You're going where?

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Joeny came to pick me up again so we had a wonderful drive in to the Airport. We went past the Grand Hotel again and I got a few great shots of the hotel from a distance. It really is Grand. What a perfect name. I got to the airport early and headed to the Evergreen lounge. They have a wonderful buffet and I suddenly realized that I had forgotten breakfast. The food was very Asian without the usual American thrown in for good measure. I had a thousand year old egg (really, stay away unless you grew up with this stuff, not kidding) porridge with pork, a weird looking hot dog (also stay away from anything that you describe as weird before even taking it!), a brown sugar bun (nothing like a donut, more like a chicken nugget size piece of white bread that is light brown and slightly sweet. Needless to say I tried to take a bit of everything. Oh yeah, and the clam vermicelli noodles-never eat fish that has been sitting on a buffet for who knows how long! It also gave me a chance to try some juices that I have only seen. So I had the star fruit juice-very very sweet and barely fruity tasting, the wheat juice which in fact is tea with a milk flavor to it, and the asparagus juice-yup tastes just like it should. I took the Eva air flight to Bangkok. Talk about luxury. I was in business class and I felt like a queen. It was not a very booked flight so I had both a window and aisle seat. What a wonderful treat. They just kept bringing food, drinks, goodies. Needless to say I was loving the Reisling. I wish I had copied the name of it. A few glasses into the trip (yes me, the one who doesn’t drink wine) I was able to close my eyes and catch some very much needed rest. I woke up in time for landing. Mind you, the chair reclining to a nearly bed position helped! I got off in Bangkok and headed for my next flight. I had one hour between flights. I should have known there would be trouble when I saw a sign that said, “world’s longest continuous airport terminal.” You must be kidding me. Not only is it a hundred degrees with 100 percent humidity, but Royal Brunei check in was at departure center 1. I was at departure center 2. No problem right? Yeah, right. Well, the rolling sidewalks were not rolling so it was just a straight shot, for what felt like over a mile. I don’t know how long it was, but it took 25 min of straight walking. The last 10 were walking at a very very swift pace. Needless to say, it is not the easiest airport to maneuver if you don’t have a major airline like Singapore Air. Royal Brunei does NOT qualify as major. I finally find the right counter and the person is not there. I begin panicking because my flight is leaving in 15 minutes. So I find someone else who says the flight is closed. Oh my gosh. One night in Bangkok kept replaying in my head. What were the words? Oh god…one night in Bangkok makes a grown man…something. What? What were the words? I know it wasn’t happy or rich or any words that were good. I started explaining in a panic that I could not miss the flight and it HAD to be open. The nice lady at the desk wanted to calm the lunatic (me) down. So she started typing frantically. She handed me what I hoped was a boarding pass and I took off running. Needless to say, after running through a silly not-effective metal screening, I made it on the flight. Phew. Business class again, but no where as clean or nice as Eva air. They spoiled me! All the women on the flight were wearing scarves over their heads and beautiful silk embroidered outfits. Long skirts in rich burgundy and flowery tailored tops. Gorgeous. The flight crew took a liking to me-they were so excited to have someone from NY on the flight. Needless to say they had tons of questions about what NY was like and why I came all this way. They also asked if I was flying alone-yes, and meeting someone-no, and single-yes. What was this 20 questions? When I answered they seemed shocked. How could it be? Hahaha-apparently I don’t fit the Brunei woman mold. They seemed genuinely kind and truly interested so I filled them in as best as I could. The flight itself started off with 3 prayers to Alla. (I think.) Three muslim chants praying for a safe and blessed flight (I assume.) Not a custom I am used to which reminded me of how different Brunei was bound to be. During the flight, the stewardesses brought an endless supply of the freshest mango juice. So yummy. I watched a movie, the Family Stone, which was actually very good and very funny. Just prior to landing, they walk the aisles with aerosol spray cans. Basically, it seems the Sultan is paranoid of disease so they Lysol the whole plane before landing. The stewardesses were so wonderful, they walked me out and helped me with the luggage, customs, etc. I was going to hang out with them for the evening but ended up passed out at 9pm. While at the airport, I noticed my first taste of Brunei. Everything is plastered with Pepsi and HSBC ads. Very sad actually. I had another observation that still cracks me up. When waiting for my suitcase, I noticed the first bag to come out was in this giant rainbow sac. It was tarp like material in very bright rainbow colors. I thought, now that is a good idea. You could pick that bag out from a mile away. Then I cracked up, the next bag looked nearly identical…and the next and the next. I actually saw a guy pick up a bag and then put it back on the conveyor when he realized the rainbow bag number #23 was not his. Hahaha, my bag, the usual black bag that blends with all the others, my bag was the easiest to spot!!! I had to really laugh. Once I had my bag, I headed to the bathroom. Don’t ask me why I didn’t do this first. I waited in line as it was a single person bathroom. As I was waiting, a mom and her 6-7 year old daughter came up. They tried to walk in the bathroom and I told them I was waiting, it was a single stall. The mother was shocked and said that it was stupid to have only one. I agreed. While we were talking, the poor little girl was becoming an expert in the pee pee dance. The mom asked where I was from-NY, was I alone-yes, single-yes, why did I come all this way? No one comes from America!! I had to laugh. All the same questions as before. Apparently it is not rude to ask such things here. She then said, are you here to see our jungle? Then the door opened up and I told her daughter to jump ahead of me and go. Ether that or we would have a cleanup in terminal one. Once she was done, she came out and told me I could go in. So cute she was…all smiles. So I went in and found a giant bucket next to the toilet. Yikes! I had no idea what this was going to mean. I was thankful there was a toilet…but assumed it was self flush. In fact it wasn’t. Apparently the bucket of water with a pitcher floating in it belonged to the cleaning person. Phew. I washed my hands and headed out. The woman and her daughter were waiting for me! Apparently the mom wasn’t finished with her questions. She wanted to know about NY and finding a job, and how expensive it was. She and her daughter helped me to a cab along with her husband and older son. So darn nice. Is this what Brunei would be like?
The cab driver was so funny. His name is Rajd. Here no one has an English name. So he said it would be 25BD (13 USD) to the Sheraton. Just as I thought we were heading out, his wife jumped in. I wasn’t clear if she jumped in because he wasn’t supposed to drive alone with a female or because they were on their way home anyway. Either way, they hardly spoke English, only Malay. I cracked up because the car would shake uncontrollably every time it came to a stop or slowed down to near stop. Seriously, it was shaking like it would shake off its axle. I finally found a word he understood. I said, the car is like a massage and he laughed. Every time we slowed down, he would say “Massage, massage!” Oh what a laugh. I wasn’t sure if the car would make it. But once we hit highway, he flew! And the car was just fine. Apparently it just doesn’t like to go slow. Cars have steering wheels on the right hand side. I never thought of it, but the fast lane is also on the right hand side. The roads were wide and beautifully paved. Oh yeah and the cars…I meant to tell Anthony, the cars in Taiwan and even more so here are just like in the States. Apparently, it’s only Europe with the small midget cars. Lots of Ford Winstars and Escapes and BMWs and such. The police ride motorcycles in both Taiwan and Brunei. Although I do get the sense that speeding tickets are not an issue in either location. Back to Brunei, my cabbie took a short cut and cut through the government building complex. The buildings were massive and beautiful. I had to laugh, the immigration office was as large as a small mall. And the outside décor was beautiful and elaborate. However, the entire population here is only 330,000 people. Unless they were planning to ship everyone off the island at the same time, the building would never be full. We made it to the Sheraton in 10 minutes flat. The Sheraton was pretty simple, nothing fancy. Apparently I have been very spoiled with life in Taiwan. The Sheraton was a 4 star hotel, but it shouldn’t have been. The people at the front desk were very friendly though. The rooms were basic. Exactly what I would expect at a Marriott in the states. The one thing it did have…a view. Probably the best view around. I see a mosque in the distance with the Royal Regalia room just in front of me. I opened the window and as the sun set; I noticed a beautiful vision reflected in the window. It was like a dream. Exactly the pictures I had seen in magazines but not the mosque I saw this morning. Was I sleeping? Was I so exhausted I was hallucinating? My window was at a slight slant so I decided to hang out the window and try and see what the vision was. Sure enough, to the right of the building, in the far distance, was a mosque with golden domes gleaming as the sun set. I tried to get a picture but no luck. Just incredible. I started to get hungry and didn’t want room service. The plane food was enough “prepared” food for a while. So I set out in search of a grocery store. On the way, I happened on the night market. This is where you can buy anything from food to trinkets. Kind of like a flea market only more food and at night. This was a very small night market but I decided I was adventurous and would get something to eat. I remembered Susie’s advice and looked for a stall with a crowd. Only problem…I was there a bit early so there really wasn’t a crowd. (Other than the stray cats hanging around the garbage.) So I looked for the people with the friendliest smiles and headed their way. Once I got there, I realized they were serving Chinese. Ok, I guess I was having Chinese. No problem.

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Photos

Brunei
My one pic of Thailand. Tons of farms...

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Da ladies

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Rainforest surrounds everything

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View from the Sheraton

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If I ever return, I will definitely rent a car...streets are just like home. The infrastructure here is amazing. Although the drivers are a bit nuts. They have the highest accidents per capita compared to the world. Yikes! Needless to say I have been wearing my seatbelt.

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The royal prince drives around in his lamborghini and the police escort him everywhere...this is for Anthony-the "polis" here ride around on bikes.

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Can you tell it is a bit high tech here? The cabbie has a sign that says I can reserve him via phone or SMS. Also, every cab has a picture of the Sultan.