First sights of Brunei

Brunei Darussalam is a small country bordered by Sabah, Sarawak and Malaysia. It is in the islands of Borneo and so consists of mainly rainforest and this is all you can see on the flight into Brunei. Brunei has a Sultan and everything centres around this 64 year old man and his family. He has built numerous buildings, all pretentious compared to some of the living of his subjects. However, there are also many large houses around and so I have to assume that there are rich and poor in this small country. As a Muslim country there is no alcohol and no gambling, but the borders are so close that non-muslims are able to drive over the borders for their fun. Bandar Seri Begawan is the capital and this name comes from the Sultan. In the 1800's the then Sultan liked cock fighting and lost most of Brunei to Sarawak, so the story goes. Brunei then was as big as Brunei and Sarawak put together.
I decided on a city tour to see what this area holds. First of all I was taken to the mosque, Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque, built and named after the current Sultan. It has 29 gold onion domes as there has been 29 Sultans. It is a fantastic and impressive building. Very beautiful. Anyone can come and pray here at the requisite times of the day. It is an indescribable monument to Islam, holding 2000 people. I was unable to enter unless I wore a black robe. Photos were limited.
From here I went on to the Brunei Museum which was right on the edge of Bandar. It had been opened by the Queen in 1972. This housed the history of Brunei, moving right through to its independence in 1984. To get the full effects would have taken a day to read the many interesting things in there. What was of interest to me were the animals which can only be found in Brunei, such as the proboscis monkey.
We drove then to the middle of Bandar and saw the Royal Regalia Exhibition Hall. This was built especially by the Sultan to house the royal coaches, crowns, all the gifts given to the Sultan over the years. The Sultan has 3 wives, he has just married the third wife, who is Malaysian. The other two are from Brunei, but he has divorced the second wife! How the other half live!!
Next was a stop at another Mosque in the city. This was by the river and had a 16thC replica of the royal barge by the side of it.
Lastly the visit to the outside of the palace. The Istana Nurul Iman palace is the residence of the Sultan of Brunei. The palace is located on a leafy, riverside sprawl of hills on the banks of the Brunei River directly south of Bandar Seri Begawan, a few miles outside the city center. Istana Nurul Iman is believed to be the world's largest residential palace of any type. Its name is taken from Arabic, meaning Palace of the Light of Faith. To be honest you couldn't see muchof it because of trees that have grown up in front of it.
Brunei is one of those random places that everyone's heard of (the sultan was the richest man in the world for a long time until Bill Gates overtook him), but no one knows where it is.
It's one of the smallest countries in the world, and it was about to be completely enveloped by Malaysia, until oil was discovered in 1929, turning this little country into one of the worlds economic powers overnight. The current Sultans father decided to throw his lot in with the British and remain under their protection instead of becoming part of Malaysia, and this is what helped keep all that oil and money in this little country.

How one man can have so much money (about $35 billion at last count) is because he shares the wealth. Brunei has a 94% literacy rate, life expectancy is 77 years (higher than Scotland) and there are free pensions for all, free schooling, free health care, free sport & leisure centres, cheap loans and no income tax. Lucky, lucky people! What a fascinating place.