Photoblog of my trip to Brunei

With an early flight in, and an evening flight out, we spent today in Brunei. Brunei Darussalam, ‘the Abode of Peace’ is one of the smallest countries with less than 6000 square kilometres and 500 000 people, 300 000 of which live in the capital Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB). Brunei is ruled by the 29^th Sultan, the heir of the longest continually reigning monarchy in the world.

After catching the bus from the airport, we walked along the Sungi Brunei to the Sultan Omar Ali Saituddien Mosque, built in 1958 at a cost of $300 million. It is quite a large mosque, white with gold roofs, surrounded by a moat. The moat has a replica of a 16^th century mahligai (royal barge) in it. I got to go inside the mosque and have a look, but Jodie couldn’t since she was wearing shorts. The inside was wonderful, with Italian marble, gold mosaic, Persian carpets and English stained glass, but I couldn’t wander very far.

In all of Brunei we only saw 2-3 tourists, except for about 50 soldiers (from Brunei?) which were everywhere taking photos and travelling in a tour bus.

After the mosque we walked to the Kampung Ager, or water village. The water villages are still quite large in Brunei, with 30 000 people, but they are built as well as the rest of the houses, have fresh water piped to them, and there were many schools in them (we saw maybe 10 schools), with everyone obviously being richer than in Malaysia. There were also plenty of markets, mosques, hospitals, police and even fire stations in the water village (a couple of houses had burnt down the week before as unlikely as that seems).

We also had a walk through the centre of BSB, where we saw the Brunei History Centre, the Lapau (Ceremonial Hall) and Dewan Majlis (Parliament House). We had lunch at the YSHHBFC (Yayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolleiah Foundation Complex), which is the main shopping mall, and is as snazzy as anything in Sydney. We also visited the Royal Regalia building, which is full of royal Bruneian artefacts, with gifts from other rulers to the Sultan, APEC meeting memorabilia, photos from the Sultan’s childhood (if you really cared about how well he did in primary school, or military school in England, and how much he loves polo) and so on, finishing up in the main foyer with the royal chariot.

Next on our list as the Jame Asr Hassanil Bolleiah Mosque, the largest in Brunei. We were going to catch a bus there, but since the road sings didn’t match our map we kept on missing the bus and spent an hour walking there. It was quite impressive, but we didn’t get there until praying time, so we missed out on going in.

After our hot walk we stopped in for a few drinks and pizza near the mosque, and after a long wait managed to catch a taxi back to the river. There we hired a boatman to take us to see the sights on the river. He pulled out from the docks, and immediately lit up a cigarette (a big no-no during Ramadan, and enough to get him in jail with a $250 fine) and told us about how he was having it hard since his wife had a hysterectomy after a difficult childbirth of their fifth child (he was trying to get extra money for the tour and was quite obvious about it).

He showed us the Istana Nurul Iman (the Sultan’s palace, or at least on eof them), the largest residential palace in the world, and the water village and tried to show us monkeys upriver, but there were none. With our flight at 7pm, we didn’t get a chance to visit Jerudong Park Playground, the largest theme park in the world built free as a gift from the Sultan to the country for his 48^th birthday.

Back at Rasa Ria we went to the Nocturnal Watch for an hour, and saw a tortoise come out, but no other animals.

There aren’t that many hostels in Brunei. In fact to my knowledge, there is only one in the whole of the sultanate. The one hostel is housed in the Youth Center or popularly known as Pusat Belia. It is the cheapest accommodation you can find at least in Bandar Seri Begawan if not in the whole of Brunei. It is probably the best and only place to stay in Bandar Seri Begawan if you are on a tight budget. The building itself is located smack in the middle of downtown Bandar Seri Begawan the capital of Brunei. You can find the Sheraton hotel to the right and the Kianggeh open air market to the left about 5 mins walk. Easy access to Kampong Ayer, Royal Regalia and eating establishments barely 10mins walk from the hostel itself. Of course being in the center of town, you can get to any destinations in Brunei very easily with the bus interchange also close by. Buses from this interchange goes to all parts of Brunei except probably Temburong which you can go to by speed boat. If you intend to go to Temburong for the Belalong National Park, the speed boat pick up point is no more than 15mins walk away. Basically a lot of major tourist attractions are just near by. The hostel in itself is very basic although each rooms are air conditioned, which is of course the most important piece of equipment to have in this weather. The hostel is segregated with separate dorms for boys and girls, each with their own common bathrooms. It cost B$10 per person per night for a bed. And each room you may find 1, 2 or 3 double-decker beds depending on the size of the room. Rooms are limited. On occasion, it has been known that there is no one manning the reception especially in the odd hours. In such a case, what you can do is just get yourself a bed and pay up in the morning. Or if you can find the security guard on watch, you can pay him instead. The center has its own swimming pool which you can use as long as you like for a mere B$1 though it closes at 9pm. There is also a cybercafé within the premises itself. They charge a minimal price of B$1 per hour which also closes at 9pm. There is no kitchen and no cooking of any form is allowed in the rooms. With cheap food around town, I cant imagine why you want to do this. The reception is located on the ground floor and easily located if you come in from the main road side entrance and crossing a small bridge over a narrow canal. The reception staff goes off at 9.30pm. So if you arrive later then that, do let them know in advance so that they can arrange for someone to meet up with you upon your arrival. Reservations can be made by dropping them an email at pusatbelia@hotmail.com Or contact the hostel’s supervisor, Mr. Harjimmey directly at his email address jimy5192@hotmail.com Should you need to call them up, their number is +673 2223936 / 2222900 Ask for Harjimmey or Firdaus.

People i met here, who contributed to and improved my trip: Julia (Russia)

We were awake just after 6am so as to get down to the port in Kota Kinabalu and buy tickets for the ferry to Brunei. As it was the weekend we were greeted with bad news that the first ferry to Labuan was full, but we could buy a ticket to stand, which we did. As it turned out they put some extra plastic chairs in the first class lounge, so we sat there and played Ludo for the 3 hour journey. Once in Labuan we went to an eatery for some food whilst we waited for our connecting boat to Muara in Brunei. It was interesting to see that the duty free shops were selling beer for only 1 ringgit a can, when it can cost anything up to 8 in a normal shop. The government is clearly doing pretty well from the import taxes!

The 2 hour trip passed rather slowly, as the waves tipped the boat from side to side. It was pretty unpleasant and this would be strike 1 of our bad luck, with bad things normally coming in 3's. The second problem was that the bottom of our backpacks had got soaked in the luggage compartment, but still we were upbeat about the prospect of entering a new country. This is when the third killer blow struck. Customs informed us that Julia's transit visa was the wrong visa and that she could only enter and leave the country by air. After some umming and arrring and several phone calls they decided to refuse her entry. The stupid thing was that even if she had flown in, the visa would not have been valid as they said you needed 3 different destinations on your visa (starting point, Brunei, exit point) and she only had 2. The last boat was due to leave for Labuan in Sabah any moment and with no other choice, she had to board it, whilst i decided to go into Brunei and meet her on the other side in Sarawak.

After giving Julia all my money to buy her boat ticket, i realised that i had no money to get to Bandar Seri Begawan from the port of Muara. I asked where the nearest ATM was, but it was several kilometres away and also the bus from the port to the centre had already left. I decided my only option was to hitch hike, so started to make my way to the main road. Just as i was doing so, a very nice man pulled up in his car, said he had heard my problem and would give me a lift to a town with an ATM machine, where i could also get a bus to the capital. It was really nice of him and turned my mood around.

Once in Bandar Seri Begawan, i checked into my hotel and decided to have a really quick look around, as it was already dark. My first impressions were good, as the city looked beautiful with all of its illuminations. I walked across the main field in the centre of the city to reach Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque, before visiting the Royal Regalia Museum, JL Sultan Street and Lapau Royal Ceremonial Hall. After walking through the night market and buying some food, i went to use the internet to check up on Julia's whereabouts. Typically my yahoo account had chosen to play up and it took several attempts to co-ordinate our plans to meet up in Miri on Monday. This achieved, i went to bed alone for the first time in 9 months, quite a strange experience.

From Bario we flew back to Miri (with a brief stop in Marudi) and shared a cab to Brunei ... my first visit to this particular neighbour.

Bandar Seri Begawan (the capital) is quite pretty and we visited the Royal Regalia Museum and two grand mosques. In a way the Sultan's extravagance will leave something for future generations to admire! Where would we be if the pharoahs didn't force a few million slaves to build some pyramids for us today? Would we be richer as a human race?

We also went to Jerudong Park. This an amusement park supposedly bigger than Disney. It was built by the Sultan for his subjects on one of his birthdays (about 8 years ago). It used to be free but now they charge 6USD for unlimited rides. With a population of 300K the customers dwindled even when it was free.

It has supposedly gone downhill and some rides are now closed. But the good screaming ones (including a rollercoaster pulling 8 Gs, and a vertical drop machine) are still open with other good ones. Still beautifully kept despite the low customer numbers ... there were no other people in sight at many times during our visit and it was quite eeeeeerieeee! Expected about 50 people that night!

There was also a water-fountain synchronised with music and lights (like Rotorua & Kuching). But this was huge and very well presented with Malay songs (common thru Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore and Indonesia) and Michael Jackson (who performed free for the subjects of the Sultan as his gift to the people on his 25th anniversary).  The music is changed nightly! What a job doing computer programming.

In Bandar Seri Begawan, we stayed at the Pusat Belia or Youth Centre.  It was basic but the swimming pool was good.  All was fine until the aircon packed up at night.  It could have been a lot worse ... Kim spotted a Dutch fellow-hosteller walking into building with a durian, but managed to convince him to leave it outside ... of all places, in a locker!

Royal Brunei BI-34: Bangkok (BKK,07.02., 07:40) - Brunei (BWN,07.02.,11:30)

People i met here, who contributed to and improved my trip:

After an exhausting ordeal getting into Brunei and the lack of an alarm clock, i awoke around 11am and quickly got ready for my only full day in the country. After heading to a food court for some lunch, i caught a local bus out to the Empire Hotel at Jerudong, about a 1 hour journey. It had been built by Prince Jefri at the staggering cost of $USD 1.1 BILLION!!! and was part of the reason why the Sultan tried his brother for wasting public money. Unsurprising really. I felt a bit out of place walking around in my t-shirt and boardies as some of the guests paid up to $22,000 for a single night! I ventured through the lobby, some of the dining areas and into the back gardens where i was greeted by enormous swimming pools and an 18 hole golf course, designed by Jack Nicklaus. Unfortunately my budget didn't extend to staying the night, so i walked back to the bus station and headed back to the capital.

The day was already flying by, so i decided to go and check out Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque in the daylight. I walked around the circumference and discovered it had a very pretty lagoon, which mirrored the mosque and boat it housed beautifully. The boat reminded me of Cixi's Marble one in Beijings Summer Palace. I also coincided my visit with the time that i could go into the mosque, which was very beautiful, but unfortunately i couldn't take pictures. There were old Korans and the decor had held out well since it was built in 1958, for a monstrous $5,000,000. I walked over Teman HJ Sir Muda Omar Ali Safuddien field to get back to my hotel, just as it began to rain.

Thankfully the rain stopped after a short period, but it was already 5pm when i made a move for Istrana Nurul Iman, the Sultans Palace. The lady in my hotel told me to take the more frequent and cheaper bus to the palace, rather than the water taxi. What she forgot to explain is that you get no view of the palace from the main gates on the road! The guard told me to go back to town and take a water taxi :( Back in Bandar Seri Begawan i headed for the jetty, but the water taxis were trying to rip me off and i decided that i'd wasted enough time and effort and took a picture from a long long distance away and settled for that.

It was now dark and i decided that i would head back to Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque, to check out the reflections in the lagoon at night. I wasn't disappointed as it looked absolutely gorgeous, and spent a good half an hour walking around and photographing all the different angles. Whilst i was there, i got chatting to a most obviously local gay guy, who was very nice and told me of another mosque that i just had to go and visit. I thanked him whilst half cursing the fact that it was already 8pm, i was starving and now on another adventure to the outskirts of town.

Back on another bus and heading to Jame'Asr Hassanal Bolkiah Mosque, i pulled out my pages of Brunei Lonely Planet that i had ripped out of the book when leaving Julia at the port. I was surprised to read that there is a jail sentence accompanied by a huge fine for homosexuality in the country and it made me think of the bloke at the mosque and how hard everyday life must be for him. It also made me wonder how he had never been 'outed' as it was pretty blatant by his dress and mannerisms of his sexual preference. Seems strange in a 'progressive' country such as Brunei that such rules still exist, whilst in most of the other South East Asian countries you spot lady boys all over without even battering an eyelid.

My thoughts were interrupted 20 minutes into the bus journey as the towering Jame'Asr Hassanal Bolkiah Mosque came into view, with gold glistening in the horizon. The bus dropped me off and i entered the grounds for a closer look. I was trying to get the 'perfect picture' but found frustration at every turn as there always seemed to be trees obstructing the shot. It then began to drizzle so i headed back towards the bus stop and some shelter.

The rain subsided however and with 30 minutes to spare i decided to head outside the grounds to get a shot from distance. Around 10 minutes out, the heavens literally opened and the streets became flooded within seconds. Every inch of me became saturated as i rushed to put my valuables into my day pack, then the bag into a plastic bag. For some reason i decided that i would walk to a huge mall to get the bus rather than infront of the mosque, but i lost my bearings and ended up walking another 30 minutes, missing the last bus and the rain was still pounding down. I eventually managed to grab a taxi and the second it had dropped me home the rain completely stopped. I joked with myself whether it was Gods way of punishing me for paying too much interest in Mosques, then an image appeared at the window and spoke to me.... haha ok, so it didn't really, but i got you going! I crashed out hungry, cold, wet and tired, but content with all i had packed into the day.

The following morning i was up at 7.30am to start my journey to Miri to meet Julia. An hour wait for a bus was followed by a 6 hour journey, passing through the border and getting to see a small oil field, which contributes to giving Brunei its wealth. It was the end of an interesting action packed couple of days in Brunei Darussalam.

We arrived in and I wasn’t for taking first impressions, or life would’ve been crappy for the next couple of days.

The flight was fine and everything like that, but the airport sucks.

Full stop.

Everyone from out flight retrieved their bags and got through customs… We were still at the luggage carousel. No bags spinning around. The belt was turned off and I stuck my head through to see what was going on… The staff realised we were still waiting… and miraculously, our more-expensive-than-samsonite backpacks appeared within moments.

Strange huh?

Lost but found when they realise we aren’t going anywhere.

Then… the airport deserted, we get across to passport control, have to wait for someone to actually appear there before we can go through. Get out into the foyer and there’s no sign from out hotel…

Thinking this sucks we start looking for alternative means… luckily, our man appears and away we go.

Brunei… hmm.

All this chaos was soon replaced with wonder as we get into Bandar Seri Begawan. The architecture of the mosques looked amazing and I couldn’t wait to get back out there with my camera.

We get in the hotel… Something I picked mainly on price and location, as we had no images of anything other than that incredulous monstrosity that is The Empire. Way beyond our means having just paid for a wedding and looking at buying a new house when we get home again.

Our place was fine… you get what you pay for :P …T didn’t really like it at first… Honestly, she was glum. Mainly because the room was all pink walls… nasty. But it was pretty good; more like an apartment as it had a lounge and bedroom. Nice setup. Although the windows didn’t lock and the door seemed to be dodgy.

Anyhow, we got set… picked up a map downstairs and headed off into BSB.

First stop… money. Then it was off to the Mosque Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien for a closer look at some photos. We were lucky; prayer call was going out as we approached… We sat, we listened. And all was well.

Arabic soothes the soul.

After sitting in tranquility for a time, we headed off for some shopping and what-not.

Life isn’t as it appears in the guidebooks here. You always read of the men being shy and women all having their hair covered, dressing conservatively. T even brought a scarf just in case, so as not to offend. I don’t know when these guys last came to Brunei, but it’s nothing like that.

We were stared and leered at by the men with us being a mixed couple, or more likely because T is part Indonesian. I let it slide to curiosity; T just didn’t feel comfortable. And as for the women… Not one person wearing a head scarf anywhere. And low cut tees with tight jeans as far as the eye can see. Nice one Lonely Planet!

After the shopping escapade we tracked down the location of the bus station for reference and made tracks back to the hotel.

After a bit of TV and approaching early evening, we headed downstairs and organised a pick-up from Jerudong Playground for later that night. Getting home from there is a pain apparently, and taxis can be pricey. We only needed the one-way, as we intended on getting the bus out there.

Made it to the bus stop and busted a few Bahasa Melayu moves to find out if we were at the right stand. The bus rolled up… a minibus, for like 20 people. There were like 50 people waiting for this bus!

Pushing seemed the norm and we learnt fast. T shoved through and made it on, but she looked concerned about me not making it since I had stopped. I only stopped because there were two girls in front of me being sandwiched by all the sweaty men and couldn’t get on the bus, or out of the way… Luckily, being about 30 kilos heavier than anyone else there, and the evergreen gent, I braced against the door and let them get on before getting myself in the bus. Found a seat and the door snapped shut. Apparently you can’t stand on Bruneian buses… hmm.

We got rolling, the ticket woman snatched my 2 ringgit for the two of us, and we’d effectively made a saving of 28 ringgit for not taking the hotel transport there. That’s admission taken care of. Score.

Obviously, after half an hour on the bus, we well and truly had no idea where we were. Fortunately, being white has it’s advantages. The driver caught me in his vision after that half an hour and shouted out “pergi ke Jerudong, ya?” …Of course, what else is out here? I nodded in agreement to him and another 10 minutes or so later he detoured from the normal bus route to drop us off at the entrance.

What a nice guy. The other people on the bus didn’t look too happy… but oh well… these things happen ;)

Jerudong is an interesting place. A theme park that the Sultan opened to keep the people happy. It only recently started charging admission, and whilst it wasn’t much to us, it’s a fair whack at local standards when other costs are factored into the equation.

The place was literally empty. Like so empty we saw about 20 people that weren’t staff the whole night, and that’s the reason why not all the rides are open all the time. The place is huge, but the rides aren’t of a great standard by international equivalents. I still managed to find a few cheap thrills. The Pusing Lagi (‘turn again’) was probably the best thing open the night we went. But quiet as anything. The staff had to start the ride for me!

After doing the rounds we headed off to the drop tower thing, which is basically just a vertical drop at enforced speed. Again… I was the only one on the ride! Amazing…

A few locals saw me on the tower and started chatting to us… They wanted to go on the Pusing Lagi but weren’t sure… I convinced them to go on, and I actually go to ride with some people.

T isn’t a ride person, so it was something special to actually get her to go on a ride with me. The log flume thing, which is pretty tame… but she managed it. And she realised it was all in her head. I did take a photo on the ride though as we were about head over the tip of a drop… She looks terrified, haha

Jerudong is such a shame… So much potential and an expansive space. It’s just a pity. (Feb 1, 2007 update: I have just read that the Pusing Lagi has been relocated to ‘Siam Park City’ in Bangkok)

At the scheduled time we made our way to the pick-up area and got our lift home. It was an amazing drive home. The palace on the hill all illuminated looked massive. But the absolute highlight of the night had to be passing Jame Asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque. We passed it during the daylight and I didn’t really see it too clearly, but at night… Wow! Words don’t really do it justice. It was the most brilliant sight, and we were honestly both speechless from it’s beauty.

I had intended on heading over there in the morning before our flight, but I’ll just buy a postcard. No matter how good a daytime photograph I take, nothing will ever compare to the night view.

The Empire Hotel has played host to many international dignitaries on state visits (including Bill Clinton, who also returned on a personal visit). It is situated in Jerudong near Bandar Seri Begawan.