Boring Brunei?

ChatGPT, when asked what the most boring country in the world was, used to respond with “Brunei”. Now Brunei has been supplanted with other countries like Liechtenstein according to ChatGPT, but Brunei has not completely escaped its reputation for being boring, or, according to YouTube videos and bloggers, strict, least favourite and oppressive. It was hardly on my Must-See list. However, as I was going to be in the region, and as I am unashamedly counting countries (134 to date, although Kosovo and Taiwan are debatable), I thought I would visit for a few days.

Despite its website indicating Canadians do not need a visa, I was met on arrival by an immigration officer waving me to a desk where I had to fill out an E-Visa form. Paper and pencil were not acceptable, but only a computer with a mouse, something I hadn’t used in a decade. I was required to create an account to register, which necessitated verification by email, something impossible as I had no Wi-Fi. Another immigration officer temporarily gave me Wi-Fi so I could verify the account I had just created on their computer. I then proceededto fill in a ridiculous amount of information, including specifics of every single currency I had on me. Finally, the immigration officer accepted the form and I was through.

However, my bureaucratic nightmare was not over. As Brunei is a dry country, alcohol may only be brought in by non-Muslims over the age of 18. And, not surprisingly, there was another form to fill out on the computer with a similarly ridiculous amount of information needed, most of which was duplicative of the information I had just entered on the other computer. Eventually, the customs officer was satisfied with the information I provided and let me and my bottle of wine into the country.

I knew, going in, that Brunei has a large number of restrictions. Alcohol cannot be purchased in the country, nor consumed in public. Cigarettes cannot be sold in the country and smoking is prohibited in all public places. Drug dealers are hung, homosexuals stoned to death, and adultery results in jail time. Commenting negatively on the Sultan is against the law and freedom of the press is curtailed. Wearing yellow, the national color, is prohibited unless you are royalty. In a similar vein, according to some news reports, most of the prohibitions do not apply to the royal family, and the Sultan is known to enjoy drunken parties with very young western beauty queens invited to attend.

That being said, Brunei does have some attractions. As it is on the island of Borneo, it has probiscus monkeys. My tour guide, Sobre, escorted me on to a small boat, and we motored our way down the Brunei River into the mangroves in search of these shy primates. Sobre knew where to go, and we quickly spotted a female, which lacked the prominent nose of the males. However, a male with a few babies soon appeared, and I was able to see the probiscus for which the monkeys are named:

A better picture, lifted from the Internet, gives you an idea of the size of their noses:

The other interesting attraction is Kampong Ayer, a village built completely on the water. Its beginnings go back over 500 years when fishing was the primary industry and the river was the only practical means of transportation in the dense jungles. It was the capital of the Brunei Sultanate until the British arrived in the mid 19th century and moved the capital to land after finding a maritime city difficult to live in.

Today, Kampong Ayer is still home to about 15,000 residents, complete with three schools, a hospital, a fire station, mosques and jetties for the water taxis that transport people to the mainland.

The buildings are joined by rickety walkways:

Sobre invited me into his house, where his wife greeted me with a trio of local treats and offered me a tour of their house. It is quite large, my guess is about 2000 ft. , with a living room, lounge, full-size kitchen, dining room, and three bedrooms, along with electricity, running water and AC. The only concession to the water is in the bathroom where, instead of a toilet, there’s a hole and a drop. The government is constructing new homes in Kampong Ayer and, apparently, these have toilets.

Brunei is home to at least 4 museums; I visited the National Museum and the Energy Museum, the latter detailing how oil was discovered in 1889, with the first well drilled in 1929. This oil has given the Sultan of Brunei extreme wealth. He lives in a 1,788 room palace and has about 600 Rolls Royce’s. Peasants like me are not allowed into the gates to see the Royal Palace, but I was able to photograph his private jumbo jet at the airport:

The National mosque and the King’s mosque are both open to visitors wearing properly, attired robes with hoods covering the head of females. The mosques are beautiful and, in the jungle heat, the AC was much appreciated. I also noted the nod to modernization in the escalators leading to the higher floors:

Another thing I enjoyed in Brunei was sampling the local food at the night market, which appeared nightly at dusk across from my hotel. The vendors sold a variety of local foods very similar to Malaysian food. I tried the local specialty of chicken and rice, which local name I cannot recall:

It was all delicious and fairly inexpensive.

I was staying on the mainland in the capital city of Bandar Seri Bendawan, at a Radisson Hotel. On arrival, I was surprised to see a Canadian flag outside of the hotel. I later learned the Canadian consulate occupies a room on the ninth floor of the hotel. So if I had needed help from the Canadian consulate, it was very close by.

And so ended my two nights in Brunei. Ir wasn’t boring, but I’m not sure I’d race back. Meanwhile, I am looking forward to Malaysia and a glass of wine in a bar.