Blogs from Brunei, Asia - page 4

This morning we had a little bit of unfinished business in BSB to attend to; the Royal Regalia Museum and we wanted to do a tour of the Water Village (called Kampong Ayer in Malay). We had to get this all done by 12 (even though we were going to leave for the airport at 2) because by the Sultan's decree, everything must close between 12 and 2 every Friday for the Muslims to go to the mosque and pray. Not everyone goes to the mosque, but everything, including coffee shops, restaurants, tourist attractions, banks- everything, must close. So other than walking around we would have nothing to do for those two hours. This is a practice that feels very foreign to us; a little bit of a culture shock. This very different routine is probably ... read more

Today was a neat day. It all started in the little town of Miri. Things improved steadily from then. We woke up early to catch the bus along the coast to Brunei. Miri is surprisingly close to the border - it only took about half an hour to get out of Malaysia, but then it took about three hours to drive to Brunei's capital city Bandar Seri Begawan. The drive was very interesting. Dotted along the coast was the occasional oil drill site. We could see them flaring off gas as we drove by on the highway. When we arrived in the capital, we checked into our hotel, the Brunei Hotel. It was very nice, but by far the most expensive hotel on our entire journey ($100 a night). We then decided to explore a little ... read more

DeManilafying 11-12 March 2013 Andrew got food poisoning at Manila airport on our way out of the Philippines. Fortunately by the time it manifested itself we were safely ensconced at the freshly renovated, marvellously airconditioned, super quiet Radisson Hotel Brunei in Bandar Seri Bagawan. Anyone who says Brunei is sterile and boring should spend three days in Manila before arriving in the tiny sultanate. It is the best place on earth for deManilafying. Bandar Seri Bagawan is the antithesis of Manila. The traffic is benign; it is spotless; there is no pee on the pavements; everything works; it is a small and wealthy city; and the food is great. No more pot noodles purchased from the 7eleven, YAY!! The hotel is quiet, and there is no construction site around the corner using angle grinders at midnight. ... read more

While I was doing research prior to traveling I was able to find information about going from Miri to Brunei to KK, or some other variation where KK was always the final desintation. Often, the information I found was from 2+ years ago. This is soley a how-to travel guide with no here's-what-I-did-for-fun bits thrown in. Here's how I did the trip from east to west via the ferry and bus: In KK, arrive at the ferry pier before 7am. I left my hostel around 630 am, bought my ticket (at counter #4) a bit before 7, and we lined up for boarding at 720am, 730 if you go by the clock on the wall. The first part of the journey takes you to Labaun, Malaysia. Arrival is around 1130am and you have about 2 hours ... read more

I slept a little better the previous night and after breakfast I made my way back to Kuala Lumpur with Uncle Han. The driver wasn’t the best, he never indicated, drive way too fast, I don’t think a minivan was meant for high speed turns but we eventually made it to KL and I checked in to the Step-In guesthouse for my last night in KL. I had previously booked my ticket for the skybridge for 20:00 but just before I was due to set off one of the regular thunderstorms commenced so I got a little wet on my walk to the Petronas Twin Towers. I decided to take a detour to Bukit Bintang which is one of the main tourist hotspots of KL, its full of hotels/hostels, restaurants, bag-snatchers, whores and drug dealers what ... read more