pictures first, then the entry

Temburong National Park
"One Language, One Nation, One Kingdom"

The longhouse housing 16 families

The Mosque

Kampung Air, water village

Yesterday I just got back from a six day trip to Brunei. Brunei is a small Muslim country, located on the island of Borneo, surrounded by Malaysia. A flight from KK to Brunei is... (drum roll please) a whole nineteen minutes!

In Brunei we (the four volunteers, Laura, our country coordinator, and I) took our first retreat and stayed with some of Laura's friends. Our main host was Isabel, a beyond-gracious host and a mother of three. She took much time away from her week to provide comfortable accommodations for us (in her late grandparents' apartment), and showing us around the city. We were in the capital city, Bandar Seri Begawan.

A few tidbits about Brunei... first, because it is a majority Muslim country, the entire country is alcohol free. Also, it is a monarchy, with one of the world's richest sultans. The palace itself has over 1,300 rooms. We also learned that they use golf carts to travel around within the palace, AND there is a zoo inside. Also, Michael Jackson performed for one of the princes' eighth birthday party, but you can ask me about that story another time.

Anyway, we spent most of our week in fellowship with each other and our hosts, doing Bible studies, and sight-seeing. Brunei is a small country, so I have to say that six days is more than enough time to get a feel for the city. It was funny to go to a new country and not experience any culture shock (since it is so close to Malaysia, and we are maybe finally adjusted to Asian culture); it was nice to enjoy somewhere new. Brunei was more relaxed than East Malaysia, as well as a lot cleaner and well kept. It was also much greener and spread out.

Some highlights of the trip...

We took a water taxi through the "kampung air" (water village). Brunei has an entire community on its river. Not only are there stilt houses, but stilt schools, mosques, fire departments, and hospitals. Because so much of the city population lives on the water versus the land, the government had to adapt and provide for this. Over 30,000 residents live in the kampung air. These houses have electricity, plumbing, and some even satellite television. People with cars keep them on the land, lining the sides of the roads (giving the city almost a small town feel). This housing differs from Malaysia, where most of the people living out on the water are illegal immigrants. In general, it seems like Brunei's government wasn't really a fan of this concept because they would like the people to have land for themselves. Therefore, whenever there is a house fire or something of the sort in the kampung, the people are not allowed to rebuild their houses, but have to move onto land.

Some other things we saw included the Brunei Museum, which had a lot of Islamic art, the Omar Air Saifuddien Mosque, the six star (who knew this was possible?) Empire Hotel, and the Royal Regalia Museum. The Royal Regalia had every single thing you could ever wish to know (and see) about the Sultan-- my personal favorite: the golden hand that holds up his chin when he is crowned. Second place goes to the yellow umbrella that he uses every time he goes somewhere outside.

My favorite day though, was spent at Ulu Temburong National Park. The four girls (Kelsey, Katherine, Erika, and I) took a day trip to see the rainforest! To get to Temburong from Bandar we had to take an hour boat ride (a morning commute for the business men), a 30 minute drive, a hike, and another boat ride. I have to say though, it was totally worth it. On our way to the park we stopped at a long house. A long house is traditional housing for some of the indigenous people of Brunei and Malaysia, specifically the Murut. The long house we saw provides housing for 16 families (mostly relatives). This was used to provide safety for the tribe during the head hunter days. Now it is more of a sense of community, but once families have enough money, they usually move out of the long house. During the Harvest Festival (in May to celebrate the harvest of rice), the long house sounds like quite the place to be for the festivities and the rice wine.

Anyway, back to our day in Temburong... :) We had tea at an eco village (where they do a lot of overnight trips and camps and things), then made our way over to the park in a long boat on the river. I have to say that a river in the jungle is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen (though I kept expecting to see a deer cross the water or an eagle to fly overhead). We then proceeded to "jungle trek" through the jungle, climbing uphill towards the canopy. Once reaching the end of the trek, we had the opportunity to climb up into a canopy walkway. Despite my fear of heights, and a deterring bee sting, I made it to the top of the canopy walkway! It was a great view, and worth the scary ladder climbing. After hiking around in the top layer of the canopy, we then hiked through a stream to a waterfall, which was GORGEOUS. It was so awesome to be surrounded by these huge butterflies in the air, and refreshing to swim in the cool water. We finished the day off by floating down the river in tubes. Luckily, the current was fairly strong in spots with even a few rapids, so we enjoyed the trip immensely. I think it was one of my favorite days in Southeast Asia in general!

While all the sightseeing was great, I also just enjoyed spending time in Brunei. It was so great to get to know the other volunteers better and laugh and joke around. Also, we spent some time with two families in particular, and it was so wonderful to have dinner at someone's house, or take the kids to the local pool, or teach them how to play Skip-bo and Spoons in exchange for learning how to count to ten in Chinese. It's a funny sense of home to know you have friends in other countries.

I'll finish with just a few photos of the trip, to give you a glimpse! As always, thanks for reading.