People warned me not to go to Brunei. Not because it's dangerous or hostile towards women as one might ignorantly assume given the fact that it's an Islamic oil state. It's not insanely expensive or wrought with horrible people. In fact, it's affordable (still a tad pricey than Malaysia) and the people are bloody brilliant. No, I was warned not to go to Brunei because frankly after a short couple hours I'd sit twiddling my thumbs wondering what to do with the rest of my time in this tiny buck-tooth blip of Borneo.
But I, in all my stubbornness, could not be swayed. Since meeting Bryon back in the stoneage, I've had a few hysterical capitol cities eternally stuck in my head and on my list, just waiting to be checked off. I thought there had to be at least something remotely redeeming about with a name as interesting as Bandar Seri Begawan. I must admit, I think the interesting bit ends there with the name.
I might be being a tad harsh. The city is... clean (mostly), calm (eerily), ordered and so damn quiet.
BSB, for short, is home to two beautiful "ornate" mosques... okay ornate may be an overstatement, but I'm trying to give them SOMETHING here. In addition to the mosques, the Royal Regalia Museum is host to displays of gifts to the sultan from foreign dignitaries and a ego-boosting three level display of formal portraits and meetings of the sultan. And there it is ... BSB in nutshell. Finished. Okay, there's also a floating water village (houses on stilts), some shopping and a dirty waterfront. Outside the city is some supposedly nice virgin rainforest that costs four times as much as anywhere in Malaysia to visit so I forewent the visit.
I have to admit though, the most redeeming part about my stint in Brunei was the people. Despite a couple very minor transportation oriented setbacks, I was shocked at the over the top hospitality of the Bruneians. And I'm not referring to in a restaurant or hotel, just everyday Joe Smo Brunei on the street.
Case in point : myself along with two friends decided to spend a quiet evening exploring the city. I must point out that Brunei is a dry country so we had little else to do than wander the streets and start at the "space aged style" mosques. Feeling quite up to the challenge after weeks of hiking in Sarawak, we determined it couldn't be that hard to locate the mammoth mosque 3km off of our Lonely Planet map. I mean, its huge.... "how could we miss it?" Long story short, after wandering practically onto a freeway and then disagreeing about which precise direction to walk, we asked a middle aged gentleman outside the hospital waiting for his wife to point us in the right direction. Despite his confusion over the fact that neither of the young women with the strapping Dutch lad were his wife(wives), he promptly insisted to drive us there. No alternate motive. No request for payment. Just true, kind hearted generosity.
This happened again and again. Free rides. Friendly banter. Considerate commentary/directions/cultural explanations. If you haven't traveled in Asia, you may not realize that most, if not all, acts of kindness are usually accepted tentatively as the traveler waits for the 'catch'. It seems in some places, there's always 'something'. Not in Brunei. My friend Maggie informed the sales lady at the museum gift shop that her perfume smelled lovely and inquired what it was. The lady, beaming with pride, told her she'd show her the bottle. Not only did she show it to her, she insisted Maggie take the bottle to remember her by.
So I guess in the end there is something to appreciate beyond a cool capitol city name. My far-fetched dreams of visiting some exotic locale called Bandar Seri Begawan may have been shattered by reality but I just keep my head up for the day I get to Djibouti.
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