The twin prop plane with a dozen passengers took us from Mulu National Park, over the rainforest, then the oil palms, finally to the coast where we landed in the coastal city of Miri.  Our Borneo adventure was coming to an end but not without treating us to some new experiences beforehand. 

From Miri we had no set plan of how we were going to get up the coast into Brunei.  There was no air service but we knew there was a public bus service.  So reverting back to our backpacker days from almost 30 years ago we waited and waited and waited (four hours!) until we finally caught a public bus running from Miri to Bandar Seri Begawan which is the capital city of Brunei.

Using a public bus to cross a border is an interesting experience – we did it once crossing from Argentina to Brazil and the bus left without us while we were getting our visa stamped.  This time they waited for the foreigners, mainly because we had to wait for our second bus to arrive at the border.  One bus only does the Sarawak side and the other only does the Brunei side – they meet in the middle and swap passengers.

The drive up the coast showed that Brunei was similar to Malaysia except maybe the housing was better.  Which should be the case because Brunei is rich with oil – and you can see it in the refineries, the oil tankers off the coast and even the little bobbing chicken head pumps which are fenced in in the middle of the suburbs.  There’s nothing like a beautiful golden red sunset behind the huge oil refineries on the coast.

We didn’t arrive in Bandar Seri Bagewan (BSB) until after 8pm – a four hour trip instead of the advertised 2.5 hour.  During that time we also had to stop while our driver figured out how to turn the head lights on – he eventually had to phone a friend to get the correct answer.

Reality check – life in Brunei is pretty slow and sleepy.  You are wise not to compare it to Bangkok!  One reason for this is that it is a very conservative Muslim country, people – especially the women – dress very conservatively, and because of the heat everything moves very slowly.  But it is also a dry country which means no alcohol is allowed at all.  I mean none (except the gin Julie smuggled in).  Downtown BSB seemed like a scene from the Day of the Triffids – almost no one there, no traffic, no pedestrians. 

The next morning with the heat building and the shade shrinking we walked down to the Omar Aly Saifuddin Mosque with its magnificent gold domes and 44 metre high minarets on each corner.  The place was protected by a moat and a reproduction of a 16^th century royal boat, the whole scene was quite stunning.

To enter Julie had to put on the full black cloak but she colourfully finished it off with her bright purple gecko scarf.  Take that, Fashion Police.   The rules for exploring the mosque were much stricter than in the United Arab Emirates but we could still appreciate the size, expense and grandeur of this special building (and take note all you cynics, this is the only religious building or ruin or stupa we visited the whole trip!). The marble on the exterior was blindingly white and the whole scene was very impressive.

The other major attraction of Brunei (and there aren’t too many of them) is what they call the Water Village (officially called Kampong Ayer).  This is basically a community of 20,000 people living on houses built on stilts over the water near the downtown area.  But this area is not necessarily for poor people or squatters; the village is maintained by the government with schools, hospitals, electricity, fresh water, telephones, cable TV, etc.  But in reality the people live in aged timber homes, not nearly as well kept as on the mainland, and their lives are clearly different than most. 

We hired a boat and driver who took us on a tour of the Village – and he knew it well because he was the fourth generation of a family to live there.  He took us to his little sub-village – one of 28 – where we saw his house and heard about his wife and three children.  He even bragged about watching the BBC and ESPN on cable TV from his suspended home.  On we motored, down narrow passages, around poles, under walking bridges, past the fire station, mini-mart, petrol station (Shell, the only petrol company in Brunei) watching the people get on with their lives.  Super stuff.

We finished a fascinating trip with a view of the Sultan’s palace, the largest in the world (four times bigger than Versailles!), with 1,000 people living there, 250 bath rooms, the whole place run by Hyatt as a luxury hotel on behalf of the Sultan.  As you do.

We visited the Royal Regalia Museum which was memorable because it was air-conditioned and it had an amazing collection of all the gifts visiting dignitaries had given the Sultan who already had everything.  We had a quick lunch in the outdoor market near our hotel before catching our flight back to Bangkok via Kuala Lumpur.   

Our impressions of Brunei were mixed, the Water Village was fascinating but the whole idea of a country without alcohol was a bit frightening.  The Sultan is one of the richest men in the world, everyone gets free school, free health, free everything, there are no taxes but also no voting, no beer and no pizzazz.  It retains close political ties to the UK but otherwise it seems to be on another (boring) planet.

Overall Borneo was a great adventure.  The mountains, the rivers, the sea, the great range of animals, the different cultures and curiosities, the jungle, the oil palms, the intense heat followed by the huge rain falls, the history and the people, and don’t forget the mighty Proton.  Highly recommended, fondly remembered, hopefully returned.