I went to
Brunei
with no expectation but came back pleasantly surprised. If you read my blog,
you know that I’ve done a lot of repeat visits over the years. Could’t help
myself even though it doesn’t help increase the number of countries that I have
visited so far. Since I am obligated to myself to increase the number (I’m
not getting any younger!), what better way than to visit a country that is so
close to mine? Won’t cost me a bomb and yet will get me closer to my target :)
So I bought Air Asia plane tickets, booked 3 nights stay at Star Lodge
Jerudong and off me and mom go to a new country that is basically at our
doorstep. After 2 hours of flights we arrived at my number 57th country and my mom’s 46th. Except for the 1 hour flight delay,
everything went smoothly. When we arrived, our complimentary airport pick up
was already there. Patiently waiting for us :)
The road to the city centre was jammed due to the opening ceremony of a new
bridge. So our plan to witness that ceremony was scrapped in favour of visiting
Jerudong
Park’s
musical fountain that night. I was glad that the choice was taken out of our
hands because the musical fountain show was simply awesome. I personally think
that it was even better than
Dubai’s
dancing fountain! Besides us, there were only one other family who watched the
show. So it felt like that the whole show was staged just for us. I guess this is how the super rich felt when they organised a concert just for themselves
:P
NOTE: The musical fountain show is not available everyday. Only 2
shows a week, on Saturday at 8.30 pm and 9.15 pm. Please be mindful of this fact if you wish to see the show :)
Jerudong
Park
was not in my original itinerary. I'm not really a fan of theme parks. I remember when I was young the park was very
famous. A free theme park built by the sultan for his family and subjects. Over
the years it was reported that the park went to a decline. We were
lucky that the theme park was rejuvenated and the new playground was opened in
July 2017. It is no longer free, which I think is a good thing. Many people do
not appreciate free stuff anyway. They tend to take it for granted at best or
more often than not will abuse it.
I was pretty impressed with the fairness of the ticket prices. Reasons why I
don’t like theme parks; hate the crowds, hate the long queue, not adventurous
enough to enjoy the more interesting rides. At Jerudong
Park, if
you do not wish to take any rides, they allow you to enter the park for a mere
B$2 :) Tell me which other theme park in the world is that benevolent?
Another thing that surprises me is the price of the food and drinks. We are
so used to the overpriced food and drinks at theme parks and airports all
around the world. A typical capitalist behaviour taking advantage of the captive
customers. In Brunei,
there is no such thing. Same pricing as in the city. No prohibition to bring
outside food inside the theme park either. We had seafood tomyam served with
rice and mee kolok at the park’s food court. The seafood tomyam was delicious.
For a mere B$5, we got 5 big prawns and lots of squids :)
For an all inclusive ticket price of B$20, Jerudong Park is a steal. They have A LOT of rides and activities and most importantly NO QUEUE. If you are a senior citizen, you need only pay B$5 to enjoy it all. Jerudong Park can also boasts about having a double decker carousel. Even Disneyland Japan cannot claim to have one! I recommend big family with a lot of kids to come here for a family day type of holiday. Do come in a group of 15-20 people. You can then imagine as though the park is built just for your family pleasure :P
On our third day we visited Bandar
Seri Begawan, the city. It feels
just like another town in
Malaysia.
We went to take a look at Kampung Ayer from afar. Initially we planned to crossover the
Brunei
River
to go to the water village but decided otherwise after seeing there is no
proper ferry with fix time and drop off/pick up point. If you wish to
crossover, you just hail the private sampan to take you there. I observed that
the private sampans will then try to convince you to take a tour of the water
village for a negotiated fare of B$50-B$10 per person. I hate negotiated
fare. More often than not I will be conned, so we decided to give it a miss.
Next we visit the Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque. Beautiful and very well maintained.
After the mosque, we went to the
Regalia
Museum.
We spent around 1 hour there. Worth taking a look if you have the time.
Next we had a late lunch at Tamu Selera. Tamu Selera is famous for their
ayam penyet (B$3). It is a fried chicken served with rice and raw vegetables,
to be eaten with spicy sambal. Besides ayam penyet, we ordered ikan lele and
banana fritters. In Johor, we eat banana fritters with spicy sambal kicap or
sugar depending on your preference. Here, they eat with condensed milk :) After
a satisfying lunch, we headed back to Yayasan Hassanal Bolkiah to wait for the hotel shuttle.
Our scheduled pick up time was at 3 pm. We arrived at Yayasan at around 2.30 pm so we look around and found a shop selling good
looking Brunei
metal fridge magnets for B$4 each. There are nice cheaper ones made of clay selling 3
for B$10.
Our flight home the next day was at 4.20 pm. We could squeeze more touristy stuff
in morning if we so inclined but decided to just laze around at the hotel till check out time at
12 noon. We purposely go to the airport early so that we can check out the
newly upgraded airport. The airport is really cosy. Spanking clean and manned
by polite and professional staffs. They even have the most beautiful airport
surau in the world!
Air Asia Brunei deserves a special mention. The staffs truly follow the rule. I’ve flown with the infamous stingy Ryanair, even Ryanair is not as strict! Other airlines will do a sampling check of cabin bag weight but Air Asia Brunei actually weighs each and every cabin bags (and handbags!) not once but twice! First, when they verify your boarding pass. The second time when you enter the boarding gate. Who would have thought that laid-back Bruneians are such a stickler?
Our itinerary was as follows:
14 October 2017
Kuala
Lumpur -
Bandar
Seri Begawan
15 October 2017
Jerudong
Park
16 October 2017
Bandar
Seri Begawan
17 October 2017
Bandar
Seri Begawan -
Kuala
Lumpur
Total damage for this trip was RM1.3k for 2 people. I brought B$100 and came
back with B$28. We had a relaxing and an enjoyable holiday. Will I do a repeat
trip to
Brunei?
Maybe not but I’m glad I went there at least once :)
I have uploaded 278 pictures and 140
videos of Brunei
for your viewing pleasure.
You can access them here:
http://instagram.com/mkhasha.n.travels
Hashtags specific for this trip
#mks2017Brunei
Njoy !!
