We visited a non-traditional travel country. Not a lot of people would visit Brunei as a tourist destination, but I would! It was peaceful and not a lot of tourists around. We stayed just for an over night trip from Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. After a short 30-minute flight by Air Asia, we finally arrived at Brunei international airport from Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.
Back in the days where smart phones and data internet are not readily available, we visited the tourist information by the airport and it is closed. Haha… They’re not expecting tourists like us! We took a the taxi to Bandar Seri Begawan as we got ripped off for BND 25 = 850 php for a 15 minute ride. We were supposed to take the bus that never arrived after an hour of waiting. Cars are on the left side of the road.
When you look around, you would see buildings and buildings. Just like ghost town with only a population of 300,000, there were not too many people wandering around.
Royal and Majestic Brunei Darussalam Nov. 26-27, 2010
Day 2
Royal Regalia Museum – We saw many amazing collection of items centered around the sultan’s silver jubilee celebration, his life and his collection of gifts. Upon entering, we have to remove our shoes and deposit are bags and camera. No cameras are allowed in the museum itself, only at the lobby. Especially interesting were all the gifts that the sultan has received over the past many years from reigning monarchs and leaders including the Philippines from Gloria Arroyo which was a pearl box, while from Cory Aquino was a dagger. We were pretty impressed with museum. It is well-worth a visit. Too bad pics are not allowed in those areas where there are gold stuffs used by the sultan. We had to be barefoot. I loved the feeling of the thick and royal carpets inside.
Yayasan Complex
Nasi Katok Mama – cheapest and famous food in town… Nasi Katok, only 1 BND = 34 php. It is 1 piece of fried chicken, rice and sambal sauce in a placed on a piece of Kraft brown paper. Sarap sarap (delicious)! Promise! I especially like the sambal sauce. People line up for this. Katok is actually “ketuk” in the Malay language, and it means knock. There is a story behind the name Nasi Katok. It was begun by a couple of teenagers who were feeling very hungry after a midnight practice. They went to a place where they normally bought their food. This place was actually a residential house, which offered Nasi bungkus (a pack of rice with chicken and egg) even in the middle of the night. At any time you could just Katok (knock) on their door, and the owner will come up with fresh hot Nasi Katok. And that’s how it became Nasi Katok.
Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque
Kampung Ayer – Water Village
dinner at local resto
Day 3
Tamu Kianggeh
Nasi Katok Mam
Jalan Cator
Bus ride, see local houses
Jame’asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque – We went inside the big dome, we were asked to remove our shoes, I was asked to wear an abaya (forgot to take a pic), then proceeded inside the mosque, first time to go inside a mosque and its real majestic
lunch at RBC express
at airport flight back to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia
Brunei is a ghost town. There is a multilevel bus station that is supposed to be busy but of course, everyone owns a car. Who needs a bus? Usss! It was a little difficult to get around, but we used a taxi or spelled “teksi” (private one- a lady driver to our surprise). She was kind and that is where we learned that most have cars and not a lot will use mass transportation. She said there are only 40 taxis in the whole country, and chances are you can never hail one along the road. Everyone in Brunei owns a car… sheeshh…
