Sampling the World

I took a water taxi down the river to the downtown area. It was the Sultan’s birthday. Many businesses were closed in observance.

It was quiet–a little too quiet. I quickly learned that everything was cancelled. They didn’t want a break out of the Swine Flu (H1N1).

Dude, that sucked so bad. That was the main reason I came here. I thought it would be perfect timing to experience Brunei. There was going to be huge festivities and displays of Bruneian culture. I was therefore relegated to second and third tier experiences, such as the Royal Regalia Museum and the main Mosque.

It’s funny. They were trying to prevent a large gathering of people. But many still came to hang out.

It was like an apocolyptic movie. There were hardly any women or children out. Scores of adult men just chilled in the shade next to closed businesses. Many stooped outside the mall. And many more sat in the stands at the sports field cheering at nothing–at themselves. So odd.

The Royal Regalia museum was cool. The guards carried large curved knives instead of guns. I saw some pictures and relics of past birthday parades. Oh well.

I checked out the main Mosque in the late afternoon. It’s pretty cool. Well, it’s the first mosque I’ve ever seen. It was quite decadent. I read that it had gold trimmings on the exterior.

The Muslims are strict about keeping non-Muslims out. I was able to step inside at a specific time in the late afternoon. There was only a 30-minute window for non-Muslims. When I took photos later on at sunset, some motioned me to go away. I got a strong feeling of exclusivity from the Mosque–quite the opposite of Buddhist temples.

I perched in a courtyard near the Mosque. Two nice, young guys interviewed me for the Brunei Times newspaper. They wanted to get quotes from foreigners about the festivities being cancelled. I gave them plenty to write about.

Bill Paetzke, a computer programmer from the United States, was also hoping to witness the celebrations. He found out about the celebrations from a guidebook and was interested in the images depicting the joyous occasion. “It looked really cool, so I wanted to go and see it for myself,” said Paetzke, who is on a four-month holiday around the sub-region after quitting his job recently.

He said that it was not easy and cheap to come to Brunei, but would come to see the celebrations in the future, if he was in the area at the right time. He diverted his time in seeing other aspects of Brunei. “Brunei is awesome,” he remarked.

Source: The Brunei Times

I was careful to end my rant on a positive note. The Sultan has supreme power in this land. And I didn’t want to provoke him.

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.

Today Jameelah and I parted ways. It was sad to part. But I was due back in the US in only eight days. So, it wasn’t that bad.

We had a great 30 days traveling together. And we’d never forget it. Unfortunately, we caught a snag at the airport.

“No. You cannot proceed. You were here 31 days. You must pay a $20 fee,” said the visa-checking person.

What crap! They reasoned that June 13-July 13 is 31 days because they measure from midnight to midnight. However, we were in Indonesia for 30-days time from arrival to departure time. Our argument was futile though.

I rushed backed outside to the ATM, and got $40 for us. My flight’s deptarture time was in an hour. The airport official was pleasant with us, and got us our temporary visas right away. With those in hand, we walked pass the visa checkers and into the boarding gate area.

Jameelah and I chatted for a while outside my gate. I was first up to fly. I checked in with the security guard a few times outside my gate–to make sure my flight wasn’t boarding yet. Then I heard Jameelah’s flight over the speaker, so we parted to our respective gates.

I almost missed my flight! I was the very last one to board. It was lucky that her flight called its passengers over to the gate, which forced us to part. Otherwise I may have missed my flight.

The security guard kept telling me I had time, when in fact, Air Asia was boarding the whole time (or at least for 20 min our final conversation)!!! I guess he was confused like me. He thought AirAsia would announce the flight over the loudspeaker, but they didn’t. They’re ghetto like that. Booty chatter!

I flew into Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I stayed there overnight on my way to Brunei. I tried a classier hostel in a nicer part of town. It was near a cheap Indian restaraunt (this was planned). I got my obligatory chicken tikka masala and garlic naan. Then I reserved a hotel room in Brunei via Skype-to-phone from an internet cafe. The call cost about 10 cents. I love technology.

We caught a bit of a surf competition. It was entertaining. Kuta is known for its amazing waves.

We motorbiked about 20 miles south to the hidden gem of south Bali–Dreamland Beach. It is surrounded by cliffs. There are lots of powerful waves and surfers crazy enough to try.

We played along the shore and just took in the view. It was serene. I laid back and gazed upon the waves. Jameelah fell deep in thought as she walked among the waves.

We returned to the hotel that evening–another 20 miles on motorbike. I felt pretty good about my motorbike-driving skills now. I probably put on at least 100 miles during my Southeast Asia trip.

We returned to that amazing-deal-of-a-restaraunt and reflected on our trip. This was our last night together.

Here were our top moments from our 30-day Indonesian trip:

I surfed for a few hours today. I caught at least one big wave. It was the one I’ve ever ridden–maybe 10-12 ft (3-4 m). I’m a n00b, yes; but it still was big for me. It is the most amazing feeling to ride a wave.

Jameelah and I had a nice long walk along the beach that afternoon. We played arcade games at the mall nearby. Then we frolicked on the shore at sunset.