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Another thing about traveling is that your mood will be changing like a roller coaster. This morning I was so down but now I cannot help smiling. I learnt that as long as I keep walking, miracle will happen, literally. Here is what happened this morning.

So at 7am, I was left at Giant Rimba without a phone, without Internet, without transportation, without a place to stay and without a friend to hold onto. I had to admit that I just wanted to give up Brunei. But that’d be stupid. I didn’t come here to get pissed. I had a meeting at 9am at the Mall Gadong but I had no idea where it was and no idea how to get there, so I decided to walk with a 7kg backpack & 3kg handbag. I tried to stop a car just to ask the way but nobody stopped. After about an hour, when I already gave up stopping a car, miracle happened. A car stopped! I thought it was a cab and I couldn’t afford a cab in Brunei so I tried to ask the way. But he didn’t speak English and the only Malay word I could say at that time was “Gadong” so I just got in the car.

On the way, we managed to exchange name. Asnan – the name of the driver – suddenly made a turn to a resident area nowhere close to the Mall and used body language to tell me to get in! I was so scared but well, I couldn’t do anything else anyway so I still followed him. It turned out that he just wanted to take me for breakfast!!! It was a small local restaurant called Rejoice Chicken Rice.

Surprisingly, it has Vietnam Mee hoo soup. And surprisingly, it’s not Vietnamese at all! It tasted good with fish, mushroom, pickle, tomato, bitter gourd, corn, etc. – everything that you’ve never found in a REAL Vietnamese noodle.

I met with Caroline (another Caroline Ang, that’s scary that after 2 days in a small country, you already know 2 people with exactly same name) at her office. At lunch, she had her driver take me to DeRoyalle Cafe to meet with my idol Ignatius Stephen – Brunei’s first journalist.

At 25 (he likes to think that he’s young so do I), he’s a skillful, smart and charming journalist with a playful writing style that you cannot mistake it with that of anyone else. I love his shop too: located right in the heart of Bandar [Jalan Sultan],  it’s beautifully designed with a cool & friendly atmosphere, perfect for chitchat as well as working alone. It has a lot of newspapers to keep you up to date with latest happenings in Brunei. If you happen to be in Bandar, stop by and say Hi to him, you won’t regret that.

Picture: Ignatius showing off his height I told you, he’s fun!

Anyway, we were supposed to meet at 12 but *somehow* we couldn’t make it until 1pm. Even though we were late, he still treated us lunch! However, he had to leave and soon came back with TEGLA LOROUPE – the world records holder for 20, 25 and 30 kilometres and previously the world marathon record holder. She is the three-time World Half-Marathon champion.

She’s also a global spokeswoman for peace, women’s rights, and education. She’s very inspiring and her story is very touching! In person, she’s a little bit shy but friendly and really cool. She promised to come to Vietnam one day to run for charity! I will write about my interview with both of them soon!

Picture: Ignatius and Tegla

In the evening, Rudy – my new friend here – picked me up to come to his place for dinner. Yes I had my first home dinner in Brunei in my 2nd night here. His family is so interesting. His uncle joked all the time, his aunt is very caring and his Mom can whistle. How cool is that? Thank you very much Rudy

Tags: Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei, DeRoyalle Cafe, Ignatius Stephen, Strangers, Tegla Loroupe

When I woke up at 6am, the sun was already shining. It’s a great morning, I can open the window and hear the bird singing. The air is so refreshing. The road is green and empty as if I’m the only one who wakes up that early.

However, I’m not in the mood to enjoy things. I know it’s not easy to move to a place, but I still feel so hurt. The first 3 people I met in Brunei, one stood me up, one wanted to get rid of me and one looked at me as a labor worker. And now, I’m sitting in front of Giant Rimba without a phone, without a place to stay and without anyone to hold on to.  There are only 40+ taxis in Brunei so it’s very hard to catch one and bus is unpredictable. Even though people here are very friendly and they smile at you all the time, there is something in the way they look at foreign workers. And even though my friends already warned me that “Brunei is so rich, people here don’t have to do anything and still rich, they tend to look at foreign workers as people who try to make money out of them”, my first experience with it was painful. I don’t want to complain because I believe that we get what we deserve.

I need to be strong. There are a lot of things need to be done today. Don’t cry in Brunei!

Tags: Brunei, cry, Giant, morning, sunshine

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When I told my friends that I was going to Brunei, they all asked what I was to do in this boring country. It turned out that Brunei might be a little bit quiet, but my first day here can be considered as one of the busiest days in my life.

I arrived at 3.30pm and Robert (my new CouchSurfing host) was there to pick me up. It was raining. My first sight of Brunei made me think of Singapore: small with a lot of trees and car.

It’s interesting that the Brunei Dollar is tied to the Singapore Dollar at a 1:1 rate. However, Changi Airport is much bigger than Brunei International Airport and Singapore is much busier. There is traffic jam in Brunei during rush hour but it’s not too bad. There are only 400.000 people here so it’s understandable [Just to make a compare: Brunei is the heart of Borneo. There are 18 millions people in Borneo but only 0.4 millions in Brunei]. Almost everyone has a car and personal driver. There is no local cars but cars are imported at a very cheap price. You can easily find an acceptable 2nd hand car at BND3000 which is equivalent to USD2000.

After picking me up at the airport, Robert was very kind to give me a free ride around the city. There is no sky-scraper here. The highest one is about 5-storey excluding some very tall towers which reminds me of Hanoi. Robert took me to 2 most impressive mosques in Brunei: Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque and Jame’asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque. However, we didn’t come inside any of them. Robert told me that after 3 years living in Brunei, he has never been inside any mosque because he doesn’t feel like he’s welcome there.

Robert

Here are some pictures I took at 2 mosques. Those mosques look the best at night however my camera isn’t so good during night time.

Jame’asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque found on the Internet

Jame’asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque taken by me in the rain

Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque found on the Internet

Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque taken by me

Outside the mosque is this building. Anyone knows the name of its?

We also visited Brunei’s largest shopping mall – the majestic Yayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Complex. It’s big but very quiet. It makes me think of a temple

Just nearby is a beautiful bay with a lot of taxi boats and a nice but expensive Italian restaurant.

Edited: It’s not a bay, it’s a river. The area is called Kampung Ayer – world (or SEA)’s largest water villeage.

The busiest area of Bandar – The Mall in Gadong

Because Robert “had to” meet his friends at 6.30pm, he dropped me at Gadong. There began a very exciting journey of mine in Brunei, but I’m super uber sleepy now  ;( (gotta wake up at 6am tomorrow). Sleep well!

Tags: Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei, mosques

My flight to Brunei is at 1pm tomorrow so I spent most of my time today preparing for the trip. It’s interesting to realize that the hardest part was actually making the decision, after that, everything will start to fall into its place. For example, when I decided to go to Brunei, I searched for people from Brunei on Facebook and I found Caroline Ang. She was very kind to agree to meet me yesterday and she turned out to be my life saver. She introduced me to a Malaysian magazine (I went for the interview this morning and got an offer but more on it later), offered me a place to stay in Brunei when she comes back there on 26, gave me a bunch of important contacts in Brunei as well as in Kuching. Because I want to catch up with her in Brunei and I want to attend the Jazz festival in Miri on Friday, I decided to change my plan a little bit. I will be in Brunei on 13th, then go to Miri on 14th by bus to attend the festival, and then travel around Sarawak and Sabah for 10 days and come back to Brunei on 26 or 27. I haven’t decided where to go after that, maybe go to Philippines or Indonesia by ferry if the ticket is cheap enough, or go back to KL and travel northward, cross the border to Thailand and then Myanmar. Any suggestion would be very helpful. Caroline even introduced me to Brunei’s first journalist. YES, I’m going to meet Brunei’s FIRST journalist! Thank you very much Caroline!

P/S Guess where am I blogging from? TNT Kickboxing Today is my last day here. I’m gonna miss this place so so much!

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Tags: Brunei, Malaysia, Phone, plan, Samsung