Chatting with my parents is always entertaining.

Being very sociable couple, they come across all kinds of people and hear all sorts of stories like one tension-filled funeral complete with threats of rifle-shootings! Ten times more interesting than any make-believe soap operas.

But their best stories are ones that never fail to give me goosebumps – even told many times over.

Such as one set more than 30 years ago when roads that linked the interior towns of Sabah were still sparsely used with few vehicles on the road. Just a few kilometres out of any interior town, it’s thick virgin forest on both sides of the road.

On one such road, my father stopped his car, rolled down his window and gave in to his fatigue. Suddenly, he was jolted awake by some licking/slurping sounds coming clearly and loudly from behind his car.

His tired mind decided some cows were drinking water nearby – until he was again awaken by the same sound.

This time he was reminded that he was in a thick jungle IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT.

Of course there were no cows around…

Attending house parties need no longer be a stressful thing for parents with active kids.

These days, just whip out an iPad or an iPhone or even just a simple iPod-Touch and even the most adventurous kids can be subdued to sit still and relieved grown-ups can then make all the merry party noises.

Just looking around at parties where this scenario really took place brought to my mind the man behind all these i-objects – and especially his intriguing post-retirement stories.

It is a little hard to sympathise with his biological parents (who gave him up for adoption) if you consider the fact that if he was not adopted and raised by the Jobs family, this man may simply be working in for e.g. careers like one of those Healthcare Specialists Jobs. No less important but nowhere as critical to our generations as what he did turn out to be.

Imagine. No Jobs family. No Steve.

No Steve Jobs. No Apple. No iPad!

So thank goodness for that turn of event in his life and now, please excuse me as I get back to one of my i‘s.

In a group of moms that I am a member of, topics of discussions are quite predictable : kids ailments, vaccines, recipes and all kinds tips and techniques in raising our family while keeping our sanity and sense of humour.

But we do engage in the unpredictables.

Or as my husband, who has the dubious honour of getting detailed reports of one particular discussion, asked me : “Why is your group of mothers talking about CARS?!“

But I never thought I will know of moms (besides myself who has NO choice) who can drop names like Vellfire or Alphard or Elgrand – and not think that they are names of mountain range somewhere…or something!

I never considered my “knowledge” of cars superior but I now know that it is inferior.

At least, amongst these ladies who can EVEN tell the differences between an Alphard and a Vellfire. Or come up with a list of tow trucks and recommended cars or rv repairs in a heartbeat and another which stumped me : list of cars with *something* to latch their baby seats on!

Ladies, I humbly concede.

Bali is many things to many people.

Culture, beach, nature and arts.

To me Bali also means one extra thing – paradise for hotel fans. Just imagine, there are over 761 choices of accommodations in the whole of Bali. And this is just a list by one online booking site – other sites have other lists and some smaller bed & breakfast are not even listed online.

Luckily I was clear on the areas where I wanted to stay when in Bali so that narrowed down my choices to about 125 properties in Ubud and 69 properties in Sanur.

Even then my mind changed countless of times – no thanks to reading what seemed like thousands of reviews/recommendations/etc.

Despite being very indecisive for a good one month before the trip, I changed my booking only ONCE.

So instead of Jalan-Jalan Villa that was close to town and even more temptingly, around the vicinity of the house of Ketut Liyer, a man made famous by Liz Gilbert’s Eat Pray Love – I chose a place 15 mins drive from Ubud town – and secluded.

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Despite having lived in Brunei for 11 years, with nearly 2 years now in Bandar Seri Begawan, I have never set foot inside what is non-arguably the most stunning landmark in the whole country :

The Mosque of the Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien in central Bandar Seri Begawan.

So when I had a few American visitors recently, I took the opportunity and brought them for an up close and personal, no steiner binoculars needed, visit to the symbol of Brunei.

Yes – after 11 years of admiring it from afar, I finally set foot inside this stately and elegant mosque.

I was not disappointed.

It was surprisingly small on the inside but how I WISHED they would let us take cameras inside because there were so many things I wanted to photograph – from the huge incense burners to the imposing chandeliers to the decorated ceilings!

I would definitely pay a visit to this mosque again, one of these days.