Oh hmm so I am in Brunei. Several of my friends have confused Brunei with Bahrain which is fairly understandable. Both are oil rich and absolute monarchies (spelling ?). However one is in the Middle East and the other sits prettily on the island of Borneo. Despite the fact that it's in Borneo and therefore has lush landscapes and the South China Sea, Brunei has the same air of emptiness that Bahrain has. An almost nothingness which I find fascinating having grown up in wildly vibrant Malaysia. In Bahrain you can almost understand it, the landscape doesn't help but in Brunei? Brunei shares a similar cultural heritage to Malaysia and whilst it isn't as multicultural as my great nation, it does have small minority groups which should add something to the already interesting Malay culture. So what is Brunei's problem? Personally I think it's because it's a dry state but then I might be horribly wrong. I was amused though when I saw a young boy of about 15 wearing a t-shirt that said I Love Beer. I wonder if it's a similar scenario to seeing an unknowing Chinese girl walking around with t-shirt that says I'm Horny. So, I am hoping that my opinion of Brunei will change. I'll be out and about a bit more tomorrow, so maybe I'll see something that might change my mind.

I have to leave again. Can't believe it's gone so quickly, but maybe I can because don't they say time passes quickly when you're having fun. So tomorrow morning I will be on a long flight to Brunei. I have never been to Brunei and so I am quite excited! I met a Bruneian a few days ago and he told me that nearly 80% of Brunei is still jungle. I think that's great, jungle good..high rise bad. That's probably why I found Hong Kong a little depressing when I visited, dark, gloomy and a little like a scene from a sci-fi film. The food is good though, I am a sucker for Cantonese food. I have found that in London you don't get good Cantonese food unless you bring along a Cantonese speaker. Tonight I am bringing a group of uninitiated to the Malaysia Hall Canteen. I am hopeful that they will fall in love with the place. I think the food isn't anything to shout about but it really is a slice of home, plastic flower arrangements, the heady smells of belacan and hot steaming teh tarik.
Last night at Bible Club (har har!) we prayed for things we're grateful for, I am grateful that I will be seeing my family on Wednesday even if it's for 3 hours. We're having dinner together at KL Airport. What a strange life I lead?

I took the plunge last summer and went from having long hair to a radically shorter do. I didn't actually make the decision to do it until I walked in to the salon. I think it was largely to do with the confidence the stylist instilled in me from the moment we started chatting about what he was going to do about my hair. I mean this guy is so good that even my mother liked the hair cut and that is saying something. My mother said when I got back to Malaysia in October and I quote 'well short hair does actually suit you'. Anyone who knows me and the relationship I have with my mother will know that statement is practically a miracle! However I think I may have let him go a little too far on Saturday and I now have a haircut that is best described as the 'Shoreditch Twat' look. My friends have tried to convince me otherwise but I am uncertain. All I will need to complete the look is some pink leg warmers and some NHS style glasses. I can't say enough about how much I hate NHS style glasses, who ever said they were trendy?? As someone who has been wearing glasses since I was 8 and suffered all the cruel teasing that only young children and teenagers can inflict I don't appreciate the bane of my life becoming trendy. I guess the good thing is my hair will grow out soon enough and I will return to my favourite stylist and tell him that I just don't think I am the kind of girl he thinks I am. I just can't do hipster and so in rebellion today I have worn an auntie skirt to work which doesn't match my new 'look'.

I never saw myself as a men in tights kind of girl and besides Dorothea and I had made plans to do fun things like meander around Borough market and have some tasty Monmouth coffee. Not that we are cliches or anything, how many Londoners spend their Saturdays eating and drinking at Borough Market..ok fine lots. So we bucked the trend and went to watch Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake. I had never been to the ballet before and was expecting to be fairly bored because I am really not big on the whole culture thing. However just like Julia Roberts went nuts for the opera in Pretty Woman I went nuts for the ballet! Which I think is pretty darned amazing for someone who knows nothing about ballet or dance. Kudos to Matthew Bourne for producing a show that reaches out to the uninitiated. I suppose it helped that the ballet boys all had lovely lithe forms. Dorothea did mention that it's terribly painful to be a ballet dancer, you're making your body do all sorts of things that it probably shouldn't. I'll stick to being a fat international officer thanks very much. At least I can eat apple crumble for my pudding and not worry too much. Happy to observe as always.

Oooh I have been bad. I haven't updated this thing in ages. Well not since 2009! I have found 2010 a little difficult. London has been pretty cold and I haven't been able to resume my social life in the way I would have wanted. I forgot that cold means not wanting to go out. I have also realised that I have no practical shoes for when it snows. I mean, I have enough pairs of boots to keep my feet warm but none of them have any grip. Still, I am grateful not to have fallen on my bum (as padded as it is). The snow has thankfully gone away but we strangely now have fog. Fog is less exciting and much creepier, think Jack the Ripper in East London. I also got the usual 'I am back in cold weather so I must get a cold' cold. Sadly I am still coughing like a mother hubbard and have enough phelgm to rival an incorrigable smoker. I have managed to eat some good food and also cook some good food. I made a quiche from scratch recently which I thought was pretty good going, although I don't think I would have had the confidence to do it if Corinna hadn't been around to instruct. I ate some awesome duck rice in Bayswater, that Four Seasons place is just super. I had some good Pho Bo at Mien Tay and some good pasta at Ciao Bella on Lambs Conduit Street. That lunch is worth a mention, Wai Seng and I polished off a significant amount of cured meats, pasta and red wine in short space of time. I am proud of us and just pleased to have caught up with Wai Seng after several failed attempts of trying to rendezvous in KL and Delhi. I watched the new George Clooney film, now I am not one of those Clooney fans who swoons at the mere sight of him. I think he's sexy but he's no Gael Garcia Bernal, although this is probably a reflection of my taste in men instead of an assessment of Clooney's good looks. I digress, so go and watch Up in the Air, it's smart and funny and enjoyably. International officers will probably emphatise with the conversations about air miles, hotel points and whether Starwood is better than Hilton Honours. We're such dorks.

I promised to write about the resort I stayed at in Negombo. Now let it be know that I am not resort person, I really don't like the idea of being confined to a place for a duration of time with activities organised for my enjoyment. Because it transpired that we couldn't go to Jaffna, I had to decide what I wanted to do on my last three days in Sri Lanka as I had had enough of Colombo. My dad suggested that I should go to Negombo as the beaches were nice and the airport was close by. He was correct that the airport was close by but the beaches were not much different to the beaches in PD. Anyone who has been to PD will confirm that the beaches are at best mediocre. In any case, I ended up staying at the Jetwings Blue Oceanic Resort which at $82 per night was not really value for money. Now I know $82 isn't a huge amount of money but for this price I expect my room to be clean. I was convinced some sort of animal had had a wee on the sofa in the room and the sheets just didn't feel quite right. The view was fine as you will see from the photos but the hassle from the beach sellers made relaxing a little difficult. The deck chairs often has crow poop everywhere and it was almost impossible to get someone to bring you a towel or a drink. I probably sound like a diva right now but I don't care. I guess I expected a lot more. Ultimately what I learnt was that I should avoid resorts at all costs because they really are not my thing. I don't understand how tourists can come and spend 10 days in the same place, eating the same food, lying by the pool or on the beach and not actually going out to do anything or see anything. Holiday hell!

Ever since I was little Sri Lanka or Ceylon as my grandmother used to call it was a place that I imagined to be beautiful, colourful and exciting. I went for the first time in 2005 and had a great time. We were fortunate enough to go just before the civil war resumed and as a consequence made it to the North East pretty easily. It was as simple as arriving in Colombo and going to the airline office and booking a ticket for the following day. My dad and I went to Sri Lanka last week and thought that it would be as simple an exercise to get to Jaffna. However, it seems that the Sri Lanka government still don't really want foreigners to be travelling to the region. First, you had to get a certificate from the Ministry of Defence to allow you to go to Jaffna, then you realised you were only allowed to travel by sea or air. Then when you went to the airline company to book your flight you were told no flights available for the next two weeks. Papa was bitterly disappointed as he was really looking forward to going to Jaffna. We therefore had to re-adjust our plans and spent a couple of days in Kandy instead and I spent my last two days in Sri Lanka on the beach in Negombo. In the end it all worked out pretty well but I really hope that things will change in Sri Lanka and that life will get better for the Tamils and we'll be able to visit the North East soon.

In Kandy, we visited the Elephant Orphanage (which technically isn't in Kandy but Pinavalla), the Buddhist Tooth Relic Temple ( I am sorry I really don't think that's Buddha's tooth, just like the hairs at the Top Kapi in Istanbul aren't really prophet Muhammad's yeah?) and went for a walk around the lake and one of several spice gardens in Kandy. In the evening we saw the Kandyian dancers, fire walkers and fire eaters. We also spent several evenings just drinking beer under the jackfruit tree at the Freedom Lodge. Please can I recommend the Freedom Lodge to anyone who is going to Kandy. It's a terrific place and Sarath and Nalini who run it are the best hosts in the world. It's no wonder it's number one on places to stay in Kandy on Tripadvisor.

I'll write about the resort in Negombo the next time, there are plenty of funny Russian granny stories to tell.