Blogs from Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei, Asia - page 9

Geo: 4.94088, 114.949Salut tout le monde, Nous allons bien. Nous avons vue la ville en marchant 2 heures (un peu plus peut-etre). C'est tres petit ici pour une capital. C'est vrai que le pays est pas tres grand aussi. Nous avons commencer par prendre le bus (he oui, encore) pour se rendre a l'hotel Empire. Le cout fut de 1.1 milliard. Nous avons bien regarder partout, pour s'assurrer que l'argent avait bien ete depenser. Effectivement tout est de marbre, or, mosaique, marquetterie, bois sculte, tapis persan. Le hall d'entree de 6 etages avec fenestration (6 etages aussi) vue sur l'ocean bien sur. 3-4 picines avec plage artificielle et bien sur la vrai plage a cote!!!. Le tout dans le golf designer par Jack Nicklaus. Bon on a pu visiter les toilettes, comme a notre habitude. C'est ... read more

Brunei is just a speck on any world map but the wealth of the place well renowned. On our way up the coast of Borneo we passed through Brunei, spending a couple of days in the Sultanate's capital - Bandar Seri Begawan. The bus to the capital was incredibly convoluted. We caught a bus to the border, got our passports stamped and then changed to get another bus to a town just inside the border. After that we caught a small ferry across a river, another bus to another town then a final bus onto the capital. The ride in was scenic and noticeably different from Malaysia. The road we took followed the coast and trudged through small towns and suburbs. It also cut through oil refineries and offices where the usual natural jungle is swapped ... read more

We didn't have much luck with transport or bureacracy in Brunei. The ferry from Limbang wasn't running and the taxi drivers wanted ridiculous sums of money at exchange rates that didn't make sense. We eventually made it to the border, and were pleased to be finally assigned transit visas - a short-term visa for those moving on in the next few days which costs about half as much as a 30 day visa. We were in Bandar Seri Begawan by mid afternoon, sweating our way from the bus stop to our hotel. We spent the afternoon in air-conditioned comfort, washing ourselves and our dirty hiking gear and resting our weary bodies while watching Star Movies. The sunset looked spectacular, but it was all we could do to watch from our window, not having the energy to ... read more

Oh how we were looking forward to the 24 hour flight over!!! To our dismay we only realised a few days before the trip that there were actually two stop overs, one in Brunei and one in Dubai. It's amazing how much of a roller coaster ride the flight over is. I'm not talking about the actual flying, instead the emotional roller coaster. The next few entries are our own roller coaster ride. We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare thanks to my lovely twin sister (thanks again Wen). So after some time waiting around, a quick bite of lunch we headed through customs. Royal Brunei doesn't serve alcohol during the flight, but you can BYO. How cool is that!! So we purchased a bottle of wine and a six pack of ... read more

lazing by a pool in hot sunshine and thinking back over the last few days. We managed to get to Mulu National Park although we had to stay just outside the park in a local guesthouse. That was an experience in living like the local people - water had to be pumped up out of the river into a large bin in the bathroom - then it was shower yourself with a scoop. The only trouble was that there was no water on the first day, so we learnt the hard way!! I need to go back a step first - to get to the park you either take a 10 hour boat ride or, in our case a short ride in a plane - powered by propellors. That was fine except the clouds came down ... read more