Brunei

Do you know the capital of Brunei? Do you even know where Brunei is? No? Well, neither did I until I had a day stopover there for a day on my way to the Philippines.

I can tell you now that Brunei is situated on the island of Borneo, bordered by Malaysia on all sides. And the capital's name is Bandar Seri Begawan. Pretty funky name if you ask me. Brunei is a muslim sultanate and it has a lot of strange rules. For example there is no alcohol whatsoever to be bought in the country and if you throw trash on the ground you can get a fine of about 5000 Euros! So you probably understand that it is a very clean country. Or, I shouldn't say country cus all I got to see was the capital .

The capital has, as I said, a strange name and it is an equally strange place where modernity and tradition goes hand in hand. You see woman covered from head to toe in beautiful clothes whilst others are walk around with their hair hanging loose in the wind in mini skirts and high heals. There are men and women in business clothes, driving fancy cars and absolutely every one I spoke to spoke perfectly English.

In the heart of the city there is a beautiful mosque that is the pride of the sultanate. It has an escalator inside (strange) and a big golden dome that can be seen from basically anywhere in town.

Next to the mosque is the river that surrounds the town. And in the river the old village of Kampung Ayer can be found. It is a village on stilts with wooden bridges going from house to house and on the river below there are boats cruising around transporting people from the main land and out to the village. Fascinating place!

And the people are amazingly friendly , so helpful and caring. There was always people asking if I was okay, if I knew my way, if they could help, smiling and saying hello as I passed by. It was when the taxi driver told me to wait for the bus because the taxi would be too expensive that I was convinced that they were the nicest people I have ever met.

By the way, did end up taking the taxi, and yes, it was way too expensive, but since the driver was so nice it was worth it!

A short and exciting stop. Brunei was definitely worth it!