Restful at Bandar Seri Begawan

Day 1
May 10, 2013
Bandar Seri Begawan

It never ever crossed my mind to visit Brunei - I did not even bother to check if there were any sights worth seeing prior to booking our flight. All Rissa and I knew was that the total fare was way cheaper compared to Taipei and Bali's "promo" fares which skyrocketed to astonishing figures after fuel surcharges were added - we did not mind that we were travelling at around midnight.

Apparently, it also never crossed the mind of the local immigration officer that anyone would want to tour Brunei. The officer asked a lot of questions about my work and she was not willing to let me pass through unless I show her proof of my hotel booking (which I did not have with me but thank God for the internet, we were able to download it).

It was later on during the trip that I understood the immigration officer's questioning - most Filipinos out there in Brunei are OFW's - the receptionist who greeted us when we arrived in the hotel, the bus driver on our way to the mall, the crew in the Jollibee store, among others. I don't think there were any other Pinoys out there touring - in fact, i can count with my two hands the number of tourists that were with us when we were sightseeing.

Not to say that there was nothing to see in Brunei. This was, after all, called the Kingdom of Unexpected Treasures. However, much of what can be toured in the city can be seen in more or less 3 hours (we stayed for 3 whole days and the third day was spent at the mall and at the aiport!) I guess one just needs to spend more and go outside the city to find more of these unexpected treasures such as the Ulu Temburong National Park.

We arrived in Bandar Seri Begawan at 1:40 AM and it was almost 3 AM when we got to Jubilee hotel. It was a good thing that the receptionist was Pinoy - he allowed us check-in early without added cost (We thought we were going to camp out at the reception area). He gave us a room that looks more like an apartment actually - a very spacious one complete with living room, kitchen, and 2 bedrooms, where we spent the next few 10 hours sleeping.

Jubilee Hotel

It was already past 3 PM when we left the hotel to check out the sights. We first went to Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque, the mosque that is always featured on Brunei's travel ads. It was not as impressive as it was in the ad pictures which were taken from a bird's eye view.

Afterwards, we did a quick stroll along Brunei river and then we went to the local mall - Yayasan complex - for dinner.