Five minutes later and I'm at the waterfront with $200 so
Brunei is mine to explore proper and I'm overlooking an attempt to make a busy
water taxi terminal in to an attractive area to eat and drink overlooking the
enormous water village on the other side. Its clearly a deliberate attempt to
promote tourism with an interesting piece of sculpture art fountain as a focal
point. It isn't exactly slick like you'd see in Singapore but its a start and
provides a welcome orientation point for visitors.
Brunei's tourist brand is 'Abode of Peace' with Brunei
the 'Green Heart of Borneo' and 'A Kingdom of Unexpected treasures' promised.
What's striking about the waterfront is its attempt to integrate in to its
surroundings rather than the reverse. This is not a mass tourist attraction as
I'm just about the only tourist in sight. They are attempting to attract
travellers who are looking for something different and it's as different as
I've felt travelling for a long time.
Where ever you are 'down town' you are never far from the
magnificent gold domed Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque. I've got a particular
fascination with almost any religious attraction (my children get 'templed out'
on trips) but this is probably the finest example I've ever seen. Simple yet
elegant, bold yet refined, I've taken as many photos as I can which is pretty
unusual for me. I know there are larger examples around (here) but its scale
sits perfectly with its moat surroundings with water being an ever present
feature of almost everyone's lives here.
I spot a family from the plane enjoying a KFC meal in the
outlet situated in the malay style buildings housing a shopping centre and
department store. I'm sure they sell everything you could possibly want but as
I don't want anything, I'm back walking along the waterside, stopping for a
couple of drink stops at some of the outlets that are open, en route for the
Arts & Handicrafts training centre at the far end. It's enormous but empty
and I decide against going in when I see a sign for its restaurant just around
the corner and remember I haven't eaten since dinner last night. Appetite is a
very negotiable experience in this environment.
It's clearly open with lights twinkling but no cars in
the car park and its heading towards dusk so I venture in anyway to see a large
noodle offering of ten different types on the ground floor and then upstairs a
full buffet and a la carte menu with sufficient tables to seat several hundred
people in each. Crikey. I can't imagine it gets that busy but there are staff there
as if it might. The chef starts talking to me in excellent english and I
establish that it exists really to cater for groups that visit though they must
be open from 10am to 10pm. Goodness. I'm not entirely sure why but I think the
same person responsible for having a go at the waterfront is having a go at
providing other opportunities for tourism.
My new friend expresses surprise that I'm alone and says
'You must be...'..... .... .... 'adventurous'. No, I say. Just curious. And
curious enough to decide to go back later if I feel hungry at all. Walking back
along the front, its starting to get hazy, dusky and while I feel perfectly
safe, I'm constantly being shouted at by water taxi drivers and wonder whether
I should take the plunge. Plucking up the courage would normally take a beer
while watching what everyone else does first but of course I have to settle for
Mocha Latte at Fratini's 'Authentic Italian Cuisine' Restaurant that has an
impressive menu and wouldn't look out of place anywhere outside italy for pizza
and pasta. The nice young water has only me to engage in conversation and
apparently I can take a trip across to the Kampung (Water Village) for 50 cents
to $1 either way. He says everyone is friendly and I'll be fine just walking
around by myself but I've been walking for a couple of hours and in this
humidity its exhausting to do anything much more but watch people going home
with their shopping and worldly goods. And fascinating. All manner of boxes and
bags, groceries, and purchases.
I decide to have a go tomorrow if its a bit brighter and
nicer weather though I've visited my fair share of Kampungs all over Asia and I
like looking at this one with its myriad colours and designs from across the
way where it looks like a film set rather than real life. There's a cultural
and tourism centre but I know I'll be the only one there and judging by all the
looks, toots and general attention seeking behaviour going on around me, I'm
the object of a lot of solo traveller interest and I don't think its got
nothing to do with my gender.
So I end up winding my way up and down a few more of the
less than ordinary streets, taking more and more pictures of the mosque but
gradually returning towards the hotel when I spot tonic water in a mini-mart
type store and recall my allocation of duty free awaits. I've been out for four
hours which probably accounts for my relief to feel refreshed by the aircon and
consult the menus for the various hotel restaurants but know I will end up on a
date in my room with a G&T and Piers Morgan on CNN. The Republican Romney
ticket acceptance conference is being shown full time (what para olympics) and
its compelling viewing as it turns out, I think because its so incongruous and
removed from my 'Abode of Peace' where I'm reading the Brunei Tourism Year Book
which confirms a lot of the feelings I've been having. Rich in Gas and Black
Gold, this tiny country of only 400K inhabitants is fabulously wealthy but
attempting to remain at one with nature.
It's sort of like Belgium is to europe in terms of scale
on this enormous island of Borneo but also very focussed on retaining its 'lush
pristine' rainforests and 'placid, relaxed and rush free' way of life. Hector
(the Psychiatrist) would do well to have visited in his search for time because
all of sudden I have in fact found somewhere that feels time rich. Or at least
where time passes more slowly. Or where I at least have time.
Drifting off to sleep, its a more settled night before
waking early ready to finish the tourist yearbook and watch Romney strut his
stuff. I know this has nothing to do with me (I was as excited by Barack Obama
as everyone else was by his two books that I bought and read in Washington the
year prior to his election) but I have to say that I've seen a lot about him
and his wife and their values these past two days and there is something, yes
conservative, about him that is quietly reassuring. If his story is true, he
sure knows what he's doing in business and one thing that we all need to
prosper in these difficult times is someone who knows what they are doing in
business but who also looks out beyond their own family to the welfare of
others and theirs, balancing the need for us all to succeed and not at everyone
else's cost.
He isn't swag Cameron, cheesing grins through it all. He
seems like someone solid, reliable and trustworthy and has a healthy disregard
for lawyers (which I think is perfectly reasonable). Plain old boring
dependable. Committed. Careful. And self-effacing. You sense so many
politicians have egos the size of the planet but he just doesn't. I could work
with him, I thought. But as I said, it's all got nowt to do with me.
When he'd finished and they went back to being OTT
conference americans by filling the entire stadium with so many balloons no one
could speak, move or breathe, I was ready for the off to follow the hotel's
suggested jogging trails but walking that promise to take me to the local
waterfall and hilltops. The Tasek trickle wasn't exactly as depicted in its
botox enhanced picture but the walk was relatively pleasant once I left the
tooting roadside. The way I deal with feeling anxious about being very solo in
a strange place to behave as if I'm completely at ease but keep a really close
eye out for anyone who might get a bit tricky. I was groped once in a fortress
in Oman and its made me super selective of my routes. Obviously there wasn't
more than the odd soul for the whole hour but the flowers and fauna were just
stunning and I got lots of pictures to show my Mum of some hugely amazing
varieties of all sorts of flowers I've just never seen before. Worth a bit of
sweat equity (and nervous sweat) to acquire them.
I pitstopped back at the hotel lobby on the free apple
and pineapple water that someone had prepared for no one but me to drink. I
considered eating by the pool but the pool was obviously empty and the hotel
buffet restaurant is unremarkable (until its also upgraded). There were a few
folks in there and the Aussie GM probably would have engaged me in polite
conversation but I'm tired of polite conversation with strangers and decide to
head off on route two which will bring me through tree lined vistas back to the
cultural centre restaurant on the sea front by a completely alternative route.
I knew it was an error to be turning off the beaten track
about a nanno after every car that passed slowed and tooted, rather than just
tooted but luckily I soon had other things to worry about - like the uneven
path in Fitflops, no path, steep uphill and baking sunshine which miraculously
came on as soon as there was no shade. Resolute, I soldiered on, figuring that
every step taken was one less left to do but I was all of a lather and was
beginning to regret ever thinking the suggested two hours of brisk walking were
just what the doctor ordered with an overnight flight ahead of me tonight.
Rigour will set in, I just know it and I bet I don't feel like walking ever
again, tomorrow morning in London.
Oh well, this is Brunaian Borneo and I can at least have
said I'm the only person ever to follow the hotel's jogging trails completely
as I think I'm the only person who has ever stayed in the hotel too. I spot my
possible lunch stop eventually with a mixture of relief that only half a dozen
steep hairpin bends and no paths are between me and life but guess what, it's
deserted and I just can't face being so lonely, so early in the day. It will
attract all the unwelcome attention that too much attention when it is not
welcome can. So there's nothing for it but to return to Fratini's to break the
overnight fast with a caesar salad that I don't think caesar would have
recognised but hey, as I said, an italian restaurant that wouldn't be out of
place anywhere outside Italy.
So I'm the only one sat outside but there's a roar of the
boats as they thunder and slap across the river and so I can hear life carrying
on here as it does every day, no doubt. Simple, honest, straightforward and a
world away from life as we know it. I'm glad that I didn't spend another night
in KK. As much as I love it, it has moved on from the KK I fell in love with a
decade ago. In its place is a fast moving modernising malaysian city that I
still love but its nice to be back somewhere where tourism is not a backbone
and more of an after thought.
Brunei has world class golf courses, hotels and function
facilities. It also has some of the most untouched rainforests in the world.
It's a great place to round off my 'gap year' and return back to the UK with
some fresh views on life, the world and things that have nothing to do with me.
Except of course that we are all in this together. Country by country, nation
by nation, our life chances and experiences are dominated by our prevailing
views unless we have seen and appreciated something of others. Brunei is
refreshing. Fascinating. Fabulous. It's a place I would like to have had more
time to explore.
