Brunei, Brunei, Where Art Thou Brunei?

Hello all,

I left KK yesterday morning and traveled by boat to Brunei.  Fairly standard journey really, although the boats did not have a deck, which was slightly irritating seeing as the air conditioning was crap and it was seriously overcrowded!  About a 4 hour journey all in all, with a transfer at Palau Labuan (Malysian federal territory).

So first impressions of Brunei then?  Well, the hotel I’m staying in is bare but comfortable, the only budget place anywhere near the centre of town and has an affable if slightly grumpy Chinese owner!  I went out for a walk about 5 clock and the first thing I thought was where the hell is everybody?!  Seriously, I was right in the centre of Bandar Seri Begawan and there was barely a soul to be seen.  No cars on the roads, people coming out of offices, the mall was pretty much empty, a few people around the bus station but that was it!  It was all very strange.  I found a bookshop and grabbed copies of Time, Newsweek and The Economist (yes I am a news whore, but it makes a nice change from the Lonely Planet or the book I’m reading!).  Found a Coffee Bean (bit like Starbucks) and caught up on the world a bit.

The heavens opened shortly after I left, lots of thunder and lightening and I ended up sitting in a stand that overlooked some form of parade ground/sports field. Not really sure what it was, Directly in front of the main mosque, but not linked to it in any way.  Either way I was there for about half an hour before the worst of the rain moved on…..I went to go and buy an umbrella.  Didn’t have any luck trying to find the cinema that I thought was around, I think it has shut down, so I dropped into an Indian for dinner.  At about 9.30 I walked back to the hotel and didn’t see another soul!  It really is quite eerie walking around in quite a ‘large’, actually it isn’t large at all by our standards, with nobody around.

Slept in this morning for some much needed rest and stepped outside……people! There were people walking around, and cars!  I’m heading over to the Royal Regalia Museum in a bit, basically an exhibition of gifts that the Sultan has been presented with over the years from foreign dignitaries and the like.  Later on I’ll head out to Gadong, a districk about 3 miles away, that from what I gather might have a few more people around it and a few more things to do in the evening!  Will probably catch a film before trying to get a taxi back.

From looking at the paper this morning it seems a couple of hours before I arrived yesterday there was a big procession through the town, led by the Sultan and other members of the royal family.  From memory I think it was for the Prophet Mohammed’s birthday.  Shame I wasn’t here for that as it would have been interesting and given some good photos I think.

Anyway, the museum opens again in 20 min, so I’m going to start walking.

Ta ra

x