The sultanate of Brunei

Visiting Brunei

Probably you have your opinion about Brunei without even been to the country. I had very few opinions before getting there because I had not made a lot of research to avoid that so I traveled there with a clean sheet. It is a dictorate and human rights are limited. But can’t people be happy living there nevertheless? I was curious about this small country and spent two days of my Asia trip there. And also to add another spot at my travel map.

Meeting people

The amount of sighs did not blew me away in Brunei but the friendly people and the atmosphere did. All the way from walking out from the airport and the first taxi driver I had was very, very friendly. I spoke to a lot of locals and they were very interested to talk to me as a solo female traveler. Brunei is a rich country in South East Asia standards and is very well maintained. Infrastructure is in good condition and oil industry brings in a lot of money to the country. Residents do not pay any tax and everyone I spoke to are grateful to this and to the sultan and what he does for the country. I don’t know if they could say something else but I could feel people were happy. Education is free and also health care. Houses are big and hotels are of good standard. It is a safe place with equator temperatures so I was sweating a lot under the strong sun. People enjoy exercising and running seemed to be very popular along the sea promenade. For marathon collectors there is also one to cash in in Brunei.

Sights of Brunei

The mosque I would say is the main sight. I headed there the first thing I did and it is very beautiful. It’s one of the things you probably see on Brunei pictures.

The other main sight was the canal promenade. It was very long and I probably walked 5K in the heat. Brunei is called Venice of the South East Asia and there is absolutely a reason for it although I like the real Venice much more.

The third major sight is a floating village to where you get by spending a few dollars to get a ride by one of the boats. People live there and the houses were basic but the people seemed to enjoy their life there.

One person I met when I had breakfast recommended a central hike not far from Radisson hotel. Brunei has a lot of rain forest (and unfortunately also monkeys which I don’t like) so I went to the urban jungle hike. It was not much of a hike in Switzerland terms but a lot of locals were doing their training there and was nice to see. Met two English guys that asked me if I wanted to join their way up to the hill when I asked if there were a lot of monkeys. It wasn’t anything special though maybe 300 meters of paved road that reached to the hill. Again very friendly and open minded people.

The night market is also an attraction drawing a lot of people’s attention. Food is something they like in this country and there was a huge range of eating places everywhere. Even my worldwide favorite Sushi Tei had an outlet there. however in Asia I like a lot to visit the local markets not necessarily to eat something but to enjoy the atmosphere and it tells a lot about the country and its people I think. The one I visited in Brunei had a lot of seafood and Durians. The stinky fruit. It was t the best market I seen so I was not having anything to eat there but nice to see.

Last but not least to complete the Brunei experience I flew there with Royal Brunei Airlines from Narita and away to Kota Kinabalu with the same airline. It was two good flights with good standard of economy travels and even on the short jump of 30 minutes to KK we got served beverages and got a blanket.