kingdom of unexpected treasures

golden week travelogue part 2 ~ bandar seri begawan


whenever i told people that i'm going to brunei, they would look at me in suprise and asked, what's there in brunei?

exactly. that was why we planned this 'short diversion', to see what brunei is all about. i mean, do they drink oil after food? haha ok that was a bit too much.


our first stop in bandar seri begawan, the capital, was the royal regalia, a museum where they stored all the items which are deemed sacred and symbolic of the supremacy and authority of His Majesty.

for me, it was just a place full of stuff that commoners like me would never ever get to have in my whole entire life.

next, we made a stop at jame' asr hassanil bolkia, a gloriously golden domed mosque in town. for whatever reason, we were not allowed to take photos anywhere in the mosque area, but we took some anyway. i mean, it's not that taking photos are blasphemous or anything, we were just spreading the greatness of the house of god to other people.

by the way, it was a totally grand and exquisite mosque.

even more grand? the empire hotel and country club. man, this is what seemed like unlimited supply of oil could make. i heard this place was originally built for the royal's holiday escapade but in the end turned into a 6-star hotel.

despite such a big compound, there wasn't much crowd. it was as if the whole thing was made for display. probably the rich is allergic to sun, or maybe only royals could afford to stay in this place. i don't know.

we had fun exploring the entire place though, as if it was ours.

these pretty much summed up my feelings at that moment. gosh i wish i could do this every day.

the next day, we explored the famous kampong air. if you ask me, it's ironic that brunei is so well known of its water village when the common conception of brunei is their rich citizens.

we took a boat ride for 20 brunei dollars per person in that flaming hot afternoon. no wonder the boatman was only showing face while covered all over. worse, halfway our tour, the boat engine suddenly died in the middle of the river, and i felt very much like a piece of medium done steak under the heat.

i was not very impressed. i mean, i have seen this water village elsewhere in the world (venice, anyone?).

so at the end of the 2nd day, i still struggled to answer what was brunei all about. i feel it was just a place to parade oil wealth. all the rest has been sub par. the people was unfriendly. i encountered bad customer service at department store, even as early as at the airport.

in short, take the oil wealth away and you'd get dysfunctional community. maybe then, we would find the real unexpected treasures.



...ed