5:10 pm

Hi All,

   Randal and I pulled up anchor about 7:30 am this morning and cruised until about 1:30 when we arrived here at Sutera Harbor Marina.  We had spent August 2008 here and it’s nice to return to a familiar place.  These next few days are the last for Sail Malaysia. A final dinner will be held tomorrow night.

  As I’m still catching up with email from Brunei, it does make things a bit confusing.  Oh well; I would think you’re all used to it by now.

So here is part two of the Brunei city tour.  There will be a part 3 so you can see what the water villages are like.  Then I’ll write about our trip to the Rain Forest and our canopy walk.  We really did do a lot during our time in Brunei.

Ru

ps The puffy roll at the carvery was Yorkshire Pudding!  I knew it was a Brittish thing, but kept thinking Wellington which I knew was beef wrapped in some kind of dough, I think.  But Yorkshire Pudding does sound a bit like brioche.

Brunei Tour with Allan Riches

“Discover Brunei: Approx 4 hour van/bus tour around Bandar Seri Begawan (capital of Brunei) with a guide to learn about how Brunei works and what makes it unique. Visit a mosque, the Royal Regalia, and the water village. Stops at the old and new palaces. Depart RBYC Serasa at 1300. Return approx 1700.”

That’s what Allan’s handout said and that’s what we did! Plus we stopped at the end for an ATM and a quick trip to the supermarket. Cruisers never pass up a trip to an ATM or supermarket especially if someone will drive them in a vehicle. Also, as no one had Brunei money at this point, everyone needed an ATM.

If you know as little about Brunei as I did, than you pretty much knew nothing. I was surprised to find it in Southeast Asia and not the Middle East. Brunei became a British protectorate in 1888 and an independent country in 1984. That’s all I’ll write; all I know, and that’s only because I just read it in my Lonely Planet guide. (I do know that, had there been any cruisers in the Rally with Israeli passports, they wouldn’t have been allowed to enter the country.) But politics aside, if that’s allowed, Brunei royalty seems to be trying to share its oil wealth with the population. During our tour Allan Riches told us about Brunei; its history, current events, gossip; he seems to know it all. We all had lots of questions about who actually got to spend all of that oil money. (It seems most individual’s loans are paid by the government, house loan, car loan, school loan. And 60 per cent of the workers in Brunei work for the government in some way. Health care is practically free.) A giant plus for this tour; I could almost always understand Allan’s Aussie English. Sometimes Aussie/New Zealand/British English trips me up. The local people gamely try to understand us all.

The last Brunei email stopped with the tour of the mosque. Now we’re off to the Royal Regalia Building where there is more gold, or things gold in color than Fort Knox.

“The Royal Regalia building was officially opened on 30 September 1992 by His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan Negara Brunei Darussalam. “ (I missed the explanation of the name because I was wandering around taking photos. But it’s something about there being no last name so the names of parents are included, I think. Randal didn’t quite catch it either.) “The Royal Regalia Building has been designed to incorporate various characteristics of the philosophy of Malay Islamic Monarchy and has become another striking landmark of Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of Brunei. The building displays a large number of the Royal Regalia that has been inherited from generation to generation…” Quotes from Royal Regalia Building Brochure

This photo was on the front of the Royal Regalia Building’s brochure.

Royal Coronation Chariot pushed by men walking on either side. There are wheels so at least it doesn’t have to be carried!! Things here colored gold are!

While I was taking photos I wasn’t listening to Allan explain things. When I could listen, photos weren’t allowed. This chariot was in the main entry room and only there were photos allowed.

A solid gold chin rest. During long parades when the royal crown starts to get way too heavy, the Sultan can rest his chin in this gold palm. (Photo from the brochure.)

It could be really easy to start making fun of the royal trappings, but all the money isn’t spent by the royal family only on itself. Apparently the current sultan’s brother tried and now he is in “exile” in LA or Las Vegas or somewhere with his toys sold off. The Sultan is too smart and his sister is too socially conscious. They know that they have to share the wealth and whether they do it because it’s right or because it’s pragmatic, they appear to be doing it. Randal and I enjoyed our time in Brunei. But I do think some of the oil money should go to the public library. There was no link to an online catalog that I could find when I went to its web site.

Women workers at the royal Regalia Building

You could say this is another example of sharing the country’s wealth. These women have jobs paid for by the government. I snuck this photo. When we asked, they said no, though a couple of them acted like they really did want their photo taken.

Here is Anne trying to negotiate a photo.

As close as we could get to the Sultan’s Palace was across the road. Looks a bit like a roller coaster on top.

In contrast, this is the house where the current Sultan grew up.

It’s large, but no palace and no central AC or why would they have those units outside. Now it’s just an historic place.

Down the street from the Sultan’s first home. Large concrete apartment houses are directly across the street though neither Randal nor I know if these buildings were there when the Sultan actually lived in the neighborhood.

Next stop; the Water Village