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Published: October 16th 2010
We arrived at Bandar Seri Begawan and rolled up at the KK Soon Hostel with its GIANT bedrooms and truly horrendous bathrooms.
After a little wander and having a delicious vegetable roti we came across the Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque, all lit up in the darkness. It's an amazing sight. Almost all materials for the mosque were imported so it boasts marble from Italy, granite from Shanghai, crystal chandeliers from England and carpets from Saudi Arabia. The dome of the mosque is also covered in pure gold. Spectacular.
On our one-and-only day in BSB we visited the Royal Regalia Museum which featured the history and life of the Sultan, Hassanal Bolkiah, the chariots he travelled in during his coronation and many MANY gifts sent to him from other countries. What do you buy the man who has everything? Apparently anything that sparkles.
We also took a boat around the water village, Kampong Ayer. Our driver lived in the village and showed us their many mosques, primary and secondary schools, a fire station, a police station, plus the maze of the little walkways linking them all. He also drove us up to the Sultan's palace before dropping us
off at the night-time satay stalls at the river's edge.
Although we only spent a day in Brunei it is somewhere we'd certainly recommend.
We rose early the following day to take the bus to Kota Kinabalu (a stop-off on our way to Sandakan). Because of the odd shape of Brunei we had to leave and re-enter the country meaning a lot of getting on and off the bus and 8 new stamps in our passports within the space of a few hours.
We stayed just one night in KK before heading to Sandakan as we plan to return later to tackle Mount Kinabalu...but first, time to see the orangutans!!!
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Rina Jain Naha
non-member comment
Did the SSAT come to mind?
Hey Katie and Rob, i'm loving your blog, keep it coming! I was just wondering if you managed to speak to the heads of the primary and secondary schools about SSAT/iNet affiliation when you visited them in Brunei??? (I'm only joking lol!) xx