Brunei is a small Islamic country in the north of Borneo. The country, which is peculiarly split into two chunks of land, is only about 5000 km² (about twice the size of Luxembourg) and has a population of about 450,000 people. About half of those live in its capital, Bandar Seri Begawan. Due to its oil and gas resources, Brunei managed to become the 5th richest country in Asia.
How to get to Bandar Seri Begawan from Kota Kinabalu
There are direct flights from KK to BSB. Better stop reading here and just book a flight 😉
And then there is a bus connection, which takes about 12 hours. This bus operates only on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Departure is at 7:30 am and the bus finally arrives in BSB after 7 pm. On the route, we had to do no less than 7 (!) border crossing procedures. This means that the bus stops, everybody gets out, passes by a single immigration officer, and then enters again. Due to the peculiar shape of Brunei, we had to enter Brunei, then enter Malaysia again, and finally enter Brunei again. Each time with an exit and an entry procedure. Oh, and there was also a border control while crossing between the two Malaysian provinces Sabah and Sarawak.
Bandar Seri Begawan
My expectations for this country were rather low. People basically warned me that Brunei is a much more conservative Islamic country than Malaysia and that I should be careful about that. So it was more a “let’s visit while we are here” stop than anything I really anticipated. Well… sometimes the lowest expectations yield the highest results. Brunei is indeed a very calm country, with people combining their religion and modern lifestyle just the same as they do in, for instance, Malaysia. Overall, the people I met were welcoming and were happy to share their culture and religion regardless of my origin. Due to its small population, it is also a very calm country; I happened to walk along the beautifully lit mosques at night without anybody around.
The unexpected highlight was a boat driver who offered to drive me around the river to see some Proboscis monkeys for a very reasonable price, investing just about 90 minutes. I was skeptical, of course, due to the disappointing experience I had in KK, but willing to give spotting these strange creatures another chance. Geeze, was I rewarded for that decision! The boat captain shared a lot of interesting information about Brunei, and we managed not only to see a crocodile slide into the water by the river banks but also about 15 monkeys in different spots!
There is no such thing as a public transport network in BSB. There are a few buses, but the most reliable way to get around is by using the “Dart” app, which is Brunei’s very own take on Grab/Uber. Given the small population and therefore the small number of drivers, it might sometimes take a bit until a driver accepts your request.
Brunei IS conservative in some regards. You cannot buy any alcohol, and public display of Christmas decorations is officially forbidden (oh my, what a loss).
Things to do in Bandar Seri Begawan
Since I arrived much later in the evening than expected, I basically had just one full day to explore BSB. Here is what you can squeeze into one day:
- Visit Jame’ Asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque.
- Visit Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque.
- Find a boat that will take you along the river to spot Proboscis monkeys.
- Visit Kampong Ayer, a village entirely build on the water.
- Visit the Royal Regalia Museum.
- See the Royal Palace (from a distance, it is not possible to get very close).
- Visit a local recreational park and from there, enter the forest for a 5 km hike.
- Visit the Gadong Nightmarket and try local street food.
If I had more time, I would have probably visited the Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Bridge, Southeast Asia’s longest bridge (about 30 km), which connects the two land parts of Brunei over the sea.
Click on one of the pictures to open the Bandar Seri Begawan gallery :
