| Brunei |
| The small Islamic Kingdom of Brunei is located on the island of Borneo which is the world's third largest. The country of Brunei occupies a small portion of Borneo in the north central part of the island and it is isolated by Malaysia into two separate parts. Brunei is rich in resources, particularly oil which allows the Kingdom to be tax free and with many luxuries. Exports from the country's resources provide enough money to make the King of Brunei one of the richest men in the world. |
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| Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque on the left was built in 1958 by the 28th King of Brunei who passed away in 1984. Each Sultan has their own mosque built after them. The gold you see in the picture is gold plated, with the rest of the mosque made up of marble and other expensive material imported from Europe, China and Saudi Arabia. The mosque on the right is the largest in the far east, and one of the most beautiful in the world. This one is called the Hassanal Bolkiah mosque, and is built in honor of the current 29th Sultan of Brunei. |
| Much of Brunei's capital Bandar Seri Begawan is made up of fine restaurants, malls and other shopping districts. On the left is one of the smaller malls in Brunei's capital, which is also the only real city in the country. The second picture on the right is Brunei's main mall, and is simply called The Mall. |
| The two pictures above are also from Brunei's capital Bandar Seri Begawan showing some more humble houses. On the left are some girls walking past their homes in the center of the city. On the right is another house with a ton of trash underneath it. Most parts of Brunei were very clean, but some streets and rivers had huge piles of trash. |
| Another famous part in Bandar Seri Begawan is its water village, where over 30,000 people live, or about 10% of Brunei's population. The water village is connected by a network of boardwalks that link houses, restaurants, mosques and schools together. People have been living this way for over 1300 years. When the first European's visited in the 16th century they named it Venice of the East. On the left is the city's main market, on the right are water taxis also on the mainland ready to take passengers to the water village. |
| As I said before Brunei is separated into two parts by Malaysia. The mainland part is on the west, where the capital and most of the population lives. The other section on the east is called Temburong, and is mostly made up of indigenous people and rainforest. It is of course possible to drive from mainland Brunei to Temburong, but because you have to go through Malaysia this makes it necessary for you to go through the border control twice and ends up taking several hours. The easiest way is to use a water taxi which only takes about 45 minutes. On the left is the entrance to Temburong district after taking the 45 minute boat ride. On the right is one of the smaller rivers we navigated to go deeper into the rainforest. |
| Most who visit Temburong province go to Ulu Temburong National Park. This national park is made up of virgin rainforests, meaning it has never been deforested. The national park has several places to stay at overnight and some good trails through the forest. Above are two strcutures built in the forest, the first is a huge tower with a walkway that puts you well above the canopy. The right is a suspension bridge that is used to cross high above a river. |
| Once you climb the tower you get a great view as seen to the upper left. You can also see birds and plant species that live in the canopy which you normally wouldn't be able to spot on the ground. |
| On the upper left is what looks like two leaves laying on top of each other and I would have kept on walking if one of the leaves hadn't started running around. Even after looking at it closely it still just looked like a leaf, but when it finally it rolled over on its back and I saw it was a strange species of a praying mantis. I've seen many praying mantis's before but never one that looked exactly like a leaf. The ant on the left is one of the biggest I've ever seen, second only to bullet ants that I saw in Costa Rica. I saw other strange animals and insects as well. I have nicknamed this place the flying rainforest, because many animals like snakes and frogs are able to jump from trees and glide through the air. I saw a gliding animal from a distance, probably a flying squirrel I was told. |
| Many species of reptiles live in the rainforests of Borneo as well. On the left is a large crocodile on the banks of the river as we crossed to Temburong. Unfortunately we passed by it in a speed boat so I wasn't able to get a clear shot. Above is a skink, I saw probably a dozen of them in Ulu Temburong national park. |
| I've looked at many pictures of the Asian vine snake growing up as a kid. I found this one across the path I was on but it quickly darted into the forest and blended in with the foilage around it. I was lucky enough to get the picture on the left of its head sticking out behind a leaf. The snake quickly climbed a tree and disappeared into the leaves as seen on the right. I'm not sure how rare these snakes are, but its always amazing to see photos of an exotic animal your whole life and then suddenly find one out in the wild. |
| On the left is the current Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, above is the best pratical view you can get of his palace. The current King is the 14th richest man in the world who lives in the largest residential palace on earth. He has an interest for sports cars, and owns around 4,000 of them, including 500 models of Rolls Royce's alone. Its said that the King visited Cyprus at one time, and left a $170,000 tip at the hotel he was staying at. |
| All Sultans have their own burial places after they pass away. Some are put in a cemetery along with other Kings while some have their own tombs. On the left is a bridge crossing a river that leads to the tomb seen above. This tomb belonged to the 6th Sultan of Brunei, who ruled during the 16th century. |
| The empire hotel above was created by converting one of the former palaces into a hotel for guests. If you ever dreamed of staying in a palace then Brunei is your best bet. Above is the lobby and the hotel center. You have to be pretty well off to have a night at this hotel, rates start as low as $700 and run up to $22,000 for just one night. |
| On the left is another picture of the Empire hotel from the outside. The hotel itself has all you need, including a large gym, a movie theater and other entertainment. It is right on the beach as well, on the right is the South China sea. |
| Brunei is officially a Muslim country, but only about 67% of the country is actually Muslim. 10% are Buddhist and another 10% are Christian, with the remaining practicing Chinese religions and indigenous beliefs. A large portion of Brunei's population are from nearby countries. The man above lives in Brunei but is actually from Malaysia, on the right is a Bruneian Woman. |
| A very special place in Brunei is Jerudong Park. Jerudong park was built simply as a gift to the people of Brunei by the King. It is larger than the size of Disney Hong Kong, and originally there was no entrance fees. Unfortunately the attendance in the park has dropped and very few people visit. The current fee is only $1 to enter, but a lot of the major rides have closed. I visited at night and a lot of the park is in complete darkness even though it's open, giving it a ghost town like atmosphere. On the left is the crystal arch, the symbolic entrance to Jerudong Park. On the right is part of the playground, completely abandoned. |
| I walked around the first half of Jerudong Park and other than park employees the only life I saw was this large snail on the left. Right before I left I came across a light show using fountains of water. Here were several dozens of people as seen on the upper right. Even though the park is mostly empty it is still very well maintained. |
| On the upper left are some houses in the water village with several boats racing by. You can see that for the most part they look like colorful shacks. On the right is the largest mosque that is also part of the water village. |
| After I was done exploring the capital and Jerudong Park, I took a water taxi and went along the rivers in search of wildlife. On the left is a shell gas station back in the water village, on the right is one of the boat taxi drivers. |
| The rivers here are brackish waters, a mix of salt and freshwater. The vegetation along the banks is made up of mangrove forests, trees that have adapted the brackish waters and rising and lowering tides. Above is a photo of the forest meeting the river; on the right is inside the treeline. Notice on both pictures how high the roots extend out of the water. The left picture was low tide, after the tide, the right is high tide. |
| I did two trips through these mangrove forests. On the second time during low tide I came across almost 10 giant lizards called monitors. These alligator sized lizards are huge, and were found along the banks of the river. All of them were shy and quickly ran away when we approached them. On the left is a monitor relaxing on the bank, on the right is one running back into the mangrove forest. |
| One of Borneo's treasures are the Proboscius monkeys that are endemic to the island. I've seen these strange monkeys before who became famous because of the male's strange noses. Until I came to Brunei, I had no idea that the only place in the world they existed was Borneo. On the left is a large male, on the right is a female. |
| Most of the people living in Temburong stay in a type of jungle shack called long houses. On the left you can see two of them found in this district. On the right is a woman and her baby appearing at the window of a long house. Even though these houses are small and the people make their life by hunting and fishing, some still use modern technology such as vehicles and a few even have satellite TV. |
| Above is a photo of the capital of Burnei called Bandar Seri Begawan. Brunei is only about 10 times larger than a city-state country such as Singapore, and has a population nearly 400,000. At nearly 45,000 people, around 15% of Brunei's populations lives in the capital. |
| Post a question or comment about traveling in Brunei. |
Azeem from Brunei Darussalam: ROAR! You should check out these restaurants. Thien Thien Restaurant famous
for its Chicken Rice and 'Soto Berubut', tremendously delicious! and 'Ismi Jaya Baru restaurant' which people prefer to
call 'restoran KOLO MEE' instead of its real name.
for its Chicken Rice and 'Soto Berubut', tremendously delicious! and 'Ismi Jaya Baru restaurant' which people prefer to
call 'restoran KOLO MEE' instead of its real name.
Nasiru from Nigeria: I greatly appreciated what I have seen on Brunei's true history.
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Sherwin from Philippines: It so beautiful, full of color in brunei... thanks a lot...you help me for making my project.
Gherardo from Italy: I knew Brunei in 1983 during construction of the New Istana (I was a designer of marbles) and
keep memories of a dear and wonderful nature and hospitality of its inhabitants.
keep memories of a dear and wonderful nature and hospitality of its inhabitants.