Picture: The picture shows the comparison between old housing and the new government housing in the "water village" in the river at Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital city of Brunei.

When I mentioned to friends and family that we were in Brunei, there was a moment of silence, followed by, "where is it?" Brunei is a micro-nation that occupies a sliver of coastal land between the two Malaysian states, Sarawak and Sabah. It is only 5,700 square miles and the population is around 276,000 people. The country has one of the oldest monarchical systems in the world and was mentioned in Chinese records as early as the 6th century in the Tang Dynasty under the name of Poli or Puni. The present Sultan Hj. Hassanal Bolkiah, is the 29th sultan from a family line dating back to the 15th century when Brunei was a powerful kingdom, extending its supremacy all the way to the Philippines. However, over the centuries this power declined until the British took it over in the 19th century. At one point, it was in danger of amalgamation with its neighbor but the discovery of oil in the 1920s, allowed it to develop into a strong, wealthy nation in its own right. It gained independent from England in 1984 and became a constitution monarchy with a democratic government. Brunei is a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and is the third largest producer of oil in the region and the fourth largest producer of liquefied natural gas in the world, giving its inhabitants a high standard of living. According to what we read, we thought the streets were paved with gold and everybody drives a Mercedes but we were in for a big surprise.

We arrived in front of the Royal Brunei Yacht Club in the early evening. A favorable wind allowed us to be ahead of our estimate time of arrival (ETA). Since it was too late to check into the country, we had dinner on board, watched a movie and went to bed. The next morning we launched the dinghy and motored 5 or 10 minutes to Serasa ferry terminal. Checking in was painless, first, the port master, then immigration, and last customs. The three departments were all at the ferry terminal building and we completed the process within an hour.

The Royal Brunei Yacht Club (RBYC) building is of British colonial design. The dining area is open and spacious with white square tables and plastic white chairs. It has an excellent sea and beach view. The bar sells non-alcoholic drinks, since Brunei is under Muslim law and no alcohol is sold in the country. However, 17-year-olds and older may bring in two liters of wine or spirits or 24 cans of beer from Labuan, Malaysia, a twenty-minute ferry ride away. The country does not suffer from lack of alcohol. Most yacht club patrons appeared to be ex-pats who bought their own alcohol. There is a swimming pool surrounded by trellis intertwined with blooming vines. Underneath the shade of the trellis were tables and lounge chairs that appeared to be a favorite place for ex-pat women and children to enjoy the pool and beach. I thought they were snobbish, no smile or greeting from them. Evidently the country imports many "experts" from western countries like England, Australia, America and other places, maybe to work in the oil industry or government. The ex-pat wives are able to hire cheap immigrant workers as domestic servants to cook and clean and, with a deposable income higher than they would get at home, they have a pretty good life.

One of the reasons countries like Brunei hire ex-pat advisers and/or experts could be to keep the corruption and nepotism in check. Evidently Brunei did not manage either very well because a spoiled prince named Jefri stole billions of dollars while he was the chief finance minister. He spent $US 4 billion on himself and there was an estimated $16 billion missing when he left office. In his personal procession, he has, or had, 2000 cars, 9 private jets, five luxury hotels overseas (The Beverly Hill Hotel in Los Angeles included) plus numerous lavish residences. He has five wives and thirty-five children. He was charged of embezzlement in 2004 but the charge was dropped unexpectedly in 2006. The Sultan tried desperately to recover the losses by selling some of the rides from Jerudong (an amusement park that Jefri built) to other amusement parks around the world. He also turned Jefri's guest beach house into the Empire Hotel. Nevertheless, Prince Jefri was a royal disgrace.

From the Yacht Club we hitched a ride to the bus station in nearby Muara. It is a small town, a little bit rundown and dirty. We were expecting an elegant bus but instead, it was a second-hand rattler with rubbish on the floor. The seats were rudimentary and engine was loud and noisy. Most the people on the bus appeared to be immigrant workers going to or from work. We realized that the country is filled with poor immigrant workers who do the manual labor; even the kitchen and dining staff at the Yacht Club are Filipinos. The cost of living is reasonable. For example, the bus fare from the yacht club to the capital city, Bandar Seri Begawan, a one-hour bus ride, is only $US1. We had a delicious dinner at a Japanese restaurant for about $US20 but we did not stop at a store so we could not compare prices and products.

We had a nice cup of latte at a cozy little coffee shop on the main street of the capital city, the only city in the country. At the same time, Ted had a good Skype conversation with Alan Riches, who manages the single-side band (SSB) radio and Sailmail repeater station. SSB and HAM stations are strategically placed around the world so people like us can communication while at sea without Internet. HAM radio is a hobby to many people who like to communicate with others in different parts of the world. They also coordinate communications during emergencies. Anyway, Ted has been using the Brunei repeater station since we were in Indonesia. It was meaningful for him to chat with Allen and ask questions about Sailmail and access to weather reports etc. When we got out of the coffee shop it was too late to visit the museum so we wandered to the harbor area to look at the river. We saw a village with uniform looking houses on stilts in the water on the other side. There were long wooden, open boats buzzing around the harbor like bees. One of them motioned us to come aboard so we approached to check the price. He told us that it cost $B1 to go across to the village or $B20 to tour the villages. Brunei and Singapore money have the same value and the country uses both so we used our "leftover" money from Singapore and they accepted it without blinking an eye. The exchange rate is $B0.75 to $US1 so it was about $15 for the tour of the area. First he took us to see the old houses; all of which were on stilts, some stilts were concrete but most were made of wood. The water taxi man told us that the wooden stilts only last a few months. They use boards and/or corrugated iron for house sidings. Most of the buildings we saw at first seemed dilapidated; however there were still people living in some of them even though we were told the government is building new houses for them. Every so often there was a small jetty with a covered roof and a large number on facing. It was explained to us that they were "bus stops" where students waited for the school boat to pick them up. We passed many large schools built on the water among the houses. As we continued to move toward the new village, we spotted two small crocodiles in the water, we are sure the children would not be swimming in the water that they live on. Besides, we saw pipes going into the water from the houses! The boat man said the tide would carry the waste to the ocean.

We went on to a newer water village that was a vast improvement on the old village. They were like modular homes; same designs, materials and colors. We saw children biking down the concrete sidewalks. There were primary, elementary and high schools in different buildings and locations. We saw a post office, fire station and police station all on stilts in the water amongst the houses. The tour was an eye opener for both of us. We have never seen anything like it before.

The second day, Ted had to do our income tax so we spent all day at the yacht club. I had a swim in the pool. We also purchased 200 liters of diesel for only $US.26 a liter. Even after we paid the man at the yacht club $60 to transport it, it was still a super bargain. We were only in Brunei for three days but it left a great impression on us. We would like to spend more time there to explore more of its history, culture and people.