On March 2nd, I embarked on my longest journey so far – a journey that took me through…
Times visited: 1 (2 days in 2016)
Cities visited: Bandar Seri Begawan
Brunei is one of the least known countries in Asia. Maybe that’s exactly why I was so eager to go there when I was travelling through Borneo.
In between mountain climbs, island hopping and hunting for orangutans, I found time for a two-day visit to Brunei’s capital, Bandar Seri Begawan.
Brunei is one of the few absolute monarchies left in the world, and this is made very obvious with large portraits of the Sultan all over the city. The country is incredibly rich (or the Sultan is), but poverty is unfortunately a huge issue. The contrasts between the rich and poor are extremely apparent, even in the glamorous capital.
I wasn’t so interested in seeing all the glamorous buildings that the Sultan is so proud of, instead I wanted to meet the locals and see how they live. I spent most of my time exploring Kampong Ayer, the largest water village in the world. I watched as the locals went to the mosque to say one of their five obligatory daily prayers, I made friends with local cats and I met the kindest shop owner in the world who gave me free water when I couldn’t pay for it with my plastic card (credit cards are useless outside of BSB’s center).
In many ways, Brunei is a perplexing place to visit; it’s a unique place with unique laws and policies, where the wealth is extreme but the majority of the locals live in run-down houses. I, for one, was glad that I made the effort to get to know Brunei and the Bruneians just a little.
