There was an article that says Brunei government housing schemes will no longer be offering individual homes but high-rise apartments similar to those in Singapore in the near future.

We attended a conceptual show unit of these future high-rise apartments and was quite impressed with the design. It was the size that not many Bruneians will be too thrilled about – since we are so used to spacious landed properties and we are not talking about houses the size of park models either.

One comment on this that I remembered well was why the need for high-rise housing when we have acres of undeveloped land. In fact, this was the exact question a friend asked me years ago when told how hard it is to buy or build houses here.

I have no conclusive answer to this except that despite the scarcity of (affordable) houses, we appreciate being in a country with so much greens around.

I will definitely not be happy living in a highly developed city with no trees in sight and I would not want my children and their children to grow up in a land where it’s concrete for as far as the eyes could see.

So if they need to live in high-rise apartments in the future but are guaranteed views of green lush hills nearby, I am all for it.

When some American relative came over to Brunei a few weeks ago, the first thing they noticed was our infrastructure – how much better our roads are here compared to Sabah.

Most roads are sealed and having proper 4WD cars here are quite unnecessary.

There are simply very few roads on common routes that offer a Camel Trophy kind of challenges that local 4WD-natics are forced to do their 4WD-ings elsewhere!

Fortunately for the ATV enthusiasts, there are enough places to test their all-terrain-vehicles-driving-skills and make full use of their accessories such as ATV Lights and power steering kits and that’s what we have here – all terrain driving enthusiasts.

Unlike in Sabah where knowing how to engage their low gears and maneuver the wheels out of sticky situations is not for fun but out of necessity for some!

And since I grew up with roads like this and drivers who handle roads like this – it’s not surprising then that despite our good roads, I’ll take a 4WD over a comfortable plush sedan any day.

It can be a little difficult to be enthusiastic about the attractions that we can offer visitors to Brunei.

We describe our country using the same keywords that highlight neighbouring countries – nature and culture. But how can we sell our nature when there are two UNESCO World Heritage sites at both ends of our border?

As for culture, ask anyone on the street about it and they would probably google for it first with their BlackBerry or iPhone – before they can tell you.

But this is the mistake we make. Instead of peddling our tourist attractions, we should highlight what is good about life here.

Which for one is this – personal space and safety.

We are not crime-free but we can certainly walk on high streets or shopping areas without rubbing against another person or being stepped on by people who won’t even look us in the eyes or needing always to be on alert with our belongings – we know that electronic pickpocketing and physical bags snatching are very real issues elsewhere.

No smart visitors won’t feel relaxed here, knowing that they can let their guards somewhat down and enjoy Brunei and life in general – with what may not be available at their place.

Now isn’t that an easier point to sell?

One of the interesting people that I come across on a regular basis is our grass-cutter.

An Indian man in his mid or late thirties, he convinced us to engage his service within a few days of us moving into our house more than a year ago – effectively taking over the service from another grass cutter who dejectedly told us, when he came a few days later, that he used to service our lawn for many years before we moved in.

As for our grass-cutter, one of his sales pitch when he approached us then was telling us that he does the lawns of nearly all the houses in our small neighbourhood – with his one and sometimes two assistants, using none of those fancy mowers the likes of ariens zero turn mowers but rather, hand-held cutters with metal blades and nylon strings!

Still, we are happy with him and his services, no doubt helped by his impressive PR skill – a warm greeting whenever we see him. I especially liked his anything-can-do attitude with a smile while my husband was won over by his “Chinese clients are the best – they always pay on the spot”.

It is a pity that someone with his ability is doing only grass-cutting business.

But as my husband reminded me, he may be a grass-cutter here but he might be a millionaire back home – living in a mansion with a team of men doing HIS lawn.

Along one of the nicest road that leads to and from Bandar Seri Begawan city centre, with tall trees and orchids on the road dividers, there are these blocks of old and rundown flats.

Recently however, this area was cordoned off with a notice stating that upgrading work is taking place.

Yes, these flats need to be renovated. This is a kind of place where a new coat of paint or simply fixing the broken windows or cracked walls are not enough. Even without planning to install fancy Murray Feiss lighting or state of the art AV system, electrical wiring work is surely required. Perhaps a lot of water piping work too.

But I wonder what will happen to the tenants of these flats who would surely be asked to leave.

While it is easy to simply tell them to find another place, a glance at the rental listings in the local paper would straightaway tell you that this will be a distressing year for many of these families.