travel diary — day 299
day 296 — in the morning i walked into town again. i checked a couple of travel agents and realised my plan (to fly to bangkok via brunei) was going to be too expensive. i gave up and walked back across town. on the way i found a korean restaurant and decided to grab some kimchi jiggae for lunch. the jiggae wasn’t very good, but the owners were extremely friendly. we talked for a while and after lunch i left.
near my hotel was the air asia office. i managed to get two tickets out of borneo, flying to bangkok via kuala lumpur. i relaxed at the hotel, had some beer and spent the evening online.
day 297 — i checked out, storing my bag at the guesthouse, and bought a ferry ticket to palau labuan. i had lunch and got the ferry across to the island. palau labuan is an intersting place and its importance in history is significant, if not overlooked. when japan surrendered to allied forces, the surrender took place on palau labuan. there’s a memorial for the event, as well as another memorial for australian soldiers killed in borneo.
i’m saying all this from tourist books, because i arrived late in the afternoon didn’t get time to reach either memorial.
i had dinner and some beer in town. while i was eating (and drinking) it struck me as odd that the beer and food was so cheap. it was a riddle i later solved.
day 298 — i got the morning ferry to brunei and a minibus to the capital badar seri begawan. i was a bit shitty at having to pay a B$20 visa fee (which i thought was free). brunei is small and so is it’s capital, however the city is very nice. it’s a clean, compact town set on the intersection of a major tributary and a smaller river. i walked over to the central mosque and took some photos. but i’d arrived at the beginning of midday prayers (and non-muslims aren’t allowed inside during prayer times) so i walked to the nearby shopping mall to buy lunch and check email.
i returned to the mosque and took some photos outside (not allowed to photograph inside). then walked around to the museum which was shut. i walked down to a small ferry port looking for boats to the nearby town of bangar. it’s famous not because it’s an interesting place, but because the high speed boat ride there through narrow canals is quite fun. however i was too late to get a return trip. i could have got to bangar, but i wouldn’t have got back.
foiled again, i returned to my room for a shower and a rest. then i headed down to the river to watch the sunset and eat a truckload of chicken satay. to my complete disappointment i also discovered that brunei is a dry country. being strict muslims, there’s no alcohol in brunei … well, i’m sure there is, but i didn’t go seeking it out. so i had to wash my chicken satay down with coke.
i later returned to the central mosque to take some night photos, after which i checked email and headed to bed.
day 299 — i checked out and got the fast boat to bangar. the trip was fun as the high powered boat jetted and sliced through the canals. i had breakfast at bangar and got the next boat back to bsb. i had to wait nearly two hours to get a bus back to the ferry, which meant that i couldn’t make it all the way back to kota kinabalu.
i got as far as palau labuan (again), checked into the same hotel (the woman called me daniel) and walked around town. i took some money out and did some duty free shopping. that’s when i discovered why my beer was so cheap on my previous visit … palau labuan is a tax free zone … there’s no tax on alcohol and other luxury items.
i took advantage and bought a big bottle of pre-mix dry martini and a packet of 10 dominican republic, hand rolled cigars. i had dinner outdoors (fried chicken and gold label carlsberg) with a cigar. i returned to my room and spent the evening watching movies through the haze of beer.
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