Hopefully I will sort out just posting this once!!

I am in Brunei. Don't worry if you don't know exactly where that is - I had to look it up in my lovely big atlas too when I found out I was coming here. Brunei is on the island of Borneo, occupying the north western part. The larger parts are made up of Malaysian Sabah and Sarawak and Indonesian Kalimantan. There is a lovely view as you fly into the airport in Bandar Seri Begawan (not just because you've been on a 16 hour flight!). The blue ocean is fringed by a sliver of white coast and then immediately the verdant green forest spreads for miles. There were then some houses, all white and well spaced out with mostly red roofs initially and then a great variety; brown, green, white and even a beautiful deep blue.

It was good to see my aunt Priscilla. We spent the first night in the Terrace Hotel. A very pleasant if somewhat generic of all mid-range niceish hotels around the world. Comfortable, clean, but not very interesting.

Our first activity was to walk down to the waterfront and get a 'flying coffin' (taxi boat) for a tour out around the water village. Renowned as the largest villlage on stilts in SE Asia it is listed as a 'must see' and certainly was worth seeing. We got the wee boat guy to take us up beyond the village to the start of the jungle. Trees growing right out of the water. Some of the palms had leaves coming straight out of the water, others were more sculptural and had roots in fantastic shapes growing above the water level and supporting the twisted trunks of the trees. We wanted to go up the start of one of the tributaries but he wouldn't take us because he said there were crocodiles. Fair enough I suppose or else a good excuse we weren't about to test. On the way back we filled up at a Shell petrol station on the edge of an island in the centre of the lake. It was funny to see boats queued up to get fuel. The 'drivers' put the fuel in themselves and paid by putting the money in a little plastic bucket lowered down by the pump attendants.

We got left off at one of the jetties and went for a wander around the wooden walkways that connect all the homes on the water village. Apparently you can walk for about 5 kilometres. I could well believe it. We met some really friendly people and I took a roll and a half of film, though the light was a bit dull as a rain storm was approaching. I hope some of them turn out well!

As it was Priscilla's birthday we went to a lovely pizza restaurant where the pizzas were absolutely yummy. Hand rolled thin and crispy with fresh basil leaves sprinkled over the top!! We had a really early night (we were getting ready for bed and looked at the time and it was 7.30pm!!!). My excuse was a long flight and potential 'jet lag'. Any way the next day we had to be up early for our overnight trip into the jungle!!