Brunei - South East Asia's sultanate

We arrived from Jakarta to Brunei Darussalam on an airplane from Royal Brunei Airlines. This little country located on the island of Borneo is very special, as it has three official languages: Malay, English, and Arabic. The people of this country are really nice, the hotel had a free bus that the guests could use, so we did not spend any money on transportation. We visited the Jerundong Playground first, which is the biggest amusement park in Brunei. The city center of Bandar Seri Begawan is small, and it is easy to walk it around on foot. The most important landmark is the Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque, which can be visited for free, and it is nicely decorated with gold on the outside, and with statues and lakes on the inside. The city center is always full of life, there are many shops and even a huge shopping center. 

Just in front of the Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque, on the other side of the river, Brunei is the Kampong Ayer, the water village or the old town of Bandar Seri Begawan. We get on a boat to visit the famous neighborhood, where the houses are built on stilts. Interestingly, a long time ago the whole city was built this way, the actual city center got filled later. In the authentic wooden houses, local people live their everyday. Everything is made of wood, you can walk around the whole water village on wooden bridges and safe planks. Every family has its own boat, and every house has a private deck. This is basically a small Venice in South-East Asia, with a police office and a tourist agency. If you are in Bandar Seri Begawan, do not miss this landmark, and the price of the boat trip was only one US dollar.

We had one last adventure in Brunei. At the river promenade, not far from the local market, is the harbor, called Jetty. Here you can take a trip on a big ship, which is the local public transport, to the deep of the mangrove forests. The boat sails incredibly fast, and all the people watch the water to see crocodiles. This is the Southern, separated part of the country. The boat was no windows, but the wind feels good in the South-East Asian heath. The last stop of the boat ride is the town of Bangar, located in the middle of the jungle. However, it was a pretty city center and a market too. It was a nice experience to discover this less known country of Borneo and to see a bit of the rainforest. From Bandar Seri Begawan, we traveled to Kuala Lumpur, but we will never forget the nice people of this monarchy.