Brunei - Malaysia PART I

Brunei - Malaysia First Half

Ok, so we have been in Brunei - Malaysia for about 10 days now and I have not posted... well, atleast I have a good reason this time. They don't have much for internet connections off in the Jungle. :-P Here is a brief overview of what we've been seeing.

When we arrived in Brunei we knew right away that we were off of the Tourist track. Even when we flew in to Bandar Seri Begawan, our plane was only about 20% full. After landing we put up in a decent Hotel (very decent price considering the quality of room) We walked around the city for two days, and saw some interesting things. First of all, they do not really cater to Tourists here, and it is near impossible to find a Lonely Planet Tourist book for the area. We did get a map from a hotel that showed where the Mosque's were and we got to see some interesting architecure and designs inside.

After searching all over town for the guide book, we decided to give it up for now, and head over to the cheaper Hostel we had discovered earlier. The hostel is very empty, with only 1 other guy and 2 other girls in it. We all went out to eat breakfast and then headed to the water village to get a tour. The boat tour was very exciting. We all hopped into a long boat and zipped around the river for about an hour. Our guide put on some old 90's techno including Ace of Base and the Venga Boys. It was histerical. Here we were... 4 white people all cruising around this little town with music blasting, and bad music at that. We even passed by the school where children looked out their windows and waved at us. I have to admit, I was a bit embarrassed about the loud music, but oh well.

The homes here were very simple but everyone seemed to have a nice car. I'm not sure where they parked all their cars at night when hey stayed at home. Anyways, our guide took us to see his house and his kids waved at us. It was a very fun experience.

That night some of us went accross the border to Malaysia (about 45 minutes away) with a guy named Andy. Andy was a bored Brunei man who liked to show people around in his free time. He was very nice and told us lots about the city. When we got to Malaysia, we found all sorts of pop up bars. They were like Pubs that were outside with tent tops over them. They had some good hot wings and nice cold beers. The food was quite cheap aswell. We enjoyed some drinks and hot food before heading back into Brunei.

The next day Russ and I took off on a series of adventures. Starting with a 2 day trip to the other side of Brunei with Andy, and the two Australian girls from the hostel. He took us to his parents Rice fields, swimming in a jungle river, and finally we stayed at his vacation home in progress. It was very interesting to see all of the different types of construction.

After that, he dropped us off in Linbang where Russ and I started our next adventure. This next one would take us deep into the Rainforest of Malaysia where we would visit the Canopy and the bowel's of the earth in an adventure caving expedition.

All that and more photo's coming soon in Brunei - Malaysia PART II