Burnei's Bandar: The Cleanest Town in South East Asia

Welcome to Brunei. It's a wealthy country, owned for all intents and purposes by the Sultan, who is one of the richest men in the world. It's standard of living is relatively high for the region and a good deal has been put into the Bandar Seri Begawan's cleanliness and architecture to ensure a pristine look about it. Brunei and its people are welcoming and friendly, trying hard to ensure you have a good time, a place to stay, and good food to eat.

A tour guide, we met just as we were leaving the city was telling us that the country used to have a great many tourists, this following our comment that their are so few. Many Americans used to come, until September 11th took place. With Brunei blacklisted as a possible terrorist threat, fewer and fewer have made the journey to this tiny but wonderful little country.

In fairness, we also did not linger long, it's a tad expensive when you're on an SE Asia budget, though the food is quite cheap. Lunch and Dinner cost little more than the two coffees we had in the afternoon (Mind you they were exorbitantly expensive coffees.

We spent the afternoon exploring after we arrived by car from Miri. Apparently during the night we had fallen back into favour with the hostel owner who arranged for us to come, saving us several hours of travel and numerous transits. We graciously accepted it all the same. A very helpful guide named Abdul kept the hostel open for us until we arrived, as it usually closes in the afternoon.

Our explorations took us to the stilt villages behind the Sufidan mosque, and found the night market which fed us enormously that evening for less than $2 a piece. The mosque itself, while interesting from outside, and beautiful, but by no means mind blowing, more than makes up for it on the inside. The colors of white and gold were simple, but it really is a magnificent sight to behond. Well worth waiting for the appropriate time to enter.

Our grand adventure came that evening, when we decided we'd go to the palace for a look, and in order to avoid taking out any more money, we'd only pay $15 return. It proved impossible to get a taxi driver to take us, and instead a fellow led us down into a parking garage, our suspicions rising, especially when he disappeared to "fill his water canister." I grabbed Mel's passport and tucked it away in my money belt, just in case this proved to be a foolish decision.

As we left the garage, he stopped and waved to his friend, and told us his friend would take us because his car was nice. Then they drove us to what seemed to be a long long way. I was fairly certain it was too far, but their English was so minimal, and our knowledge of the local language was limited to Thank-you.

We stopped outside what appeared to be a military base. Doh. Then he points and says. There...see Sultan plane. Oh! We thought we had agreed to Sultan's place. We explained as best we could that it was his house. "Oh, Istana!" he exclaimed and I'm sure said something like. I just thought these white people were weirdos. But they're idiots instead.

All the same he took us. From the gates there really is no photo opportunity, so it might have been a waste, except that in our miscommunication, the return route from the airport required that we pass it on the freeway. As we drove by, both Mel and I gasped "Wow..." it's truly a sight to behold. Sadly, we have no picture to prove it...you'll just have to come to this tourist starved gem of a country to see it for yourself.

We got up early in order to catch what we believed to be the last ferry (it wasn't) to Saba, the norther part of Malaysian Borneo, where we will continue our circuitous route to Semporna in the east via Kota Kinabalu, where we will hopefully dive in one of the most stunning (apparently) dive sites in the world.

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