Brunei Darussalam Travel Guide

By webmaster on May 27, 2008 in Brunei Darussalam

Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, or Bandar as it’s known locally, is the capital of Brunei and the sultanate’s only settlement of any real size. Straddling the northern bank of a twist in the Sungei Brunei, the city is characterized by its unlikely juxtaposition of striking modern buildings (the latest and most impressive being the twin malls of the Yayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah shopping complex) and traditional stilt houses. These stilt houses make up the water village, or Kampung Ayer, Brunei’s original seat of power and still home to half the city’s population.

Indeed, as recently as the middle of the nineteenth century, Brunei’s capital was little more than a sleepy water village, but with the discovery of oil came its evolution into the attractive, clean and modern waterfront city of today. Large-scale urbanization took place north of the Sungei Brunei, resulting in housing schemes, shopping centres and, more obviously, the magnificent Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque, which dominates the skyline of Bandar. First-time visitors are pleasantly surprised by a sense of space that’s rare in Southeast Asian cities. However, Bandar isn’t somewhere you’re likely to stay for long: most of its sights can be seen in a day or two.

You might end up staying a bit longer if you use it as a base to explore outlying attractions such as Temburong and Tutong. Tourism in Brunei is still in its infancy and is not yet seen as a moneyspinner, so you’ll find that many sites in the capital have no entrance charge.

Kuala Belait, Brunei Darussalam

It’s a little under 85km from Bandar to Brunei’s second biggest town, KUALA BELAIT. There’s nothing very enticing here, but it’s the main transit point for buses to and from Miri in Sarawak. Buses to Sarawak leave from the bus station on the intersection of Jalan Bunga Raya and Jalan McKerron (B$10.20); the fare includes the ferry across Sungei Belait and the connecting Sarawakian bus over the border. The town’s taxi stand is across the road from the bus station: drivers charge around B$100 for a full car to Miri, though you should be able to haggle them down substantially. To get to Kuala Belait from Bandar, you have to go via Seria, 20km east (see “Travel Details”).

Jalan McKerron houses several good restaurants – the best of which are the Buccaneer Steakhouse at no. 94, whose mid-priced international food is aimed squarely at the expat market, and the New Akhbar Restaurant, at no. 99a, with a Malay and North Indian menu.

Raya’s Orchid Room, on Jalan Bunga, does good-value three-course Western set lunches (Mon–Fri; B$6). Next door to the Buccaneer Steakhouse at no. 93, Hotel Sentosa (tel 03/331345; $40–60) offers well-appointed and welcoming rooms. You can change money at the HSBC, diagonally opposite the bus station, and there’s an internet café, Netcom Computer House, on Jalan Pretty – a minute’s walk from the bus terminal.