22.1. – 26.1.2023
When arriving in Brunei, it was the first time when we had to fill in an arrival card. In the card they ask all the regular stuff, but also of which race we are. They also kindly reminded us that drug traffickers will be executed. When walking through the customs the officers also asked us if we’re bringing alcohol to the country. So the laws and regulations seemed to be very strict here. The traffic is also easier for a western tourist here. When you start to cross the road, the cars actually stop for you unlike in Malaysia, where crossing the roads is a suicide mission sometimes. On the other hand there is much more rubbish lying around than in Singapore, so not all the laws are very strict we suppose.
We booked ourselves in a hostel a few kilometres away from the centre. We got two tiny rooms, one with a bunk bed and the other one with a queen bed. We didn’t expect much more, because the whole works cost us only 150€/4nights.
We went shopping at the local supermarket, but this time all we found for breakfast was bread and bananas. We thought we’d bought a piece of cheese, but when we opened the package turned out to be processed cheese. Well, it is still kind of cheese.
The next morning we woke up early, because we had agreed to meet our tour guide at eight o’clock in the city centre. We were supposed to take a bus to go there, but a bus stop was nowhere to be seen. When we saw one tiny bus coming towards us, we just stopped it in the middle of the street and asked if he was going towards the centre. He told us to hop in, so apparently the bus stops here are where ever you decide to flag them down.
We met our guide at the central bus station. It wasn’t really a building at all, only a longer bus stop, where all the local buses seemed to stop. We walked to the river front where our boat was waiting for us. The water was very low, but the boat managed to come close enough to pick us up.
First we drove through a mangrove forest and spotted 17 crocodiles, 11 monitor lizards, different kind of birds and also some proboscis monkeys. Some of the crocodiles and lizards were very big. It’s a scary thought as they roam free basically on your backyard. On the river we also met a fisherman who was fishing with his net. The catch of the day was several king prawns and a spotted scat, a fish, which has venomous spines.
After the river cruise in the mangrove forest, we went to visit the local water village called Kampong Ayer. In reality it’s not a single village, but consists of several smaller villages that have joined together. The population there is about 10 000, but people are moving away to the dry land for an easier life.
The older parts of the village are somewhat dilapidated, with some buildings and footbridges having collapsed. You walk from house to house along the many patched plank bridges, dodging cat poo, gaping holes and rotting planks. On the newer side, the walkways are cast in concrete, and the houses look more modern and comfortable too.
In the village there are sport “fields” for sepak takraw, an outdoor gym, police station, fire department, school and of course a mosque. There are no proper shops in the village, so for the groceries people have to take a boat ride to the mainland. We also asked about the sewage system in the village. Turns out that in the older part of the village all the turds go straight to the river, but in the new part they do have some sort of a sewage system. We have to remember this when they’re offering us “a catch of the day” in a local restaurant…
At least a garbage collection system exists. The locals collect their own trash and carry it in garbage bags to the docks. Someone then picks it up with a boat and takes it to the landfill. While sailing on the river, we also saw men whose job was to collect trash floating in the water. We heard that they carry out this trash collection operation four times a day.
In the evening we did a ‘Bandar by night’ tour with our guide Mel. He took us to see some mosques and also the palace of the Sultan. Even though we hung around the palace gates for a good while, the gates wouldn’t open for us. I guess we need to wait until the end of next Ramadan when the sultan throws a party to the common people. During a couple of days his palace is open for everybody, even non-Muslims. To all the kids under 12 years, he gives 10 Bruneian dollars as a present. Mel promised to keep us updated whether the Sultan will open his doors again after the Covid or not.
Our tour ended at the local night market where many kinds of local dishes were sold. We bought some chicken skewers, fried banana and not so traditional sausage skewers. We also shared some sort of a peanut pancake with our guide.
The next morning Mel picked us up again and we started the tour. The tour plan changed while we were sitting in the car, but it didn’t really matter to us, because we didn’t know anything about the country, so everything was good for us.
For the first part of the tour we were driving around the city and Mel was pointing out probably every single important mosque and building in the city. Then we headed to the longest bridge (30km) in South-East Asia. The trip to Temburong was very quick compared to the old way when you had to use speed boats to get to the area. That boat ride would have taken 45min. There was also an option to go on land to Temburong, but it would have been an even longer route via Malaysia.
In Temburong we first stopped at a local market place and from there Mel took us to a recreational park for a walk in the rainforest. The walk ended up being relatively short, because it was all uphill, very hot, humid and slippery. Ronja wasn’t a big fan of the gigantic ants that were running on the path through the forest. And besides we weren’t really equipped for a walk there, because this part of the tour wasn’t in our itinerary the previous day when we agreed to do it.
After the walk we went for a lunch to a local restaurant owned by Mel’s uncle. The restaurant didn’t look like much from the outside, but the food was delicious. It was also somewhat easier to order it when we had Mel there to translate everything for us.
The next stop was meant to be a mini zoo. We drove a good while and when we got to the zoo, it started drizzling a bit. Despite the rain, we decided to go in to the zoo. We managed to see a bear cat and a few monkeys before it started pouring rain. We ran to take cover under the trees hoping that it would stop raining soon. Well, it didn’t. When even our underpants were wet, we decided to go back to the car and continue to the next place. We felt sorry for the driver and his car, because we were soaking wet and his seats got super wet after we sat back into the car.
We thought Mel was going to take us home, but no. We continued and stopped at another park closer to the centre. There the kids saw a playground for the first time in ages. There was a group of monkeys playing there, but they moved to the trees nearby when we arrived. In the park there was also a nice little waterfall.
Finally after the visit to the park, we got home and said goodbye to Mel. During these past couple of days he had shown us probably everything there is to see in Brunei.
Brunei is a strange country. Even though the country itself has plenty of oil, all the wealth is concentrated to a small elite. All the governmental buildings and sultan’s palaces (of course) are really fancy and shiny, but the common people seem to live very modest and simple lives. In his biggest palace the sultan has 1788 rooms, 257 bathrooms, a hall that caters 5000 guests, parking space for over 100 cars and of course a mosque of his own. He also has a separate building for all the presents he has gotten from other leaders of different countries. There is a parliament in the country, but all the power is basically concentrated to the sultan himself, because he’s the head of almost every council there is. And apparently he has also nominated all the people working in the parliament.
Because we didn’t have any plans for the remaining time here, we spent the morning doing school stuff. Later we went for lunch and from there we worked our way to the national swimming pool. It seemed like an easy task, but it took a lot of waiting for buses and one friendly hotel staff member, who came to help us with the buses. We had been told that bus number 23 goes to the pool. When after a long wait we saw the correct bus, the driver told us that he’s not going to that direction. So we waited some more. This is where the hotel staff comes into the picture. Jaana went to the hotel to ask if they could phone us a taxi, but this staff member spotted the green bus number 23 outside and he told us that we could use that. He came out and talked to the driver. After a short while of talking and hand gestures the same bus driver that had turned us down once already, took us in. Apparently his route passed by the stadium after all.
The stadium was very big and very empty. For 6 local dollars (4€) we got the swimming pools almost to ourselves. Apparently swimming isn’t a big thing here. The first hour we spent in the deeper pool, but for the rest of the time we went to the more shallow pool, so the kids could play easier there. Swimming in the bigger pool was definitely a good exercise for the kids. Another sports lesson completed!
Getting back to the hostel wasn’t very easy either. We were told that there are no buses running anymore, because it was almost six o’clock. Whether that was true or no, we don’t know, but nevertheless one of the locals offered to call us a taxi. If we had waited for buses for a long time, the taxi took a good while to arrive too. Finally we got back to the hostel and went for dinner. In the restaurant nearby we had a big surprise when a robot brought our dinner to the table! That was something we had to get on video!
The last day here we spent doing laundry at the local laundromat and doing school stuff. Risto also wanted to have a new haircut, so we went to the hairdresser next door. With three dollars (2€) Risto got himself the haircut he was hoping for.
