Original B.Lee Qingyan Cultural Travel 2022-05-30 00:00 Posted in Zhejiang
If you ask me if there is a country that can lie flat? I'll tell you there is — Brunei. In Brunei people live a lot of wealth, thanks to the abundant oil resources; there is no drunken fan in the flower world here, because there is no alcohol ban here; there are no suffocating high-rise buildings here, there are no shopping places that make you dizzy, which makes you less desire; there is no overtime work of 996 here, you can get a balance between life and work, and have more time to maintain your family. Brunei's welfare system is perfect, and it is known for not having to pay taxes, and there is a feeling of being cared for by parents, especially the medical system is completely free, and even going abroad for medical treatment is paid for by the state.
Brunei, known as The Mud in ancient times, is located on the north coast of Borneo in Southeast Asia, and is known as the three States of North Borneo in Malaysia, sarawak and Sabah, and is an absolute monarchy. Its dynasty is the longest surviving dynasty in the Yashu dynasty except for the Japanese imperial family, and the state religion is Islam, although it is an Islamic country, it is also a fusion of Buddhism and Christianity, and mutual respect for each other.
Brunei is a niche Southeast Asian country, and fewer people would come here to play, and if it weren't for a friend of mine, Judith, teaching English here, I probably wouldn't have come. Thanks to my friends I got to know Brunei. Speaking of my friend, she turned out to be my English teacher, a typical aspiring Westerner who taught English all over the world, living in Africa for five years, in China for four years, in Brunei for seven years, in the Middle East for five years, and only recently back to her country, New Zealand.
(Born in 1955, she is still worried about the world.
Day 1: Landing in Brunei
When the plane landed in Brunei Country, it found that there were no high-rise buildings, no crowds, no large shopping malls, only various CAR PARKS. Brunei Airport is small, the equivalent of an airport in an ordinary secondary city in China. The first floor is the arrival hall, the second floor is the exit hall, basically do not need any instructions, just a road. Immigration is quite fast because there are few people. Money Changer is in the departures hall on the second floor, opposite The Body Shop. Bus station impression is from the arrival hall to turn left and there is a stop sign.
(Brunei's only international airport, only 15 minutes drive from the city centre)
My friend drove to the airport to pick me up at her apartment, dropped the keys to the house and car and went to class. After a night of fatigue at kuala Lumpur airport, I washed up and went to bed until Judith came back from class at 3 p.m. Judith took me to her friend's house for a reception that was warm and greeted with music, and we prayed together and danced to the music. Everyone is quite NICE people, 70% of Brunei are Muslims, 15% are overseas Chinese, the rest are people from all over the world, and there are quite a few Filipino maids. The first day in Brunei was spent at a party with Judith's friends.
(Pray together and dance to music)
(Although there is a gap in our age, it does not affect our international friendship)
Day 2: Campus revisited
When he got up in the morning, Judith had gone to work. I saw a stick-it note in the kitchen: Come to the school when you have time. The apartment is not far from the school and it only takes two turns to drive straight to it. Without an international driver's license, I dared to drive directly to my friend's car, Brunei and China drive in different directions, God knows how I drove to school intact.
My friend arranged for me to sit in her classroom and introduced me to her students in my spare time. The students talked to me about movies, Marvel, XMAN, CATWAN, etc., and thankfully I watched them all and quickly mingled with them. As a Marvel fan, I have shown it well, opened the phone to show them the Marvel pictures drawn before, and now the student era is still the main trend of anime, and I feel that there is no generation gap between me and them who have left school for many years.
(Find a place to sit down inside, I'm still a student)
Played with students all day at school, cooked dinner with friends in the evening, watched TV, and chatted until twelve o'clock in the evening. I remember my friend telling me that she wanted to finish her work in Brunei this year and go to the poor and backward places in the Middle East to teach, where she was needed, because she dreamed of the middle East's war scenes, the skinny children without food, the people who wanted to change the status quo, and the broken home. She is a Catholic, and she says that God is guiding her life and that she is following her heart's choices. To be sure, she was learning Arabic at the time.
Day 3: Watch the sunset over Bandar Seri Begawan at the Imperial Hotel
I've heard it said that if you visit Bandar Seri Begawan, you'll be moved by the sunset here, and the best place to see the sunset is at the Imperial Hotel, a world-renowned six-star hotel. I was already driving across the road in Brunei yesterday, and I was already very confident in my driving skills, and I drove the navigation to the Imperial Hotel smoothly. The Imperial Hotel is the place where I see the most tourists in Brunei, and it is the first time in a few days that I have seen so many people, including some Chinese team. The hotel can be free to enter the visit, the interior decoration inside is only useful "golden splendor" to describe the most appropriate, and its grand scale is beyond the standard of the hotel, forgive me for opening Liu Grandma into the appearance of the Grand View Garden, it is too local, the golden splendor shines I dare not take the camera out to shoot the hall. The bowling alley, badminton court, golf course, fitness and spa beauty center in the Imperial Hotel are all the best in today's hotels, and what is even more exaggerated is that there is a well-decorated theater in the hotel, which plays the hottest blockbusters of the moment every day. The outdoor garden is also large and beautiful, like the size of a park.
(If you go to Seri Begawan, you will be enchanted by the sunset, so quietly watching, you feel like you have the whole world.) The sunset is infinitely good, the most beautiful dusk, seeing the golden sunset, a little trance, why I will be in Brunei, every encounter in the world is really wonderful. ）
Day 4: Explore Brunei with friends, a long standby day
Today is Sunday, and my friend finally has time to accompany me out for a walk. If you go to Brunei to see the sights, you will be disappointed, because there are no beautiful mountains and rivers, no deep historical sites, and no modern city with high-rise buildings. Visiting Brunei is more about experiencing the quiet and peaceful city life and the rich and friendly Islamic atmosphere of the local area. So, early in the morning, drive to the beach with friends and take a water taxi to the water village. The water village of Kamung Ayer is one of the largest traditional water villages in the world, known as the "Venice of the East". As early as 1521, these labyrinths of water villages on the river impressed the Magellan expedition to Brunei for the first time. After centuries, the water village still retains its former appearance, with more than 3,000 houses and about 30,000 residents, complete living facilities, schools, clinics, police stations and mosques. Visitors can enter the homes of the residents of the water village to experience their daily lives.
After visiting the water village, you can also go to the mangrove forest to see the monkeys, Borneo is one of the few proboscis monkeys living. Of course, there are many other wild animals living in the mangroves, such as various water birds, water snakes, crocodiles, lizards and so on. We chartered a boat for 25 Brunei and met various animals in the mangroves.
When I went ashore, it actually rained, and I planned to find a café for breakfast, and I saw that nearby was Wu Zun's gym. Then go to Wu Zun's restaurant to eat, everything is relatively healthy and exquisite, there is no fried food, but as a restaurant, there is nothing special. I learned about Brunei through Wu Zun, I am not Wu Zun's FAN, I just think he is particularly handsome, the store has his book "Decision to Be Brave" for sale.
After eating, we drove to the Brunei Royal Palace, but the palace only received guests three days a year, that is, the second to fourth day of Eid, and did not catch up with this time, so we had to give up. Chose to go to brunei Royal Ceremonies Museum - Sultan Memorial Hall. The Sultan Memorial, built in 1992, coincided with the 25th anniversary of The Sultan's accession to the throne. The most striking of the memorials is the dragon stalk used by the current Sultan when he ascended the throne, all made of gold. On the second floor, gifts from heads of state to the Sultan were displayed, and even particularly small and worthless things were solemnly placed in a prominent position. The memorial is also the largest private residence in the world, with 2,200 rooms and can accommodate more than 2,000 guests for the Sultan's guests.
(If you want to visit the Palace on Brunei's National Day [February 23] or on Eid al-Fitr, after the end of the Fasting Day and The Month of Fasting, it will be open for 3 days.) Did not catch this time had to give up, outside looking at the palace. ）
(The dragon pluck used by the Sultan when he ascended the throne)
(The Jamie Mosque, also known as the King's Mosque or the Blue Mosque, was a gift from the Sultan to the masses and is said to have cost $1.5 billion to build.) The current sultan is the 29th ruler of the Brunei dynasty, so the entire complex has been decorated with 29 round vaults, and these "golden domes" are all made of pure gold, and it is said that even the countless small domes on the long wall outside the mosque are made of pure gold. ）
It was already noon, and after taking a nap in the car for more than an hour, I went to the horse farm, and I heard that it was dedicated to the royal family, and the good horses were paid tribute to the sultan. When I went to the horse farm to pick the horses, I found that they were too tall, and I was too scared to touch them, and my friend said that you should talk to the horse as a friend, so that it would listen to your words, and also personally did a demonstration, whining, and took a fancy to the white horse, but it ignored me and only cared about my own grass, and said that the impulse to ride on the horse was gone, so I had to watch my friend galloping on horseback in the field.
In the evening, the weather suddenly improved and the sun came out. Passing by a golf course, a friend asked me if I wanted to play? The sunsets in Brunei are so beautiful that people will never forget, and I chose the latter between playing golf and watching the sunset. I love the sea, the sea can always heal us, every time we are unhappy, we will become in a good mood when we go to the beach. Take various selfies with the camera, jump. My friend is very old, but still as childlike and cheerful as a child, confident and wonderful life, this is the mentality that I have been working hard to learn, no matter the vicissitudes of the world, only to be happy myself. Even if you are old, you must have a young heart.
After watching the sunset and having dinner, my friend took me to Crystal Park again. The Crystal Park is said to have been a gift of a 4,500-kilogram super crystal on the 48th birthday of the Sultan of Brunei, giving the Sultan a huge plan to build the crystal park. Crystal Park is the only modern theme amusement park in Southeast Asia and is the largest amusement park in Southeast Asia. Crystal Park is free for locals, and at 9 p.m. there are a large number of residents who drive their families to come. Foreigners need to buy tickets, tickets 15 Brunei dollars, tickets are actually a bracelet, there is a bar code on it, every time you play the project need to brush it, you can repeat the play. When I was a child, I didn't have a playground in my childhood, and when I grew up, I began to play various motorized games or recreational facilities, basically during the day, and the first time was at night. There are more than a dozen recreational facilities in the park, but they are all small, and the projects are more traditional, like roller coasters, Ferris wheels, carousels, water projects, bumper cars, shooting games, haunted houses, and there is actually a MINI golf course inside. After two Ferris wheel rides, two roller coaster rides, three bumper cars, one water sport, one small train, one shooting range, the longest play was golf, from the first level to the twelfth level, one shot in place twice, the rest had to swing two or three times to the target. Of course, it is not as sophisticated as my friends, and almost all the rods are KO at once.
The playground is open until 00:00 a.m., and on the way back late at night, I quietly bought beer at a convenience store because Brunei is forbidden. Back at the apartment, drinking a whole bottle was actually a little dizzying. In the past few days in Brunei, I have deeply felt the social phenomenon of a country and a people getting rich. However, brunei's weather, cuisine, religion and humanities are not all understood, and I personally feel that it is not a strategy, just a travelogue, and travelogue is a way to record memories.
My friend has also returned to New Zealand, before the epidemic at the end of 2019, I contacted a friend to visit her in New Zealand and travel, but it did not materialize, after all, the epidemic is not only disrupting the plans of ordinary people, but the whole world, as if it is tourism, at this moment I miss my friend, I don't know how she is now? I hope that one day after the epidemic is over, I can see the last side of the face and say a word, I haven't seen it for a long time.
Brunei small tips
Spent more than a week in Brunei, spending about $150, refueling once, playground tickets, and other expenses such as meals, drinks, fruits, etc. The visa fee is 250 RMB, plus the round-trip air ticket is 1000 RMB (including transit). The total amount is about 2,000 to 3,000 yuan.
Eat: Restaurants are more expensive, but if you don't mind, you can eat roadside stalls, anyway, mushrooms are cool and feel that roadside stalls are closest to the lives of local people, and they are also delicious. Brunei is dominated by Malay cuisine, and there is also a lot of Chinese food.
Play: Generally two days can be completed, the attractions are generally the royal palace and various mosques, mangroves and water villages and surroundings.
Stay: If you travel to Brunei, it is best to have a local friend in Brunei, which can save accommodation, save car rental by the way, occasionally have a big meal for free, and of course, a free tour guide. If there is no friend and it does not matter, Brunei still has international hostels, 10 Brunei dollars a night, there are also thousands of imperial hotels, the price is a little less inexpensive, the choice of the king.
All right: Since almost everyone in Brunei has a car, there are almost no taxis, and I've only seen them here twice. I heard that if you want to call a taxi, you need to book in advance, and the price is relatively high. Because Brunei is not large, it is not recommended to use a taxi. Bus, I have not sat, but I have seen that there are east lines, west lines, etc., the main attractions and commercial streets can be reached, it is quite convenient. The airport is also conveniently located in the heart of Bandar Seri Begawan city.
Itinerary: From Macau - Kuala Lumpur (transit) - Brunei.
Visa: Brunei visa is actually not very difficult, passport, photos, hotel orders can be handed over to the travel agency, 250 yuan fifteen days visa period. Before departure, I heard that I had to pay a departure tax of 30 Brunei, but I did not collect it until the end of the trip. The WIFI at Kuala Lumpur Airport is basically automatically disconnected every 60 minutes, but the WIFI at Brunei Airport has always been free, and the signal is very strong, probably because the airport is small.
About the Author
B.Lee, Li Bei, alias Li Jia San Girl, wild Henna hand-painted, free backpacker, keen on adventure and travel, in Shenzhen and sofa travel around the country, has traveled through Southeast Asia by car, volunteered at The House of Humanity in India, and has traveled through Asia, Oceania, North America, South America and so on.
(Wild Henna hand painter Li Jiasan Girl)
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