Friday I-Wish-I-Were-There (Brunei)

Welcome to my Friday I-Wish-I-Were-There Blog.

Today I’m returning to one of the most exotic and fascinating places I’ve ever visited, Brunei on the island of Borneo. Brunei is an Islam country, surrounded by lush rainforests populated by the Proboscis monkey, a native species of Borneo.

Highlights:

River Taxi ride at dusk. Hopping onto a river taxi we discovered our very friendly driver was a man called Aslam (or that’s as close as I could pronounce his name). Aslam knew of New Zealand (“Ahhh..All Blacks! Jonah Lomu, yes?!) and enjoyed scaring the heck out of me by zooming through the rickety bridges of Kampong Ayer (the River village) built on poles over the Brunei river. As darkness fell we heard the mosques along the riverbanks calling the Muslim’s to prayer. Eerie and beautiful.

Mango Coloured monkeys & morning tea. Because we only had one full day in Brunei, we were too late to book a tour to travel upriver into the rainforest. But Aslam came to the rescue, picking us up in his boat and ferrying us upriver into the thick trees, entertaining us with stories of snakes and crocodiles, and pointing out the Probiscus monkeys (or mango coloured monkeys as he called them). Later he took us back to Kampong Ayer to meet his wife and eleven (yes that’s 11!) children. After navigating some truly terrifying ladders we reached his home and were welcomed in like esteemed guests. His wife and sister in law had prepared a lovely spread of local food for us and afterwards presented us with gifts. I was incredibly humbled by this family’s generosity and graciousness.

Mystery meat. Deciding to be bold we ate at a local restaurant and tried what we thought was mild beef curry. It was so not mild! Luckily I’d bought a can of lemonade for about 30 cents!

Sultan Omar Ali Suifaddien Mosque. Very pretty, especially all lit up at night.

Such a fascinating place, with genuinely friendly and open locals. I wish we could’ve spent more time there.

Tracey