Oh Brunei, what an interesting place it is. Brunei is unlike any country I have been to so far. Brunei is known for its extensive petroleum and natural gas fields, making it the fifth richest nation in the world. With knowing this before I got there, I was expecting it to be very developed displaying its vast wealth. However, that was not the case at all. First, we took a van from Sarawak to the Borneo-Brunei border. The van dropped us off at the border crossing and we walked through like we were walking through a drive thru at McDonalds. It was quite hilarious. We then took a bus into the center of city called Bandar Segi Begawan. We found accommodations at the Youth Hostel, where we only paid $10 per night. It almost looked like a children’s camp, with the boys and girls rooms divided and the extensive list of rules posted on the walls. No smoking. No drinking. No gambling. No fun? But that wasn’t just rules for the youth, but for the entire country. Gambling, drinking and drugs are prohibited by law. Littering is a $3000 fine. Yikes.
We met Shelby the next day and headed to the largest floating village in the world. It was odd that the floating village was so close to main land. The village consisted of houses, schools, fire and police departments. From the water we were able to see the top of the Sultans Palace. It looks enormous, but is only open to the public on certain holidays. At dinner time, we headed to the night food market. By far my favourite food market in SE Asia! It had everything from homemade donuts to Satay and Kebabs. I fell in love with Ayam Kebabs, which consists of beef or chicken, cucumbers, onions, and special kebab sauce wrapped in a fresh tortilla. It was to die for! Since everything in Brunei closes at 6pm and there is no nightlife, we didn’t have much to do other than head over to the local cinema. The cinema was located in what they called “The Mall”…very original. We watched The Vow, which probably wasn’t the best movie to watch in Brunei, since they blocked out the whole nude scene of Channing Tatum. Censorship at its best.
The next day, we were off to see the biggest mosque in Brunei called the Jame’ Asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque. The mosque looked like it was right out of a movie. It had huge golden domes, fountains, and towers surrounding the perimeter. In the inside, there were two massive prayer rooms for men and women. Each prayer hall had a huge chandelier at the top of the room made of 24-carot gold. The rest of the hall was full of praying mats and a speaker system so the prayers can be heard by the whole auditorium.
This mosque is more high tech with its escalator
We then went to the other major mosque in the city called the Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque. This one was even more spectacular then the first because it was surrounded by water and a manmade boat in front of it. It was so beautiful we decided to go back to it again at night time when it was all lit up. It was as beautiful as we had expected.
The washing fountains outside the prayer room
Right before heading back home, we decided to go to the Brunei Museum. The museum was very well done and very big. It consisted of ceremonial reenactments, Islamic art, and gifts given to Brunei from countries all over the world. Canada’s gift was sadly a glass seal…slightly tacky and outshone by the rest of the countries. Brunei was definitely an interesting country that is worth visiting for about two day maximum.
Entrance of museum, no cameras allowed inside
Felt like I was in Aladdin
