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Welcome to the Website belonging to: Willem-Jan, Sandra, Willemijn & Diederick Scholten Last update: December 9th 2005 |
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December 2004 Making the most of the cooler temperatures this time of year in Oman we decided to join Suus and Martijn, who had a friend over to visit, and drove to the Wahibas (again). We had a great night with drinks under the stars in the Discovery camp. The next morning Martijn was slightly handicapped and did not manage to keep anything in his stomach. Martijn stayed in the camp and the two girls took the Wrangler for a spin in the sand. We followed to do some tricks in the dunes. The remaining part of this month in Oman was business as usual, by the end of the month we flew to Holland for the X-mas holidays. WJ and Gerard had made the preparations for the Odd-Fellows X-mas Islay Tasting. The group came together in de cellar of the "Parochie Huis". Guest arrived, the amazing collection of bottles grouped ready for tasting. The night was long and good, early morning the die-hards managed to find the Stinzelaan, being treated by a cold night, proving that a kilt is providing sufficient protection against the cold. Christmas day we drove to Enschede, to spend X-mas with Jan & Martha, Chris and Boudewijn. Opening the presents take most of the day, everybody got spoiled, the wine bottles openend around lunch time. A great dinner was prepared and more bottles opened. Later the whisky came to the table and very late most called it a day. The next morning we heard the terrible news of the Tsunami. We spend the day in Enschede, some of us not feeling well at all. We stayed in Enschede for 2 more days and managed to do some shopping. We drove back to Breukelen and later that week back to Enschede to celebrate New Years eve and enjoyed the impressive fireworks display. January 2005 On our way back from Enschede we drove to Rich and Harriette, and had a good time seeing them. The last days in Holland we had Nicolette and Mick visiting and went to the forrest of the Lage Vuursche for some walking and fresh air followed by pan-cakes. Just before heading back to Oman we went with Katja and Erwin to the Efteling, the kids had a great time. After some normal days in Oman the second Eid holliday was coming up. Based on the success of the previous Eid trip in November it was decided to go with the same group (Van Lienden, Van Der Giessen, Van Lieshout and us) and again head for the Huquf. We aimed for the part of the Huquf with the trees for the first night camp spot. We found a site in the dunes and managed to get the first cars stuck already. A little inconvenience was caused by wind blowing sand around, but nothing that could not be ignored after a few "sundowner GT's". The next day we headed for the sabqa's in an attempt to find a crossing in the northern part. We ended up on the top of the cliffs and after some failed attempts to find a path down we abandoned the thought. We found the path to the Rudist reef and camped at the foot of the reef itself. Late that night, in a "Tokkie" mood and with sufficient drinks had we made a campfire from dead wood and rubbish big enough to be seen from the moon. The next day we drove out of the Huquf via wadi shuram and a we looked for a beach camping spot. We found a great location and set up camp. An hour later we realized that we would not be bothered by the "neighbours". The hill next to our camp spot was the local semitary, we named this location "Graveyard Beach". We had 2 great days in the sun. Martijn & Suus had to drive back to Muscat early, they expected friend to arrive. We left the following day for Muscat, after establishing the fact that we had another spectacular Eid trip behind us. February 2005 The preparations for the 2005 Men Only Weekend took most of the free time this month as well as the Weekend itself. Having won the 2004 Men Only "Goed Bezig" Trophy, Martijn had the honor to organize this weekend. With an obvious choice to ask WJ to help him, the outline for the weekend were set during an evening with some beers. A few weekend scouting trips in the various areas not too far from Muscat proved that a very challenging route had been possible. The programme was finalized and shirts printed. The MOW 2005 started at the boatclub, with the rough seas and clouded/cool weather, not too many teams wanted to go into the sea to get the first coordinate number, some got an alternative test to get this number, others were wrongly informed by others/competitors and ended up at 10.00 PM being 100 km from the right camping spot. That first night the teams had to test their sand driving skills at the dunes at Al Seifa, not all managed and some good old towing had to be done. The next day a deep sea fishing trip tested the stomachs of the groups, some clearly could not hide their see-sickness. Following this boat trip, the teams had to drive via various check-point to the Dunes at the Batinah plain. It appeared that we had made the challenge to be more than most of the teams could handle, some arrived within an hour after having made a simple calculating error and being forced to open the emergency envelop. Other did not show up until late that evening, many hour too late. The next day some serious sand driving in the large dunes in the deeper parts of Batinah was done followed by a bbq and drinks while joining the rest of the families at the Van Lieshout residence. Davies & Hengst had proven to be true "Bastards" and got the GBB, De Wilde & Koper scored the most point, mainly by some truly amazing video shots, and claimed the overall MOW05 trophy. That same month Martijn & Suus made plans to move house and to head for Dubia. They found their own "Westwing" as PDO could not offer the job Martijn was promised. Willemijn and Dieds did not like their upcoming move to Dubai at all. March 2005 Oman saw some exceptionally bad weather this month and flooding caused a lot of excitement, for sure when the pictures of an expat on top of a landcruiser in the newspapers showed Andrea Muller to be the victim. During the a weekend with good weather and a clear blue sky we enjoyed a weekend on the beach with the "sharkies" during the annual regatta. Some good sailing was done, not a lot of of laps won. Never the less we had some good fun. The Oranjebal was held at he Crown Plaza. Following the pre-Champaign-drink at the Van Der Giessen house we headed for the party. With sufficient drinks, plenty of cigars we had a good time. The next day at the beach, Martijn & Suus had their leaving session. WJ made the "Good-by" speech. They left for Dubai when the first plans and date for a visit had already been made. That same month the first steps for us to leaf Oman as well were made. An offer to move to Brunei to take the job as Well Engineering Supply Chain Manager was accepted. April 2005 With the move to Brunei coming up the life in Oman this month was dominated by selling cars, selling plant, buying stuff for Brunei and preparing to say good-by to all friends. The Jeep Wrangler was already sold to Coen, the Cruiser required only a simple A4 on the window that caused other road users to call us to ask what the price would be. We made a last trip to Dubai and stayed with Martijn & Suus in their house with pool. We had a great time and after a good weekend we said adios. With all the paperwork to be done most of the month past by quickly. The end of the month Maartijn informed WJ to take a few days off from work. He made plans for WJ's leaving weekend. After failing an attempt to mis-lead WJ with a fake, wrongly send, e-mail the true challenge appeared to be the one and only, first ever "Huquf Challenge". With 3 cars, a cruiser, a wrangler and a Defender the 5 heroes headed for the serious dunes. On the way to the Huquf, during the early hours of the evening the Defender had trouble with the cooling system. Many visits to several workshops were made. No real solution was found. With reduced speed we drove to the first camp spot. Jan Willem demonstrated his exceptional, Indian food, packing skills and after a few beers the night was good. The following day, again, with reduced speed to avoid over-heating of the Defender we made it to Hay close to the Huquf entrée point. The radiator was flushed and new coolant was poured into the cooling system. No difference the car keep running too hot. After many attempt to fix the car and even to rent/borrow a car from a local we decided to take the risk and headed into the dunes. We all were stunned when the Defender cooled down when driving in the sand. We crossed the first tricky dunes and found the main sand dunes area. We made good time and made up for some of the time lost. Sabqas were taken fast with many time the Wrangler scouting the route. Serious dunes were crossed whilst always keeping in mind that if the wrong car got stuck we would have a serious problem. We found a great camp spot in the middle of no-where, with onlt sand around us. The whole challenge took 4+ days and many times we really had to think hard to find our way through. We found the way out after a great adventure and many good sessions with the boys in the sand before the sun set. Guys, thanks for that! May 2005 Our month of leavin Oman. After 8 years of loyal duty without ever breaking down, we sold the cruiser to the Nieuwenhuis family who wanted to us it for a trip to Holland. All paperwork was done and preparations for moving were made. We managed to find a new sponsor for ann our house-maid for many years, avoiding her te be forced to leaf Oman. Forms to get the Harley imported were obtained. For the kids a leaving party was organized at the beach. They had a good time but also felt sad for the upcoming departure. For our friends we had organized a session at the beach with shishas and booze. A great party, completely relaxed and the way we wanted to say good-by. We received many great gifts and momento's. The packers arrived at our house and within 3 days our stuff was packed in 230 pieces of movables. We moved into the Intercontinental Hotel for our last days in Oman. The double sized container arrived and our household was locked inside and sealed. The last day were filled with saying good-by at home, at school, at work and everywhere else. We drove from the hotel to the airport and found friend there for one last time saying good-by. Our visas were cancelled and for the final time we moved through custom, on both sides, some tears filled the eyes. We flew to Dubai to take a flight to Singapore. We arrived in Singapore and checked into the Meridian Hotel on Orchid road. When walking on Orchid road we met Maarten who was on his way back from China. We had a few drinks and had dinner. He left for Oman and the following day we visited the Singapore zoo. The kids had a good time, however they did not wanted to hold the snakes. The following day we took a flight to Brunei. Whilst flying over the Island of Borneo we had the first glance of the green landscape we would be going to live in. We landed at Bandar Seri Bagawan airport and moved through customs for all but WJ for the first time. A Brunei Shell Petroleum bus was waiting for us and during our drive to Seria was had the first tropical rain. We arrived at the Shell guest house and were welcomed by "old" fiends from Oman. The Roggeveen's, hoekstra's and van Beelen's had driven to Brunei from Miri (across the border in Sarawak) and the De Bever's had driven to the guest house from their house very close by. The kids saw their friends again and the chaos was complete. June 2005 The 30th of May was WJ's first working day for BSP. Due to the fact that a lot of people had taken leave, the settling in process took some time. We obtained our company car and started all the paperwork to get a life organized. We stayed in the guest house for almost 2 weeks, after that we moved to our temporary location in the G9 area, on the other side of the road that runs past the main residence area. Not a bad house, just no garden and close to the neighbours. We placed ourselves on the waiting list for a house in the Panaga area. We bought a car for Sandra, a Hona Odessy mini van with all options included. For WJ the car options were limited, and after we had to hand-back the company car WJ managed to borrow a very old Pajero to get along town. Our first weekend in Brunei we joined the Dutch society and defended the Dutch honor at the Panaga Highland Games. We made an impressive performance with the tug-of-war where we came 3rd losing only from 2 semi-professional teams. An other weekend we drove to Bandar to do some shopping and have a look at the water village "Kampong Ayar". Lesser enjoyable was the throat problems Sandra had and the various visits we had to make to the Jerudong private clinic. All test showed that all was well and later we found out the it is probably back- problem related. Occasionally we experienced the true tropical rains and one night a seriously impressive thunderstorm kept us all awake when lightning struck the transmitter mast nearby a few times. WJ celebrated his birthday in all quite. The kids got settled at school and the first new friends showed up for lunch and dinner regularly. The recently introduced Friday afternoon beach drinks proved to be a true social gathering event, our social life in Brunei took of soonest, many invites for drinks, bbq's, dinners and what ever made our life and introduction to Brunei great. July 2005 With our living in Brunei settling we made the first plans for some regional travel. A group of friend in Miri / Sarawak all turned 40 this year/ month and had organized a big party in Miri. We made our first trip across the border and managed to arrive at the Piassau (Shell) boatclub on Friday afternoon. We spoke to many old friends from Oman and other postings. The remaining evening we had drinks at the Hoekstra place. The next day with visited Miri town/city and prepared for the party. That afternoon we agreed to meet Jabine and Raoel with kids and do some jungle tracking. The short route of the Lamhir jungle was closed, we ended up hiking for more than an hour to arrive a the first waterfall. We spend some time at the little lake and had to hike back for more than an hour. The slight problem we had was the shortage of drinking water, we had anticipated to walk for ½ an hour, we did not bring water for at least 2 hours. The kids got the water, the adults suffered. That evening, the party was great, many friends and cold beer. The theme "white and wet" was adhered to, the garden hose solved the last part. Later that month, during a long weekend we flew to Kota Kinabalu and stayed at the luxurious Shangrila Ras a Riya resort. San had a throat infection and the first day we spend a ½ day visiting a doctor who proved to be very. efficient as by the same evening the problems had almost disappeared. The remaining stay was great, we visited the Oerang Oetan reservation and had a good time with the trampoline in the pool. When returned in Brunei one evening we got a call from friends, telling us they had found a small kitten. Sandra picked her up an "Trouble" became the kids best friend. With our life coming together ok in Brunei we decided to buy ourselves some new watches, as all agreed this was the best place to do so. A trip to Bandar closed the deal, a week later the dealer delivered the Breitlings to us when we had our last visit to Jerudong private. August 2005 With the school closed for the Hollidays, the decision was made that Sandra and kids would fly to Holland to see the family and avoid being borred because Brunei was deserted. The weekend they had to fly to Holland WJ had to fly to Singapore to attend the Christening of the New Drilling Tender "West Setia". WJ left Friday morning for Singapore, and had an interesting weekend, meeting some old acquaintances, and some good nights on the town. The same time Sandra and kids flew to Kuala Lumpur for a 8 hour stop-over on their way to Amsterdam. WJ kept busy with the new job. Sandra and kids met with friends from Oman and family. Sandra and kids came back to Brunei and drove to Miri to stay a few days in the house of the van Beelen family who were on holiday. They met with the Fossens and Roggeveens. The following week we left for 10 days vacation in Bali with the Hoekstra family. Bali was great, we stayed in Mas not far from Ubud. We had rented a true Balinese house and had a pool next door. A lot of time was spend with buying wooden furniture and arranging transport to Brunei. When we left we had almost a 30 cubic meter container full. Good evening discussions with Taco and Paz we had, some drinks on the table etc. We visited Kuta, the place of the bombings a few years ago. We found a Harley dealer and scored a few shirts for WJ. September 2005 School started again and normal life picked up.
Kids got to meet the new teachers and got to see how much money was
spend to upgrade the school. The Friday afternoon drinks at the beach
were introduced again. We pushed hard to get a house on camp. Via a
talk to the Managing Director the issue was picked up by the Finance
Director who gave the job to the Finance Controler; Jabine. Jabine proved
to be a true organizer, in less than two weeks time she managed to clear
the waiting list and we got assigned to the F6/11 location. Arrangements
were made to move the stuff from G9 to the new house after a new wooden
floor had been installed and the wall had been painted in the colours
selected by Sandra. Lani our new Amah (maid) and friends painted the
house in a few days and at the same time the floor was installed. Straight
after this the Sea-freight that had been in storage for months now was
delivered, 230 pieces/boxes occupied the house. WJ got an invite to
come (back) to PDO/Oman for a three day workshop. Taking the opportunity
a flight via Dubai was taken allowing for a few days to be spend with
Maartijn and Suus. A long stop over in Singapore was spens with shopping.
WJ arrived in Dubai around 3.00AM local time. By around 4.00AM both
Maartijn and WJ had the bottle of whisky open and enjoyed the sun rise
till around 7.00AM. An enjoyable weekend in Dubai was followed by a
flight to Muscat. A wrong booking in the Grand Hyatt caused Maartijn
and WJ to upgrade to the Chedi cottages. Friends were visited, the cigar
night on Monday was attended. At the end of the workshop both flew back
to Dubai for a night out in Dubai being accompanied by Kees who works
for Shell in Moscow. After visiting some bars the night was concluded
by a visit to the Cyclone, one of the most notorious hang-out in Dubai.
Early morning we arrived back at Martijns place. October 2005 Willemijn turned 7 on the 3rd and we celebrated this milestone with a smashing party in our new house with a mega bouncercastle and our new trampoline. Her friends from Miri were here as well and the whole Hoekstra family spend the night. Another milestone on the 5th........Sandra finally turned 40 and had a difficult time. But there was some sunshine to this day.....Corine, Roosmarijn & Paz came from Miri and lunch was served with some (!) wine of course. Ramadan had started, although this was not as noticeable as we were used to have it in Oman, people had food in restaurants and had coffee at the terraces. We continued with the settling in of our house and unpacked the last boxes. WJ had to go to Kuala Lumpur for negotiations and visited the Petronas towers 68th floor. Whilst being there had met his old boss from Shell Expro Aberdeen; Jan Brinkhorst, who had recently took a job there. At the end of the month together with the families Tettero and Nagelhout we drove to Kota Kinabalu in Saba and spend a long weekend in the Tanjum Aru resort. A great drive, collecting around 12 stamps in the passport. By now WJ's Harley had cleared customs and was at the new local dealer ready for registration. November 2005 Ramadan ended and Brunei was getting ready for Hari Raya. The Harley was delivered on the 2nd. A long weekend in Langkawi was cancelled for various reasons. Sandra and WJ without the kids went to Bangkok for the ZOAT (Zuid Oost Azie Toernooi = South East Asia Tournament). WJ played with the Bruneian team and San had teamed up with the Ladies team from Australia. Arriving in Bangkok on Friday evening we met various old friends, many played with the "Regionalisten" team, it was good to see Peet vh Zet, Coen & Lenka Fossen and Peter van Welsenes back again. Saturday during the registration we had the opportunity to see Yvette who flew over from Dubai for the tournament. The Australian ladies managed to win most of the games, on Sunday it became clear why when Sandra, Ingrid and Nicolle had to catch the flight back to Bruneiand Australia lost all other games. The Brunei gents team lost all games with only a few goals against and managed to have a draw against the Singapore team. Agreat party on Saturday evening/night and a great weeken. The kids where looked after by Paz who had driven to Brunei to stay in our house, without here we would not have been able to go to ZOAT. That weekend also our container with furniture from Bali was cleared and arrived at the house. The Sunday we got back, San's bike got stolen. Sinterklaas arrived at the KB Boatclub, on a small boat. It was warm and nice with all the children who prepared lots of songs for Sinterklaas.. Willemijn spend a weekend in Miri to celebrate Maartjes birthday, we joined Arent and Roos and played Catan for many hours. December 2005 Sinterklaas mad a house visit at F5/19, Tettero residence, and we were there with all the friends. Kids received many nice present an ate as much pepernoten as they could eat. On December 5 we celebrated it in our own house with our family. Loads of present again.... San's new bike got stolen as well, the police warned us that we live in an area that is known for many bike thefts. The last day for the X-mas leave, the kids had their x-mas celebration at the school, and the parents served as waiters. We left for 3 weeks leave in Holland. A long flight to Holland was required to reach Holland 26 hours later. The Saturday we arrived WJ had a whisky tasting organised with the Odd-Fellows. They spend the day with buying whisky and getting the club sweaters organised. Food and other ingredient for the tasting where bought. The tasting was a success. When the bottles where opened and/or empty at last, the majority left for home, only a few die-hards spend till late in the bar "De Danne". On Monday, Dieds went to the Hospital to get his Tongsils removed. When he returned from the operation he was angry at all of us. He had to stay in-doors for a few days and he was not happy with that either. Oma and Hanneke spoiled him with many gifts and Hanneke provided all the advise and means to keep him from having ant pain.The following weekend we drove to Enschede to celebrate Cristmas with Jan, Martha, Chris and Boudewijn. A truly enjoyable few days, with all the goodies the one can think of. Jan and WJ drove to Emmen to visit Jan's new business and had a little de-tour to get some lesser legal fireworks in Germany. After X-mas we spend a few days in Breukelen and played Catan with Gerard and Corriene. Gerard and WJ thought it would be wise to go to the Danne afterward??WJ joined Gerard for a session on the golf driving range. The last day of the year we drove back to Enschede and celebrated New Years evening with Jan & Martha and kids, again a good time. Plans where made for the kids to fly to Brunei with the summer. January 2006 On new years day we drove back to Breukelen. We had made plans to meet Richard and Harriette and kids. We walked through the forrests of Lage Vuursche and had the pleasure of some good weather whilst talking to good friend not seen for a long time. Some real winter weather caused serious traffic chaos in Holland, the kids loved it when they have the opportunity to play in the snow one evening for a few hours before the rain washed it all away. Beppa got here X-mas present; a computer and internet installation including a web-cam to enable using MSN and talk/view with us in Brunei. Time in Holland was limited, some shopping and last evening drinks with Gerard and Corriene and we flew back to Brunei. Back in Brunei the usual business picked up again. Drinks on the beach shelter and evenings playing Catan. WJ had taken up the organisation for the 2006 Dutch Night together with Alexander Nagelhout. Sandra had taken the lead for the "Kinderfeest" worked was done to announce the theme on the Bea-borrel. The last weekend we got 2 days off for Chinese New Year and Muslim New Year and flew to Mulu. We visited the Caves (at least the 4 most impresssive). We saw the millions of bats flying out of the Deer-cave. We rented serious Quad bikes and drove over the muddy logging trails. By the end of the morning all of us where covered in mud. A great weekend, and on the way back the kids spend a lot of time in the cockpit talking to the pilot.
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