BRUNEI – BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

JANUARY 16-20, 2026

Brunei is a tiny country on the northern coast of the island of Borneo, on the South China Sea. It is surrounded by Malaysia on the land side. It has under a half million people, with approximately 64,000 living in the capital of Bandar Seri Begawan. It is ruled by a Sultan. It is basically a welfare state with its citizens getting free, or hugely subsidized housing, healthcare and education. 90% of its DGP is from oil and gas. Islam is the state religion, but all religions are tolerated.

We were a short airplane ride away, so we decided to spend a few days in Badar Seri Begawan, its capital city. As usually happens, we discovered it had a lot more to offer than we anticipated. In hindsight, we should have stayed longer.

The first day we walked around getting orientated. We went to the ROYAL REGALIA MUSEUM. We were told not to take pictures, but I took a few sneaky ones.

It was a beautiful museum which had a lot of pictures of the current and previous Sultans. The home movies did not appeal to us. They also had displays of gifts presented to the Sultan from various countries and diplomats. Every one of them were beautiful, depicting something of significance from that country. It was evident that the finest craftsmen were used to make the items.

The Royal Golden Chariot was on display. It was used for the Sultan’s Silver and Golden Jubilees to parade the Sultan and royal family. It is pulled by 50 specially chosen members in traditional attire.

Each coloured banner and umbrella represents a certain division of the government.

Each sword, spear and shield have a symbolic meaning and are to be carried in a specific way.

There was an exhibit of the coronation room. An interesting artifact was a golden hand to hold the Sultan’s head, signifying the weight of responsibility in wearing the crown.

We took a taxi to the SULTAN’S PALACE (ISTANA NURUL IMAN). We could only take pictures through the gate. The palace is open to the public for three days, once a year, at the end of Ramadan. The Sultan personally greets nearly 200,000 guests, hands out gift bags and provides a free meal.

According to Wikipedia, “it is the largest residential palace in the world and the largest single-family residence ever built. The palace contains 1,788 rooms, which includes 257 bathrooms, a banquet hall that can be expanded to accommodate up to 5,000 guests, and a mosque accommodating 1,500 people. The palace also includes a 110-car garage” (he owns 7000 valued at over $5 billion, many are one-off models made specifically for the Sultan), “an air conditioned stable for the Sultan’s 200 polo ponies, and five swimming pools. In total, Istana Nurul Iman contains 2,152,782 square feet (200,000 m²) of floorspace. Istana Nurul Iman has 564 chandeliers, 51,000 light bulbs, 44 stairwells and 18 elevators.”

We saw it from the river side a few days later.

We went to BALAI KHAZANAH ISLAM SULTAN HAJI HASSANAI BOLKIAH (ISLAMIC MUSEUM). They sure like their long names of things.

We had a tour of a miniature layout of the Prophet Mohammed’s first mosque and his home. The guide explained about the Weeping Pillar, the Minbar, and other pillars, which I won’t explain here, as it was rather confusing. His English was not so good, so a local kept translating for us. At the end, I asked her if all the Mosques had those special pillars. She said, “Oh no. Only the original mosque and this one. That is what makes this place so special.”

Mohammed’s replica home was very small and austere. Supposedly, the prophet was a big man, between 180-190 cm (5 ft 9 in – 6 ft 2 in) When Pierre said he was 185 cm, the guide got excited and had him stand in front of a robe that was supposed to fit the Prophet. The locals got excited, too. “OOH, such a big man!”

The next day we went to the BRUNEI DARUSSALM MARITIME MUSEUM. The main exhibit is The Brunei Shipwreck Gallery. It has a number of artefacts from a shipwreck site found off the coast of Brunei in 1997. The main cargo was a shipment of foreign ceramics dating back to the 15th and 16th centuries.

There were some beautiful Chinese porcelains, as well as ceramics from Siam (Thailand) and Vietnam.

A second gallery told the story of TERINDAK ISLAND. It was a tiny, man-made island of 250 sq metres (2691 sq ft) and only 3.5 (11.5 ft) metres above sea level. It was connected to the land by a wooden bridge. It was used as a jetty for small boats visiting the old capital of Kota Batu, for loading and unloading import and export goods, and as an observation post for water vessels entering and leaving the Brunei River. To further protect the capital city from attacks, the Sultan had 40 vessels, loaded with big rocks, sunk at the mouth of the river to prevent larger ships from entering. I don’t know if the island still exists.

Brunei was a major shipping stopover, similar to Melaka, Malaysia. When the Portuguese took Melaka, traders used Brunei as a port to wait out the monsoons.

We then went to the MALAY TECHNOLOGY MUSEUM. It was not what I was expecting, at all! But it was one of the highlights of our time in Brunei. The entire museum told the story of the Water Villages. The water villages have been inhabited for 1000 years. No one had an answer as to why they built on the water and not land. There were model houses that explained how they evolved over the centuries, with building materials and roof layouts, which seemed to be of significance.

Each village had its own special craftsmen and women. Some villages were strictly boatbuilders, others fishing equipment, blacksmiths, goldsmiths, brass casting, roof makers and weavers to name a few. I don’t know how you can be a blacksmith in a bamboo hut without burning the place down.

There were models of tools they used for pressing sugar cane and boiling down the syrup to make sugar, as well as other tools needed to survive, thrive, barter and trade.

I found it totally fascinating! Maybe because my grandparents were immigrant pioneers, and I can appreciate the innovative contraptions they had to come up with to survive and the bare-bones living conditions. We spent a couple of hours looking around.

Next, we had a RIVER CRUISE booked. For a mere $33 each we had a 2 hour boat cruise up and down the Brunei River, complete with a meal. We went as far as Sultan Haji Omar Ali Saifuddien Bridge in one direction.

Then as far as Kampong Ayer Water Village in the other direction, passing under Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Hajah Saleha Bridge. It was named after the Queen consort. At the top is an Islamic dome with a diameter of 8.7 metres (28.5 ft) and weight of 9.5 tonnes (21000 lbs). The tower is the tallest structure in the country.

It was a leisurely way to spend a rainy afternoon. We met a lovely Nepalese family on board and exchanged contact information.

From the Boat Cruise we went to OMAR ALI SAIFUDDIEN MOSQUE.

It was a real quick visit, as we were only allowed a few meters into the prayer hall. It was beautiful and worth the peek.

Behind the mosque was a replica of the ROYAL BARGE. Although the sign on the gate said it was open, the gate was locked.

On our final, full day in Brunei we went to JAME’ ASR HASSANIL BOLKIAH MOSQUE. It is the country’s biggest mosque and was built by the Sultan for his own 48th birthday as a gift to his people. It covers 8.1-hectare (20-acre). It has 29 golden domes, commemorating the 29 Bruneian Sultans.

The four minarets stand 58 metres (190 ft) tall. The mosaics on them is beautiful.

The white marble staircase inside has 29 steps, honouring the current 29th Sultan of Brunei, and birthday boy, Hassanal Bolkiah.

The five water fountains symbolise both the five daily prayers and the five pillars of Islam.

The largest dome is situated above the male prayer hall.

The mihrab is decorated with 24 carat gold-plated tiles and black marble stones.

The mosque’s air-conditioned interior can accommodate up to 5,000 worshipers at once. Although some like to sit and commune with God privately.

There were beautiful staircases that led to the gardens.

Pierre was hesitant to go to this mosque because he said that all mosques were the same, a big empty hall. He had to eat his words on this one! Have I mentioned that one should NEVER assume!!

We next took a water taxi to KAMPONG AYER, the WATER VILLAGE. I was shocked and appalled with it. Although there are new homes built on stilts that look quite nice, the older part was disgusting.

The buildings were falling down. There was garbage in the muck under the houses. We even saw a discarded washing machine. It looked as though someone just shoved it out the door when it quit.

The wooden sidewalks were treacherous and at times boards came loose as we walked on them.

We did not stay long, as it was dirty and stinky and we did not trust the walkways. We stood on the jetty and within seconds another water taxi came to pick us up. He offered us a short tour for only $10 each. We agreed. He told us he lived in the newer section of water houses. I asked him why on the water and not on the land. He said his people have lived on the water for 1000 years. It did not seem natural to live on land. He said his house is worth $300,000 but the Sultan decreed that no Bruneian should pay more than $90,000, so he pays a rent-to-own rate of $250 a month until it is paid. A house on the land is only $100,000.

We often saw cats in cages. When we were in the water village we asked a lady why. She said it is not that they do not love their cats, on the contrary, they keep them in cages so the crocodiles don’t get them.

We asked the water taxi driver where we could see a crocodile. He said “In the boat next to us.” WHAT!! Sure enough, there was a 12-15 ft crocodile in the boat next to us! I stood up to take a video. The croc went crazy and started to thrash about. Our driver moved us away quickly at the same time as the other boat moved in the opposite direction. The driver said he was afraid that the thrashing could tip our boat, or worse yet, it could thrash itself into our boat. YIKES!! It was terrifying yet exciting and exhilarating all at the same time.

We asked what they were going to do with it. Our driver was very upset when he said they were going to kill it, for the skin, meat and medicinal parts. Brunei is trying to shift away from these practices and conserve the beast for the eco-system balance they provide.

He took us past a fire station. It had fire engine boats. Interesting.

Schools on stilts.

After our short, but sweet tour, we went back to the land and had lunch at the mall. The mall had some high end shops but few shoppers. Similar to the streets in Brunei, they seem surprisingly empty. We could jay-walk anytime, anywhere there were so few cars.

My hair had been getting really long and damaged. It was getting hard to comb and it looked bad. I asked at the mall and they directed me to a Ladies Only Salon. Pierre was not even allowed to step a foot inside. I got a good haircut for only $10.

OTHER NOTES

Brunie is very clean. There are street sweepers to ensure that.

Some building are abandoned and taken over by monkeys.

Some buildings and homes are super modern looking.

Food and accommodation are inexpensive. Meals run around $10-20 for the two of us. Our hotel was $50/ night. Taxi’s seem to charge $5-6 to any location.