A Day Off

We have "split weekends" here with Friday and Sunday off, so I spent the first one catching up on sleep, laundry and grocery shopping. And I joined a gym for the month—who would of thought I could continue to do spin classes in Brunei!?! I also went to a yoga studio with Dr. Yin (with me in photo below) on Saturday evening after work—it was great!

Sunday was also a holiday, but I spent about half the day at an orthopedic conference with Drs. Yin and Khin. It was held at this enormous hotel and country club, The Empire, situated on the South China Sea. The conference was interesting and the surroundings and food made it well worth the $20.

The Empire Hotel and Country Club is located near a large park, Bukit Shahbandar Recreational Park, so I packed a change of clothes and headed there for the afternoon. The 7 km hike was really challenging—partially due to the heat and high humidity. I kept wondering why so few people were on the trail. When I arrived the parking lot was almost empty. When I got to my car at 5:30 pm the parking lot was full. I realized it was because everyone else is smart enough to wait until it cools down.

The few people I did run into on the trail were friendly and curious—probably because I look foreign and I’m a female traveling alone. I’m frequently asked why I’m visiting Brunei. I don't see westerners very often. Most folks I meet (if not from Brunei) are from Malaysia, China, Singapore, India, Bhutan or the Philippines.

I'm looking forward to more exploring. This is a fairly easy country to navigate, even though I can't read the road signs. I guess that's one advantage to driving in Seattle...