Blogs from Brunei, Asia - page 19

well, from malaysia to brunei. wow!! ever since i have been friends with foo, i have always wanted to go to brunei. i got there and couldn't quite believe i was there! what a spin out! we took a charter flight (air asia, which is the asian equivalent of virgin blue) from kl... no food, no allocated seats, and.... no air conditioning!! how we survived i'm not quite sure. the flight landed in labuan, malaysia, and from there we had to take a ferry to brunei. we arrived at the port - definitely an experience! now in case you're wondering, you can definitely fly to brunei and arrive in an airport as usual, but we decided we wanted to take the cheapest (and most adventurous :) ) way there!!! brunei is quite similar to sri lanka ... read more

hi all, the last time i checked in was to write about my silicon valley trip, usa....this time in may, i was sent on a exploratory trip to see if there's any possibility of tie-ups with Brunei schools and also if our gals can go there for attachment...yea..it's a working trip...so gotta do report and all :( i've never been to brunei, heard that it was a boring place (hey hey..don't kill me...that's what i hear from many many friends!) and also that they are rich...teeming with oil and also drive nice cars there...:) my own assumption before the trip was that brunei was a safe place and with lots of $$$ and also oil and quite like malaysia and indonesia...and i gotta dress decently..yep..no short sleeves and no shorts and singlets...(which can be quite tough ... read more

... a land where you don't pay any taxes, where free health care, free schools etc etc is available for all... oh and retirement is around 50!! Sounds like heaven! The only tiny weeny downside for me (and not to give the impression that I'm an alcoholic!) is that as of 1991 you can't buy any alcohol here - so that's no after work drink, no glass of vino with dinner in a restaurant, nothing. We saw the impact of this as we got off the ferry from Kota Kinabalu at Labuan - still part of Sabah this island is at the mouth of Brunei Bay and is where you get the ferry to Brunei... and has the largest concentration of duty free alcohol shops I've ever seen!! So many I was surprised they could all ... read more

Longboat to Wind cave, fantastic rock formations. Back on boat to Clearwater cave and lady cave, river flowing through, rare plants with only 1 leaf. Lou nearly pushed into water by overeager Japanese tourist! Flight back to Miri. Trouble finding taxi to Brunei, but Park Hotel helped us get taxi to border, then swapped to a private car with local man for journey to Bandar Seri Bagawan in Brunei. Stayed at Capital Hotel. Evening walking tour of the area.... read more

Will write more soon...... read more