Brunei Darussalam, First Impression
When I first encountered passport expiry duration issue with AirAsia while trying to board on the flight to Brunei, I remember KT commented that the authority might not want to shock me that I would not want to return to my home country after knowing the price of the fuel.
The passport issue was overcame with the very fast response of Malaysian Immigration Department Subang, I renewed my passport in less than two hours and I was then on the next flight to Brunei with The Royale Brunei. Also special thanks to Ravi and Michael for speedy response in helping me to secure the seat timely enough before the press conference in Brunei.
After the work was done, we received very warm hospitality from Brunei Adventure Recreation Association (BARA), that brought Harry, Suk Ling and I for some site seeing, of which we found out the price of the fuel in Brunei. We were also told by Harry that in Myanmar, the cost to fill a tank of gas is USD1.
We seen the water village of which many speed boats zooming in very high speed.
The road condition in Brunei is very well taken care of and highly suitable for road bike to ride around the city centre. I had a chance to chat with BARA on considering having such ride to be organised in Brunei.
We were very blessed to have an opportunity to wave at His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, when he drove (yes, by himself) heading back to the palace.
The Islamic arts culture is very strong in Brunei, the architect might have paid a lot of attention to the details of how to portray the art that would stand out. I remember visiting the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia, the color theme is very much dark and light blue, where as the color scheme here is gold, light brown and white. The gold shows the royalty where as the white would have been on purity in Islam.
During the Welcome Home for Polar Girl Era, the Kaspersky Lab Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition team member dinner event graced by Her Royal Highest Princess Hjh Masna, I had a chance to meet some of ICT key players in Brunei. I am also very glad to be a former SKALI personnel as the company now has a lot of collaboration with the partners here on the ICT development.
After the dinner event, BARA brought us to a Malay stall of which was next to a river for some supper. The food prices in Brunei is fairly reasonable as for 3 Brunei Dollars, we had about 10 sticks of Satay. The taste was great and actually I quite like the food at JP Polo Club as well as Sheraton Utama Hotel, especially when served with lots of olive oil.
Before heading home, I visited The Royal Regalia Museum (Bangunan Alat Kebesaran Diraja) of which pride of place is given to the royal coronation carriage surrounded by regalia from the royal crowning ceremony. To the left of the main entrance is the Constitutional History Gallery, set up in 1984 as part of the country’s independence celebrations. On permanent show are documents, photographs, rare recordings and films while a large area concentrates on the proclamation of the 1959 constitution – the country’s first written constitution. To the right is gallery devoted to the life of His Majesty up to the time of the coronation. One place to visit when one is in Brunei, just remember to bring a pair of socks, as the floor could be very cold.
When we are planning our visit to East Malaysia again, will certainly coming back to Brunei.
Thanks for the memorable experience.
4 Comments
retna
Brunei sounds lovely, and looks lovely too!
Sunny
was just wondering…. what car was the Sultan driving? X6?
Sam 思量
@Sunny, it’s ML something from MB. Dark green.
According to Bruneian, that is his favorite car and he likes to drive around himself, without his driver.
Sam 思量
It’s quiet, just like Ipoh that we used to know when G & Irene were there. Just without the hor-fun 🙂