Through research, my companion and I found that almost everyone had their own car in brunei. The whole country has only 50 taxis, and the price is also quite expensive. Buses will be the main means of transportation for travelers like me.
From the airport, you can take bus number 34 to the central bus station. One important thing to note is that in Brunei, the bus will stop operating at 6pm, so you should pay attention to book flights on the morning or noon to avoid taxi hire. From the central bus station, you can go anywhere to visit. In case of missed bus, Brunei people are also quite friendly, you can ask for a ride.
Around 18:30, we arrived at the Le Gallery Hotel near the central bus station. Hearing the receptionist’s introduction, we went to the restaurant next to the hotel to eat Brunei-style lamb. The Charcoal BBQ & Grill Restaurant seems quite popular in this area, the price is high but it is “expensive to slice up”. Lamb is delicious and very soft.
About 20 o’clock, all shops or public places are closed, can’t find a bar or club here at night. We go to bed very early, because there is nowhere to play at night.
The next morning, we started our journey of discovery. The first point to go is the Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque. We walk from the hotel which takes only about 15 minutes on a shortcut. This Mosque is a symbol of Brunei with an architectural style in accordance with Muslim tradition, has a colorful flower garden in front, and a bridge with a moon symbol.
Then we walked to the other side of the river to explore the floating village. Unlike the floating market in Thailand, the village floating in Brunei is quiet, providing a more simple living space than the floating markets that have been commercialized.
You can rent a boat to visit floating village for $ 15 for 45 minutes. If you want to visit monkey forest from the floating village of Brunei, you have to pay more for the boatman. The feeling of sailing is also very interesting, watching the bridge across the river which connects the two banks is also interesting.
We took the bus to Jame ‘Asr Hassanil Bolkiah mosque. This is also a large mosque in Brunei, just behind Sultan Omar Ali mosque. After entering here, you will feel like you are lost in the fairy world, because architecture is more like a palace than a Muslim mosque.
We arrived at this mosque at the time of prayer, so they did not allow women to visit. We met a Brunei guy, we asked him to take the above prayer area so that we could make our imaginations real, he was very enthusiastic to take it immediately and after that we became friends.
This person was working in Ringual Mall and we visited the place too. We went to the night market according to his suggestion. There are many dishes decorated and much cheaper than in the shopping center. We buy few things to be able to enjoy all the dishes. Most impressive is the sticky dish wrapped in grilled leaves with meat.
The next morning, we enlisted in the Brunei palace, but unfortunately the palace only opened a certain number of days.
Brunei is quite small, so just over a day you can discover almost all the “points to visit when you arrive in Brunei”.
Brunei is not a country for those who like excitement. After days with so much fatigue from work, Brunei is a suitable place for us to feel peace, from the landscape to the lives of people. If you have a chance, please visit Brunei once!
You can visit Brunei every time of the year, except Ramandan, which begins on May 17 and ends on June 17. This time, Muslims do not eat or drink from 5:00 to 19:00. Most of Brunei’s population is Muslim, so in Ramandan, most shops are closed, even going out to the street you should not eat or drink in front of people.
The weather in Brunei is hot all year round, but visitors should not dress too revealing.
