Brunei & Malaysia: It's home for me tomorrow

I'm back in Kota Kinabalu. The trip was shorter this time. I left Brunei at 1:00 p.m. and got here in KK at about 6:15 p.m. Lesser waiting time and this time, we used the highway going to Muara.

Last night, together with other BPYs including my SG-mates Zam and Sharin, I tried Brunei's favorite dish, ambuyat, a sago-based paste that you dip in pungent sauces. It's sad Siti Raisa wasn't able to join us since she left for Mecca today. Quite a funny dish but not bad. It's like eating sticky gawgaw paste and dipping it in curry, chili or durian sauce. You twirl the paste in between bamboo sticks, dip and eat.


After dinner, we chilled out in Wandi and Yati's apartment. Then went for some roti john... beef, eggs, green onions, chili sauce and mayo cooked into a bun.

This morning, Wandi and Yati brought me to Muara for my ferry to Labuan. It took about an hour and thirty minutes. Got there in time for the 3:00 p.m. ferry to KK.

This time I'm staying at the Hotel Malar Kinabalu for my last night. I wanted a room for my own so that I could fix my stuff for the plane tomorrow. I had Indian food again for dinner, this time lamb murtabak and roti telur. In the middle of my murtabak, the cook told me the Malay name, muratbak kambing, which made me quite uncomfortable eating the rest of it. But it's sheep, not goat. The whole meal cost me only RM8 which is about P120. Expect to spend approximately RM10 for every meal if you plan to backpack here in Malaysia. That meal was quite filling.

I'm off to the hotel now to rest. I'll do some last minute shopping early tomorrow at the Sunday market which I've been waiting for all week, before I go to the airport for my 2 p.m. flight back to Clark.

See everyone soon!

Part 1: Hello from Kota Kinabalu!
Part 2: Ferry from Kota Kinabalu to Brunei
Part 3: I saw the Sultan of Brunei!
Part 4: Kampong Ayer, water villages from Brunei's past
Part 5: Still in Negara Brunei Darussalam

Brunei: Still in Negara Brunei Darussalam

It's the 5th day of my travel retreat. After all that stress in the Philippines, I just wanted to be alone to recharge. After posting yesterday, Wandi and Yati picked me up here at Yayasan where I'm typing again today. We first went to the Empire Hotel and Country Club. Talk about luxury! They said than when the hotel hosted APEC, Clinton just couldn't stop looking at ceiling even when the Sultan of Brunei was chatting with him.

We then when to Jerudong Park to take a stroll in a reminder of better times in Brunei. All of us were hit badly by the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Brunei included. Dinner was at a local joint in Jerudong. We had nasi katok... chicken, with rice and sambal wrapped in paper. The name has an interesting story behind it. People used the knock in houses to buy this cheap and light meal. Thus the word katok... hehe!

After dinner, we went for a drive around Jerudong since it was palace central since most of the royals chose to live there. All the luxury enjoyed by a single family!


In the morning, I decided to get up late since I am on rest vacation! Had brunch at another Indian restaurant and this time took the murtabak ayam (chicken) and roti kosong. Yummy! I then took a bus to Gadong, their shopping area, but found nothing of interest. So I decided to go to the Royal Regalia Museum back in BSB. As warned, the buses were very unreliable. How could a well-developed country have a bad bus system you may ask? Well, everyone has cars so no one rides the bus! It took quite a while waiting at the bus stop, no waiting shed, it was drizzling and yet the sun was out, talk about bad luck!

There are no entrance fees for museums in Brunei. And that is indeed a strong statement about it's economic standing! At the Royal Regalia Museum, you saw the crown jewels of Brunei and other paraphernalia used during royal functions, from the Sultan's down to the escorts. On display as well were the gifts to the Sultan of various heads of state and visitors. And as expected, the gift of the Philippines looked so pityful beside the regal presents of the other countries.

It reminded me so much of SSEAYP... we could do nothing but hide our faces when we gave the gifts provided to us by the National Youth Commission. Cheap and tasteless! We said to ourselves, we should have gotten the presents ourselves. It's government, what do you exepect? There were 1998 SSEAYP presents to the Sultan on display at the museum as well would you believe. And obviously, the Philippine present wasn't on display. This should be a wake-up call to the National Youth Commission staff, if you can't buy good presents, then don't! The SIP Board could do a better job!

Now I'm back in Yayasan killing time. I'm having dinner with the other Brunei PYs later. So I guess that's it again for now.

Part 1: Hello from Kota Kinabalu!
Part 2: Ferry from Kota Kinabalu to Brunei
Part 3: I saw the Sultan of Brunei!
Part 4: Kampong Ayer, water villages from Brunei's past
Part 6: It's home for me tomorrow

Brunei: Kampong Ayer, water villages from Brunei's past

Today seemed like it would be a great day of exploring Brunei's capital. After the procession and a filling brunch, I took a river taxi (they're like sports cars on water) to Kampong Ayer, a centuries-old settlement in Brunei with houses on water.

At first, they looked like our slums in Manila. But nope, these are the old heritage houses of Brunei. They are even more well-equipped than the regular Filipino home with air-conditioning, Internet access, plumbing and electricity. You'd see a lot with their own satellite dishes!

The community has it's own elementary and high school, fire station (since fires are a problem given that most houses are made of wood and close to each other), police station, and mosque. There are a total of 4,200 structures built on top of the water, linked by 29,140 meters of foot bridges. At total of 30,000 people live in Kampong Ayer, which is 10 percent of Brunei's population!

That's it for today. I could already hear the call to prayer from the nearby mosque (which sounds very much like a male version of our own pabasa).

Part 1: Hello from Kota Kinabalu!
Part 2: Ferry from Kota Kinabalu to Brunei
Part 3: I saw the Sultan of Brunei!
Part 5: Still in Negara Brunei Darussalam
Part 6: It's home for me tomorrow