16 more days to the UN Climate Change Conference at Copenhagen. Cast your vote for Earth now at the Earth Hour site. Your vote will contribute to a global mandate for action on climate change, to be presented to world leaders at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. I already did!

WordPress is having its PMS today so I could not upload any picture. Else you would be able to see my bareback being massaged. Not!

It felt like eternity that I havent put up a post here. I wasnt in a mood to post anything here but life goes on. For the past couple of weeks I have been experiencing one spa after another, just to de-stress and calm myself down. I didnt realise there are so many spas in Brunei, like mushrooms after a rainfall. I always refer to this useful site called Sanctuary Guide for guidance on the local scene, apart from words of mouth of course. Words of mouth works best in Brunei so dont waste your money on expensive advertisements and, dont forget us, bloggers :p

It is really hard to decide which is the best in Brunei as there are a number of factors to determine that special award. Personally for me, the location is a priority. I had this wonderful Asian massage for almost two hours and when I stepped out of the place, what did I see? Car wash, car tyres and sound pollution coming from nearby workshops. There goes serenity.

Another factor for me is the massage therapists, not sure if some are really qualified to be call as such. There was this spa with products I love but I didnt like the therapist. She was really rough though I have told her many times to be a bit gentler. I dont know, maybe she was having a bad day or PMS. The next day my body ached and I called her boss. Nope, I didnt return back to the spa; that was the first and the last.

Ambience is also important. You want to have a wonderful, blissful heaven and not a ‘kedai kopi’ or kiosks atmosphere. I was at one spa owned by a Bruneian and all throughout my session, the therapist was exchanging remarks and gossips with the other in the next room. I didnt finish my session and asked her to stop, paid for the session and complained to the lady boss. The boss put her long face. I thought she was upset with her staff but it turned out she was angry with my comments. Well, its her business and I was her customer. Not recommended.

Expensive does not equate to high standard. An expensive (to me) package that I bought for one session at one of the hotels proved to be one of my regrets. I was wrapped with mud all over my body except my hair. I wish it was chocolate so I could lick it and let it melt in my mouth. I fall asleep as it was so good but was awoken with a shiver as the mud had dried up and the therapist was out of sight. When I called her, she rushed and apologised profusely for ‘leaving’ me. I asked what the time was. When she told me the time, I realised she has left me in cracked mud for more than three hours!

Next, I was supposed to have an hour soak but because I had three instead of an hour mud-wrap, the therapist asked if I could step out of the bath in less than half an-hour. I asked why and she said there’s another customer waiting and all baths were fully utilised at that time. Fine, I was already cold so I agreed to step out. Then I was supposed to have two hours of Swedish massage and you guessed it, its only an hour, maybe less. Oh why do this things happen to me? When I dressed-up I asked to see her boss and I complained on their poor service. At least, this time the boss was sympathetic and upon checking on the time I was in, she agreed to give me a discount by almost a quarter. She also noted on the attendant’s name and promised she will be dealt with. I left, unsure if I wanted to go there again.

I won’t say that I always have bad experience but when you are paying, your expectation is high. I did have a couple of good time at least at a couple of spas and health saloons. I wanted to venture out to Belait and Seria. I will ask my friends there for recommendations.

In the meantime, what prompted me  to put up this post is this news on the Fifth AsiaSpa Awards held last night at a glittering evening in Hong Kong. I wish I was part of the scene. Read more here. I wonder when would Brunei be recognised as a spa haven. This spa-tourism is not new in other countries and I sincerely hope the Tourism Department is considering this type of tourism. Eco-tourism? Sabah and Sarawak are also doing the same so why not spa-tourism in Brunei. Anyone out there who would like to be my partner? Seriously.

Okay so the winners of the AsiaSpa Awards 2009 are (and where is Brunei?):
Destination Spa of the Year: Six Senses Destination Spa, Phuket, Thailand
Urban Spa of the Year: Bliss Spa, W Hotel, Hong Kong
Day Spa of the Year: Green T. House, Beijing
New Spa of the Year: The Spa at Mandarin Oriental, Sanya
Spa for Men of the Year: Chuan Spa at Langham Place Mongkok, Hong Kong
Spa Retreat of the Year: COMO Shambhala Retreat, Uma Ubud, Bali
Eco-Spas of the Year: Spa by Mandara, Alila Villas Hadahaa, Maldives
Socially Responsible Spa of the Year: The Shinta Mani Spa, Cambodia
Medi-Spa of the Year: S Medical Spa, Bangkok
Asian Spa Capital of the Year: Thailand
Spa Association of the Year: APSWC – Asia-Pacific Spa & Wellness Coalition
Spa Event of the Year: Global Spa Summit
Spa Personality of the Year: Karina Stewart, Co-founder, Brand & Concept Director, Kamalaya Wellness Sanctuary
In-Spa Training of the Year: CHI, The Spa at Shangri-La
Spa Academy of the Year: Banyan Tree Spa Academy
Spa Design of the Year: Green T. House, Beijing
Best Children’s Spa Menu of the Year: Ice Cream Spa, Conrad Maldives Rangali Island
Spa Treatment of the Year: “Hilot Trilogy”, Mandala Spa & Villas, Boracay
Holistic Treatment of the Year: “Sound and Stone”, Gwinganna Lifestyle Retreat, Australia
Men’s Spa Treatment of the Year: “Man Space Healing Balance Massage”, i.sawan Residential Spa & Club, Grand Hyatt, Erawan Bangkok
Spa’s Therapist Team of the Year: Mandarin Oriental
Spa Product of the Year: Algotherm
Anti-Ageing Product of the Year: Aromatherapy Associates, ‘Fine Line Face Oil’
Natural Product of the Year: il?, ‘il? Face Oil for Glowing Radiance’
Men’s Product of the Year: Pevonia, ‘Easy-Glide Shaving Emulsion’
Spa Cuisine of the Year: The Farm, Philippines
Spa Marketing of the Year: CHI, The Spa at Shangri-La

The US Embassy in Brunei has released the International Religious Report 2009. Of interest, there is a Brunei report starting off with what the Brunei’s Constitution states on religion: “The religion of Brunei Darussalam shall be the Muslim religion according to the Shafi’i sect of that religion: Provided that all other religions may be practiced in peace and harmony by the person professing them in any part of Brunei Darussalam.”

I am picking up stats and info from the report. During the reporting period from 1 July 2008 to 30 June 2009:

• Brunei’s population is 380,000. The population includes -
  197,260 (or almost 52%) are Muslims;
  16,215 (4%) are Buddhists (Buddhism is the second largest religious belief in Brunei);
  6,884 (1.8%) Christians;
  712 (0.2%) are Roman Catholics;
  242 (0.06%) Hindus;
  72 (0.02%) Baha’is;
  34 (0.009%) atheists;
  40 (0.01%) Taoists;
  33 (0.008%) Sikhs;
  7 (0.001%) Nasrani;
  53 (0.013%) of other religious groups; and
  16,916 (4.45%) did not state their religious preference.
• There are 101 mosques and Muslim prayer halls, seven Christian churches, three Chinese temples, and one Hindu temple officially registered in the country.
• The following religious holidays as national holidays: Chinese New Year, Christmas Day, Hari Raya Aidil Fitri (Eid ul-Fitr), Hari Raya Aidil Adha (Eid ul-Adha), First Day of Ramadhan (Ramadan), First Day of the Muharram (Islamic Calendar), Isra Mikraj (Isra Me’raj), the Prophet Muhammad’s Birthday, and Nuzul Al-Quraan (Revelation of the Quran).
• Several religious groups were banned that are considered deviant, including Al-Arqam, Abdul Razak Mohammad, Al-Ma’unah, Saihoni Taispan, the Baha’i faith, Tariqat Mufarridiyyah, Silat Lintau, and Qadiyaniah.
• There were 54 khalwat (close proximity between sexes) cases.
• 369 conversions to Islam.

The report said that the Brunei Government categorizes Catholics as distinct from other Christians. There is also an indigenous population that adheres to traditional beliefs, although they often convert either to Islam or Christianity.

Disclaimer: Please note that I didn’t get anything for putting up this poster. This is entirely done due to the main cause of this event. Please do come along and experience a little of the many challenges face by the visually-impaired.

Fri, 6 November 2009 @ Hua Ho Manggis. Be part of the Seeing is Believing Charity Fund.

I hope I am not being hit by marriage counsellors because of this post but this can be a fact of life. Just take the humorous side of it yeah. P/S: Dont let this deter you from getting married.

#CASE 1

Getting married is like going to a restaurant with friends. You order what you want, then when you see what the other fellow has, you wish you had ordered that.

#CASE 2

At the cocktail party, one woman said to another, “Aren’t you wearing your wedding ring on the wrong finger??” The other replied, “Yes, I am. I married the wrong man.”

#CASE 3

Before a man is married, he is incomplete. Then when he is married, he is finished.

#CASE 4

Marriage is an institution in which a man losses his bachelor’s degree and the woman gets her master’s status.

#CASE 5

A little boy asked his father, “Daddy, how much does it cost to get married??” And the father replied, “I don’t know son, I’m still paying for it.”

#CASE 6

Young son : “Is it true, Dad, I heard that in some parts of Africa, a man doesn’t know his wife until he marries her?”

Dad : “That happens in most countries son.”

#CASE 7

Then there was a man who said, “I never knew what real happiness was until I got married, and then it was too late.”

#CASE 8

A happy marriage is a matter of give and take; the husband gives and the wife takes

#CASE 9

When a newly married man looks happy, we know why. But when a ten-year married man looks happy, we wonder why. Affair ?

#CASE 10

In the first year of marriage, the man speaks and the woman listens. In the second year, the woman speaks and the man listens. In the third year, they both speak and the neighbors listen.

#CASE 11

After a quarrel, a wife said to her husband, “You know, I was a fool when I married you.” And the Husband replied, “Yes, dear, but I was in love and didn’t notice it.”

#CASE 12

A man inserted an ‘ad’ in the classified : “Wife wanted”. The next day, he received hundreds letters. They all said the same thing “You can have mine.”

#CASE 13

When a man opens the door of his car for his wife, you can be sure of one thing : either the car is new or his wife is new.

#CASE 14

A woman was telling her friend : “It is I who made my husband a millionaire.”

“And what was he before you married him?” the friend asked. The woman replied, “A Billionaire.”

4 degree map

The 4 degree map - the impact of a global temperature riseof 4 degrees C (7 degrees F)

Imagine what happen if the global average temperature rises by 4 degrees Celcius above the pre-industrial climate average. The Act on Copenhagen site says that the impacts of climate change will be widespread across the globe. In order to understand more about what the human impact of high-end climate change might be, a map (above)produced by the UK’s Met Office Hadley Centre was produced which represents the latest peer-reviewed science on the impacts.

Go to this page on the 4 degree interactive map to click the interactive controls and select which impacts you want to see, zoom on specific geographies and access on more information on the science of the map. Of my interest, I click a zone very near to Brunei which shows the rise in sea level. Here are some of the findings in a summary:

• Sea level could rise as much as 80 cm by the end of the century. Low-lying reasons such as Bangladesh will be affected.
• For the population in the year 2075 (I will be long gone by this time), a mean sea-level rise of 53 cm means that up to an additional 150 million people per year will be flooded due to the extreme sea level. Three quarters of these people live in Asia (please note this).
• 56 million people from the 150 million will be from the Indian Ocean, 25 million from the east Asian cost and 33 million people from the Southeast Asian coast (thats us!).
• Hottest day of the year could be as much as 6 degrees warmer over highly populated areas of China.
• Decrease in rice yields of up to 30% in China, India, Bangladesh and Indonesia.
• Disease patterns have changed.
• Marine ecosystem affected. Livelihoods of those depending on the fisheries industry would be affected too as well as loos of coral reef habitats due to acidification.
• Northern Siberian permafost will almost completely dissapear and reduction in Alaska and Canada.
• Drought events occur twice as frequently across southern Africa, South-East Asia and the Mediterranean basin.
• Water resources affected by up to 70% reduction in run-off around the Mediterranean, Southern Africa and large part of Southern America.

Not a complete set, the rest of the books I have on my desk - not collecting dust! Natural History lovers should have this set.

I have previously posted The Seashore Life Of the Brunei Heart of Borneo booklets last June. According to the project leader and main author of the books, Roger Mc Ilroy who reported from cold and windy Scotland; the booklets were launched last Friday, 16 October, when BSP – the sponsor of the booklets – planted their 10,000 trees at Badas. I was away at that time and so I miss the boat. You may have read on the news of the launching from The Brunei Times aptly titled ‘BSP digs deep to preserve HoB’.

I did promise to give an insight on the booklets in my post. I will do as soon as I got more details from Roger on where the general public can get these very useful books on Brunei’s natural history. The plan, Roger said, was to distribute the sets to the schools around Brunei and made them available at all bookstores.  Although the book is intended for students, anyone interested should also grab them and have a read.

Page 17 of Vol 5 - The Crustaceans show a pic of a stressed crab that it foams. Maybe thats where the word 'crabby' comes from.

One of the photographers for the booklets was none other than Jan Shim whose pic of a foaming Horn-eyed Ghost Crab was selected in Vol 5 – The Crustaceans. The pic, as always from any of Jan’s work, is superb. Quoting from the book…”The Horn-eyed Ghost Crab is considered to be the most seaward living of the Ocypodes, one of the many types of crabs….” And the foam? Well, the book says: “When the Ocypode crab is stressed, it blows bubbles.” You have to read more from the book on the how

Its only Tuesday and now its 15:30 hrs as I type and I am already drained. Yesterday at work was hectic, not only because its Monday but my computer crashed. I just got back to work and I was sure emails and tasks would be shouting for my attention. I tried to sign in and all there to see was this blue screen. Nice! So now I am working from another work-station which is painfully s-l-o-w that even I have time to multi-task other stuff that doesnt need a click on the keyboard in between coffee and chocolate chips. Tuesday now and still no sign of recovery of my computer, I have to resort to the turtle work-station.

While googling for “energy booster” or ‘energy drinks or quick-fix food to boost energy level or smarter lunch”, I came up with this interesting article on ‘Out of Energy’ by one Denise Schipani. Denise outlined that there are nine things that zap our energy and writes how to fix them. She started the article with ‘It’s 3pm….’ How timely!

To save your energy reading the full article, I have put a summary of the list of the energy zippers and their fixes:

1. Being addicted to e-mail (ehem …) - If you continually halt to what you are doing to answer e-mail, check voice mail, and attend other beepers and blips from your pc or Blackberry, your attention becomes diluted which leaves you feeling depleted.  Fix this by switching off your electronic gadgets during your most productive hours – usually in the morning.
2. Visual clutter - I like this one. According to me (hehe), clutter equal to mess. The article says clutter signals disorder which makes us anxious. Our brain sense that anxiety. Fix: clear the clutter hun to give your eyes a rest rather than dart from mess to mess.
3. Being bored – I don’t know if anyone has time to get bored at work and if yes, please switch position with me. I never seem to have that time. Well, boredom for some people can be due to doing the same job or task so it’s monotonous.  Mental foot-dragging, boredom and lack of motivation are draining. Energy fix this by finding a partner or co-worker in a time challenge. Or, promise yourself a motivational reward for completing the task at hand.
4. Poor posture - Hunching wrecks havoc on your energy level. Enough said. Reboot your posture with these tips from my fav instructor, Denise Austin.  
5. Toxic indoor air - Copy machines, office carpet, cleaning chemicals all produce toxins in the air and you dont know how it can contribute to the level of toxins in your body. Go outside for ten minutes and smell the coffee or flowers or have houseplants inside. Dont also wear your shoes inside your house as youre dragging not just dirt in your soles but also chemicals and harmful pesticides from outside. Now you know why Asians leave their shoes outside the house? Islam has long taught on this due to the same reason.
6. Eating too much at once -  The effect of a heavy lunch is most noticeable in the afternoon because the slump happens at that reach-for-coffee-or-sugar hour – at 3pm. Fix this by eating every four hours instead of six. Increase your energy by smarter lunch which what I was looking for in the first place!
7. Living in artificial light – Know your body rhythm – our body rhymes with the sun as it means its time to wake up (or should have woken up for Subuh). So a 10 to 20 minute walk in the sun may boost your energy instead of staying indoors during lunch break (this is a note to myself too).
8. Listening to Negative Nellies - Pardon to anyone name Nelly but Negative Nellies? I have experienced this sort of person who just nags and whines and complaints every single thing in her life and boy, was I exhausted myself. So avoid Nellies.
9.  Holding to a grudge – Resentment is a huge energy-drainer and such negative emotions along with anger are toxic as they hung inside our tense muscles. So the answer, though it takes practise (and time) is to forgive old mistakes. We are all humans and are bound to make mistakes.

Okay I feel rejuvenated posting this here and reading THAT email make my day too

Its Blog Action Day today. Every 15 October, bloggers from all around the world unite to talk about the same issue on the same day with the hope that their voices will provoke discussion on the issue of global importance. From the Blog Action Day’s site, 7,194 blogs from 141 countries across the world have registered to join and talk on the issue of climate change. Here’s my take on the issue on my way to a training course and during my lunch break.

Climate change is already happening. Every day we hear devastating news about all these natural disasters like typhoons and earthquakes which left hundreds and thousands to lose their livelihoods. I am really hopeful for the world leaders who will meet in Copenhagen this December will come up with a real, sensible outcome on how to tackle climate change.

Now don’t say that Brunei is not affected. I don’t know if anyone knows that Brunei is among the highest carbon emitter per capita. Tiny Brunei with a population of about a quarter million is not spared from the effect of climate change. The best example will be the flash floods. Bruneians are not used to experience what seem ‘normal’ for neighboring countries like the Philippines and Indonesia in facing calamities like typhoons and earthquakes due to its geographic location.

However, early this year, the country was suddenly awakened with the worst flooding it has seen for decades. I remember that night. Barrack Obama was just sworn in as the President. As the Americans and the rest of the world were watching the inauguration live, Bruneians were experiencing hours and hours of non-stop raining. The next morning, people from areas which have never experienced flooding were awakened with an unexpected sight – water with mud everywhere.

So what is happening? What was it that we did? Has Mother Nature lost her charm and unleash her fury. I think so. So what do we need to do now? I don’t suggest that everyone should go to the forest and hug a tree but more to our every day habit like switching to energy-saving bulbs, using less paper, re-cycling and re-using items, and no plastics. These little things that we do every day. Every one of us should be responsible in their own actions as it affect the future generation. I want my great-great-grandchildren to be still able to smell the flowers and breathe fresh air. If you are not sure what you can do to tackle climate change (or what on earth this climate change that I have been yapping on and on is), just google for ways to tackle climate change. I particularly like this Climate Change – Bloom from the BBC. Click on it.

Climate change, act on it for a greener world.

Padang, the capital city of West Sumatra province was hit by a 7.6 magnitude earthquake on 30 Spet 2009. A number of villages there have been declared as mass graves. Hundreds have died and many more have been misplaced or reported missing and are now feared to be buried under the rumbles. According to Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency website, the quake has left 608 dead, 596 seriously injured and 2,039 lightly injured; 179,629 houses damaged and more than 83,000 in ruins. The death toll may exceed 1,000 said the agency.

I am so much impressed with the internationl aids from around the world which have provided clean water, money and other forms of aids to the area. At least 35 international aid agencies and non-governmental organizations are helping victims in Padang. Some 4,000 volunteers are working in the city.

On a related note, Masjid Abdul Rahman Auf in Kuala Lumpur would be compiling an anthology of poems remembering the Padang quake by the end of this month as a move in solidarity and humanitarian act on the tragic event. The launching and reading of the poems will be held on the 31st October and 1st November at the Dewan al-Ghazali, Masjid Abdul Rahman Auf, Km 5.5, Jalan Puchong, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Condolences to the familes of the victims of the earthquake. Al-Fatihah.