I flew to Brunei this evening. It was interesting to see the widespread use of Arabic characters. It was my first exposure to the Arabic world. There were English, Malaysian, and Arabic words for most signs in the airport.
Their security was lax. I opened the top of my bag for an employee. He glanced inside and asked why I was in Brunei. I gave him a simple answer: tourism. And that was that.
Tomorrow is the Sultan’s birthday; and it’s a big deal. There’s a big parade and sometimes world celebrities show up. Michael Jackson attended several years ago. I thought it would be a perfect time to experience Brunei. It was the reason I came here now, as opposed to spending an extra three days in Hong Kong.
Since it was late, I couldn’t take a bus (for a dollar) to my hotel. Instead I paid a taxi $20. The taxi driver knew English well enough. He was pretty excited to talk about TV and sports. He was searching for the right word.
“MMA?,” I asked. I thought he was talking about the popular wrestling style.
“WWF. Hulk Hogan!”
“Oh!”
I guess their local television network broadcasts wrestling re-runs. He was pretty excited about it. I thought that was funny. Is Brunei still clutching the 80s? Perhaps, it’s not Brunei. He was an older guy. So maybe that was his golden time for being a sports fan.
I got to the hotel. It looked like it, too, was clutching the 80s. The man at the front desk knew little English. And he was shy or something. He gave me little eye contact. He wanted me to fill out the registration form and move along. It wasn’t busy at all. Maybe he wasn’t a people person. Either way, he did not have a customer service personality. I suspect it was a family business.
My room was acceptable. It was a step down from Motel 6. At $30/night, it was the cheapest hotel room in town. There were one or two hostels, but they were poor values, according to the guidebook. It was either this hotel or the Holiday Inn (at $80/night).
I walked outside to look around. I was about two miles out of town. There wasn’t anything to do. I didn’t see any businesses. All I saw were a few homes and apartment buildings. It reminded me more of a small town than a big city. There was one main road with homes lined alongside. Brunei seems a bit lacking for tourists.