The Generation Gap

If there was one person Ayden loves hanging out with its Abang Amin, the oldest of the cousins. And yesterday he insisted Amin come to the house and they played on the DS - Ayden just couldn't control his excitement laughing and screaming throughout!

Singapore Zoo 2010

I never got round to posting these S'pore Zoo photos from Feb but as it's the school holidays again, it's now a good time as any to do it. We did the elephant show again which the kids loved though non of them were too keen to feed the elephants afterwards!

The highlight was again the water area in the kids section which we did on our last trip, pictures here. We spent nearly a couple of hours here and I had to get them out as I promised to call round to a friend - no points for guessing I had difficulty trying to take them away!

Going...Going....

How fast bulldozers work, just less than two weeks ago we were at this same spot and this jungle was fully intact. The bulldozers moved in sooner than we thought and what would have been our last hash run in this lush green jungle had to be abandoned. The hares had walked in to lay the paper only to be met with a huge open area 10 minutes in. To go in and see the destruction would have been too much and for now I just want to remember Morleys as the jungle I first marked, enjoyed many runs and walks with the Monday walkers, hashers and the children on the kids hash - Happy memories.

Liyana Bebedak

Last of the wedding pictures...

These are of the bebedak or literally powdering ceremony. This is probably my favorite of all the wedding ceremonies as I think brides look stunning in the traditional head gear - you can't get more Bruneian than that! She comes out on to the dais and is given a dab of liquid powder onto her palms by elders from both her and the groom's family. There are altogether seven colours which I was told once has some significance but I cannot remember and in addition to that is the henna. A generation ago immediately after this ceremony, the penganun or older ladies assisting brides and grooms to follow proper wedding customs slap on the henna en masse onto your palms and feet (giving them a very bright orange appearance) but younger brides today opt for the intricate henna that is expertly applied.

True Hasher

One of our veteran hashers celebrated her 1000th run recently - her first hash was the second H3 run back in 1966! It's great to still have her as a regular hasher. What a great achievement and she is only the third person to reach it in H3's history.

Magic Mushroom?

I'm a bit wedding-ed out (though I still have one more lot of wedding pictures to post). Instead I am showing this really strange looking mushroom which we spotted on our walk this morning. We were at an area known to walkers and hashers as Morley Movers and I have previously posted pictures here. We even saw a little snake in the stream today which darted off as we approached.

Unfortunately we also bumped into a bunch of surveyors who told us the bulldozers are coming into the area in a couple of weeks to provide land for 4000 houses. We've known for a while that this would happen but always hoping that it never would :(

Liyana's Wedding Reception

At last the reception or bersanding ceremony. In Brunei the bride and grooms families do not hold joint receptions instead each family hosting their own party which ends with the groom going to the bride and they become a couple. This confuses many friends I have who have been to groom receptions leaving puzzled as to why the bride never appeared!

Liyana's reception was at the Polo Club in the grand Berkshire ballroom which looked superb. Everything went as planned - guests were seated and meal was fantastic. Bride came out swiftly after meal and the flower girls - Iman, Zahra and bride's little sister Icha were beautiful and the boys - Haziq, Hariz and our Jack not only were handsome but also behaved! Groom was prompt and joined his bride. No need for too many words - think the pictures show it all how lovely they looked - may their lives together be filled with love and happiness always.

Mr & Mrs JJ

Yesterday morning Liyana and JJ tied the knot at our local Jerudong mosque. JJ did very well only having to declare his acceptance once. Unlike the conventional exchange of vows, only the man does the "I accept...." bit but it is not as straightforward as is sounds. He has to say it without pausing and he cannot make a single mistake in the order of words, the amount of dowry or her name. If he makes a mistake he will have to start again and again until the wedding kadi or the appointed witnesses think it is ok. It is not unusual for some men to repeat the lines more than ten times before it is accepted! I am very proud to say that Donncha only did it once and my full name isn't exactly short.

Liyana and JJ both looked lovely yesterday and of course very very happy. May their marriage be blessed with happiness always! Tomorrow is the bersanding ceremony. So more to come yet plus I still have pictures from Liyana's berbedak ceremony.