We docked at the port of Muara early this morning after sailing up the north western coast of Borneo, which meant we treated ourselves to a Horizons brunch and another yummy omellete, with the works!!! It's very, very warm outside…
Our afternoon Princess Tour took us into the capital of Brunei, Bandar Seri Begawan – we drew the short straw as we ended up on the back seat of the bus for a 40 minute drive into town! Our tour guide was Eric and spoke good English and didn't stop talking all afternoon….. From the bus window we could see lots of tropical vegetation and plenty of homes and shops, of all standards and types of construction, but not too many palatial ones. It was a holiday today as they were celebrating "Teachers' Day. Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah is the 29th ruler of his dynasty, which is the largest continuous royal family in the world and the country's wealth comes from their rich oil and natural gas reserves.
Our first stop was at the Royal Regalia Museum which houses the Crown Jewels of Brunei as well as the spectacular golden Royal Chariot, coronation crowns, ceremonial weapons and a collection of photographs of the Sultan…. all absolutely breathtaking! This Royal Chariot was not horse-driven but man-driven, with 48 men at the front and 48 at the rear…..
We were then taken to Kampung Ayer Water Village and that was an eye opener too…. We donned life jackets and were taken by water taxi around this massive complex of what looked like mainly derelict, but colourful villages on stilts over the water, with heaps of boats whizzing by (no speed limit). These families own their homes which are passed down by generation and although are terribly basic on the outside, are quite large, and also very basic inside….. We went into one of the homes for 'afternoon tea' - lots of little morsels wrapped in leaves and some nice sweet miniature style donuts and little plain cakes – Colin was a lot gamer than I was. This was set up in the first room which was set up for visitors, then we walked through the hallway and beyond to the kitchen (they had 5 microwaves!) – didn't see the bedrooms! They have electricity and water but no sewerage system – just the natural one which is tidal twice a day!!! Strangely it didn't smell!!! I'm sure they love their way of life, they all seemed happy and we too were also very happy to 'get back home again'.
We missed dinner at the dining room for the first time as we went to see Lisa Crouch again at the early timeslot, thinking she would put on a different show (it did say in the "Patter", back with a brand new show) but it was exactly the same, word for word, every joke in the same order and she even wore the same clothes….. bit disappointing, but she has got talent. We then had time to see Trevor's late night show, which was not disappointing.
PHOTOS: Beautiful ladies; Golden Royal Chariot at the Royal Regalia Museum; 2 Stilt houses at Kampong Water Village; Inside one the houses for afternoon tea – bet they all don't look like this!!; Looking over to the water village across, the Brunei River; a Ferrari boat; the Jame'asr Hassanal Bolkiah Mosque; Flag of Brunei.
Keep up the great work - it makes my lunch breaks from work a very enjoyable time,,,,! :-)
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