While waiting for my photos to be printed, I decided to take a little walk at Serusop shopping area or unofficially known as Brunei's Little India. This area is a major attraction for budget shopping and boasts an increasing number of shops, restaurants and sidewalk vendors.

Varieties of freshly fried fritters known as cucur, banana, yam, sweet tapioca cuts coated with flour and then deep fried. Also available curry puffs, spring rolls and other light snacks... you can't resist!

The camera shy street fruit mongers moved away when they saw me approaching with my camera. So I had my sweet time taking photos of their merchandise as much as I could.

Check out some of the exotic fruits of Brunei. The Membangan (Mangifera panjang), a seasonal fruit from the mango family. The tough outer skin can be removed by making longitudinal cuts, revealing a yellow or orange delightful mango fragrance. Pleasantly sweet and juicy, the flesh is smooth but fibrous.

The Kembayau (Canarium odontophyllum), is another unique fruit of Brunei. Quality breeds have oily yellowish appearance while the outer black-purple skin is removed. The edible portion is the mesocarp which is softened by soaking the whole fruit 5-10 minutes in hot water. Eaten with sugar, it has a fine flavour, crunchy with a rich creamy taste.

Another native fruit of South East Asia and Brunei, the Rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum), has red (sometimes yellow) hairy skin, hence the name rambutan, derived from the Malay word rambut which means hairs. The white fruit flesh is tranlucent, with a sweet, mildly acidic flavour.

Not sure if you like bright colours, but I do! (except in my dress code.. that's a fashion disaster ).

Noticed my links drastically increased? Yea I've linked all (I hope I didn't missed any) those who were featured in Emma's Brunei Online. Long live Brunei blogging industry!

Whoppie! Ok first thing's first, I mentioned about the photo session we had last Saturday, now the compilation of Emma's Brunei Online 2006 is now up and running. Hats off to EmmaGoodEgg and Bobby plus the crew: Mellie, Stella, Fidbit and guest photographers Ahim and Bald. Coming up will be what's behind the scene. Well done team!

Today's photo outing will feature Sunset at The Empire Hotel but this is not just an ordinary photo shoot. Instead it was an HDR outing, we took photos on RAW format and convert it to an HDR image. What's HDR? I'll get back to that later. For now here are some images of Empire Hotel.

..the jacuzzi, swimming pool & Pantai Restaurant..and the little waterfall.

Ok now this is what I was talking about just now. HDR imaging stands for High Dynamic Range and it is a combination of photography and computer graphics. I don't know how to explain it better, click here for more info. Thanks to Bruneian, AnakBrunei and Zadm for the valuable tips on HDR in their websites. These are my first HDR attempts, I still have 3 more to do.

Last night we had a photo session hosted by EmmaGoodEgg, I came a bit late but it was great. It was such an honour to be a Sharp Shooter. I won't say much at this stage but just stay tuned for us in Emma's website. Thanks to Emma & Bobby.

Something for a change today, let me give you a tour of a little sanctuary I call home. It's raining outside, so it's gonna be interior only.

..and the still life inside..

..wildlife in the house...

Now talk about dinner, recently featured in BiG Magazine, Casbah London Kebab now opens a new branch in Sengkurong on a new block of building nearby Hua Ho Sengkurong. Being a fan of kebabs and Lebanese food, this is the place to be. Thumbs up to them. Call 2676111 for more details.

Also I did a review for Nadj Restaurant for The Brunei Restaurant Review website. Check it out!

Things are best done with a back-up or contingency plan. In photography, back-ups are a vital. Professional cameraman will usually bring along back-up cameras to cover a major events. I didn't get much photos from Azmal & Rahimah's wedding last night because my camera battery died on me, and I didn't have a spare. So now a new item included in my wishlist.

Here's another God's divine masterpiece during sunset today. Bless us!

Sunsets are usually a favourite scene for love birds, strolling along the sands, making heart shaped sand sculptures or write their names on the sand. Sunsets also provides breathtaking view which will take away all the stress of a hard day's work. For me, it is a sneak preview of Paradise, a divine creation by God.

Setting up a tripod on the sandy beach was kinda hard, especially when hit by waves and your tripod tends to sink. Hence camera shakes and horizon errors are something we have to deal with.

This was my 2nd photoshoot session with Bruneian and Zadm who in fact shot sunrise on the same day, a productive day for both of them. While me and Kantalensa joined for the sunset.

Congratulations to Syed Azmal and Rahimah for their wedding today. Semoga berbahagia hingga ke anak cucu.

The first flight carrying returning Haj pilgrims landed safely in Brunei around 8.20pm tonight. I think its a challenge to photograph hectic situations and people on the move but I'm slowly getting the feel of it.

..happy to be home, may God bless their pilgrimage to the Holy Lands..

..some even brought back the fashion of Saudi Arabia.. including the musky aroma of arabian Oud, those kind of fragrances can linger in your nose for days..

.."ok you can pick me up now.. I'm here already"

On other note, had lunch with my colleagues at Misato Japanese restaurant at Shakirin Complex, Kiulap. The place and the food wasn't bad, price quite reasonable. The service was kinda slow but it was peak hours ya! Sushi lovers, this place is worth a visit. Wasabi challenge anyone?