BENDAR SERI BEGAWAN


Well, What to say about Brunei ...

except that I found it extremely frustrating ... and honestly .... kind of boring, especially after our busy stay in Sarawak. By then, I was still very much into that helicopter crash story and was still checking the news whenever I could.
We eventually made it to BSB after the maddest road journey we'd made up until then with a crazy Chinese Malay driver who thought he was on a mission to get us there the fastest way, cruising at more than 200 km/h and trying to bum all the cars in front of us, we were constantly one meter or less behind, ready to crash any minute.

We crossed the border in a normal fashion, and no fuss while our driver was making all sorts of arrangements with the immigration officer. He was passing on some eggs, a few discreet notes, and hush hush talks. We then got back on the road, stopped a few hundred meters away to wait for his friend ...

BSB was at its best to celebrate his Majesty the Sultan's birthday, and according to a traveller we met earlier in Miri, at its wildest ... The whole city had a festive atmosphere, lights twinkling and posters of the Sultan everywhere.
There were to be celebrations at the stadium, night markets opened late ...
At the Youth Hostel, men and women were separated, which came as a real inconvenience as we only had one alarm clock, one tube of toothpaste, and little things but still a pain, especially because the dorm beds were not cheap and had to be separated.
We learned later that right on the opposite of the street were flats to let for 30BND a night , only 10 dollars more and all the comforts .. like TV, A/C and the a kitchen .... DOH !
Nevertheless, Brunei has been a place of culinary comforts (baguette and camembert sandwitch every morning at the Delifrance ....)

FUN at the Theme Park !

THe other thing to do beside shopping in Brunei was to go and have a good time at the Sultan's Theme Park. The park, the size of a Disney Land could have been amuzing if only operators were there to operate the attractions. Half the rides were closed probably due to the lack of visitors ...
For indeed, we were very few, all in all 20 people trying to find a ride that actually works.....

Sultans Mosques and High Tea at the EMPIRE



The man from the Youth Hostel took us for a ride around the mosques before letting us off for High Tea at the Empire.
The Mosque, built by the sultan for hle wais peops a glorious building with green and gold domes. All real gold, our guide loved to say. Here is gold, here is gold too, real gold you know, not fake not plated. And Sultan is so generous.


The Mosque was pretty, and the coolness of the marble gave us relief from the heat outside. After a quick tour inside the Mosque, our guide took us to the very famous 6 star hotel. All the way to the hotel, located on the sea front, he explained that he had a friend working at the hotel, and gave us an idea of the price and what to expect in a 6 star Hotel suite.... around 500USD for the night, bed sheets made of pure silk and of course spacious bathrooms .... that the sunday brunches and other high tea were only to attract common people and advertise the prestige of the place as in reality they were too cheap to make any profit out of them.



So, here we were, dressed like western scummy tourists about to enjoy our first High Tea in an all marble and gold setting....

When High Tea was served, they brought silver cuttlery, and white China plates containing Cucumber sandwitches, scones with cream and jam, various cakes and of course, tea or coffee, served from a shiny silver pot .... quite an afternoon, indeed.

We were aloud the roam the lounge, the lobby area, the pool area and the beach ...

and tried to make the most of it although, unfortunately we were not allowed to use the swimming pool ..





We got picked up by our guide and got another 30 minutes of highly confidencial gossip involving Sultan, his wife, his son and his new fiancee

... the queen did not approve of her son marrying a former air stewardess or something along the line ...