Brunei 2000, Part 2

TUESDAY 18 JULY

Knowing that we had four full days in Brunei, we weren’t really in much of a
hurry to wake up. And so woke up after 8pm and got out of bed half an hour
later still, after conversations about vegetarianism with the Aussies one of 
whom was a veggie (the alternative one from Byron Bay who’d spent 3 whole
months in Bali and said it wasn’t enough!)

Pusat Belia had a large swimming pool and we – Mustafa, Byron and I – went for
a very nice swim before breakfast. (Perth’s flight to Oz was later in the day
so had parted from us.) It was so great not having to worry about tasting salt
water! Before we’d finished, Dhakah had come to stake a bed at Pusat.

Byron, Mustafa and I, now joined by Melbourne and London (but who mostly lives
in the States), went to an Indian place for breakkie. Dhal and rice! I need say
no more! Man, I wish I could have Dhal as I write this.

After breakfast the five of us went to the Omar Ali Saifuddin masjid again. We
prayed Zuhr, they did the touristy thing. It’s a really beautiful mosque.
Crossing a foot bridge over a tributary of Sungai Brunei, we then went to the
fascinating Kampung Ayer (Water Village), a collection of 28 villages either
side of the Sungai built on stilts housing 30,000 people. When Brunei’s oil
money started to roll in, these villagers were offered new houses but they
chose to remain there. Despite the unbelievable amount of garbage that float
around the houses, it wasn’t smelly for some reason. An absolutely fascinating
place, I wish we’d spent far longer there. Planned on returning but ddin’t get
a chance unfortunately. We spent far too long talking in Brunei!

In Kampung Ayer, met a telecommunications engineer who showed us some stunning
pictures of Brunei that he’d taken. Very inspiring. His 12-year old cousin then
took us to the Jame Asr Hassanal Bokiah masjid. (We took a boat – a “flying
coffin” as the locals call it  -  for a couple of k’s to a point he’d cycled to
and then walked us to the mosque.)

The Hassanal Bokiah masjid is one of the most beautiful mosques that I have
ever been to. It is also the most extravagant, much more so than the Omar Ali
mosque. From the outside it looks much like the Sha Alam mosque of Malaysia
though this wasn’t as big, but it has other domes besides the central one. 

No pictures were allowed inside the mosque but Mustafa thought this only meant
not allowed inside the main prayer hall. He was about to take one from the
stairs leading to the main hall when he was violently told no to by a security
guard. As he tried to apologise the guard tried to push him away. We vehemently
complained to his seniors that this was no way to be have in a mosque. 

No pictures inside but we took some goodies from the outside though. In the
mosque’s gardens we met quite a few migrant workers from Bangladesh including
one from Sunamganj who almost spoke like Sylheties. Apparently there are 23
Bengalis working at the mosque.

Returned to Pusat Belia, met Dhakah again, went out for a late lunch at the
same Indian place with Byron also joining us. Mustafa and I then took the last
bus of the day, at about 5:30pm, to Jerudong Park, which they claim is the
biggest theme park in the world. But the park was closed and we were stuck in
Jerudong, 10km North West of Bandar, without public transport. Taxis are far
too expensive but fortunately hitch-hiking in Brunei is quite easy. First we
got a lift from a couple of Bengalis to the main road going to Bandar and,
after praying Maghrib, was picked up by a Malay (Bruneian) who’d studied at
Lancaster, England. He went beyond his house to drop us off on the door step of
our hostel.

After agreeing to go to Temburong with Byron and London the next morning,
prayed Isha at the Saifuddin masjid and ate from the food stalls around it  -
noodles and rice stuff. Before eating came across an Interpol notice board by
the park publicizing missing children from around the world. It was as if the
board was saying to the locals “be thankful that you live in a safe country
like Brunei”. And yes, Brunei is very safe. It’s so safe that individual car
thefts get reported in the national newspaper!

Brunei reminded me of the UAE – small, oil rich countries with absolute rulers
and high percentages of workers coming from the Subcontinent – but unlike the
Gulf country I actually liked Brunei. In the UAE they really look down on
nationals of other countries, unless of course you’re from a Western country in
which case they’ll suck up to you, and though some of that naturally exists in
Brunei also, it is in no way as pronounced. Brunei feels a much friendlier
place, a place I could live in.

Anyway, returning from the mosque we stopped off to see more celebrations of
the Sultan’s birthday. It was about 1pm when we returned to our dorms. I was
very tired and didn’t feel like waking up early in the morning to go to
Temburong. Decided to let my body decide in the morning.