State of peace - mosques, public transport, and a playground
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.
All this chaos was soon replaced with wonder as we get into 
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
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.
Jerudong is such a shame… So much potential and an expansive space. It’s just a pity. (
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.
