villagers’s houses, Your Majesty.
Sultan: Is there no money in my bank account to repair this mosque?!
Minister: Gulp! *speechless*

The conversation sounded more sarcastic in Brunei Malay! Hehehe. But yes, now all is well, and the villagers and the mosque looks amazing, and you can hardly tell there was any damage done by the big storm. So everyone did a good job! 🙂

But Pudak is such a lovely place. When I went there it was about 6pm, so the village was washed with an amazing golden hue from the sun! Villagers were rushing on the wooden walkway to get back home as it was nearing sungkai time.

Really lovely! And it was one of those places where everyone was just so friendly! We break our fast at the village head’s residence, and almost the whole village stopped by and hung out there as well, to help out.

I love this photo, taken just a few minutes before iftar. If you call yourself a Bruneian, this is one place you must visit. 🙂 Read all about our breaking fast in Pudak here.