Brunei & Labuan

I opted to travel by land and sea to Labuan instead of taking a flight from Miri. I'm tired of airports, which are the same everywhere, and this way I was able to see more of Malaysia and spend a few hours in the tiny country of Brunei.

I left Miri on the 7 AM bus and was in Brunei by 9. Brunei is very developed and seems to have a high standard of living thanks to its vast oil wealth, which unlike in most oil-producing countries, the government (which in this case is the Sultan) shares at least some of it with his subjects. I passed through the land-based oil producing region; at times seemed like I was in the Kingdom of Shell Oil. I changed buses a few times and arrived in the capital of Bandar Seri Begawan a little before noon. On the way into the capital there were two police motorcycles clearing the way for a yellow Lambourghini with the royal seal on the door panels. Someone was out for a spin. Speaking of the sultan, it was his birthday recently. The country was plastered with banners in celebration of his big day.

There isn't a whole lot to do in Bandar. I walked around and checked out the enormous mosque and the water village, which is a bunch of floating shacks except the shacks have plumbing and satelite TV. The people were very friendly; two gave unsolicited help to make sure that I wasn't lost. I think my backpack and absence of a Landcruiser with the Shell insignia threw them off.

The mosque in Bandar

I took the 3:30 ferry to Labuan, which is a duty-free island that is part of Malaysia. The town has a good vibe, in part because it serves as a tourist destination with cheap electronics for people from other parts of Malaysia and alcohol for non-muslims escaping Brunei. The first "hotel" I looked at was totally skanky so I decided to upgrade to one that costs $20/night. At first I was thrilled to have TV in the room but was a later disillusioned to learn that there are only 4 channels, the HBO sometimes switches off, and the programming on one channel last night consisted of people singing Muslim prayers.

Today was pretty relaxed. I had hoped to dive some of the WWII wrecks off the coast, but the one dive shop here wasn't going out since the weather has been bad. Instead I visited a few WWII sites on land. I saw the beach where Gen. MacArthur and the Allied troops landed, a war cemetery, and some Peace Park built by the Japanese that had a big stone that read, "Peace Is Best." It is.

I'm spending about a half day too long here, but at least the food here is really good. I gorged on stingray last night, and I am going back to the same restaurant this evening.

Labuan street food

Tomorrow morning I am taking a ferry to Kota Kinabalu. I'm kind of excited to see what the extra 4 ringget for the first class ticket will get me. Maybe a coffee?