An afternoon in Brunei

---

During our flight from Bali to Bangkok we had a four-hour layover in Brunei. Realizing we might never have another chance to visit the tiny country, we decided to leave the airport to see the city and get some lunch before our flight back to Bangkok. We flagged a taxi driver willing to drop us off downtown and pick us up two and a half hours later. We had no idea what to expect from the tiny Muslim island. The drive from the airport took us through a sparse, bright, wealthy city with wide open spaces and perfectly manicured gardens. Slick expensive cars slid in and out of traffic around us.

The taxi driver seemed a little baffled by our request to "just take us to the most popular part of town" but he obliged and let us off in the business district. There were a number of small shops, an air-conditioned mall, a gorgeous mosque, and a river snaking through all of it. Pedestrians in business suits walked through the streets on breaks from work, and clusters of women strolled by toting shopping bags. We were hungry, and wandered through the streets in search of lunch. We found a little local spot, mostly full of Indian patrons, and ate a decent meal of curried chicken and rice. We had hoped to find more authentic "Brunei" food, but restaurants seemed few and far between where we were. After lunch we wandered through the streets, taking in the beautiful mosque and the quiet open streets. We meandered through the mall for a break from the heat and used up the last of our Brunei dollars at the mall arcade, singing ridiculous karaoke songs in a (supposedly) sound-proof booth.

Our very limited impression of Brunei was of a quiet, wealthy country with subdued but friendly locals. A few hours were hardly enough to get a good feel for the city, but we were glad for a chance to experience another country, however briefly. We met our cab driver in time to return to the airport and flew from Brunei back to Bangkok.

---