.Je Sais.

.Leaning Tower of Pisa, Mini Europe 2010.

.If this were real, this figurine would probably be thinking: "HOLY &%^(*, what was I thinking?!".

"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. It's just that yours is stupid"

- Anonymous

.still can't believe we got lost with a GPS!!.

Evening folks,

If you're curious enough to read what my entry-title is on about, please click here for the full story!

As of this moment, it's been less than 10mins since I've arrived home. We got lost making our way back from the Brussels Kinepolis theatre (watching the Last Airbender in 3D) and spent 1 hour on driving through Belgium's backyard - might I say it's a HUGE, DARK backyard. Poorly lit roads, confusing signage, twisting and twirling country roads, uber fast highway and what have yous...This is certainly not the right time of day to be exploring Belgium's dirt roads and quaint towns!

We didn't get home until it was 1:15am! Worse part of it all was that, throughout the time we got lost, it was WHILST using the GPS!! Hahahaha EPIC FAILURE!

.The park.

Earlier on the day, we had a office-family picnic at the park. Beautiful weather definitely made the event much joyful as it had put everyone in a good sporting mood - well at least the boys were! lol The ladies spent much of the time walking about or sitting down amongst themselves enjoying cupcakes and other tidbits left for munching.

.I love his smile!.

.Rima & Roanne.

.Danielle & Roanne's Daughter.

.Uncle Hj.Brahim & Mr.Budeen and his samosas.

I'm guessing picnic in big groups aren't a common thing to find in Belgium as we got plenty of stare from the locals that went through the park for their daily walk/run/dog-time, etc. But nonetheless, it was a cool event. We had so much food that I'm quite sure we could've fed almost every single person in the park hahahaha

.Umi and some of the food available!.

Funny incident of the day: Mr. Budeen, the house caretaker, was greeted to the park AND followed from one end of the park to another by a flock of ducks, geese and swans upon our arrival. LOL He was carrying with him a big open box of fresh samosas! Go figure! hahahaha
Another epic memory!

.Mr.Budeen and his samosas.

.How I Travelled All Over Europe in One Day.

In a span of one day, I managed to travel all over Europe without having to purchase an expensive air ticket. "How so?" you may ask! Simple: I only paid 20euros for this trip and gladly enough it took me nearly the whole morning to discover all of Europe by foot. Weather was sunny and beautiful - which was a bonus for us all!

The photo below is one of Belgium's National Heritage, the Atomium, standing 335feet from the ground. This is the building which by insane butthead-cousins and brother did their flying fox! Sliding off from the top sphere and down the rope to the end of the green field which ended right before the roundabout (you'll see the distance they covered from one of the photos below).

Left: you can see how fast the elevator was going up to the top of the Atomium.
Right: Top (almost top view anyways) of the distance of their flying fox.
Note: On the right photo, you can see the two black ropes going down the building?
Yeah...that's the one they slid on!


The steep escalator travelling downwards.
You can imagine how tall and steep it was... the length was endless!

So have you guessed how I've managed to travel all around Europe without getting onto an airplane? Hehehe Your answers below...

Belgium's Mini-Europe: housing all the miniture statues of all of Europe's famous landmarks.

Located next to the Atomium, it was quite easy to find. Simply walk towards the Kinepolis theatre and walk past the restaurant village situated next to the theatre! You can't miss it!
The sign is HUGE (unless, of course, you need your glasses and forgot to bring them... )!!

.Look! Buckingham's lost imperial guard is finally found! What's he doing in Belgium?!.


.Don't ask: my uncle knows how to amuse himself. :)

I was quite amazed by the details that went into building every single country's landmarks. Down to the statues, trains, lakes, national anthem and even little figurines and cars!!! Genius! I wonder if we would ever have something like this in Brunei? I am aware they have something like this at the OGDC in KB but not as detailed or massive in size like this!

.Mom feeling like she's the queen of the world... or in this case, Europe?.


Left: the historical fall of the Berlin Wall
Right: Minute architectural details on the landmarks.

.I Heart Garden Parties.

Just came back from the movies a little while ago from watching Inception. Certainly not a bad movie but I can see that it may not be everyone's cup of tea. It has the "Vantage Point" feel to it (the constant changing, reversing and repeating scenes) and it's quite furutistic-ish too. I definitely love the concept of the plot although I thought the storyline was quite rushed. Nonetheless, if you're into the whole matrix-different-universe-philosophical-abstract-futuristic tales, then this movie might just be the thing for you! If it is... well... go watch it!! ;)

Celebrated HM's birthday just this past weekend, Saturday. Blessed was the beautiful weather: warm, sunny and slightly breezy! I love the feeling of the cool wind running across your cheek and through your hair. The idea of hosting the event as a garden party couldn't have been any better!

.Setting up the Garden Party the day before.

.Fresh local summer berries on standby for serving.

Throughout the day it was just the wafting smell of smoky barbeque circling among a throng of garden activities: subtle patters of high-heeled shoes across pavements, sparkling silverware, shiny white plates, aromatic food and giggles by children running a mock in the garden! The adults were busy buzzing in intellectual and humorous conversations. Many were chattering and networking over tall glasses of refreshing drinks.

.Skewered Prawns/Shrimps for the Barbeque.

.Men have a thing for barbeques, don't they?

Sounds of live music was seductive in the air. Rima was coaxing the crowd, enrapturing them with her soft, sweet melodious voice - mingling into the harmonious twitter of the birds and occasional blusterous laughter of the business folks.

.Rima seducing the crowd with her voice, Fabio jazzing up the crowd.

.Didi having a go on serenading the crowd.

.Some of the faces in the crowd.

.Raoul playing with the soccer ball (preparing for the next world cup?).

And finally the food! Food! Tons and tons upon tons of food laid upon the table up to the sweetening collection of summer berries and towering cupcakes. Heated on the grill were the seductively smoking tender meats up for grabs, vibrant green and colourful salads topped with greek feta cheese and succulent green olives.

.Food, glorious food!.
.Aizad and his uncle posing for the camera.

MMmmmmMMMMmmmmmMMMMMmmm!
It was certainly a nice way to spend my Saturday!

.Shake and Bake 200+ Cupcakes.

Big lesson I learnt about baking in a foreign country: Ingredients don't always, necessarily taste or chemically react the same way as other places.

We're celebrating the delayed HM's birthday tomorrow (when I say tomorrow, I mean in less than 10 hours from now - it's already 2:30am) and I've managed to bake myself 200+ cupcakes in a span of two days - yup, call me insane.

My mind is still on holiday mode after my cousins had popped over from England for a quick visit. They left on Tuesday but like I said... my mind is still on holiday mode. Luckily I've managed to bake, frost and decorate the cupcakes!

So this is going to be a short, non-pictorial post for now. I'm hitting the sack.

Bonne Nuit et Salut!
M.S.

Ok, fine! You got me: I couldn't resist.
.Old photo, this time a few months back in Brunei.

.I Wanna Do Bad Things With You.

.Flying Fox from the top of the Atomium Building with my brother and cousins.

.Chocolat avec mon coeur.

Long summer days and balmy warm nights, floating around in the cooling pool with my bro and my two awesome cousins who came into town to visit - that's how I've been spending my time at home these last few days.

Life has been great, so far :)

I took my cousins and their parents to a weekend vintage market last Sunday, as a way to introduce them to some of the Belgian lifestyles here. This was my first visit there too!

Chit-chatter and mumbles of foreign lingo drown out the noise pollution of the nearby street. The weekend vintage market at Mont-St-Jean was definitely a place to drop by and experience, at least once if you're ever in Belgium.

This market takes place twice a month - on the first and last Sunday of each month.

They say one man's junk is another man's treasure. I have to say I wholeheartedly agree with that phrase. This open-aired market was filled with wonders brimming with antique treasures (...or junk, depending how you see it! hehehe).

.I love this photo.

It's situated within the parking lot of Carrefour (drive past Waterloo into the next neighbouring town and you'll see it there!). It's amazing to see the whole parking lot (probably the size of a football field or perhaps three quarters of it) converted into a market.

.Part of the Vintage Market.

.Vintage Cameras for sale: 5 euros = B$10.

Paintings, African masks, vintage furniture, handbags, shoes, old toys, old maps and even old military uniforms/hats/pilot hats etc etc can be found here! Toys that I once thought could only be seen in the movie screens were displayed right in front of me and were on sale for a mere 2 euros! It was wonderful!!

.Vintage Car Toy.

.African masks for sale.

Everything was on sale AND if you're a good bargainer, things could be much more cheaper for you! My dad bought some good paintings by local artists as low as 150 euros (he bargained well!) whilst my cousins bought for themselves real vintage soviet aviation pins (ones only awarded to you by the air force!) for mere 2 euros!

It wasn't long before my uncle and cousins were hit by the bargain bug, scrounging through all the vendors in search of good treasures for keepsakes!

.my cousins infected with the bargain bug.

.a friendly fellow vintage vendor smiling for the camera.

Later that afternoon I brought my visiting relatives to the ever popular tourist precinct: the Grand Place. Hunger and heat from the fiery sun forced us to seek haven in the cooling arms of Haagen Daz where we were spoilt silly by one of Europe's best ice-cream makers! *sigh*

.My cousin waiting oh-so-patiently for her ice cream.

Pure heaven.

Subsequently because of this orgasmic experience, we all had forgotten to lunch! Hahahahaha.

.Vanilla Praline Ice Cream with Waffle.

I toured them around the area, introducing to them several Belgian's popular heritage such as Jeannekin Pis (the female and much less popular counterpart of Mannekin Pis) and the famous square situated in Grand Place. I was quite keen on showing them more of what this area had to offer but sadly the walking about with the unpitying heat from the soaring sun was proving too much for my uncle who wanted to sit in the shade and relax all day.

.the alleyway leading to Chez Leon - one of Belgium's best mussels restaurant.

.Jeannekin Pis.

.the cheeky Statue Man in the Grand Place square.

So instead, I took them to almost every chocolate store we came across in Grand Place - which to say is A LOT! Hahahahaha

.Chocolate store: Le Belgique Gourmande.

.Store: Les Berlandises.

In the end, the quick small tour of the Belgian lifestyle proved too tiring for my beloved cousins and their parents. For on the trip home, the silence in the car was drowned out by their soft mumbling snores and heavy breathing into la-la land.

.My adorable visiting cousins.