D Anggerek Service Apartment Bandar Seri Begawan

... there was "a very special and important announcement" as they put it that if one traffics drugs, death is the penalty. I never heard what the penalty is for playing with the Allah Machine and don't want to find out. And get this, as we walked out the airport, a convenience store had Billy Jean going and the clerks were listening intently to it. It's Michael, Michael, Michael 24/7 over here.<br><br>So what can I tell you that is interesting about this place ...

... had seen everything. The main attraction was the mosque that you see in the pictures. The crazy part was that right nextdoor to the beautiful mosque were the stilt villages which housed 32,000 people. Basically, these are rundown shacks on the water/mud. <br><br>Later that afternoon we couldn't find the "can't miss" park which we couldn't understand as there was only one was to go in this small city. We had our first "western" meal for dinner (kevin ...

... pepper sauce, then sent out.<br>I figured I should probably dig in before it gets any colder! I'd finished it, and we waited for probably 10 more minutes for Sarah's lamb shank. There were no vegies like in the photo on the menu, just some mashed potato (that Sarah wolfed down!)<br>We were throughly disappointed with our meal, and decided to gofor a walk along by the water, before heading back to the hotel with a couple of ice creams for dessert.<br>

... to have it! <br><br>The main reason for our visit to Brunei had been to organise a flight to Bali, but when we enquired at a local travel agency, we were told that the route from BSB to Bali had been cancelled and that we would have to fly there via either Kuala Lumpur or Jakarta. This was most inconvenient as it meant that we first had to travel in the opposite direction. As we had no choice, we decided on KL and left BSB after 3 days.

... but even when we left two days later, the constant damp and humidity meant that everything remained as wet as when we had first arrived, including our shoes. Dinner that evening consisted of boiled rice and cabbage, although Dean did have the added luxury of some unidentifiable lumps of meat to go with his. When it was time to go to bed, we climbed into our mummy-style sleeping bags and in the absence of pillows, used our fleeces to lay our weary heads on ...

... which went through the various types of histories (political, cultural etc) of Brunei. It was a little more interesting than the Royal Regalia building, which documented the Sultans of Brunei that I visited the previous day. The evening was spent with a couple of people from Miri, and singing and dancing to karaoke in a cafe. This sounds normal, but Brunei is a dry country, so all this had to be done sober, and even without red bull!

... The other boatmen just sat there, watching. He didn't follow us. We reckon it's some kind of scam that he does to lots of unsuspecting tourists. He got angry immediately, which shows he knew all along that he had told us the wrong amount. Also he lied when he said we couldn't get off the boat at the palace, we think so that we would stay on the boat and he could continue his plan. David was not amused by the whole thing. We couldn't believe he would lie to us like that and then ...

... bag I went for a walk around the market which had flies and smelt bad and there was no way I was going to eat anything from there.. I then took a walk thru town and made my way to the mosque which took USD 5 million to build and it's all gold and flash ECT but right over the fence the river is filled with smelly rubbish. I then took a walk thru the village... which is all these houses that are on the water I got told that 30,000 people live ...

28th October, 2008.<br><br>Okay its day 5 now of my first proper offshore gig. The boat, the Khawla 182 is a bit of an old timer barge - the brick of the South China Sea... but seems well maintained and not ready to sink any time soon. Its about 60m long with accomodation for about 90. The rooms are extra tiny with 4 bunks per room (Im lucky Ive got one on my own). The food is ...

... sultan looks after his peeps. on ramadan day they have a big festival and he gives out $50 notes to people. - there is free health care in this country... break a leg, no worries! - you cant point with your index finger, its a religious no no. - if I wanted to get a cheap massage for $15, it would be a bloke doing it. (and a girl doing it if youre a girl). touching skin of a stranger of the opposite sex, another no no. - the giant ...