The End of the Road

Eruptions from volcano Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland were continuing periodically with debris being emitted into the atmosphere. This was stopping us getting anywhere. I had now been in Bandar for 10 days and there still didn't appear the possibility of me returning to London by any normal route. We had had various choices put to us - we could stay put and just wait it out but would have to start paying our way, or the airline would return us to Australia free of charge and return us to England as and when, but not before 7th May.
I cannot tell you how helpful the airline were and how well they looked after us and were prepared to look after us. I really cannot fault them and would travel with them again.
After a couple more days we heard that Heathrow had reopened. The airline called a meeting with all the Brits and told us that they would not fly unless they felt it was safe and that our choices still stood. By mid afternoon another meeting was called where they told us they would fly us all back that evening. Which is what they did.
They are a small airline of 7 planes only. They have one timed flight into Heathrow each day. They cannot transgress from this. In other words they could not have taken us to Madrid, for instance, because they were not allowed to land any other place than Heathrow. If they missed their time slot they would have to wait until the next one next day.

The things that they did for us:
On our return to Brunei, on the Dubai flight, they had organised everything so that we knew exactly what we had to do at the airport, got us on ready waiting coaches and took us to a hotel all within one and a half hours.
Put us up in a 4* hotel with 3 meals a day free of charge.
Kept a member of the airline in the hotel all the time to answer questions.
Gave us daily updates of the situation, sometimes twice a day.
When they realised that it wasn't going to end quickly, they gave us the updates at a time that enabled us to take advantage of going out and seeing Brunei.
They put on entertainment such as an outdoor BBQ, a high tea invitation in a sister hotel and a musical and sing song evening by a local band.
They gave us the choices of staying in Bandar at a reduced rate after 7 days.
We had the choice of returning free to our original destination in Australia and then a free ticket home after May 7th.
I thought they were a wonderful airline and people. It could have been a tricky situation with a plane load of British. But apart from the odd one or two (always the odd one or two) I think they won everyone over. Considering the reports on the news of how others were looked after I consider myself more than lucky.
Thank you Royal Brunei Airlines

Travel by local bus

I took an independent trip into Bandar this morning. it is always easy to get somewhere but finding the way back is always a worry. As with all my travels I found the trip remarkably easy. There is a good public bus service in Bandar. You pay a dollar and they will take you almost anywhere. A small (seats about 20) purple bus comes along which you can stop anywhere. There is a girl sat on one of the seats who will take your money and give you a ticket, then writes the fare in a book. The bus takes about 20 minutes to get to the city centre, first of all going past the night market and fish market, out onto the main road and then calls in at all the shopping malls on the way to the city. It stops and starts according to how many passengers and how many times the driver stops, opens the door and spits, we then set off again! We pass the big mosque on the outskirt of Bandar and so we enter the city, past the early morning market and up to the water front then turn off into the bus station.
The bus station is dark and gloomy, full of buses, very busy, bus stops being very close together. I thought I had better ask the driver what bus to catch back to the Centre Point Hotel. His English was poor, but together with him and the little conductress we worked out what it was I required and I could catch the 01 or 20. The purple buses have a number on each side of the bus about 30cm or more tall which are clear to see. After about an hour and a half and very hot I easily found my way back to the bus station found a 20 bus and got on. I just hoped that I got back to where I wanted to be. There was no driver or conductress on the bus at this point, but the engine was running and other passengers were getting on. Three young girls got on and proceeded to eat their lunch, one of which turned out to be the conductress. As soon as the driver turned up the other two girls got off and we were then on our way back. Same story really, spitting and passengers determined how many times we stopped and I found myself back and stopped right outside my hotel. Easy!

Bandar Seri Begawan

I may have to review some of the things I have said about Brunei and Bandar Seri Begawan. My conclusion is as follows, there are no poor people in Brunei. These people are so well looked after. They have no taxes, no fuel bills, petrol is 51 cents a litre (25p). They pay a dollar and can have any medication and health service available, schools are free. They can get a degree and then the Brunei government will pay for them to go and live and be educated abroad, all young people speak English so are bi-lingual, unemployment is virtually nil, everyone is much happier than we are, offering a smile and much laughter. They have large houses, plenty of material wealth, but they still have to work hard, take out loans etc. There is a prison which has 5 inmates, only two of whom are local. The police are called lazy because they have nothing to do. There is very little private enterprise, most jobs are through the government, which provides houses and short working hours. Shopping is popular and there are loads of shopping streets and malls. Everything is up to date as far as technology is concerned. What an ideal situation. I have tried really hard to see underneath it but have not succeeded. I do know that the Sultan looks after his people but rules them rigorously through himself and the Islam religion. There is no alcohol, gambling, drugs, clubbing or discos in this country. The young swarm around the shopping centres and up market coffee shops, the cinemas and other public places, laughing with each other and happy together, drinking mainly milk shakes. It is a pleasure to see. ...and it is safe.

Don't think the trip to Dubai is going to happen!!

Well it's the 16th April 2010 and I think that I am not going to be finding my way to Dubai, a shame but there we go. God in his infinite wisdom has provided a volcanic cloud which has enabled me to stay in beautiful Borneo (Brunei). The airline has put us all up in a great hotel, we arrived at 0300 this morning, and I am taking advantage of provided meals and beautiful piano playing in the foyer! Depending on how long we stay here depends upon what I do for the rest of the day. Perhaps another trip is in order or maybe just relax in the cool. Let me tell you how I got back here! The aircraft started off to Dubai and we spent 3 hours in the air and then the pilot decided that he would return to Brunei for our comfort as Dubai had no room for us to land and hotel bookings were full because the European airports were closed. So a six hour flight for nothing, but we are provided for in mysterious ways and it is all part of the big adventure!
The day has been slow and relaxing and I know that I am going to get a good night's sleep tonight as our next update is not until 0700 Brunei time Saturday morning. My aim now is to try and get straight to London. I was offered a flight to Dubai at 1730 this evening but quite honestly Dubai is not worth 3 flight changes and landing at 0230 in the morning. I no longer had guarantees of my hotel booking and I would have to catch a taxi into the city which would have cost me a pretty penny! So it looks like home a couple of days sooner than I expected, but more time to prepare and get myself fit for the next adventure to America in a fortnight's time.

Kampong Ayer

We returned via the water village. The biggest water village in the world. The water village is called Kampong Ayer, which stretches about 8 km along the Brunei river. It is a well preserved national heritage site, the largest of its kind in the world with approximately 30,000 residents. The Kampong is over 1,000 years old. The name Venice of the East was coined by Antonio Pigafetta in honor of the water village he encountered at Kota Batu (just east of city's central business district). Pigafetta was on Magellan's voyages in 1521, so we know it has been there a very long time. Kampong Ayer has existed since the 10th century A.D, is actually a cluster of villages, each with their own village leader. The villages are connected by a complex web of walkways and bridges. Kampong Ayer's historical importance lies in the fact that the Sultanate's civilization started here with fishing as one of the main livelihoods of the villages. There was a concentration of skilled craftsmen producing handicrafts from brass, silver and wood, hence granting the water village a status of commercial and social importance. This is a village on stilts. The stilts these days are made of concrete but were originally wood, as were the houses. In the 1980's there was a serious fire and the people of the water village have had to review not only the way they build and repair their water houses but also the fire service, which is now half on land and half in the water. There is full commitment in the water village and they have primary and secondary schools, mosques, shopping etc. All villages are now joined by wooden (and very flimsy) bridges and the houses are also joined by walkways.
However, the nifty water taxis are never out of business, scurrying here, there and everywhere. We stopped for tea and cake at a water house, with a room built especially for tourists. You had to be nifty yourself to get out of the boat and onto the steps, which had no handrails, to get up to the house! Then back down again, of course!! The house belonged to a lady who gave us the refreshments and then showed us the rest of the house. It was very long with a big lounge with bedrooms going off from it. Behind this was the kitchen, again large but with running water and a flush toilet. This is a modern happening as the toilets were normally straight into the river. This doesn't surprise me because the river was filthy, with oil, rubbish and goodness knows what else. The room for visitors was a phenomenon in itself. It was like a regal palace room and the bathroom was the same, toilet, bidet, shower and basin done out in a black, white and gold, very, very posh and privately paid for!! Another phenomenon in this country of no taxes, free healthcare and education.

Proboscis Monkeys

My trip to see the proboscis monkeys was indeed an experience. I don't think I ever really thought I would see any and yet I saw two troups of about a dozen monkeys in each. Aside which I saw a pangolin curled up in a tree and a two foot monitor lizard. We caught the boat at the quay near the restaurant I had visited the night before. The word that comes to mind is a sciff, but am unsure if this describes the boat. It is very long and narrow, not much wider than a canoe and has a wooden canopy for protection from the sun and a huge outboard motor that can go fast, fast, fast! The young boy driving was possibly 18 years old, but they all look so young that he could have been a little older. He surely knew how to throw this boat around just like all the water taxis in the water taking people over to the water village which is the largest in the world. More of that later.
We sped along the river, past the mosques and the Sultan's Palace, still invisible from this side, hidden and private by a mass of trees. As we came towards the main mangrove I realised that the mangrove trees I had seen before were nothing compared to these trees. The roots reached out of the water 3 metres and more and the trees reached up into the forest canopy. The boat manoevred its way into small openings looking for monkeys. The roots stretched up and out towards us like hands. The young man knew where the pangolin slept and showed me him balancing precariously round a tree branch some 4 metres up. A strange creature, armour plated and only found in this area. A pangolin is a spiney anteater. It is always a priviledge to see an animal in its wild surroundings and particularly one that is not often seen by others. Many will not even have heard of a Pangolin. We heard the monkeys first, whistling to one another. They sounded like birds, possibly doves calling, but I was assured they were proboscis monkeys. We manoevered back in amongst the mangrove and looked up and there they were, in the tops of the trees eating the mangrove leaves. These leaves have very little nutrition and tends to give the monkeys pot bellies, particularly the older monkeys. The male of the species has the proboscis, a large nose. The bigger the nose, the bigger the belly, the more attractive they are to the flatter faced females. I was thrilled to see them and the second troup that we saw further along the river had a female with a baby on its belly. It was such a thrilling experience. An experience I shall have to remember because they were very difficult to photograph so high in the trees and they were very fast moving.

Second Sighting of Brunei Darussalam

Because my hotel is out of town I decided that I would spend some money on tours which would enable me to see a little of the country. Had my hotel been in Bandar Seri Begawan, I am sure I would not have seen and learned as much as I have done about this small country. Wandering around a city, although always enjoyable for me, really doesn't give you a flavour of the people and the countryside and so I set out on a visit to the countryside to see the old crafts that only a few inhabitants keep up now in this modern world and this civilised, forward looking country.

The earliest recorded mention of cloth-weaving in Brunei can be traced to Sultan Bolkiah's reign from 1485 to 1524. Magellan,the Portugese maritime explorer, visited Brunei some time during this period and his official chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta, reported seeing beautiful examples of Brunei handicrafts, in particular the woven cloth. It is in fact the gold and silver threads that make up the design. The actual job of weaving thread into cloth is a complicated one and would be difficult to describe step by step.It is generally considered that a good coordination between hands, arms and feet is necessary, coupled with inordinate amounts of skill, patience and, of course, craftsmanship learned over many years of practice. The finished standard piece of cloth measures about 2.2 metres by 0.8 metres and can take anything from 10 to 15 days, and sometimes even months, to finish depending on the intricacy of the design and the speed at which the women works. The prices of the weaved cloth reflect the intricate designs and the hard work that a weaver has to undergo. Prices range from about $300 to $2,000 per piece (approx. 2 BND to the £) depending on the pattern that one chooses. The designs too have survived many centuries. I watched the skill of the women in the cottage industry shop and admired the patience I would find difficult to copy. Prices prevented me buying any material. Whoopee, some would say!

The next place was way out in the country and this was a plantation. The man grew orchid palms. Unfortunately flowers are no longer purchased very much in Brunei and market gardening for plants of this type is a dying trade. Also on his plantation were coconut palms which interestingly had lots of termite hills among the trees. These differed to the ones we saw in Namibia, these were much smaller and more rounded rather than the chimney pot type of the African termite. The weather here among the greenery was extremely hot and humid.

Next came the paddy fields. These are run by the government and people can rent the land from the government to grow rice. My guide told me that it was normally retired people who needed something to do that grew the rice. There are several types of rice in Brunei including a very small rice called laila rice and a red rice which is expensive. The rice had already been cut and they were waiting to plant again which can take place anytime, unlike India, which has two rice plantings a year. Only a small portion of the fields were flooded. Most rice growing was done mechanically with few water bufallo being used these days, although we did see some as we went on our travels.

Last but not least we went to the fish market, which was right on the coast. The beach could have been lovely, but was covered in plastic bottles. The area was full of men and fishing boats, going in and out of the small sheltered cove. I sat on a log on the littered beach, in the shade, for a while, as the sea breezes were cool, but it doesn't feel cool for long and the heat takes over again and then you know it is time to get back in the air conditioned minibus.

We then moved on and up a notch and the guide asked me if I wanted to visit the exclusive Empire Resort. I am always open to seeing as much as I can of a country and willingly agreed. From what I can gather every film star and member of royalty has stayed at this super exclusive hotel (who knows)! These people stay on the left hand side of the building in suites. The Sultan's brother, who had this resort built, had the idea that ordinary people should share in this opulence and he built some ordinary rooms on the right hand side. The inside of the reception areas is all marble and looks fantastic. There are three or four floors interconnected with beautiful staircases and escalators. We wandered around outside where there is a natural beach facing the South China Sea and a man made beach facing a pool, bar(no alcohol remember), jacuzzi etc. It was really beautiful.
But all good things must come to an end and so did the tour!