Sabine.se - Darussalam Brunei February 2020
Three nights in Bandar Seri Begawan- that was enough for me
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Early arrival in Darussalam. The view from the hotel room was not very exciting
After check in at the Radisson we immediately started to discover the city of Bandar Seri Begawan
First we went to the Royal Regalia Museum which they brag about.
We had to take off our shoes, register ourselves and leave the camera in a locker
We went barefoot through all the galleries and exhibitions and ended up in the entrance hall again where we
could take a photo of the royal chariot - Sinipit dan Taming - on which the Sultan was carried (!)
through the streets of Darussalam in 1992 when he celebrated his silver jubilee of his coronation in 1968...
We left the museum and found the famous clock tower, built in 1959 to commemorate the visit of
Tuanku Abdul Rahman. Okey, it is a clock tower in a crossing surrounded
by unmaintained buildings
I was a bit dissapointed because I had been looking forward to seeing the golden city of the Sultan
Finally we found some gold on the Omar ´Ali Saifuddien Mosque
We strolled down to the harbour for lunch and picked one of the two restaurants which were available namely
the Horizons Seafood Restaurant from where you have a good view over to the floating village Kampong Ayer
Very nice sign I thought
but the reality spoke another language
After a confusing walk we found the Tasek Recreational Park which has a lot of restrictions for the visitors.
It is one of the oldest recreational parks within the city and the maintainance of it in the same shape!
The Sultan must spend money on something else than maintaining his country.
Me in front of the natural waterfall!
On our way to the Kianggeh Market
which again disspointed me! Where is all the gold?!
At the open-air market known to the locals as "Tamu Kianggeh"
we bought our chili
and inspected the dried fish. After that we encountered a retired chinese man who drove his car around
in the city looking for lost persons like us to take car of
He drove us to the Mall Gadong
The mall is a joke! I thought I could find some nice souvenirs here but NO.
We had a lunch - fried rice with vegetables - and then we left
to the Jame´Asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque the countrys largest mosque with space for up to 5.000 worhshippers
a beautiful and impressive building
We continued our private guided tour to the Istana Nurul Iman, the official residence of the Sultan of Brunei
as well as the seat of the Brunei Governement
Entrance to the worlds largest residential palace
James, the driver, then drove us to the next big and impressive building
The Empire Brunei formerly known as The Empire Hotel and Country Club
This also was beautiful and impressive
Back in Bandar Seri Begawan and another look at the Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque
This is the entrance to the former Istana Darussalam - The old Palace
The first palace of the sultans, hard to find and not so shiny.
We took a stroll on the heritage trail
Well, as usual there was not much too see
We went back to the Radisson hotel and had an excellent Indian supper with tea at the Riwaz
The days in Brunei were over. With propeller plane, which my husband did not appreciate, back to Malaysia
I was supprised, it was only me, my husband and
the crew on the plane. Maybe due to the coming spread of covid 19 ?
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