Merry Christmas in Brunei

Merry Christmas - Bon Nadal - Prettige Kerst - С Рождеством - 圣诞节快乐 (this one is for Albert :-) to all of you!

For the first time in 8 months of our round the world trip we envy you instead of vice versa :-). We envy you for all the Christmas atmosphere that you are enjoying right now, for the Christmas trees covered in Philips lights, for all the gift shopping you have to do, for the cold outside and the fact that you can wear coats, for the anticipation you feel of having a very special weekend and some of you - a vacation, for the bonuses you will receive :-), for the parties you will attend, for the tasty Christmas food that you will enjoy, but most importantly - for the fact that you will have a very special time with the very special people in your life - your friends and your families.

We envy you because there is none of the above things here in the very quiet and very Muslim country of Brunei. Funnily enough, all the friendly subjects of the Sultan that we meet in the streets do wish us a Merry Christmas, but apart from that there is nothing here to remind us of this very special Christian holiday.

We wish you all a very happy and cozy time around this most special week of the year!

(the above picture is courtesy of Albert Paloma and our beloved Baloo)