Where is our ride???!!!

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So we arrive at the port of Brunei after a 1 hour boat ride from Labuan. James had made arrangements with one of his old Bruneian friends to meet us at the dock as we were staying over at his place for a few days. The transport in Brunei is completely unreliable and the busses run spontaneously. The taxis charge prices. So we were completely relying on James friend to be there.
We stepped off the recycled aircraft interior vessel through customs where they searched our bags for alcohol ( as it is illegal for anyone to sell alcohol in Brunei, it is a very religious place, the only places to sell it are some high class hotels at a high class extortionate prices) although you are allowed to take in a small amount for your own consumption.
We did a lap around the car park looking for James mate, but there was no sign. We approached a crowd of young men that hung around the empty bus stop, sniggering amongst themselves whilst fiddling with their latest model of mobile phone.
We sat and waited, 1hour passed and there was still no sign. No sign of a bus a taxi or our ride. We had no Bruneian currency to use the telephone so we asked the crowd of boys if we could use one of their many phones, one kind sole handed over him mobile and James attempted to call his friend. Unlike mobiles in the U.K if someone doesnt have any credit on their phone all calls are terminated despite which way the call made! We were stuck.....James friends mobile wouldn't connect as he had insufficient funds. James eventually got in touch with a mate who was able to give us a ride to the centre, but we would have to wait for another hour.
We began walking along the road, holding out our thumbs in an attempt the hitch a lift, it didn't work; most of the cars here are full of families unlike the U.K. It started to rain! I spotted a truck making a u turn at the junction ahead so I shouted to the driver. He was a really nice man that had just finished his work for the day and kindly offered us a ride to the nearest town. We sat in an Indian cafe and waited for James friend to arrive. Eventually we had a lift.
James mate was a really nice and cheerful guy. James phoned round in desperation for a place to stay (as Brunei accommodation was way out of our budget) he finally came across a contact of his fathers, an Australian couple called Alan and Kate, they were more than happy for us to stay with them and welcomed us warmly.
The house was really large and spacious, clean and comfortable inside. They had two cats one called Simon (who has beautiful blue crossed eyes) and the other Suleiman (the cutest most chilled out cat in the world!)
Alan and Kate gave us one of their cars to use while we stayed over which was so kind of them and very much appreciated, otherwise we would probably have spent most of our time waiting at the infamous Bruneian bus stops!
We took a ride on the Brunei River in a tiny motorized boat driven by a local from Kampung Ayer. Kampung Ayer is a village on stills stood on top of the river, some 30,000 people live here. It looked very cramped and mostly rundown; James told me that there used to be a lot of fires amongst the village due to combusting electrical appliances. All of the Bungalows/houses are made from wood.
The man driving the boat showed us the palace where the king lives and we saw many schools upon the river, children were being transported from their schools to their homes on the riverboats.
We saw the lots of grand mosques they are very impressive buildings.
The young people of Brunei use ice cream parlors and coffee houses as their main hang out areas. We met with some of James old Bruneian friends and they took us to a parlor called dairy queen, no joke it was the best ice cream I have ever tasted!!!
One afternoon we drove to a 6 star hotel called The Empire Hotel, here you can pay up to....wait for it 8,000pounds per night!!! That is for the presidential sweet they originally built for bill Clinton who later decided just to stay aboard his yacht for security reasons. The lonely planet guide suggests that all back packers should go to this hotel for high tea in the afternoon so thats exactly what we did. I cant imagine the queen consumes high teas on a daily basis as she would be massive by now. The hotel was huge but there were hardly any people around to give it a nice atmosphere. If your interested look the hotel up on Google they have pictures of their nicest rooms.
During our stay with Kate and Alan we took a trip to the border to buy them some alcohol (as it is illegal to sell in Brunei). We passed passport control and were lead to cafe/restaurant area in a large hut made from corrugated metal and wood. Here we had some drinks and ate barbequed stingray (one of James favorites). I would never have imagined it but its a delicious tender meat, very nice fish indeed! Kate and Alan put in their order for their next months supply of booze. The guys went off on their mopeds to another part of the village to collect it. Even thought we were on Malaysian land the small family selling the alcohol was aware that their may be a police raid the next day so they had hidden traces of having any alcohol on their premises all together, maybe because it was all tax free booze. There were loads of Europeans sat around that were doing the same thing. They all lived and taught in the Brunian schools. There were more Europeans than I had seen for weeks!!!!!
We caught a mini bus to Miri.

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