Blogs from Brunei, Asia - page 17

Didn’t really do too much today. Woke up quite late and ate lunch at home. My aunt was calling.. “ASHISH!! LUNCH!!” and I thought we were going to go out and eat so I hurried my butt off to get changed and stuff… but n0o00o it was a home lunch lol. We just basically stayed around the house and watched TV till 3:30.. then it was time for Vanessa’s first day at tennis training camp! Cico (nessa’s bro) drove us to panaga club (he plays golf there). The deal was that I do w/e at Panaga while nessa’s trains for tennis for 3 hours. So guess what I did? PHOTOS! The club is so beautiful, and so is the beach. So I basically went around and took lots, and lots and lots of photos.. around 300 ... read more

Arrival in Brunei At around 12PM local time, I arrived in Brunei. This was it! While the airplane was flying over Brunei, it started to feel real. I saw the oh so familiar trees, and the non-blue rivers, and cars driving on different sides. That’s when it started to feel real to me. On arrival, I wasn’t sure what to do. Earlier, I was required to fill out a health card thing and an immigration card thing. But after talking to a few immigrant looking people (white ppl :)), I knew what to do with the cards. I handed in my cards, went through customs and picked up my luggage. Then the final step came, luggage check. The check was right in front of the outside doors, and I could not help but peek outside and ... read more

Sorry for the blatant opinion there. I know how I get in to trouble when I post them but our two days and one night in Brunei's capital seemed like an eternity. The trip from Miri to BSB was short and comfortable and we settled in to our slightly less than desirable accommodation. Having had a quick wander around the mosques and having checked out a few of the sultan's palaces we soon realised that there really was little else to do. The evening in BSB was utterly dead and we couldn't even drink away our boredom as there is no alcohol in the whole bleeding country. The highlight of our evening was collectively doing a sewing repair to one of our day sacks! Happily the next day we decided to take the boat tour around ... read more

We managed to get about an hours sleep at the airport, I got a bit more on the plane after we had taken off & then Claire woke me up for breakfast. When we got to Brunei we got our bags checked at the airport & questioned if we had alcohol with us. Although alcohol isn’t illegal here for non Muslim people you are only allowed to bring in a certain amount for personal consumption & have to declare it at customs. We arranged transport to the hotel we had booked & checked in about 1pm. We had air con in the room & as it was so hot outside & we were so tired we watched TV, had a shower, had a sleep & eventually ventured as far as the supermarket across the road ... read more

In Brunei all that glitters is gold. Nagara Brunei Darassalum (Brunei: the abode of peace) is a welfare state but it has no income tax and is the only country in the world that hasn't held any elections at all since 1962. (Why bother rigging elections?) The GDP per person in Brunei is $US23,600 (2003 estimate. CIA FACTBOOK) It is one of the worlds smallest countries with a welfare system that includes free health care, education and even help from the government with buying a house. The reason for this wealth is that gold that doesn't glitter - black gold:oil. IF VOTING CHANGED ANYTHING... Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, whose title has passed within the same dynasty since the fifteenth century doesn't bother with things like elections. His father tried it once. 1962 - Legislative ... read more