Palm Garden Bandar Seri Begawan Hotel

... has about 400,000 people and is very rich from oil reserves. The Brits gave it independence in 1984 and the same family has ruled it for 600 years. Brunei almost became part of Malaysia (which surrounds it here on Borneo) in 1963, but Malaysia wanted to take too much of the oil revenue.<br><br>Alcohol is forbidden here and any meat has to be halal which means something about it being ok per Sharia Law to be consumed. Yes, even the food has to agree with the ...

... hamburger, chelsey = fried chicken). We then raced back to our hotel like little girls as the bombs continued to go off with increased proximity and frequency.<br><br>We went on our first boat ride the next morning on a "speed boat" to Bangar. This led us through a watery tree-lined maze which somehow they know how to guide the boats through. During the ride home, Chelsey asked the tour guide if there were crocodiles in the waters. Chelsey looked a ...

Between Kuching and interesting sights in northern part of Sarawak province there exists a big gap most people get over by plane. Since the term &#8220;night bus&#8221; isn't unfamiliar in Malaysia I used it. To Miri it took 14 hours and was a reminder that continuous planning ahead is essential. A vague idea about my next destination got more detailed just in the morning, when we were approaching Miri. I decided ...

Our next destination was Borneo. We boarded a bus in Mersing for the 3 hour bus journey to the city of Johor Bahru, on the border with Singapore. From there, we flew 2 hours to the town of Miri in Sarawak, on the Malaysian side of Borneo, close to the border with Brunei.<br><br>When we arrived, we headed for a backpackers' hostel that had been recommended in the Lonely Planet as a "friendly environment that can provide vast amounts of information about travel ...

Here we go again. Up at 6 to drive to Bandar (BSB), the capital. Vanessa has to drive us to the Sheraton Hotel (wherever it is?) for an 8:45 pick-up. We stumble upon the Hotel with 5 mins to spare and a tour rep drives to the waterfront taxi stop! Bandar is small by capital standards, very relaxed and cosmopolitan - odd for a strongly Muslim country. There is a very Chinese feel to the place. The country is obsessed with the EPL, English Premier League football, or more ...

... we will be there for about 3 weeks, it will be easier to stay in an apartment with its own kitchen and laundry. We dont have to worry about how to wash our clothes and how to get our food. And apartment is usually more spacious and more room to move about, so thats another plus point. We have lined up all the places we want to see and how to get there. We try to avoid as much surprises as possible. So there... more updates coming soon.

... we were wrong. And 15 pounds for 10 minutes on a boat is more expensive than London! Anyway we decided to calm ourselves by heading to the Brunei Museum, which was not the best museum ever, but I did like the Sultan's collection of Islamic artifacts. There were lots of gold decorated copies of the Qu'ran and a model of a mosque made out of pearl. Also there was a decorative boot made of pearl with a compass in the toe. It was all very pretty and ornate. After the museum we had a ...

... Brunei is an interesting place you get everywhere via water taxi and everything looks so run down poor and dirty... but I have yet to see any poverty everyone seems to make ends meet just fine. Even if there house isn't dry and falling over. They still have there TV, AC, and power. at the mosque I meet up with 3 guys from Hong Kong and ended up taking a big 3hour water taxi tour ($10 each) which I thought was whicked value he had to pick up his ...

... shizen... but the chef is friendly and his name is Quack so thats ok.<br><br>The seas were pretty rough on the 2nd night, we had to sail back into port for shelter. My stomach quickly got used to being thrown around by a constantly changing centre of gravity - after skipping a meal or two.<br><br>If you need extra chairs on a boat... dont take ones with wheels - its tough ...

... gives a welcoming yet quirky first impression to the place. - if youre bored and find a toyshop in the middle of nowhere and buy a robot, remember to buy a screwdriver to open the battery compartment. - they make it clear on the in flight magazine that 'the penalty of smuggling drugs into the country is DEATH', but when you arrive at the airport there is absolutely no baggage check from customs. straight through baby! - the project ...