Brunei: Day 3

One day left in our holiday in Bandar Seri Begawan and there were still a couple of key destinations we hadn't been to yet so we made sure we got to visit them in our final day. First on the agenda was a water taxi ride to Kampong Ayer, the Water Village.

My Lonely Planet book said that water taxis can take you to see Kampong Ayer and the mangroves for about BN$30 (about ~P1000). At first we were being charged $40 to $50, so we had to haggle a bit with a few water taxis before we found one that agreed to $30. However, my mom and I wanted to visit the Kampong Ayer Cultural and Tourism Gallery, so we agreed to pay our water taxi driver an additional $10 for him to bring us there and wait for us.

Our water taxi initially took us to the mangroves. There wasn't much to see there - the proboscis monkeys normally come out in the early morning or late afternoon - but we did manage to see the backyard of Istana Nurul Iman, the official residence of the Sultan. This palace was built by a Filipino, Leandro V. Locsin. People are only allowed to enter the grounds to see the palace up close during the annual Islamic celebration of Hari Raya Aidilfitri (the festival at the end of the Muslim fasting month).

We then headed to Kampong Ayer, which is also known as the "Venice of the East". Kampong Ayer has great historic and cultural significance in Brunei. It has been in existence for over 1,300 years and served as a major port of Brunei, exporting a variety of goods. It is the world's largest village on stilts, with more than 30,000 residents. While Kampong Ayer may look like a slum from the outside, it is actually lot more modern and self-sustaining than people may think, with houses having air-conditioning, electricity, plumbing, internet access, and satellite TV. The village itself has restaurants, shops, schools (nine of them, in fact), and even a fire department. Other notable things we saw during our tour of the village were a mosque,


a police station,


a hospital (and water ambulance),


and a Shell gas station (I even saw a boat come up to the station to refuel as we passed by :)).


We capped off our tour with a quick trip to the Kampong Ayer Cultural and Tourism Gallery. Entrance is free and visitors get to learn more about the background, history, traditions, society, and arts and crafts of the water village.


After a late lunch, we walked to the Royal Regalia Museum, another one of the must-see places in Brunei. As is the case with the other museums here, entrance is free.

What makes this museum unique is that it displays the gifts that have been presented to the Sultan of Brunei by government officials from different countries, including a treasure chest made of abalone shells from the Philippines given by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The timing of our visit wasn't particularly good since the crown jewels were being cleaned at the time so they weren't on display, but there were still a lot of other things to see. Probably the best thing on display was the recreation of the sultan's coronation day parade which included the royal chariot that carries the newly-crowned sultan, the different soldiers that pull and push the chariot through the city streets, and even life-sized photos of the actual crowd during the last coronation day posted all over the walls. Photos are not allowed inside expect in the main receiving area so my mom and I took a few photos of the memorabilia there.

We headed back to our hotel after that, just in time for our 4pm late check-out. We were planning to go to the Brunei History Center but it was closed to the pubic. I think it was under renovation or something since the staff there told us it wouldn't be open until next year. Our flight wasn't until 2am so we had coffee before taking a bus to the Istana Nurul Iman so we could see the palace from outside the gates. Unfortunately for us, it rained again, so we decided to just stay on the bus and take a road trip (after all, one way bus fare is only $1 or about P30). The bus conductor was Pinoy so this trip became our unofficial tour of Bandar Seri Begawan, with our conductor sharing stories of how it is to live and work in Brunei and pointing out some places along the road, including the Istana Nurul Iman. We had one last meal in the Yayasan complex before heading back to our hotel to rest in the lobby.

All in all, a great experience and a very good and satisfying holiday. I definitely recommend a trip to Brunei, especially since Cebu Pacific offers cheap flights to Bandar Seri Begawan now. I'll share some travel tips and recommendations in my next blog post.