Tag Archives: belait district

The Oil Town’s Hot Stuff: Soi Heng Sambal Fried Kway Teow

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Today, Eric, the owner of Mr Baker’s Bakeshop, came to town while making several deliveries in the Belait District. One such delivery, an earlier drop off was their signature fresh fruit vanilla cake to Gavin in Lumut before  our meet up at legendary Soi Heng coffee shop. Naturally as host, I recommended their famous sambal fried kway teow, took a photo of on the Samsung Galaxy S III, applied tiny amount of editing using Samsung’s own photo editor before posting it on Twitter. The rest of the morning is, as they say, history.

Click on image to view original tweet.

The Case of the Mysterious Standing Eggs on Duanwu Festival

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Finally we did it! After years of missing this attempt at noon on Duanwu Festival aka Dragon Boat aka Dumpling Festival this is the first time we actually remembered and got not one but all three raw eggs to stand. As usual I had the G11 handy to capture this unscientific phenomenon whose legend has survived generations. If you’re skeptical and try to see if props had been used to make the eggs stand, don’t bother — these photos are as raw as the eggs themselves. We left the eggs to stand at the open patio to fetch the kids from school, the entire time uncertain if the breeze would push them over. When we returned, Jamie and Jewel were surprised to see all three still standing.

Dumpling Festival a much celebrated festival by the Chinese community in Belait

The very first attempt filled with uncertainty and silliness had it failed to work.

Beginner’s luck? After my wife got the first egg to stand, she went on with a second egg …

… and finally stopping at auspicious number 3 before it was time to pick the kids up from school.

Majestic Sunrise: The Perks of Getting Up Early

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I’m an early riser. It happens when people you live with get up for work and school. Like any other morning, I walk into the busy kitchen to see the kids having their breakfast and my domestic helper preparing breakfast for the rest of us. Today, unlike most recent mornings, the scene outside the kitchen window stopped me in my track. I ran into the studio, grabbed the 5D Mark II + EF 100-400mm, headed out to the kitchen balcony just in time to capture the sun rising above the silhouetted landscape. The last similar sunrise I captured ended up as an auction piece for a Haiti & Chile Earthquake Fundraiser (see second photo).

click on image to see larger version of this magnificent sunrise

A theme appropriately selected by Liesbeth for the auction, this sunrise piece represents the new
dawn for the earthquake victims of Haiti and Chile as generous donations pour in from all over
the world to help rebuild their lives.

© Jan Shim Photography