Awake and ready by 8 am that was us this morning. Ready to try round 2 of this tour. We were in luck this morning and our tour guide Mei was here early ready to go on the tour. (Amy from the end of the day here, we are currently at the time our night tour was meant to be before we swapped to a morning tour and it is currently torrentially raining and thunderstorming. It was very lucky we swapped the tour to the morning.)
Anyway Mei picked us up and drove us down to the wharf while discussing all about Brunei with us. She told us that the average Bruneian owns an average of 3 cars. The cost for each car is petrol currently 53c a litre for 97, insurance for the year is $140 and they pay rego of $30 for the year. Crazy stats! We were telling her how much it is back home and she was so shocked. Mei took us down to the newest bridge in Brunei Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Hajah Saleha Bridge and explained it is 157m tall in the centre becuase that is the Sultans birthdate. It connects the CBD with the back of the water villages.
We were then down on the docks and waiting for our boat. Our boat guide was a local man called Hasrin who came and picked us up. The boats here are long wooden boats that are run by a motor on the back. We have seen so many locals just stepping onto these little boats and they make it look so easy but it was so hard to walk straight on and balance! You step in from this small area on the front of the boat.
We started our river cruise from this jetty along side Kampong Ayer. Kampong Ayer or the Water Village is the largest water settlement in the world. It is a self contained community with its own mosques, schools, stores, fire, police and gas stations, etc. Dubbed as the Venice of the East, it has existed for more than 600 years. Mei told us because it is sitting in salt water the residents have to chnge the poles/stilts under their houses every 3-5 years. We would be coming back here later so we raced on to the mangoves.
I have wanted to explore Borneo for the longest time! I always thought my first trip to the island of Borneo would involve looking for Orangutans. However today we we heading out to look for another endangered monkey which can only be found on the island of Borneo - The proboscis monkey. We spent an hour out on the river exploring he mangroves and looking for wildlife. This untouched jungle in Brunei was absolutely breathtaking. Mei saud 73% of Brunei is still untouched jungle which is pretty amazing.
We saw so many kingfishers flying across the waterways. We saw heaps of small saltwater crocodiles and lots on monitors. Finally we saw movement in the trees and saw a proboscis monkey. Even with her giant nose she was adorable and we got to watch her move around the trees. We were so lucky she came right into view. We also got to watch a small troop of monkeys playing around the banks, one even found a water bottle that he opened up. It was such a magical trip and our guides were just as excited as we were.
On the way back our Hasrin took us through Kampong Ayer. It was so interesting to see all the houses and connected board walks. He then invited us into his house into the water village. We had to climb off the boat onto his tiny stepped landing, which was a little bit terrifying. Then he showed us into his house and offered us snacks and coffee - all of which were delicious. It was so lovely. The houses are just like houses on land and feel just as sturdy. We met his little six month old baby Aisha who was adorable. It was such a lovely experience and he was so proud sharing everything with us.
Once we had safely gotten Back on the boat and not fallen off the tiny steps we headed back to finish up the tour. It was such a great experience all round. Mei dropped us back at the hotel.
We had decided to do one more thing before lunch and head to a different mosque. There are only certain hours they let non muslims into the mosque so we thought we would give it a crack. We took a car to Jame’ Asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque. This mosque is beautiful it has 29 gleaming golden domes, which represent each of Brunei’s hereditary sultans. It was built in 1994 to honour the Silver Jubilee of the Sultan’s reign, and it is the tallest building in the country. We entered, took off our shoes and put on the robes they provided to go and explore. The main prayer room was golden and magnificent. The dome in there is decorated with solid gold. The whole mosque is made of polished marble floors, elegant columns, and huge water features. It was great to look around.
We headed back to the hotel to beat the midday heat. The hotel has a japanese resturant so we headed there for a super cheap fancy lunch.
After the midday heat we thought a walk in the jungle park - Tasek Lama Recreational Park. But man was it hot and sweaty. It was a stunning place and we saw monkeys and got to check out the waterfall but it was just so hot so after an hour we took a car back to get coffee.
We headed to one of the coffee shops owned by one of the princes of Brunei. It was pretty good, Anthony has been very impressed with the coffee here.
We wanted to check out some art work on the way back to the hotel! We just got to see all the cool art work before it started torrentially raining and we had to go seek shelter in another coffee shop.
We finally made it back to the hotel through a huge thunderstorm and settled down for the night. It has been a great 2 days exploring Brunei. I really have loved visiting this country!