Brunei Travel

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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Brunei Links

Brunei - Sult Omar Ali Saifuddin's Mosque

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 simply
called 'The Mall' and is surrounded by western restaurants and other attractions outside.

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. Of course most parts of
Brunei were very clean, but some streets and rivers had huge piles of trash which was something I didn't understand in such a rich country.

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 in the province.

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 and not even noticed them if one of the
leaves hadn't gotten up and started running
around. Even after looking at it closely it still
seemed like just 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 had
such great camouflage. 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. In Temburong 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. Seeing
the flying snake would have been a real treat. The
flying snakes body is so thin it can actually create
an airfoil and help it float or glide to another tree. I
did see a gliding animal from a distance, and was
told it was probably a flying squirrel.

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 along the above river. 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 about 500 years ago 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. The upper left photo is the hotel entrance and lobby. On the right are some giant marble columns in the
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. Of course it is right on the beach as well on the South China sea. Another benefit of staying here is there didn't appear to
be many guests. I asked a local man from Brunei how the hotel could stay in business. His reply was it was government owned, if they made
money then great, if not then they didn't really care since the country was so rich.

Brunei is officially an Islamic nation, 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 surrounding countries. The man above lives in Brunei but is
actually from Malaysia, on the right is a native woman of Brunei.

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 when it first opened 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 permanently. I visited at night and a lot of
the park is kept with the lights off 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. Brunei gets few tourists so I
would never expect foreigners to pack the park. And although the park is just about free at $1, I think the natives don't visit often because its
an expensive ride from the city to the park entrance, aside from the fact they have probably already been here many times.

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 Jerudong I came across a light show using fountains of water. Here were dozens of people as seen on the upper right enjoying the show
which actually was entertaining. Even though the park is mostly empty it is still very well maintained and clean.

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. These guys are easy to pick up because they all park
their boats along a main dock. You can tell them all your destination at once and let them fight among each other for the lowest bidder.

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, while 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 on television
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 on this island. On the left is a large male, on the right is a female thinking hard.

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.

ianandwendy.com

Above is a photo of the capital of Burnei called Bandar Seri Begawan. The entire country of 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.


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Comments:

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.

Nasiru from Nigeria: I greatly appreciated what I have seen on Brunei's true history.

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.

Brunei - Bridge Leading To A Sultan's Tomb

Brunei - Plants In The Canopy Of Temburong

Mayank from India: I was searching some meaningful place on the globe, should be very near to nature. When I saw
the pictures of Brunei that was really awesome. & my feelings came up to greet the beauty of Brunei.