Brunei

18th March
by Maria

We got picked up and taken through immigration and driven to the Sheraton Hotel in Brunei. The roads have improved in the last 20 years and they now have major link roads everywhere.

We picked up the hire car at the hotel and headed out to Muara (where I used to live), we visited my old home, the village (the poor people who got off the cruise liner would have been very disappointed) and Seresa beach. I did not recognise a lot on the way as it has changed so much.

We headed back to the hotel then walked to the museum/gift house – where all of the Sultans gifts he has ever received are on show. We then walked into the main area of town, which hadn’t changed too much, except they now have a two building western style shopping centre – which was very nice.

Mosque

We headed back to the hotel to get changed and went out to where Yoohan shopping centre where the bowling alley used to be. Yoohan isn’t there any more but the bowling alley and Jollibee are (Jolibee was the first burger franchise in Brunei when I lived there – no McDonalds or KFC then). So Mikey and I had dinner at Jollibee and it was great – just as I remember it.

Maria and the Jolly Bee

Mosque at Night

19th March
We hopped in the car and drove to the theme park at Jeradong but found out when we got there it didn’t open until 3pm (heat and school hours etc), so we ended up going to the new shopping centre “The Mall” at Gadong, this place was massive (for Brunei), 3 stores, food court and movie theatre.

"The Mall" Shopping centre

We grabbed lunch and watched Alice in Wonderland then we cased the mall. I actually managed to fine a shop that had my size (XL!!) and spent about 30 minutes trying everything on (as it was cheap) and came out with about 5 items in the end, so I was happy.

We then headed back to the hotel for a shower and change and drop off the car. We had found an American ribs place the night before near the bowling alley, so we headed out for a game of bowling and dinner before going to the airport 4 hours before our flight (1:35am).

The End – home to our furry kids!

Gallery, Slide Show