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Brunei
Main Mosque downtown and on the waterWe caught a boat from the main pier in KK to the busy port Island of Labuan for a short stop before catching the next boat (with no AC or outside airflow, yuck!) to Brunei. When we arrived in Brunei we found that there wasn't a money changer or ATM and we needed to catch the bus into town. A Swiss couple (who Geoff had previously met at Mt. Kinabalu) had already offered and paid for us. Later we found out that the bus took Ringhit and you can use Singapore dollars at par in most places.
The first afternoon we spent the evening with the couple and took pictures of the beautiful mosque downtown. We got a peak inside after we put on black gowns; the girls got completely covered from head to toe. For dinner we ate along the river at an open air restaurant and then turned in early.
After a spicy breakfast of different stir-fries, our friends had to catch a flight home and Mazi and I toured the downtown. We checked out the colourful market which had a lot of fruit and other local food. Mazi picked out a nice Pomello (like a big
grapefruit famous in asia) for later.
We cruised the shnazzy mall downtown and stopped for DairyQueen ice cream (to satisfy a small craving) and then walked along the waterfront. From one of the piers we hired a watertaxi to take us around for an hour for 15 Brunei dollars. He took us in his small yellow boat with a 40 yamaha around the different waterways to see a couple of mosques from the water past the royal palace (which we didn't see much of) and then further down river to search the mangroves for Proboscis Monkeys. It was a relaxing way to spend an hour, until we headed to the Ayer Kampung (water village). We got a close up view of an interesting life on the water. It had rustic looking dwellings with satellite tv, power and other amenities packed tightly together with narrow board-walks and arched bridges connecting lanes. A lot of the houses had potted plants for decorations and even a place to store a boat between the stilts. Nearby or within the small villages were small Warung (restaurants) and convinience stores, large longhouse style schools, and modest mosques. Our driver navigated through the village alleys quickly
and with a real smoothness that only could have been developed with years of practice. It was a really nice ride though and our driver packed in as many sights (I think) as he could have fit in in the time allowed.
Later, we headed out to the Mall by bus to find out where all the people of Brunei hang out (the downtown being really quiet compared to most places we've visited). We found them at the mall which was packed. We caught the new X-men movie and satisfied another impulse for luxury.
The next day we jumped in a share taxi with a german speaking Swiss couple to take us back in to Sarawak, Malaysia. They gave us some advice on their favourite spots in Thailand. We stayed the night in Miri at a really awful hotel because everything was full for the May long weekend. At this point we decided to just head straight to Kuching despite there being some awesome sights like the Mulu Caves. Geoff wasn't feeling well and we were in desperate need for some RnR. So we made our way to Kuching missing most of Sarawak. In Sibu, we stayed in
a brand new hotel called Medan Hotel, with a real bed, HBO on tv, and clean clean clean!! right at the bus station. This was just what we needed, an awesome change. The next day we caught the bus the rest of the way to Kuching.
Kuching was a really cool place to relax. We just spent about three days sleeping in, eating interesting food, browsing art shops and walking along the waterfront and the interesting buildings of Chinatown. We rested and got ready for the next part of the trip back to the mainland. One day we'll have to come back Sarawak to experience more of what there is to see.
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