Black Gold

Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei (map)

In this blog: a village on stilts, a shrine to the Sultan, some crocodiles, and hitchhiking to a six start hotel

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Royal Regalia Museum - the Sultan's bling closet

'What did you know about Brunei before you came here?' asked three guys from the Brunei tourist board, doing a survey on the street to ascertain why so few people visited the country. 'Errr, only that the Sultan of Brunei is a very rich man, that he had a huge collection of cars, and that all their money came from oil' I replied. It turns out I knew more than most people for once since Brunai is such tiny, unassuming and slightly mysterious little country, hidden away on the north coast of Borneo.

Like a few other countries on this trip, I had no prior intention to visit but since it was roughly on my way I thought it was well worth a stop for a couple of days, despite many people asserting that 'it's boring, don't bother'. Even if it was boring I wanted to experience it and say so myself, but as it happened I was far from bored and enjoyed it thoroughly. On the surface I can see what people mean, but if you scratch below it a bit there's some good sights and an interesting if not slightly barmy story behind it.

Arrival

Tof (Christophe), my Belgium travel mate and I were the only ones from our gang who were interested in visiting Brunei, so we said goodbye to the other guys for now at Mulu National Park and with the lack of any roads from Mulu took a half-hour Air Malaysia flight which seemed to land as soon as it took off, landing at Bandar Seri Begasi - the capital city of Brunei. Whilst bordering Malaysia, it was immediately obvious from the air that Brunei was a different country, with wide dual carriageways and posh developments clearly visible from the plane window.

We arrived at the very impressive new airport terminal and had to inconveniently walk half a mile along the grass verge of the main road to get to the bus stop - public transport seems to be a bit of an afterthought in Brunei since most locals just drive, both being wealthy enough able to afford cars and because fuel is so cheap due to lack of taxes (and maybe a bit of subsidy) - £0.25/litre petrol and slightly less for diesel.

We checked into the only hostel in the country mid-afternoon, and went for a wander around town. Like flies round dogpoo, we were drawn to the sight of Burger King for a big fat cheeseburger - the first time on this trip since I generally like to eat the local food, but a nice change anyway. The streets were very quiet for a capital city and very clean, modern and pleasant - maybe that's what tourists dislike; it's slight lack of soul.

The waterfront area was a nice place to hang out, watching brightly painted wooden speedboats taxiing locals across or along the river, after which we walked along the rickety wooden boardwalk of part of Bandar's most interesting sight - the 'floating village', which I'll come back to later.

Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque

All Hail The Sultan!

The following day Tof and went for for a wander to the local sights. The Royal Regalia museum was both immensely boring yet very revealing and interesting at the same time - it's basically a shrine to The Sultan Of Brunei - the king. Brunei has been ruled by the same royal family since the 14th century and was once a large kingdom covering all of Borneo, but continually shrank over the centuries to it's current size, only avoiding being swallowed up by Malaysia when oil was discovered. These days Brunei is a similar size to Cornwall both by area and population, but hugely rich thanks to the oil and gas wells at the town of Seria. The implementation of Sharia law in the country however, which was publicly announced the day I was departing seems a little worrying (which includes stoning and amputation as punishments), and has been denounced by the UN.

Everything in thiss huge marble and granite shrine/museum was about the Sultan, from the gifts on display that he'd received from various leaders, to the huge carriages he'd travelled the streets in during National ceremonies. The place was totally over the top, a little propaganda- like, and quite revealing in many ways. On display were various gifts he'd received, including from tiny countries like Laos, or banks like Standard Chartered who'd given intricate silver engravings and diamond-encrusted gold pens - friendship or after something I pondered? It was interesting to read about how Britain has always had such a strong relationship with Brunei, and how the country was a British protectorate until 1984, with our government managing it's security and external affairs. The museum was so huge we wondered whether we'd ever find our way out, but eventually we were back on the streets with a new hero in life. I jest, but the Sultan is generally very well regarded in Brunei as ruler, especially thanks to the lack of taxes and generous benefits the citizens receive. As well as you can regard the 30th richest man in the world, with a collection of over 5,000 cars anyway.

We walked to the impressive Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque; the focal point of the city and an important place in such a strong Muslim country, and took a brief look inside, impressed by the beautiful vaulted ceiling. Nearby, I stopped at a tailors for some repair work, since I'd managed to completely rip the crotch of my shorts climbing Mt Mulu a few days before. The Indian owner fixed them up a treat in no time whilst I waited, whilst commenting how much he prefers living in Brunei than Delhi. 

The Floating Village

The most interesting sight in Bandar for most is Kampong Ayer village - a large group of colourful wooden buildings built on concrete and wooden silts in the mudflats; a unique and really remarkable sight.

Kampong Ayer village

Speedboat tour along the river along with travel mate Tof from Belgium, left

The Sultan's palace

We'd read the best way to see it was by chartering a speedboat, so after standing on the waterfront with a driver waving furiously at us to attract our custom, we did exactly that. It was a bit bizarre though as once we'd agreed a price and set off, he slyly informed us that because the tide was out he could get around very much of it. We started off instead by going for a cruise down the mangrove tree-lined estuary, almost immediately spotting a smallish crocodile in the mudflats, then later both rehesus and proboscis monkeys. We passed the Sultan's £200m, 1,700 room palace which was very impressive even if only the roofline was visible, before turning the corner to see another huge palace under construction, apparently a gift to his third wife.

On the way back we spotted another crocodile slipping from the mud banks into the water, floating along with just it's eyes and ridged back visible. The boat driver told us to move into the centre of the boat whilst he stood up with a paddle in his hand. Tof and I looked at each other in bemusement, whilst the guy assured us crocs don't attack as long as you stand tall and stand your ground. Reassuring!

When the boat finally got us back to Kampong Ayer village, the driver told us to hang on tight before opening up the throttle, going flat out down an alleyway between some houses to avoid getting stuck on the mudflats, so he said, or maybe just for a bit of fun. This 'floating' village neither floats or is a village - actually more of a city, with 40,000 people living in simple wooden houses interconnected by boardwalks and all the amenities like shops, businesses and police stations available. With the evening pulled in and the boat ride finished, we spent an hour or so walking along the rickety wooden boardwalks having a look, passing friendly locals, and stopping to admire quirky little things. It's a really interesting place which despite the wealth of the country, seems set to stay.

White Elephant

We decided to get out of the centre the next day to see more of Brunei, so took a bus to the National Stadium. It was a huge site of Olympic proportions, with a football stadium, indoor stadium, sets of tennis courts and so on. But it was absolutely dead, and was slightly baffling why such a small country needed such a place. We took advantage of it anyway, and went for a swim in the Olympic-size swimming pool for an hour so so, which was empty bar three other people. Whilst impressive, the whole site was a bit of a ghost town, it's purpose not obvious.

Hitchhiking to a six star hotel

Public transport in a Bandar is pretty ropey as I mentioned, and after our swim it wasn't obvious how to get to our next destination - the 6* Empire hotel, just for a look mind. Bruneians like Malaysians are very nice people, so when Tof came up with the idea of hitchhiking there I thought why not. It took a while for anything to happen, and just as we gave up, Kay and Rai, a 19 and 20 year old brother and sister stopped and offered to give us a lift. 

They were really lovely people, and said they were bored and had no plans for the evening. So not only did they go out of their way to drop us at the Empire as planned, but they came in as well and we had a look around for a while. It was a very impressive place, with a grand five story lobby with marble, hardwoods and brass everywhere, beaches, cinemas, and even a pool just for kayaking. Nice toilets as well! We'd planned to have a look at a theme park nearby afterwards, so without us even asking Kai and Rai took us, stopping at a little cafe in the way where they bought us a fresh coconut each to drink and a small spicy chicken and rice dish. The theme park turned out to be closed, but they'd planned to go to the cinema anyway and asked if we fancied it. Sure! At midnight, after watching Spider-Man 2 (which we treated them to), and being chauffeured around in their nice little Nissan, they dropped us back at our accommodation and said goodbye. I was astounded by how friendly and hospitable these two people were, and slightly baffled by how it all happened, but it did, and it was great

I quite liked Brunei, even if two and half days isn't nearly enough to make a sound balanced judgement on a whole country. But in terms of what I saw, maybe it was me just being obtuse, wanting to like something that other travellers didn't for the sake of it, or maybe it really did have someone to offer. It might be more the case that I went in which such a low expectation that anything above that was bound to please. Either way, Brunei was well worth a diversion for a couple of days.

The 6* Empire Hotel

Tof, along with Kai and Rai who gave us a lift

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Cost of a typical day in Brunei:

£2 curry

£0.25 rice

£0.50 tea

£2.75 Burger King 

£0.50 bus

£1 swim

£3.50 cinema ticket

£3.50 cinema ticket for Rai

£1.25 popcorn

£5 hostel dorm

TOTAL

£20.25