Trip Report: Brunei
Visited in January 2023
Brunei is a tiny country in Southeast Asia that most people have probably never heard of. The country is located on the island of Borneo, the third largest island in the world after Greenland and New Guinea. Borneo is shared by Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, with Brunei covering less than 1% of the island’s total area.
Thanks to large oil reserves, Brunei with its 437,000 inhabitants is also one of the richest countries in the world. The country is an absolute monarchy and is ruled by Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, one of the richest men in the world. There was even a time in the 1980s when he was the richest. Moreover, since the death of Queen Elizabeth, he is currently the longest reigning monarch in the world.
Brunei is also an extremely conservative country. The Muslim country, which was formerly under British rule, has a mix of the English common law and the Sharia as its judicial system. According to the constitution, religious freedom is guaranteed in Brunei. The reality is different, though. There are a number of hurdles for non-Muslims to practice their religion that do not apply to Muslims. The death penalty is practiced in the country and alcohol is strictly prohibited.
A few years ago, Brunei even made it into the international news for several weeks. Back then, the sultan introduced a new law that imposed the death penalty for homosexuals by stoning. Only after massive international pressure did the Sultan revoke this law. In addition to the outrage of Western politicians, celebrities such as George Clooney and Elton John threatened to boycott Brunei-owned luxury hotels around the world, which is why the Sultan spoke of a “misunderstanding” afterwards.
After reading this, you may think that this country doesn’t seem very likeable. In fact, Brunei is also an unpopular country among well-traveled people for other reasons. Brunei is often called one of the most boring countries in the world. It is therefore not surprising that the country is not really a tourist magnet and is visited mostly by people like me who want to see every country in the world.
For Kati and me, Brunei came at the very end of a month-long trip. Before we had visited Malaysia, Vanuatu and Australia. When I booked this trip, I thought that after these countries two nights in the apparently most boring country in the world wouldn’t be that bad. But if you have read my blog articles about the other countries we visited, you already know that this trip was rather disappointing. And then, of all places, Brunei was supposed to be the grand finale. My motivation for this country was anything but big.
The direct flight from Melbourne to Brunei takes almost seven hours. Besides, it’s a flight that is notoriously late. According to my Flightradar24 app, flight BI6 operated by Royal Brunei Airlines was at least one, but in most cases two to three hours late every time in the two weeks before our trip. As a result, it wasn’t too much of a surprise when we got the announcement at the gate that boarding would happen an hour after departure time.
We left Melbourne two hours later but to be honest Royal Brunei Airlines was not bad at all. I found the seats the most comfortable of all the airlines we flew with on this trip. The food was not bad either and the staff was very friendly. Surprisingly, there were even Islamic prayers before departure via the entertainment system. I have not seen anything like this in any other country than Saudi Arabia.
Funnily enough, about 80% of the passengers in Brunei did not go to immigration but to the transit area. Royal Brunei Airlines flies to several destinations around the world. Among others to London, a 16.30h flight from Brunei, which the passenger sitting next to me started immediately after arrival. Immigration was pretty smooth and we left the airport at about 19.30. Hello country No. 144!
Brunei is a country that consists of two parts. The eastern part Temburong is mostly rain forest, while the capital Bandar Seri Begawan is located on the western part of the country. The two parts are separated by Malaysia, but connected to each other by a bridge.
We had two nights and one full day in Brunei. Therefore, it would not have made sense to visit the eastern part, where Ula Temburong National Park is located. Instead we sticked to the capital knowing that there is not much to do there.
Our hotel was the Capital Residence Suites, a basic but clean hotel in the city center. The reason why we chose this hotel was its free shuttle service. The hotel not only picked us up from the airport for free, but also provided its shuttle to get us around the city. Brunei has one of the largest car to inhabitant ratio. There is one car for every 1.5 people. For this reason, Brunei is not the most pedestrian friendly country in the world and you need a vehicle to get around.
The Sultan allegedly owns over 7,000 luxury cars. Seven thousand! That means if he wanted to drive a different car every day, he would need 19 years for all of them. At least one of his cars is completely gold-plated, as is one of his jets. He was also by far the most important customer of Rolls Royce in the 1990s, generating more than half of the company’s sales during that period.
I mentioned the Islamic prayers on the plane and that I was reminded of Saudi Arabia. But also otherwise I traveled to Brunei with the idea that this is a kind of Saudi Arabia in Southeast Asia. In other words, an ultra-conservative country with locals who don’t really fancy tourists. Thus, it fitted my imagination that Brunei was a heavily motorized country that doesn’t really give a shit about pedestrians. Saudi Arabia, after all, is the same.
I was all the more surprised that none of these ideas turned out to be true. On our first evening, we walked to the Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque and to the food court in the mall next to it. Walking to these places was quite easy. The streets have sidewalks, traffic lights and pedestrian bridges. Something that is not a matter of course in every country and exactly the opposite of what I expected in Bandar Seri Begawan.
Furthermore, we met many young locals that evening and they were not reserved at all. On the contrary, they were very friendly and I had the feeling that these people enjoyed having tourists in their country. Also the dresses of the locals did not give you the feeling that Brunei is as conservative as Saudi Arabia. I saw many men in shorts and also women with makeup and without hijabs.
We used the next day to see the attractions of Bandar Seri Begawan. The highest priority for us was Kampong Ayer, a floating village, sometimes called the “Venice of the East”. Kampong Ayer was historically the principal settlement of Brunei and the de facto capital of the Bruneian Empire. You can visit Kampong Ayer by boat and if you want, you can ask your boat driver to drive into the mangrove forest to see the rare proboscis monkeys there.
The front desk manager at our hotel recommended that we go to the riverbank where we would meet boat drivers. With these we should haggle about the price and 35,000 Brunei dollars per person would be a good deal. When we arrived at the riverbank, it did not take 15 seconds until we were approached by a man on a boat. His offer was 20,000 Brunei dollars per person for a one-hour ride to Kampong Ayer and the mangrove forest, which we accepted without further haggling.
Kampong Ayer has very little to do with the “Venice of the East”. The water of the river is incredibly dirty. Not only plastic floats on the surface but the water also looks somehow “oily”. Also the houses do not really look Venice-pretty. The tour through the floating village was still okay, because our boat driver also made an effort and explained for example which building the school and which house the fire department was.
The highlight – of the whole Brunei trip – were the monkeys in the mangrove forest. It only takes about 10 to 15 minutes from Kampong Ayer to the forest and we even saw a big crocodile on our way. The proboscis monkeys are relatively easy to find, since they stay near the water. They are also not shy, so you can get up to a few meters to them and take good photos.
The tour lasted about an hour in total and was absolutely worth it. If you’ve already seen these monkeys somewhere else on Borneo, you can probably save yourself this tour. However, I have never seen this species and was therefore thrilled.
We spent the rest of the day seeing some more sights. For example, a Chinese temple in the city center and the Royal Regalia Museum, a typical dictator museum that is practically all about the Sultan. There’s something quirky about this museum and it’s worth a visit in my opinion even if you’re not into museums.
In the museum you can see, among other things, gifts that Brunei has received from other countries. Some of these gifts are quite impressive and probably have a very high value. On the other hand, other gifts made me wonder why they didn’t cause a diplomatic crisis between the countries (I’m looking at you, Timor-Leste).
Of course, we also visited the Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque during daylight. This mosque is probably the most picturesque building of the entire country and a popular subject for photos of yourself. By the way, as a tourist you also have the possibility to enter the mosque outside the prayer times.
We didn’t visit the Jame’ Asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque, Brunei’s other major mosque, which is located a bit outside the center. We also skipped the Empire Brunei hotel. You can enter this luxury hotel even as a non-guest and spend some time in the public area. Because there is so little to do in Brunei, this is therefore a popular location among tourists.
In the evening we went to the Gadong Night Market, basically a no-brainer when you are in Brunei. There you can try the local cuisine and also specialties from other Asian countries at very reasonable prices. If I remember correctly, we had four to five different dishes, all costing between 1-3 Brunei dollars.
Although Brunei is one of the richest countries in the world, the country is surprisingly not very expensive. You can have a cheap meal at the night market, but the prices were okay even in restaurants in the center. Transportation, entrance fees, and accommodations are also affordable. For our hotel, a no frills hotel with three stars, we paid BND 75 per night, which is about USD 55. The Radisson Blu, which I had originally booked but canceled shortly before arrival, cost about twice as much, which is still not much for a Radisson.
In our case, a local even made sure that we didn’t have to pay anything for the ride back from the night market to the hotel. A young man started a conversation with us and said it would be his pleasure if he could drive us to the hotel. While he was doing that, he took a detour to show us some places he thought were worth seeing. As I said before, the people of Brunei turned out to be extremely friendly and helpful.
The next day we left Brunei in the direction of Malaysia, from where we took the flight back to Europe the same evening. My 144th country was already over after two nights and a whole day. So, what is my conclusion about Brunei? Is it really the most boring country in the world?
Brunei is certainly a country for which you do not need much time as a tourist. A full day is easily enough to see everything worth seeing in the capital Bandar Seri Begawan. To be more precise, even half a day is enough. With a second day, you could also do a daytrip to Ulu Temburong National Park.
For me personally, Brunei was not as bad or boring as I expected. Therefore, I would also answer the question whether Brunei is the most boring country in the world with a no. I found the Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque impressive, the Sultan museum also turned out to be amusing and the monkeys in the mangrove forest were pretty cool. For this reason, I did not have a bad time in Brunei.
Nevertheless, this does not mean that I would recommend Brunei as a destination. The country is simply not a must-see. Will I visit Brunei a second time? Probably not. I doubt that I will travel again to Brunei to see the Ulu Temburong National Park or revisit Bandar Seri Begawan. But one day I would like to visit Borneo properly. Even if I think it is unlikely, maybe I will then hop into Brunei again, who knows.
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