full name: Brunei Darussalam. Capital: Bandar Seri Begawan
Location: Borneo island beside Malayasia. Asia's 4th smallest country. population: 428,962 people as of 2018 - Bruneian's
royals: Absolute monarchy/ dictatorship, one of the few left in the world (Vatican City, Eswatini, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and North Korea) after Queen Elizabeth II of U.K The Sultan is the second longest reigning monarch in the world. with the same royal family ruling for over 600 years - the longest reigning in the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_dppjag06Q
https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/inside-the-insanely-decadent-life-of-the-sultan-of-brunei/news-story/80324e5d317133887b918384c6284d1e
richness: oil rich country with a monarchy. uses Brunei Dollar and US dollar. 5th richest country in the world
religion and language: muslim, No alcohol allowed. Homosexuality is a crime punishable by death by stoning. Language: Maly but also speak English and a little bit of Chinese also.
region specialities and sights: 70% of the country is covered by forest with much of it protected. Notable species include pangolins, proboscis monkeys, Sunda clouded leopards, several species of rare hornbill and the slow loris primates.
brief history: didn't gain its independence from Britain until 1984. ruled by a sultan who is one of the richest men in the world. there is no income tax with an average life span of 75.
Brunei Darussalam means "abode of peace"
we arrived late that night from a quick flight on a small plane. almost felt private, big comfortable seats with free juice and a snack. I had some bother on arrival at the border control as I had left china 3 weeks before, due to the outbreak of Corona Virus 19, however as it was over 2 weeks they let me in, eventually (as its meet to be a 14day virus/active) we stayed in a nice hotel and then the next morning stayed in an ovo hotel in the centre beside the pier area overlooking the waters and Kampong Ayer.
we checked in and then met up with a couch surfer who lived in Brunei and Miri part time for work and family.
he first took us to the Task Lama recreational park. its got a nice big walk and even a waterfall. after this we visited the mosque the Jame'Asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque has 29 golden domes
Tasek Lama Recreational Park
after this we headed back to the hotel just in time as it started raining heavily. later we went for a walk around the local area and joined a small boat tour with a load of Korean tourists who had been sudying in the USA.
the boat tour took us around the area, passing the Kampong Ayer floating village. he showed us the palace from afar, its huge! and open to the public once a year. it costs over 1.5 Billion USD and over 200,000M2. known as the Astana Nurul Iman and is argued to be one of the biggest palaces in the world. The palace contains 1,788 rooms, which includes 257 bathrooms, a banquet hall that can be expanded to accommodate up to 5,000 guests, a mosque accommodating 1,500 people. The palace also includes a 110-car garage, an air conditioned stable for the Sultan's 200 polo ponies, and five swimming pools. In total, Istana Nurul Iman contains 2,152,782 square feet (200,000 m²) of floorspace. Istana Nurul Iman has 564 chandeliers, 51,000 light bulbs, 44 stairwells and 18 elevators and approximately 17 floors.
we then headed out into the mangrove areas to look for Proboscis monkeys and even spotted some monitor lizards, no crocodiles though
Brunei is home to the largest stilt settlement in the world. Founded over 1,000 years ago, Kampong Ayer consists of 42 adjoining stilt villages which house around 30,000 people. The settlement has been nicknamed the ‘Venice of the East’.
After the tour we checked out the local park and the Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque, it's main dome is made of 3.5-million-pieces of glass mosaic overlayed with real gold leaf. overlooking a small river
we walked over the Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddein Bridge, it has a golden moon statue in respect to Allah.
Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Hajah Saleha Bridge
The Mercu Dirgahaya 60 monument means 'Long Life, Your Highness 60 Monument', which was erected in 2006 for the 60th birthday of the Sultan. The tall bent column shows the number '60' in Arabic. At night the monument is illuminated.
later on we visited the Huge Gadong night market. getting the biggest lime juice I've ever seen. its full of food. we even bumped into our boat tour guide. spent the rest of the night chilling before getting up early to get the bus to Miri the next morning at 8.15. there's 2 buses a day at 18BND, a quick ride of only a few hours. we crossed the border into Malaysia.
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