Eleven Hours in Brunei

Between my flight from Surabaya to Dubai, I had an eleven-hour-layover in Bandar Sri Begawan, Brunei. It wasn't a lot of time but I managed to snap these few random things (click for bigger pictures):

How streets and building look in Bandar Sri Begawan


A traditional market by the river.
We can ride on the boat, but the smell of the river was too much.


The hotel where I stayed for a couple of hours.
I like the logo.


For lunch I went to a shabby food court next to the hotel.
The sign made me pay attention to where I stepped.


If you're not an Indonesian, you might not find this picture amusing.
Indome - ayam - telur
Indome - cornbeef
Indome - mata lembu
Indome - skramble


Bandar Sri Begawan airport.
Everyone in Gate 5 wanted to go to London. It seemed that I'm the only one heading to Dubai.


Interesting things I found about Brunei:
  1. The cars are very polite. They always stop when people want to cross the street. (Unlike in Surabaya/Indonesia)
  2. There are only 400,000 people living in Brunei.
  3. The students had holidays in March (2 weeks), June (2 weeks), September (2 weeks or a month, I cannot remember), December (a month), and during Ramadan. Oh wow.
  4. The currencies used there are Brunei Dollar (BND) and Singapore Dollar (SGD) but they don't accept the gold coins of SGD for a reason nobody seems to know.
Goodbye for now, dear Brunei!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Facial Review: Facial Ozon Herbal at Profira Aesthetic & Anti Aging Clinic

Image
I love facial. I like being massaged and touched and caressed . So I like to venture and try different clinics that offer spa and facial treatment, although I haven't been to as many clinics as I hope. Let's see, in Surabaya so far I've tried Natasha, LBC, Amethyst, erha. I've always wanted to try Miracle but the facial treatment price is not within my budget. Then Profira opened. Because I've heard that it's opened by a doctor previously working in Miracle, I thought the quality will be on par with Miracle. And the price, too, so I never went there. Haha.. Until the day I saw this at groupon: The link is here: http://groupon.co.id/voucher/surabaya/71966/up-to-52-percent-offfacial-ozon-herbal-chemical-peeling-at-profira It is in my facial budget range, so why not? This is a good deal, or so I thought. So I bought two vouchers, one for me and one for my husband. It was quite easy to make the appointment, and I went there this noon with high hopes.
Read more

Made in Indonesia

Image
Walking down a street in Deira area a couple months ago, we stumbled upon this little store that specializes in selling Indonesian hair care and body care products. Weird. There are not so many Indonesian people here. So we went inside the store, talked to the store owner and asked his permission to take a couple of pictures. We were fascinated. The store owner said that business is quite good. There are always people who come looking for Indonesian products. I suddenly remember that I've been looking for hair tonic in numerous department stores in Dubai with no luck at all. They only have hair oil (sounds yuck). They do not have any knowledge of hair tonic at all. I should go visit this store again. Rudy Hadisuwarno. Who in Indonesia doesn't know him? Balsem Otot Geliga! Pegal Kembali Lega! You can even see the POM number :)) The infamous Citra (or Citra Hand Body as we know it) The store. I also heard that Sharjah (a town next to Dubai) has Indomaret!
Read more

The Plan

I am thinking that running out of town would be the best. Jakarta might be good. I know some friends there who want to help me. I can stay in one of their houses for a while before I find my own place. Or I can always stay in a hotel for a couple of days. I know a couple of affordable nice hotels. I also know some places where I can apply for work. I think I need to work if I want to live on my own. But how do I explain myself to my friends? I cannot think of a scenario where I do not honestly tell them that I leave my hometown because I cannot live with him anymore. I have to be honest. They will understand. They've seen my eye covered in bruises when I went to that party last year in Jakarta. No no no. Running to a town where I meet my friends will make it easy for him to be able to track me down. I might get caught fast. Difficult. Another option is to run away to my family's house in the same town. I can beg them to keep my hideout a secret. And even when he finds o
Read more