Brunei Baby!

  Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
Sunday, April 12, 2009

Our Malaysian bus driver taking us upto the border crossing was just the nicest guy in the world.  Knew him for an hour and he even walked upto our new bus and waved us off.  Malay's are so friendly it's untrue.

Just had to get that in.  I wanted to run back across the border and hug him but also didn't want to get shot by a border guard.

As our hangovers brew on in our heads we stamp out of Sarawak and onwards into Brunei, the darn richest place ever.  It's billed as a fairly strict Islamic State but has let it's hair down over the recent years.  Girls wearing Western kit and frankly, it could be a Western City easily.  Except for one thing.  No booze!  As I see you all recoil wondering how I will cope I was fine.  We only spent 10mins here.

Only kidding.  We stayed at a hotel (cheapest we could find) as there aren't any real hostels.  But our hotel gave us all the chance to enjoy the pleasures of our own rooms and relax.

Arriving in the rain!

Driving into Brunei the rain was incessant and just sooo heavy.  Everywhere was flooded but apparently it's quite the norm.  Money shines everywhere here.  All the suburbs are akin to something from an American movie and the oil horses are everywhere.  Seriously, everywhere.  A few tourists visit here each year so we were welcomed with open arms everywhere.  Our 3rd bus upto the capital and the conductor asks us if we have somewhere to stay.  When we explain we booked at the Terrace in advance he digs out the address and 2 hours later drops us at their reception!  I was expecting a 'stay here not there' malarky.

Me stuffing my hole

On this note, I've bought a new MP3 to bring away.  My trusty iRiver finally struggled on it's last legs so I succumbed to the Apple takeover and bought an iPod touch.  I've found out it's got internet on it as well.  It also seems everywhere in Malaysia and Brunei has wi-fi so it's like being online permanently.  It's great! 

We're really roughing it this time round.  I have a Nintendo, mobile phone and a friggin iPod.  What happened to a pair of flip flops, one pair of keks, a toothbrush and a sarong to cover my dreadlocks?

Whilst I remember, going back to our bus journey, the 2nd bus we took from the border into Brunei had distinct issues.  We were driving through the rain, hit a massive puddle and we got soaked.  I check my arms, legs and eyesight and realise 'yes I am sat on the inside'.  As we hit another puddle I realise it's belting in through the floor!  Put my backpack's little rainjacket on to keep it dry.  Never expected to do that inside a vehicle.

The queen

A couple of days spent in the capital admiring the obvious sights of the fantastic huge mosque in the middle of town.  It looked great lit up at night.  A boat ride out to the mangroves watching probiscus monkeys swing around followed by a glimpse of the Sultan's new gaff on the way back through the stilt villages.  It looks nice, but I would have finished it differently.  Maybe render instead of gold.  

The Sultan's old place

Something daft like 2000 odd rooms means he's plenty of room to entertain.  We would have popped in but he was being chased by red-shirted people in Pattaya at the time.

And his new place

One thing we did do here was eat.  Whether it was to contain the lack of booze (joke) or worms, it seemed all we did was scoff.  A lot.  Hawker food, pizza, Indians (food not the people), ice cream parlours...  The food joints were very American in the middle of town and 'keeping it real' we ate at the small local places too.  Richie ate at Pizza Hut.  I helped him with a little bit.  Just friendly really.

A couple of days chilling around town and we move on....now whether you believe it or not, I could live in Brunei and sacrifice the beer.  It was by far the best place so far.

Why I'm not allowed a camera

Omar-Ali Mosque lit up at night

River petrol station

Our taxi for the day

Two monkeys!