Journey to Brunei 2 : The Arrival

"Bizarre travel plans are dancing lessons from God".

So wrote Kurt Vonnegut.

Arriving Bandar, I knew I had to get to the hostel soon as it was getting dark and beginning to drizzle again. I asked the bus conductor how to get to Gadong, and he told me if I was willing to take the bus the main terminal was nearby.

I hot footed it to the nearest block, only to remember my little problem that I had not a cent of Brunei currency to my name. Oh dear. Shops were closing, and town was winding down for the day, with people getting ready to break fast. I wandered block to block and was relieved to see an open shop with a sign for the money changer.

Alas, too good to be true, the money changer guy had gone home. The shop part - selling general miscellaneous stuff, I was tempted to buy a cute old fashioned Made in China alarm clock - was manned by a man, with his two cute little boys playing quietly inside the shop.

I explained to him my predicament, and I must have been a pitiful sight, so he made a call to his friend (I assume it's the money changer guy) and then - bless him - told me that he'll give me BND40 for RM100 just enough to tide me for the day. He told me to hurry too if I wanted to catch the bus as the services end at 6:30 pm. It was now around 6:05 pm. Profusely thanking him I left the shop and walked to the bus terminal adjacent to the block.

Asked for the bus to Gadong (either no 55 or 01) and jumped on one that was just leaving. Journey took under 15 minutes, and reaching Gadong I now am faced with the challenge of locating the hostel, SEAMEO VocTech. All I know is it's near The Mall. I asked 2 persons and they had no idea. I then noticed a Police Post, and confident that they'll be able to help, sauntered inside to be greeted by a lone officer.

And guess what, he couldn't help me because he did not know! Oh dear. I asked if he knew of any hostels or colleges nearby - nope; if he had a telephone directory; nope. I must have had an "I don't believe this" look on my face as he was clearly embarrassed and kept apologising. Thanking him for his time I proceeded and tried to see if I can trust my instincts. On another block I asked a passerby and she said, yes I was going in the right direction; yeay!

I finally managed to locate the hostel - across the main road five minutes walk from The Mall. Checked in, got my room key and got to the 2nd Floor where my room was. The building was eeriely quiet, although the receptionist had said there were other occupants that night. Heard some TV switched on somewhere along the corridor so I was inclined to trust him. Other than that there was no other sign of life. Creepy night ahead, I thought but quickly shrugged them off.

The room was clean and big, very old though, must be from the 80s. Bed was alright, a small towel was provided. Bathroom fixtures were old too.

I freshened up quickly and went back to the shops area to get some dinner. The buka puasa crowd had subsided a bit so I managed to get a table at one of the restaurants in Centrepoint building. It was almost half past seven now, and when the Raya announcement was made the patrons (mostly youngsters) cheered and whooped when it was confirmed that Aidilfitri will be on Monday.

After dinner I walked over to The Mall, which is their biggest shopping complex, joining the throngs of shoppers doing some last minute shopping. Ended up buying a few pieces of Jibbitz for my nephew, nothing else called my name. Went back to the hostel, showered and read my book, with one eye on the BPL match.

I can hear fireworks booming outside from time to time, the celebration has started early. And don't know what time I fell asleep, as when I woke up the lights and TV were still on :)

Last instalment in Part 3, next post.

Journey to Brunei 1 : On The Road

I went to Brunei for the weekend mainly for one reason.

And that is because I have heard so much about the border crossings if you travel to Brunei by road so I decided I'll need to experience this myself.

Got my one-way bus ticket from Jesselton Express, which has a daily KK-BSB route leaving at 8:00 am from the bus terminal near the library. The bus moved out at 8:15 am, and stopped along the way (Tg Aru railway, Putatan, Kinarut, Sipitang) to pick up other passengers.

The bus. No toilet on board, which I prefer that way cos it could stink sometimes. There are enough stops and public toilets along the way.

I was expecting some kind of discomfort from such a long journey, however it turned out well and I must say I found it more comfortable than a BKI-KUL flight. Does it have something to do with gravity or cabin pressure?

View from Seat No. 01.

Entertainment onboard the bus came by way of movies : first was this foreign language action movie which I did not pay attention to as I started on my Bryson, and later slept for a while. Then a succession of Rowan Atkinson movies followed - Mr Bean's Holiday, Rat Race, and Johnny English - which was really very funny (haha funny) no matter how much I tried not to watch. Then the last movie was Casino Royale, with the hawt Daniel Craig in JB's shoes.

Journey-wise, we reached Sindumin just after 12:00 noon, the first of the immigration checkpoints along the way. From this stop onwards, the driver calls out 'okay, chop passport!' at every checkpoint and everyone comes down from the bus and queue at the counter. At Sindumin, after getting your exit stamp for Sabah, you walk a further 10 metres or so to the Sarawak checkpoint and get your entry stamp into Sarawak. Cool.

Sindumin (where the queue is) and Merapok (left side) checkpoints.

The bus was delayed a good 45 minutes in Sindumin after some foreign passengers were questioned for not having the proper passes. In the end, I think only one of them in the group of four who was let through.

We continued to Lawas and stopped there for half an hour for those who want to have lunch, and also to wait for the parallel BSB-KK bus. Lawas was a bigger town than I expected. When the bus arrived they switched drivers and conductors. It also began to drizzle after lunch and as we entered Brunei territory the rain became heavier for a while before it stopped.

The in-out process continues along the journey and the eight checkpoints are:

Sindumin : exiting Sabah
Merapok : entering Sarawak
Mengkalap : exiting Sarawak
Labu : entering Brunei
Puni : exiting Brunei
Pandaruan : entering Sarawak
Tedungan : exiting Sarawak
Kuala Lurah : entering Brunei

If you are returning to KK by road, make sure you have enough pages on your passport as you will get 16 stamps altogether!

At the ferry crossings in Trusan and Pandaruan, the queue of cars from Limbang and Brunei side was massive, I guessing it must have been at least 2 kilometres long and growing. As it was Raya holidays, the Immigration counters have extended their opening hours up to 11 pm. It was rather amusing that both river crossings are very short, I timed and it was less than 3 minutes per way. Maybe someday both countries can share the investment to build bridges.

After a smooth entry into Brunei (I was busy concentrating on Mr Bond), we finally reached Bandar at about 5:45 p.m, at the bus stop in front of Tamu Kianggeh. Minus the delays here and there, it took us about 8.5 hours. Without the festive traffic and barring any delays, they say it's possible reach Bandar by 4:00 pm.

Air Asia now flies BKI-BWN direct beginning September, providing another option in addition to MAS and RBA. The more the merrier! I had booked my return flight via AK6213, for only RM26.00, but in the end I didn't take this flight :(. Why?

The rest of my Brunei story in the next post.