Nov 2006

A forty minute flight took us from KK to Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB), capital of Brunei, where the wealth of the country is immediately obvious - flash cars and new roads.

Checked into the PALATIAL 6* Empire Hotel and Country Club. The whole place is an exercise in the grandiose and the contradictory. In the foyer is a mini-mosque (5m tall) under a massive chandelier and everything is of the highest quality marble, yet no one bats an eyelid at Bec in her daggy Billabong hat or Glenn in his faded zip-off trousers. The place can hold 5000 people, yet we wouldn't have seen more than 200 people in total the whole time we were there. There's badminton, squash and tennis courts, an 18 hole golf course, a bowling alley and a movie cinema as well as a spectacular pool complex. Breakfasts were massive and we didn't open a single door for ourselves the whole time we were there. Completely out of our backpacking comfort zone. Settled into our room, had a few games of ten pin and then set off to Jerudong Park Playground.

The Empire Hotel

The foyer of the Empire Hotel

Jerudong Park is Brunei's equivalent to Disneyland or Dreamworld. It was given to the people of Brunei as a gift from one of its previous Sultans. We took the shuttle (A Class Mercedes) to the park to find that most of the rides were closed for maintenance (possibly forever), hence we got a reduced entry fee of $5. The place was virtually deserted, with the exception of a few teenagers canoodling in the darkness. The whole place had quite an eerie feel to it, semi-dark and overgrown. We did manage to find the log flume ride (the only ride not closed for maintenance) and went around four times without getting off. Plenty of bored park employees.

Got up early the following morning, breakfasted (too much choice!!), then took the shuttle into BSB city centre. Headed immediately to the very beautiful Omar Ali Sarfuddien Mosque for a look inside and out. Quite stark really but quite beautiful.

The mosque by day

The mosque by night

Went on then to the tourist information centre and booked a trip up the river to see the Proboscis monkey (nose-monkey, not bum-monkey). We were *lucky* enought to get the 'special weekend rate'. Wandered around town for a bit, bought a few cheap (and later found to be nasty) DVDs, then met our boatie for our monkey spotting trip. There was a German guy and a French guy in our boat who were disappointed to learn that they'd not gotten the 'special weekend rate'. Donned bright orange life jackets and off in search of the elusive proboscis monkey. It wasn't long before we'd parked the boat along the very dirty riverbank and were spotting the little critters swinging through the trees. Not close enough for a good photo though....... Back to shore, then off in search of dinner. Ended up in a market stall restaurant with no English menu so ordered randomly off the menu. Glenn took the Soto Claypot Special (chicken, beef, noodle and vegie soup) and Bec had the Chicken Chop (chicken in spicy sauce with chips!?!?). Watched the water taxis fly by with only a handheld torch for light.

Up late-ish the next day to take advantage of the pool and the beach before heading into town again, this time to hire a boat to take us through the stilt villages. Haggled (unsuccesfully) with the boatie and ended up paying $20 for what turned into about a 45 minute trip through the brightly painted houses, schools, mosques, police and fire stations that make up the stilt village that houses about 30 000 people. Our driver dropped us off at a village pier so we could wander around. As soon as we arrived,a young fellow ran the length of the village ringing a bell which seemed to be the cue for all the village children to race out and wave hello to us!! Wandered past schools and mosques and shops. Had to hail another taxi boat to take us back to the other side of the river. Another encounter with the tourist price/ local price phenomena, although Glenn did manage to bargain him down.

Stilt villages

Took a bus then to another, more beautiful, mosque. The bus stalled three times along the way, once on top of a very busy overpass. Walked then to the Mall Shopping Centre. Easier said than done with a massive, no-pedestrians round-a-bout in the way. Some creative jay-walking got us to the Mall Shopping Centre and then on to the Gadong Food Market where we bought a few things for dinner and then ate by the manky river in the company of some feral cats and young locals.

Gadong markets

Shuttled back to the hotel and off to the cinema to watch Barnyard. We were the only people in the cinema and yet they made us select our seats on a computer screen. And no we know where the dodgy DVDs are filmed.

Got up early on our last day for some pool time and some mocktails by the pool. Mmmmm mocktails at 8am. A final breakfast (eat like we're never going to eat again), then a golf buggy to the lobbly to check out. Off to the airport where our plane was delayed for an hour before heading home to Brisbane.

Mocktails at the Empire

We arrived in Kota Kinabalu (via Brunei for two hours) late in the evening and crashed out in our hotel. Awoke early the next morning and looked out the window to expansive (though somewhat hazy) views across the South China to the Bornean islands. Stir-fry for breakfast, then off to explore the town.

View across the South China Sea

Kota Kinabalu is easily seen on foot and we legged it to the State Mosque, the Sabah Museum and the Heritage Centre (collection of stilt houses), as well as to the tourist bureau to book a hire car for a trip to Poring Hot Springs for the end of the week. Glenn bought some corn juice from a local market (Bec gags and races to nearest garden bed on tasting) and insisted on drinking the entire thing on principle. Dinner the first night was at a food market along the edge of the South China Sea. A very spicy crab curry for Glenn put paid to any plans Bec had for an extended shopping night.

Up early the following day for a day of white-water rafting. We drove for an hour or two through the rainforest, our driver successfully avoiding random water buffallo and mangey dogs along the way. Arrived at our drop off point and got in a boat with three young Japanese girls. The river was pretty tame and Glenn was a bit disappointed that it wasn't more hard-core, although we did manage to tip out one of the Japanese girls. Glenn was careful to buy the 'Ride the Waves, then the Babes!' t-shirt, rather than the 'Surf the Waves, then the Dudes!' version.

Did a bit of shopping. Note to self: Twisties in Borneo are not the same as Twisties in Australia and Green Pea flavoured crisps are passable if desperate.

Set off reasonably late the following day to check out one of the neighbouring islands. Walked to the ferry terminal and chartered a boat with another Japanese couple out to Sapi Island. Hired snorkel gear at a grossly over-inflated price ('You hire snorkel from me. No snorkel on beach') and arrived at the island where snorkel hire stores abound and the park entrance fee left us destitute. No lunch for us. Walked around the island but the mud and mozzies made it more arduous than pleasant so we headed back to the beach for a spot of snorkelling and a game of 'spot the worst swimwear'. The beach was soon evacuated though as a huge wind sprang up and the clouds rolled in. Found our Japanese friends and left the island early, never having used the over-priced snorkel gear. The boat ride back was harrowing. Glenn spent the trip assessing the structural integrity of the boat while Bec mentally listed the pros and cons of staying with the boat versus swimming to the nearest island in the event of capsize. Made it back to the boat terminal fairly saturated. Back to the hotel for a quick tidy up and then out again in search of a head-hunter statue.

Sapi Island

Up early the next day, more stir-fry for breakfast, then legged it down to pick up our rental car for a trip to Poring Hot Springs. In true Malaysian style, no one seemed to know what was going on when we arrived and we had to wait 45 minutes for our car to arrive (45minutes for them to find someone willing to lend their car to a pair of foreigners for the day for a fee). Finally our car arrived and we found ourselves the proud temporary owners of an ageing Proton, complete with broken tacko and back-of-dashboard noises. Drove out of town along the same route we took rafting so at least we were familiar with how to get out of town. It took us about two hours to drive the 100km to Poring to find the outdoor thermal pools were closed. Probably a good thing given Bec's last experience with sulphur thermal pools in Bolivia and the ensuing allergic reaction. Hired an indoor thermal pool (read big bath tub) and soaked in there for a while and congratulated ourselves on surviving the death-defying, OH&S-defying tree-top canopy walk. Made our way back to KK, all the while on the lookout for the elusive Rafflesia flower but to no avail. Likewise no luck in finding and random water buffallo to photograph, though we did find a few picturesque rice paddies. Dinner for Glenn that night was the most enormous whole fish obviously just dragged fresh from the ocean. Note to self: always choose your own fish.

Rice Paddies