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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