Blogs from Brunei, Asia - page 8

Unable to organise a tour to a long house in BSB I took the 45mins boat ride to Bangar in hope of finding one there. However upon arriving I remembered it was sunday and although the tourist information centre was open until 12 according to lonely planet it was infact closed for the day. Finding the Youth Centre I discovered that a school group had fully booked it out and I was unlikely to find a long house stay so I headed back to BSB for the afternoon and decided I would go to Miri tomorrow. At least the boat trip was nice through the jungle. After checking back into the youth centre I caught the bus over to the mall although it was nothing like the ones in KL I managed to find a good ... read more

30 March – Brunei Darussalem Arrived in Brunei after a pleasant 3 hour flight from Hong Kong. The temperature was a balmy 25 degrees, so a tad warmer than where we had come from. Checked into the Rizqun International Hotel and as it was dark, settled into the room and decided to skip dinner as we were well fed on the flight. 31 March – Brunei Spent the day exploring the immediate area around the hotel which is located in downtown Gadong (Bandar Seri Begawan is the other direction) including the 3 story shopping mall adjacent to the hotel. The town is not geared up for tourists so the shops were just local boutiques and department stores. Adjourned to the airconditioned luxury of our room and watched a movie before we ventured out to have a ... read more

Brunei, maybe one of the smallest countries that we have visited but it is also one of the richest, in fact you can see the oil wells at the side of the road busily collecting black gold. We paid a flying visit and checked out the Royal Regalia Musuem, which is home to all the gifts that the Sultan of Brunei has been given by foreign dignatories. To prove that this is a man that has everything the Sultan's solid gold chin rest is on display. In the shape of an arm, the hand cushions your chin. (Look carefully at the flag if you don't believe me!) I suspect the museum was built in order to solve some of those awkward 'what an awful present moments - what on earth am I going to do that?' ... read more

Wir wussten so gar nicht, was uns in Brunei erwartet. In den Reiseführern wird man nur vom strengen Glauben gewarnt, den Todesstrafen bei Alkoholimport und den konservativen Menschen. Unsere Busfahrt von Miri direkt bis Bandar Seri Begawan war problemlos und zügig. Schnell fanden wir mit Hilfe des freundlichen Bus-Assistenten unser Hotel. Ja, eines stimmt: Brunei ist sauteuer. Aber für 2 Nächte wollten wir in die so fremde Kultur hier eintauchen. Noch nie wurden wir auf unseren vielen Reisen so freundlich empfangen. Rundum wurden wir direkt informiert. Brunei hat nämlich ein Problem: es gibt nur einen in den Kinderschuhen steckenden öffentlichen Verkehr. Dies macht das individuelle Reisen fast unmöglich, es sei denn, man schliesst sich sehr teuren lokalen Touren an. Da wir dies nicht wollten, waren wir sehr dankbar für jede Hilfe. Einen Tag lang zogen wir ... read more

Panorama - My family! There's no other like it. You know you're getting old when your brother turns 50. But what better way to come together as a family than for the four of us...ie. Glenn, Suzy, Mum and myself to hop a flight to Brunei to help celebrate the event. We haven't spent time together on a holiday since...thinking, thinking... I suppose, the last time we came together was for mum's 70th birthday bash early 2008. But before that....crikey! I think we were kids! The laughs started early...even before we arrived at the airport. Perhaps it was a few nerves and the excitement of travelling together, and wondering whether we could all spend 5 days together again. Check in at Brisbane Airport went smoothly except for a little altercation with the clerk who insisted that ... read more