Imitation and I are going to Hong Kong at the end of March and we are flying with Brunei so we have a two day stopover in Bandar Seri Begawan (the capital).
I googled Brunei but most of the sites were pretty vague about the actual city, so I was wondering if any had been there and what it was like/share experiences.
Cheers

not going on the china trip anymore?

i e-mailed imit back about jobs at my dads school but he never responded.

We decided to stay in HK because we ended up doing diplomas in Teaching english. Plus I have rellies who are over there and I don't need a visa to stay. BL to imit lah

Also, there's more money to be made in HK and with the convenience of free accommodation we decided it would be better, unless we can't find jobs in HK then we'll get back to you ;)

last edited by shaz at 23:11:41 22/Feb/05

heh, no worries.

i know my dad is currently looking for an english speaking teacher to look after a bunch of japanese and german kids aged 4-7 so keep it in mind!

HK would be my preferred destination if I was going to stay, but as far as sightseeing goes you can't beat China.

Diu lei lo moo chow gor lan hai

Spidz,is your dad's English school in Australia or elsewhere?

it's in China Dopefish ;)

ok thank you CHAP

I've been to Brunie on the way through to Kuching, Sarawak. But i was very young. Everyone else i know that has been has just been resorting. They have some extremely expensive and lovely hotels there. Not sure how you'd go finding budget accomodation or anything like that.

We are staying at the Royal Brunei Hotel, worked out to be $84 per person for two nights including breakfast. I couldn't find any information about it on the net but supposed to be decent. The travel agent said it was a privately owned country (by the king) and it's hard to get accommodation like last minute and only like two agents did accom there.

Know a pilot who lives there and says it's quite alright.
Then again with a big house and a fast car, anywhere would be nice.

My Sister went there for a Early Childhood teaching Prac with QUT.... Was there for quite some time....

Main thing she said was Crazy Drivers...
And They dont really treat Rivers like we do... The focus point of Restraunts was the road and they just throw rubbish in the Rivers and stuff.
Stayed in a teachers house, so didn't hear anything about Hotels and stuff...

Talked about 'The city on the water' or some s***. Like a whole village thats completle over some body of water on boadwalks.

Can't rember much because I don't really listen to her when she talks...

only thing i know about brunei is the bloody jungle.... s***ty jungle...

when i was going to school, from year 10 to year 12 i went there about 15 times, to visit the old man who was working for royal brunei airlines, fo rabout 2 weeks each time.

so much as to say there isnt very much to do. alcohol is banned, and can only be gotten underground. the only things to see are the big golden mosques, river villages or jerudong park(massive dreamworldish park thats free or was free) the best thing to do is the catch a ferry to labuan, about 30-45minutes boat ride away, which is malaysian, as least u can sink some piss there, which is cheap as too

brunei = teh s***
no tax and if your a citizen government pays for everything and i mean everything.
very very rich country!
nice people in general.
if you can get a couple of years work there awsome place to save as you will only ever have to pay for food.


last edited by Uncle_Bob at 07:47:21 23/Feb/05

Imitation and I are going to Hong Kong at the end of March and we are flying with Brunei so we have a two day stopover in Bandar Seri Begawan (the capital).
I googled Brunei but most of the sites were pretty vague about the actual city, so I was wondering if any had been there and what it was like/share experiences.
Cheers

Yeah. I've been there. Lived there a couple of years back. The place is not what it used to be. Anyway, if you're staying in the 'city' - it's just a small town, they can't have buildings higher than their mosques...

Here's a few places you may be interested in visiting, Kampung Ayer (water village which is near the town), Yayasan Complex (also near town), Gadong or Kuilap (abit out of town but this is generally where most people go for shopping, etc), Jerudong Park Playground (theme park) and The Empire Hotel (best hotel in Brunei).

All of the above mentioned places are in the same district (Brunei/Muara). If you guys are willing to visit the oil district of Brunei it's in Seria/Kuala Belait. They have a nice small town too.

Also, if you ever stop by Gadong, make sure to visit 'The Mall' and check out how stupid the design for the ceiling is.... you won't see it anywhere else. And the famous roundabout near Gadong and Kuilap - it's got 3 lanes, worst road planning ever. And beware of the drivers there. They don't know how to use their indicators and they all drive fast.

Recommendations for food: Go to Gadong and find a chinese restaurant called 'Thien Thien'. It's near the Toy's World building and the Booker's shop. Order steamed chicken rice - now that's real asian food.

last edited by lite at 10:10:44 23/Feb/05

I have a friend who works for royal brunei, but I've never been there :/

Also, check http://www.brudirect.com/ half way down the page "BRUNEI INFO"

Thanks lite I'll check it out. Unfortunately we get in on Monday and leave Wednesday morning and the rides for the amusement park are closed Monday and Tuesdays.

Btw lite, what's transport like in Brunei? On the lonely planet website they suggest hiring a car.

Yes, I wouldn't recommend taking the purple buses they have there, its bollocks. Taxi's are okay but they may rip you off.

Hire a car. It's not that difficult to drive around Brunei, see if they have any road maps etc. All the road signs are in English and not in arabic. Except for a few like, "Berhenti", which means Stop.

The rides in the amusement park nowadays are s*** anyway. Have been for a few years. Most of the rides have been closed due to lack of maintenance. Just go to the amusement parks in HK, i'm sure they have something better there.

Edit: Also, if you do decide to rent a car. You could make the trip from Brunei/Muara to Kuala Belait/Seria in less than an hour (with average speed of 140-160km/hr). You'll also be passing the Tutong district on the way to Kuala Belait/Seria, you could also head to Tutong town, it's developed alot from the last time I was there.

And if you're going to go to Gadong, it may be hard to get a parking outside where it's free, but if you use the underground parking at 'The Mall' it's B$2.00 entrance fee and you can stay there as long as you want. Don't go to the Centerpoint underground parking, expensive prices from what I remember.

last edited by lite at 15:01:48 23/Feb/05