Day 77: Muara, Brunei … Borneo Island

Friday, 24 March 2017
At Sea — South China Sea

Stats @ Ship’s Time 8:20p (BDT) … UTC 12:20p (24 March)
Temp: 78.1F (25.6C)
Position: 5.06.35N / 115.05.66E

After a lifetime of world travel, I’ve been fascinated that those in the
third world don’t have the same perception of reality that we do.
~ Jim Harrison ~

Today we visited another one of the three countries that share Borneo Island — the Sultanate of Brunei … or more officially, Brunei Darussalam … the latter part of the name meaning Abode of Peace.

Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque and Replica of Royal Barge

This tiny country — smaller than Delaware — sits between Malaysia’s Sarawak and Sabah states.  At one time a British Protectorate, Brunei achieved its independence in 1984.  It’s a country that for more than 600 years has been ruled by one family.  The sultan is the supreme leader — meaning he is the chief of state and also the head of government.

We were told that this predominantly Muslim country follows strict sharia laws.  I expected the women to be veiled and dressed in flowing burkas, separated from men in public spaces.  I expected the religious police to be out in full force.  That’s not what I found.  In fact, the CIA fact book for this country says, and I quote: “… in May 2014, the first phase of a sharia-based penal code was instituted, which applies to Muslims and non-Muslims and exists in parallel to the existing common law-based code.”   That, in turn, is a mixed system based on English common law and Islamic law.

Yes, the country is different.  Yes, the all-powerful sultan — one the richest men in the world — is in control of everything and has all the trappings of a life of excesses.  Yes, men can have four wives — provided they can support and care for them.  But the women only wore head coverings and mingled freely in mixed company; and if sharia laws were being enforced, we didn’t see it.

When asked about the country being under sharia law, our guide, JoJo, dismissed it by telling us that like so many other things, there had been a lot of noise about it, but that it had fizzled out.  As for the women’s dress — they had apparently raised enough ruckus that the sultan had gone on TV with a speech that ended with a question that went something like: “If you see a man walking in the street in his underwear and a woman walking with her head uncovered, which is the bigger problem?”  As JoJo said, that was the end of that!

So, with that introduction, let’s get on with our day.

We were off the ship as soon as it was cleared shortly after 8:00a.  Mui made a beeline to the FX kiosk in the terminal to get the additional Brunei dollars we would need to pay the balance we owed Intrepid Tours for the excursion I had organized.  By 8:30a, we were on the 22-passenger van — just 8 of us — and Allan had collected and receipted the money — BND $161pp (~ USD $115).

The tour we were on was described as a heritage tour.  Allan had outlined the standard tour for me, noting that it would have to be adapted as Insignia was calling on a Friday — a day on which the noon prayer is of particular importance to Moslems.  Thus, the mosques would be off-limits to foreigners.  This was disappointing, but something we had no control over so I agreed to go with the flow.

Muara, where the ship docked, was a distance from Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB), the country’s capital … about 17-miles (28 km) or a 30-minute ride.  It took us that long to get to our first stop on the immediate outskirts of the city — the Maritime Museum … free admission; no photos inside.  In fact, we had to store all phones, handbags, etc. in a locker before we were allowed to go into the galleries of the small museum.  The central display here was the Brunei Wreck, a ship that is thought to have gone down with the goods it was carrying from Southeast Asia sometime in the 15th or 16th century.  I thought it was nicely done, with the exhibit of pottery finds framed by what resembled a wrecked ship’s hull in the center of the gallery.  Some of the well-preserved china was displayed in glass cases around the perimeter of the room.  The second floor had a collection of boats, a display about a regional regatta, and some beautiful fabrics.

From this museum, we drove into BSB to see one of the city’s prime attractions — the Royal Regalia Museum; also free; also no photos — except in the rotunda.  Here, in addition to having to store our purses, cameras, phones, and what have you in a locker, we had to remove our shoes and leave them outside.  A bit quirky … but hey, it’s their country, their museum, their rules.

The museum, housed in what was once the “Churchill Museum,” was founded in 1922 to commemorate the silver jubilee of the current sultan's coronation as the King of Brunei.  The chariot that was used in that procession is the centerpiece of the rotunda.  A similar chariot that was used for the gold jubilee is also on display elsewhere in the museum, with a life-size mural of the people who lined the streets that day on either side.  JoJo told us that the chariot was pulled by 40 men dressed in black uniforms, with another 40 men pushing it from behind.

Gifts from heads of states, sumptuous clothes, armaments — with several examples of the kris … a dagger with a wavy blade pattern — and photographs of the sultan and his family through the years made up a good portion of the exhibits.  One of the most interesting displays was a replica of the throne chamber, and in another display we saw the gold arm and hand on which the sultan rested his chin to hold up his crowned head during the coronation.

It would have been nice to have free time at the museum to wander around and take a closer look at some of the exhibits, but JoJo gave us just 10 minutes to take photos in the rotunda before ushering us back in the van.  This was because the museum would be closing momentarily for the Friday noon prayer.  Too bad O didn’t plan this port call on a different day.

From the museum we headed to a hotel on the outskirts of the city for lunch — a long one.  This was one of the adaptations we had to accept to our itinerary due to it being Friday.  With all shops and restaurants closed from about 11:30a to 2:00p, Allan had made special arrangements to have lunch served to us in a private room.  We could have opted for a picnic in a park — and I had considered that — but having an air conditioned place that would keep us out of the mid-day heat seemed smart.  As it turns out, it was a good thing we didn’t have a picnic as thunderstorms rolled in and we had a downpour during a good part of our lunchtime.

The downpour had changed into a light rain when we piled back into the van shortly before 2:00p.  Knowing that we were not happy with the drive-by photography we’d done of the mosques and palace (entrance only), JoJo took us to a spot outside Jame’Asr Hassanil Bolkiah, the mosque built by the present sultan to commemorate the 25th anniversary of his reign.  I didn’t take the time to count them, but I understand it has 29 gold domes.  It really was quite a striking mosque, its six 190-foot (58 m) tall minarets rising into the sky.  Able to accommodate 4,500 worshippers — in two main prayer halls … one for each gender as is typical in Islam — it is the country’s biggest mosque.  Surrounded by beautifully landscaped gardens, it really was quite beautiful and quite different in many ways from the mosques I’ve seen before.  Unfortunately, we had to stay outside the fence surrounding the grounds and the trees blocked much of the mosque from our view.  So, while we did get out of the van to take photographs, none did the mosque justice.

Our next stop was the Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque, with its central dome covered in pure gold and its minarets built of marble.  Said to be one of the most beautiful places of Islamic worship in Asia, it was built to honor the 28th sultan, who abdicated in favor of his son, the current ruler of Brunei.  The mosque overlooks an artificial lagoon and a concrete replica of a 16th century royal barge.  I read that this barge was built in 1967 to commemorate the 1,400th anniversary of the Quran being handed down by Allah.

Here we went inside the fence to walk around the grounds.  The noon prayer was over, but the mosque was still off limits to those not of the faith.  Locals carrying gifts were streaming into an area behind the mosque where preparations were underway for a wedding celebration.  We were too close to the mosque to get any decent pictures, so we walked around to one of the walkways leading out into the lagoon.  But from this perspective I still could not get a photo of the mosque with the barge in the foreground, so we told JoJo we were going to quick-step it to a spot outside the grounds.  I got the picture I wanted — sort of … there were no reflections to be had this afternoon.

From here we headed to the pier from which boats flit back and forth between the mainland and the water villages.  While JoJo sorted out a boat for us, some of us went to a nearby restroom, thus opening ourselves to the hawkers looking for passengers for their boats.  I remembered that the best way to get rid of them was to tell them we’d just come back from the villages.  It seemed to do the trick.

The first part of our afternoon on the water took us on a cruise to the mangroves that line both sides of Brunei River.  Along the way, we got to see BSB from a different perspective.  We also saw the tomb of a former sultan, the palace being built by the Crown Prince on a bluff overlooking the river, and the gold dome of the Istana Nurul Iman [Palace of the Light of Faith].  This is the sultan’s official residence — with nearly 1,800 rooms … of which 257 are bathrooms.  The complex includes a 110-car garage — nowhere near large enough for his car collection — and an air conditioned stable, swimming pools, and more.  Of course the immense throne chamber, which we saw a replica of at the Royal Regalia Museum, is here as well.  The only time the palace is open to visitation is for a period of three days at the end of Ramadan.  I had read that the best view of the palace was from the river.  I guess they mean that in the sense that you can see the gold dome and some of the roofline … all else is hidden behind dense vegetation.

Our main reason for taking the boat into the mangroves was to see the proboscis monkeys — aka the long-nosed monkeys.  This is a species that is endemic to Borneo.  It wasn’t until we were quite far into the mangroves that we started seeing them.  Several of them — with at least one male judging by its size — were hidden behind the leaves of the trees.  We saw them moving around, but couldn’t make out the long nose of the male — up to 4-inches (10+ cm).  One female was perched out in the open with its baby, however.  I got a couple of decent photos — not easy to do on a swaying boat.  It’s at times like this that I really miss the additional range my 100-400mm lens used to give me.

From here, the boat took us back to BSB, but not to the mainland.  Instead, we went to Kampong Ayer [Water Village] where nearly 10% of the country’s population lives.  A complex of interconnected villages, there are over 4,000 buildings here including homes, mosques, restaurants, schools, and more.  If I heard JoJo right, these buildings are connected with boardwalks that add up to 18+ miles (30+ km).

Dubbed the “Venice of the East” when it was first seen by a member of Magellan’s crew back in 1521, Kampong Ayer represents the historic core of Brunei and “preserves the country’s river-dwelling origins.”  To improve the standard of living for the residents of the water village, the sultan has been building modern stilt houses made out of concrete, but they have not been very popular with the people who prefer the old ways.  The houses have electricity and running water, and since there was no stench as we walked through the village, a sewage system as well.

Our boat dropped us off at a concrete jetty across the water from one of the mosques.  From here, we walked along a boardwalk to one of the houses where visitors are welcomed either for home stays or for afternoon tea.  It was an interesting cultural experience for sure.  By this time, the rain that had been a drizzle when we got off the boat was once again a downpour.  So, when it was time to leave, we were invited to walk through the family’s private area and kitchen to the back deck where a larger boat picked us up.

This boat ride took us toward the South China Sea to a resort on stilts.  Our van was waiting to pick us up from there.  Following the old road through a neighborhood with beautiful houses — some of which were foreign embassies — we returned to our ship in Muara.

It was an interesting day.  We, of course, saw only those portions of the country that our tour guide took us to.  Is the “real” Brunei anything like what we saw?  Well, that’s a question that is impossible to answer after a one-day visit.

For more photos from today, click here.

© 2015-2017 — All rights reserved by Erin Erkun.