First Impressions of Brunei.

[rayke1938]

First impressions were very favorable from the outset.

No hassles with immigration or customs.

It only took 30 minutes to leave airport and most of that time was waiting for baggage to be unloaded.

The traffic is very light with a great road system.

Unleaded is 50c per litre and diesel 30cents per litre.

Everything is very clean and tidy with no graffiti.

For citizens Education is free with kids attending school for 4 hours a day with instruction in English. If they are Muslim they are required to attend religious instruction for the afternoon.

Doctor visits cost $1 plus $1 for all medication.

Hospitals are free and if overseas treatment is necessary it is also free plus the fares for an accompanied relative are paid for by the Government.

All foreigners have to pay full price.

The majority of workers are foreigners who come in on a 2 year work permit and then have to leave for at least 2 weeks before they are allowed back.

We had an overnight stopover and the next morning we had about 4 hours to spare in Brunei before flying on to Bangkok so I went for a bit of a walk around the area near our hotel.

Here are the photos.

Water taxis charge $1 for around a 3k trip. The majority are owned by ex public servants who retire at 55 and buy a taxi for around $5000 to supplement their pension.

They are all traditional wooden craft and 99% powered by 60 hp yamaha enduros.

Note the different construction around the transom.

They are also used to transport goods to the market.

Dried shrimp for sale

Dried fish

More dried fish

Shrimp

Fresh fish

Fish drying in sun

Shrimp drying on sun

Entrance to soccer pitch. ( I think )

Soccer pitch.

This mosque is in the process of having the gold leaf on the dome being replaced.

Back to the market . Fresh produce for sale.

Fast food stall.

More to come later.

Cheers

Ray

[jeff f]

looks like an interesting place

amazing what sitting on a pool of oil does for the economy

[shortie]

the grounds around that soccer pitch re amazing. just beautiful

[Dinodadog]

Reminds me of Vietnam with all the fish drying in the sun

[rayke1938]

The amazing thing about the open air markets was that there were no flies of insects around. Only pests evident were scrawny cats and monkeys trying to steal things.

Cheers

Ray