Tuesday 4th October – Onto Brunei (Thank goodness for that!)

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So Steve and I were both wide awake at 3am (Hong Kong time) because our bodies were telling us it was only 8pm (UK time)! We both managed 3-4 hours sleep before 3am but we were both feeling alright which is good.
After going on Facebook, reading, Skyping, reading trashy magazines and lying in bed attempting to sleep 8am finally rolled around and we decided to pack up and go and find some breakfast since according to our bodies we had missed dinner! We just found a little cafe type place in the airport and had some food... I made sure I ate nice and slowly so I could fill in time (hehe jokes... I am naturally a slow eater!) - we had scrambled eggs (that were slightly runny), sausages (which were like small frankfurters), mini hash browns (they were tiny but yum!) and a thing called a 'buttermilk biscuit' (AKA a very doughy muffin type thing with no margarine so it made it very tricky to eat and swallow!). After this we all were ready for showers because after a 12 hour flight then hanging around an airport for another 12 hours we really were not smelling or feeling too great! We went down to the lounge area they have (kind of like the Koru Lounge) and had to pay $30NZD each for a shower but by golly after not having access to a shower for that long I would have paid $100!... Ok on second thoughts I probably wouldn't have but you get my point! We all had really nice long hot showers, I was even able to wash my hair! They had towels, hair dryers, a toilet (in case you wanted to pay $30NZD to have your own toilet time I guess!) complimentary combs, toothpaste and toothbrush, cotton buds, shower cap and a bottle of water on the way out!
When we were all out we finally stepped foot outside the airport! Nicole and I were ready to be hit with some seriously muggy weather because of what Steve had told us but it really wasn't! We must have hit Hong Kong on one of it's least muggiest days – and it was also mistily raining (I have no idea if that is a word but it sounds good!) which helped cool the weather down a bit. We stayed outside for about half an hour and made the most of the 'fresh air' before going back into our new home – the problem was that we had 2 trolleys filled with our baggage that made it really tricky to jump on a train or bus and go somewhere, if we had been able to check in 22 hours before our flight it would have made life so much easier! Nicole had talked to Uncle Eric earlier and he had told us about a mosque that is very much worth going to which has a mall close by and was only 10 minutes away from the airport but we couldn't since we had so much 'stuff'. Oh well! Eventually 11.40 rolled around and Steve was determined to be the first one checked in... hehe unfortunately he was second as someone else had pushed their trolley up against the check-in area before him... he blamed Nicole because he could. After a few dramas of checking in (Nicole's bag weighed far to much so she had to dettach her smaller back-pack from her big bag and was allowed to bring 15kg of hand luggage – go figure how she has managed to be so lucky and not have to pay excess luggage on her 35kg worth of stuff... lucky girl!) we went through security and were finally into the Duty Free shopping area, problem was there were really only shops like Prada and Tiffany & Co and I was feeling a bit more like The Warehouse and Pascoes girl – I did walk into Tiffany & Co but Steve didn't seem to interested and I knew as soon as I looked in the counters and saw no price tags that they must have been rather expensive! We found some lunch along the way and then went to our boarding gate.
When we got on the plane Steve and I must have fell asleep straight away because I have no recollection of our tack off and neither does he! I managed to get another 2 hours of sleep and (typical me of course...) woke up just as the food was being served, not that I felt like eating.
The flight was fine, it was only a 3 hour flight anyway and we made it to Brunei safely. We all had stuff to declare but they didn't seem to care about what Steve and I had because it wasn't alcohol... it was Nicole with her alcohol that took the time – she had to fill in a pile of paperwork for it before they let her through. Simon met us when we got there followed closely by Sarah, Hannah and Micah (Sarah is Steve's sister for those who don't know). They took us back to their house and we got set up, had dinner and we in bed by 9.30pm (well Steve was while I was hanging up our washing... he has no recollection of me coming to bed... 20 minutes after him!)
So after a very boring day this has ended up being a really long blog! Oh well!
Love me
xx

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Photos

Photo 2
Steve being...???

Photo 3
Nicole and Steve being tourists

Photo 4
A big Singapore Airlines aeroplane coming in.