Muara, Brunei

Arrived in Brunei late morning. While we’ve visited the island of Borneo before, we were only in the Malaysian piece of the island. We were scheduled for a brief stay so took a ship excursion to take us to see major landmarks in the capital Bandar Seri Begawan as well as to visit a “water village.”

Brunei is a sultanate with a Sultan known for his extravagance. It’s also a state that introduced Syariah law for Muslims, which supersedes the British common law system in areas such as family and property law. It’s actually a place we felt quite torn about whether to visit. You can read why here: https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/05/22/bruneis-per…

Much of the landmarks are the Sultan’s vanity projects including his office, a museum about the dynasty and the mosque named after him. Surprisingly, the citizens are quite content with his rule. They have free education and healthcare, as well as financial support for buying a home. Because Brunei is an oil-producing country, gas is cheaper than water. A 500 ml bottle of water is one dollar; the same bottle of gasoline is 53 cents. Hence, each citizen owns two cars on average, taxis are few and public transportation is almost nonexistent.

It is a dry country, meaning that no alcohol whatsoever is served in Brunei, at restaurants and it is not available in any stores. It is possible to buy booze in Malaysia and bring it in. Non-Muslims who live here have an allowance of two bottles of liquor and 10 cans of beer every 48 hours. They can drink at private functions or at home. People getting married have their friends go back-and-forth to Malaysia for months to amass liquor to serve at the festivities.

One of the vanity landmarks we visited was The Royal Regalia Museum. It mainly houses the regalia of the Sultan and the royalty, as well as exhibits related to the commemorations of the Silver and Golden Jubilee celebrations of Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah's rule of Brunei. Over. The. Top.

I will do a separate footprint about the water village.Lue lisää