Brunei

The past week in Brunei has been lovely and relaxing. We've been staying with our friends, Adam and Monica, and they have been the consummate hosts.

Brunei is a very nice country. It is a sultanate, so is ruled by the Sultan and his family. They are a benevolent dictatorship and the people are very happy. There is a lot of oil in this tiny country, so it is very rich and there are a lot of new buildings. There are only about 330,000 people in the whole country (less than 1/3 of the size of Calgary!) and there is free healthcare and no personal income tax. It would definitely be a nice place to live for a few years (but not for too long as it's very hot and humid), and I would highly recommend it if you are doing a tour through southeast Asia. Everyone is polite and friendly. It is a dry country, so there is no alcohol sold here. You can bring some in (limited quantities) but you have to declare it when you arrive and fill out a form. Perhaps that's why they have so few crime problems! The Sultan and his family are all devout Muslims, but there are other religions in the country and everyone is free to worship how they choose.

Adam and Monica have a membership at the Empire Hotel and Country Club, which gives them access to a number of sports and leisure activities, as well as the pools and beaches and sunbeds at the hotel itself. We played 9 holes of gold on the PGA championship course (designed by Jack Nicklaus), and Barry played another 18 holes with Adam (honing his bushcraft skills retrieving his golf balls from the jungle rough). Adam and Monica gave us a night in the hotel for a wedding gift, and it was lovely. The room was enormous and luxurious, all marble and wool carpet. The service and the food was lacking somewhat for a 6-star - they could learn a lot from the Chateau Lake Louise! We spent an afternoon just lounging around the pool and went for a dip in the ocean.

It's been lovely to be in one place for a week and catch up on our sleep. The first few mornings we slept in until 10 every morning! We've been out to eat every night at a variety of Asian restaurants with unfailingly lovely food. Things here are fairly inexpensive (a meal for the four of us would only run about £15 ($30). We did a bit of shopping, too. All in all it's been a brilliant visit and I have fond memories of Brunei!

One day, we parked up close to home and took a water taxi from Kuilap to Bandar Seri Begawam. A water taxi is just a sort of speedboat driven by one person, and they charge a flat rate per person. It was very cool! We went past Kampong Ayer, a town completely on stilts over the water. It is Hari Rya here, which is called Eid in the Arab countries and is the celebration ending Ramadan. It was like Christmas, with lots of lights up and people in new outfits and going to each other's houses. It's a great time to be over here!

Tomorrow we are off to Singapore for three nights. Barry is looking forward to getting a "replica designer" watch there (they have some very high-quality imitation goods out here!).