The ASEAN Tour: Brunei

The visit to Brunei was part of my Malaysia-Brunei trip in 2009. Since we were heading to Sabah, I thought we could spare two days one night in Bandar Seri Begawan, too. Furthermore, my buddy Swee Hin and I had an ex-colleague who just returned to Brunei, so he could show us around. After a short stop in Kota Kinabalu to explore the city on foot, we headed back to airport and began what would be the shortest flight in my life thus far.

The flight duration from Kota Kinabalu to Bandar Seri Begawan was roughly around 45 minutes. It was as good as taking off, filling up your immigration card then the crew would immediately prepare the passengers for landing right after that. The first impression I had was, even though the country's currency was pegged to Singapore Dollar, the airport didn't look like Changi at all. Perhaps there wasn't a need for that.

At the airport, with Chian Kai (middle) and Swee Hin (right).

Our friend picked us up and drove us to some budget hotel nearby Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque. It was around BND 100 per night and we checked in there, a decision that I soon regretted because the Empire Hotel was only less than BND 300, but more to that later.

As we were on our way to the hotel, it dawned on me that the strong currency had not much to do with the country's development. In my opinion, Brunei looked more like any other place in Kalimantan than Singapore, but it had a profound Islamic influence that became part of its culture. And that was what made the trip more interesting, because I never saw anything like this before. Even in Indonesia, where we have the biggest Muslim population in the world, the culture is uniquely mixed. In Brunei, we could see the Jawi writing everywhere.

In front of Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque.

As we were waiting for Chian Kai, our local friend, to pick us up for dinner, we explored the surroundings and happened to see Teng Yun Temple on the riverside. From there, we walked to Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque and the mall nearby the landmark. We met our friend there and he brought us somewhere for a fancy dining that included ostrich meat in the menu. Exotic, eh? But I had actually tried it in Batam, though, haha.

From there we went to Jerudong Park, the venue where Michael Jackson performed a free concert in the celebration of the 50th birthday of the Sultan. For an amusement park, Jerudong Park was awfully quiet. I wasn't entirely sure if it was because it had been quite late when we went there. We didn't stay long and quickly made our way to the Imperial Hotel. This was one impressive hotel that directly faced the South China Sea on one side. It was so grand, a really fine architecture. If I remember correctly, it even had a cinema there. For the fact that it could have been our one and only visit to Brunei, we should have stayed there! Chian Kai then said we should hang out at the cafe. It was an interesting experience. Because alcohol was banned, we actually had coffee that night. I was told that if the locals would like to go for a drink, they would have to drive to Miri, Sarawak. That must be one helluva effort to get drunk!

The next day, I realized that the public transport was actually not well developed. I was wondering if that was because almost everyone had cars and petrol was quite cheap down there. As a result, it wasn't exactly tourist friendly. We had to wait for our friend to fetch us again, this time to Gadong for lunch. For the remaining time that we had, we went to have a look at Kampong Ayer from afar, then it was followed by another visit to another mosque, I think it was the one called Jame'Asr Hassanil Bolkiah. It had many glorious golden domes, easily one of the most modern looking mosque ever. Next, it was the airport and we flew back to Sabah...

Swee Hin and Chian Kai at the chicken rice shop, Gadong.

Tur ASEAN: Brunei

Kunjungan ke Brunei merupakan bagian dari perjalanan Malaysia-Brunei di tahun 2009. Karena kita sudah kepalang tanggung ke Sabah yang bersebelahan dengan Brunei, maka kita rencanakan pula wisata dua hari satu malam ke Bandar Seri Begawan. Keputusan ini masuk akal mengingat saya dan Swee Hin, teman seperjalanan saya, memiliki kolega dari Brunei yang baru berhenti kerja dan pulang ke tempat asalnya. Oleh karena itu, setelah eksplorasi singkat di Kota Kinabalu dengan berjalan kaki, kita langsung kembali ke bandara dan memulai penerbangan paling singkat yang pernah saya tempuh.

Penerbangan dari KK ke BSB berkisar 45 menit. Begitu kita lepas landas, pramugari langsung membagikan kartu imigrasi dan setelah selesai diisi, tidak lama kemudian langsung terdengar pengumuman untuk menegakkan sandaran kursi karena pesawat akan segera mendarat. Saat kita tiba, kesan pertama adalah, walaupun dolar Brunei memiliki nilai tukar satu banding satu dengan dolar Singapura, bandaranya sama sekali tidak semaju Changi.

Di Kompleks Yayasan Sultan Haji Hasannal Bokiah.

Chian Kai, tuan rumah kita, menjemput dan mengantarkan kita ke hotel murah di dekat mesjid Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin. Harga per malam sekitar BND 100, sebenarnya tidak terlalu murah juga, dan saya langsung menyesalinya setelah saya tahu bahwa biaya per malam di Empire Hotel berada di kisaran kurang dari BND 300.

Berdasarkan apa yang saya lihat dari sepanjang perjalanan ke hotel, saya lambat laun menyadari bahwa mata uang yang kuat bukan berarti berjalan sebanding dengan pembangunannya. BSB lebih mirip kota di Kalimantan daripada metropolis seperti Singapura. Lebih dari itu, BSB memiliki nuansa Islam yang kental, yang menjadi bagian dari daya tarik negara tersebut. Bahkan Indonesia, dengan jumlah Muslim terbesar di dunia, terasa majemuk budayanya, sedangkan di Brunei, kita benar-benar bisa melihat tulisan Jawi di mana-mana.

Selagi kita menunggu Chian Kai untuk santap malam bersama, kita berjalan-jalan di sekitar hotel. Ternyata ada kuil Teng Yun di tepi sungai. Dari situ, kita beranjak ke mesjid Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin dan mal di sebelahnya. Chian Kai menjemput kita di situ dan membawa kita ke sebuah restoran yang menyajikan daging burung unta. Eksotis, tapi saya sudah pernah coba sebelumnya di Batam, haha.

Di Imperial Hotel.

Dari restoran, kita menuju ke Jerudong Park, tempat di mana Michael Jackson tampil di konser perayaan 50 tahun Sultan Brunei. Untuk taman hiburan, Jerudong Park tergolong sepi, entah karena sudah cukup malam tatkala kita bertandang ke sana atau memang kurang diminati. Kita tidak tinggal lama di sana dan bergegas ke Imperial Hotel. Bangunan ini benar-benar mengesankan dan satu sisinya langsung menghadap Laut Cina Selatan. Kalau tidak salah, bahkan ada bioskop di sana. Jika teringat kembali bahwa kunjungan ke BSB itu mungkin satu-satunya kunjungan kita ke Brunei, seharusnya kita tinggal semalam di hotel tersebut! 

Sewaktu kita berada di Imperial Hotel dan merencanakan tempat berikutnya yang hendak dituju, Chian Kai lantas mengusulkan bahwa kita bisa pergi ke kafe. Pengalaman di kafe menjadi unik karena alkohol dilarang di Brunei dan sebagai gantinya, kita justru minum kopi. Di situ baru dikisahkan oleh Chian Kai bahwa penduduk lokal yang hendak minum bir harus mengendarai mobil sampai ke Miri, Sarawak. 

Keesokan harinya, saat kita berkeliling di dekat hotel, saya mengamati bahwa transportasi umum tidak terlalu berkembang. Saya rasa itu karena hampir setiap orang di sana memiliki mobil. Lagi pula bahan bakar juga luar biasa murah di sana, kira-kira seharga 50 sen. Akibatnya, karena masalah transportasi, BSB tidak terlalu ramah bagi turis untuk bepergian. Saat Chian Kai datang menjemput, kita dibawa ke Gadong untuk makan siang. Setelah itu, kita melihat Kampong Ayer dari tepi jalan dan mengunjungi mesjid berkubah emas, Jame'Asr Hassanil Bolkiah. Dari situ, kita pun menuju ke bandara dan berpamitan dengan Brunei...

Di depan Kampong Ayer.