We had a very very rainy start to the day. Teeming rain. The ship docked in Muara Port, the Capital is Bandar Seri Begawan, where we wanted to be, 20 miles or 40 minutes by bus away. We four left the ship in spite of the rain and got the first free shuttle. The shuttle conveniently drops us off at a very large high class Asian Shopping Complex. We could have been in Hong Kong, Singapore or I suppose, Shanghai.
We chose however to head for the 'Open Market', our reasoning being that they often open only in the mornings. Asian cooks like to shop each day for fresh produce. The markets are something we always enjoy even though it is so obvious that we are tourists. Who else takes pictures of heaps of dried fish so small that sardines look like whales in comparison?
The smells are wonderful, and you can tell in a minute if it is a clean market, this one was. The prices look expensive to me, where do they get the money? The mix is Muslim, Chinese and assorted others. They all mix well without any apparent regard to religion or dress. As long as the colour of the money is right, everything else is OK.
The rain gradually let up and the mugginess set in. After the market we ambled to see a few sights in town, a Chinese Temple, the main Mosque in town which was shut for renovations. We rambled for a bit to tell you the truth.
Next we wandered into the stilted homes part of the city. This slum area is directly across the street from the most beautifully situated and landscaped Mosque you could imagine. There are about 30,000 people who live 'on the water'. Apparently when you live 'on the water' you do not pay any taxes. There are no income taxes in Brunei so the lack of civic taxes is a bonus. [If there are civic taxes here.] The city supplies water and electricity, total utilities cost is about 28 $US/ month. Most have satellites. After the purchase of the satellite dish there are no monthly costs. Petrol/gas is about 42c/liter.
There appears to be a lot of petrol dollars spent on government buildings and the mosques are lovely as well. There is a great deal of up-scale houses and residential buildings. On the other hand, every city has it's slum and we walked through it.
All of the buildings 'on the water' are not low class. There are some lovely homes, some nicer than others, and some quite attractive. I would not want to live in Brunei however, under any circumstances.
After our walkabout we indulged in some authentic Brunei food. We ate at a KFC! Yep, we did. Tasted good too.
Next we engaged a boat driver to take us on an hour runabout the river. Soon we were in his house, 'on the water' having tea with his wife and two kids. We were not kidnapped, he just does this and it was probably the best part of the day. While in his home we heard the jingle of a bell that sounded like the ice cream man. It was! I bought his kids cones, [they would have got them anyhow] and took their photos. The ice cream man in Brunei walks about the stilt village on Fridays and Sundays. Just like home. Cones cost 35c. His large tub of frozen ice cream [chocolate ripple] is in a large plastic carrying bag, he looked like any friendly ice cream man at home.
Throughout the village 'on the water' are little stores [really a house with a table with jars of sweets on it], where kids can buy penny candies and such. Kids are kids and these kids will soon have rotten teeth.
The VC or the Congregational Medal of Honor should have been given today to those who ascended and later descended the rickety steps from the boats to stilt homes for tea.
I think everybody thought 'if you fall in, do not swallow!' There is no sanitary sewer system in this 'city on the water' of 30,000 people. Do not even begin to think about it!
A concern here from more than one source is 'what will it be like when the oil runs out?' I can tell you what it will be like. Brunei will turn back into a steaming sinkhole on the tip of an island called Borneo. In Bali we had corruption, in Brunei we have the ultimate in power and class structure, a Sultan! Twas ever thus!
Meanwhile, sister Moe was out and about as well. She went on a coach tour for four hours. She visited more beautiful Brunei buildings, palaces, temples, homes and toilets than we did and apparently thoroughly enjoyed it. [Except the toilets.] Moe got more of a glimpse of the opulence associated with the Sultan than we did today. Moe and her group were also in a home for tea, but Moe says her steps were a bit more solid than those that Gail and we negotiated.
It is almost forbidden to speak of the Sultan's criminal brother out loud. [Remember, he is the one who embezzled over $15,000,000,000 from this country of 300,000 people.] There seems to be some certain aura that surrounds the Sultan and all things to do with him. There are so many large pictures of the man in uniform on public building and signboards that if you changed the picture to Chairman Mao, you could be back in Red China in the 1970's.
Please forgive my bias in the blog today, but I cannot get out of my mind how the people who have OIL, can milk the free world, almost cripple it, to line their own pockets and keep their people under their thumb and in the palm of their hand.
Keep buying that expensive gas folks, the Sultans and their like all over the world need your dollars to keep their family living in the style that they are used to.
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