We arrived in Bander Seri Begawan, the capital of Brunei located on the island of Borneo and were unable to get cash as most of the ATM machines in the country don’t except international cards. Luckily we had some Thai baht that we exchanged to get us started. Brunei is a Muslim country ruled by a Sultan and is nothing like it’s SE Asian neighbors. It feels more like Jordan or Turkey. There is basically no violent crime and the people have been very welcoming so far. The city and country offer very little for tourists. People keep asking why we came here since there isn’t much for tourists to do. We spent our first night walking around getting a feel for the city and munching on local snacks at a small night market and finding an ATM.
Day two wasn’t too much more productive, we again walked around during the morning however the mosques we went to visit were closed and the weather was insanely hot and humid. I think we both were fighting dehydration and felt terrible by noon so we retreated to our hotel for a nap and some AC but since we only have 4 days here we toughed it out and made our way to the cities biggest night market where we tried a small feast of local treats. From beef lungs to chicken butts as well as some less deep end types of snacks like potatoes filled samosas, chicken wings and a peanut filled pancake. Needless to say we ended up sharing the stranger stuff with a local cat.
Overall we have enjoyed the very slow, quiet city and it’s unique culture. The food scene is not the most exciting but there is plenty to eat. Prices have been reasonable. The country allows no smoking, drinking or partying. There are no bars or nightclubs here at all. If you want thise things you have to cross the Malaysian border. In my next blog I’ll decide whether I recommend Brunei or not. In the vlogger world there are those who love it here and those who hate it. I’ll way in on why that is then. Tomorrow we are looking forward to the jungles of Borneo.
