Saturday 8th – Wednesday 12th (Fri 14th) June

Negara Brunei Darussalam – BRUNEI ‘The Abode of Peace’

Bandar Seri Begawan is the small capital of Brunei. I’m sure it extends beyond what we saw but when trying to follow directions off a map of the capital we kept missing our turn because what looked like a reasonable distance was actually hardly any distance at all. There are a couple of main streets in the centre, which lead down to the waterfront. From here you can get into the afore-mentioned ‘flying coffins’, the taxi boats that race around the narrow watery alleyways of Kampung Ayer, the water village. There is a beautiful white and golden mosque, ‘The Omar Ali Suifddien Mosque’ in the central part of Bandar just by the water. It is according to my guidebook at the heart of the city and the sultanates Muslim faith. Apparently it was completed in 1958 at a cost of US$5 million. There are some shops and the ‘Regalia’ museum that I didn’t get to see but not a lot more in the centre.

We came back to Brunei early Saturday evening and made it to the Empire Hotel just in time to be served English Afternoon Tea. Priscilla and I shared one. It costs B$15 (about six quid-ish) and is very reasonable, especially for where you are. The Empire Hotel is what the Sultan’s younger brother is in disgrace over (or that and his drinking and womanising and general squandering of wealth). It is a six star hotel; huge, grand, opulent and yet absolutely amazing. It isn’t too much because it’s not tacky as it’s the real thing! The three tiered afternoon tea came with real silver. There are about five restaurants a couple of which are outside by the pool which spreads like a mini lake with coves and islands, just a few metres from the real beach and the ocean. Inside there are the best big windows – big doesn’t actually describe them. We arrived just in time to see the sun setting through them. The different levels go down three lots of escalators to the ground floor with open plan space all around. From the ground floor there is open space up to the ceiling the height of about three tall three-storey houses. One of the sides is all window. That’s the kind of big windows I mean! It can be kind of hard to know what to think about a place like that. It’s OTT, exorbitant, way too elitist, exclusive, extravagant and yet it’s also quite spectacular. Ah well, with rooms starting at B$500 for a deluxe room and going up to B$30,000 (about 12,000 pounds!) for the Emperor Suite (yes per night!!) I don’t think I will ever have to make a moral decision about whether I should stay there or not!

My aunt lives between Seria and Kuala Belait in the south of Brunei. The houses here were mostly built by Shell who still have a large presence here in this oil rich sultanate. As such it has a kind of strange feeling to how it is set out. It is very much like a planned suburb of neatly laid out houses. The houses fit the impression of a military camp in the way they are laid out. They are nice houses though and there is some variety in different areas (the officers and big bods have bigger houses!). Unlike the large built on stilts Bruneian houses we have seen in other parts of the country these are mostly more compact bungalows. I haven’t got a real feel for the community here but the military has a strange culture. It’s all about rank and position, not necessarily who you’d get on with. Even within the ex-pat civilians in the community it seems like a hard and not very constructive environment to have to live in.

My aunt lives in a nice wee flat in a block of flats. She is about one minute from the beach. Unfortunately you can’t swim here as there are jellyfish which if you are stung by one you will die in three minutes. Not really a good idea to risk i! Fortunately there is a pool nearby and the beach is a great place for a walk to watch the sun go down.

Sunset is incredible. It inspires words like stunning, amazing, big & beautiful and yet these flounder in trying to describe what its actually like: the burning orange, the reds and pinks, the blue and green and streaks of yellow; the red hot clouds reflecting the vanished orb of the sun and the smaller blue-black silhouetted clouds giving texture and form to the sunset. The scene conjures up images of kingdoms, myths and epic stories and yet there seems to be a simplicity in the midst of it all that can be missed. Sitting on a plastic bag on the damp sand with the waves breaking a fluid rhythm and the wind carrying a warm breeze I feel surrounded by the unfolding drama of the sky. It seems to be the bigger part of the world and everything else feels small below. An excellent way to savour the end of a day.