Monday, August 15, 2005
East Malaysia menu (part… 4 or 5?)
DAY #11 (28/7 Thursday)
Miri - Brunei
The trip to Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB for short – throughout the journey, I kept on having Backstreet Boys’ songs playing in my head!!!) was quite bad. I left Miri around 10:30 am and reached BSB at about 3:30 pm!!!! At the end of the journey, me neck ache which I thought left me for good came back! Sigh…
It was quite madness actually. The bus took me to the Malaysian border where we got out and got our passports stamped. Back on the bus to the Brunei border. We got out, took all our luggage, went thru immigration and then waited for a Brunei bus to get us. The bus took us to a river where we got out wif all our luggage, onto a small sampan which took us across a river. Onto another bus which took us to Kuala Belait. From there, we had to change bus again to Seria. At Seria, change bus again. and the Brunei buses dun have aircond!
Thank God the youth hostel there had aircond dorms! The weather there was blazing hot!!!! I tried to go out but in the end decided to shelter in the main shopping complex for a couple of hours. When the sun was setting, I walked along the Brunei river fascinated by all the speedboats ferrying people across to the Kampung Ayer (Water Village).
Had dinner by the riverside. Nice food! On the way back to the hostel, I realised that certain streets are closed to cars. They were having a celebration near the town square area. Quite happening. Food stalls all over, people hanging around, kicking inflatable balls around, kids having the time of their life. It was carnival-like atmosphere. By the time I got back and showered, it was almost time to sleep. Me dorm mate, a guy from Liverpool came back later than me and we chatted for quite a while.
DAY #12 (29/7 Friday)
Brunei
Went to the tourist info centre. Found out the celebrations thingy is in conjunction wif the Sultan’s 59th birthday.
Decided to spend the whole day in museums! Unfortunately, I chose the wrong day to spend a full day there. Everything closes at 11:30 right up til 2:30 every Fridays.
So at 11:30, I decided to walk in the hot blazing sun to a park outside the town area – a 30 mins walk… only to find out that the park is closed for repairs!!!!!
Went back to the hostel, did some laundry and slept!
After that, more museums. It wasn’t really as good as I expected. I feel that the Kuching museum is by far the best – and it was free!!! On top of that, the museum was out of town – and I was out of water! By the time I got back to town, I was all sweaty, dehydrated and had a massive migraine! I got me water and sat in the shopping complex for close to an hour!!!!
After that, I took a speedboat across to the Kampung Ayer (thanks to the recommendation of me dorm mate). It was really nice and interesting. People there were frenly, kite flying was the main past-time, and the village itself was really interesting!
That was it, tho. After that was dinner, shower, chat wif Liverpudlian again and then sleep.
To be honest, save for the Sultan’s birthday celebration and the very interesting Kampung Ayer (the real Venice of the East), BSB was a big disappointment for me. It was kinda run down and dirty, not wat I expected from the capital of one of the richest countries in the world!
DAY #13 (30/7 Saturday)
Brunei – Kota Kinabalu
Another crazy travelling day! Took a bus from town to the main jetty up north. Was gonna take a ferry to the town of Lawas in Sarawak and then a bus to either Beaufort or to KK.
Met a Malaysian. Man, he sure could talk! He talked non-stop during our 20 min wait for the bus and throughout the 40 min bus journey!!! But I din really mind and he was interesting to listen to! I guess he was just glad to meet another Malaysian!
Was really worried about the ferry journey after my nightmare last year when I took a ferry from KK to Labuan. But thank God, it was calm waters ALL THE WAY! The boat was pretty spacious too and I could look out of the window. In the end, I watched some lame Chinese movie throughout the whole journey (it starred Ng Man tat so you can guess wat kind of movie it is!!!).
From Lawas, a bus picked us up from the jetty and headed straight to KK. No time for lunch. Again, it was a nightmare journey. By the time I got onto the bus, there was only one seat left which was on the left side of the bus. So I got the sun on me throughout the entire journey!!! Wat made it worse was that the aircond broke down!!!! It was a 5 hour bus ride in a crowded bus wif no aircond, windows can’t open and the sun on me!!!!
I was so glad to reach KK!!!
Check out the pics taken during my stay at Brunei here and here!
To be continued…
Miri - Brunei
The trip to Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB for short – throughout the journey, I kept on having Backstreet Boys’ songs playing in my head!!!) was quite bad. I left Miri around 10:30 am and reached BSB at about 3:30 pm!!!! At the end of the journey, me neck ache which I thought left me for good came back! Sigh…
It was quite madness actually. The bus took me to the Malaysian border where we got out and got our passports stamped. Back on the bus to the Brunei border. We got out, took all our luggage, went thru immigration and then waited for a Brunei bus to get us. The bus took us to a river where we got out wif all our luggage, onto a small sampan which took us across a river. Onto another bus which took us to Kuala Belait. From there, we had to change bus again to Seria. At Seria, change bus again. and the Brunei buses dun have aircond!
Thank God the youth hostel there had aircond dorms! The weather there was blazing hot!!!! I tried to go out but in the end decided to shelter in the main shopping complex for a couple of hours. When the sun was setting, I walked along the Brunei river fascinated by all the speedboats ferrying people across to the Kampung Ayer (Water Village).
Had dinner by the riverside. Nice food! On the way back to the hostel, I realised that certain streets are closed to cars. They were having a celebration near the town square area. Quite happening. Food stalls all over, people hanging around, kicking inflatable balls around, kids having the time of their life. It was carnival-like atmosphere. By the time I got back and showered, it was almost time to sleep. Me dorm mate, a guy from Liverpool came back later than me and we chatted for quite a while.
DAY #12 (29/7 Friday)
Brunei
Went to the tourist info centre. Found out the celebrations thingy is in conjunction wif the Sultan’s 59th birthday.
Decided to spend the whole day in museums! Unfortunately, I chose the wrong day to spend a full day there. Everything closes at 11:30 right up til 2:30 every Fridays.
So at 11:30, I decided to walk in the hot blazing sun to a park outside the town area – a 30 mins walk… only to find out that the park is closed for repairs!!!!!
Went back to the hostel, did some laundry and slept!
After that, more museums. It wasn’t really as good as I expected. I feel that the Kuching museum is by far the best – and it was free!!! On top of that, the museum was out of town – and I was out of water! By the time I got back to town, I was all sweaty, dehydrated and had a massive migraine! I got me water and sat in the shopping complex for close to an hour!!!!
After that, I took a speedboat across to the Kampung Ayer (thanks to the recommendation of me dorm mate). It was really nice and interesting. People there were frenly, kite flying was the main past-time, and the village itself was really interesting!
That was it, tho. After that was dinner, shower, chat wif Liverpudlian again and then sleep.
To be honest, save for the Sultan’s birthday celebration and the very interesting Kampung Ayer (the real Venice of the East), BSB was a big disappointment for me. It was kinda run down and dirty, not wat I expected from the capital of one of the richest countries in the world!
DAY #13 (30/7 Saturday)
Brunei – Kota Kinabalu
Another crazy travelling day! Took a bus from town to the main jetty up north. Was gonna take a ferry to the town of Lawas in Sarawak and then a bus to either Beaufort or to KK.
Met a Malaysian. Man, he sure could talk! He talked non-stop during our 20 min wait for the bus and throughout the 40 min bus journey!!! But I din really mind and he was interesting to listen to! I guess he was just glad to meet another Malaysian!
Was really worried about the ferry journey after my nightmare last year when I took a ferry from KK to Labuan. But thank God, it was calm waters ALL THE WAY! The boat was pretty spacious too and I could look out of the window. In the end, I watched some lame Chinese movie throughout the whole journey (it starred Ng Man tat so you can guess wat kind of movie it is!!!).
From Lawas, a bus picked us up from the jetty and headed straight to KK. No time for lunch. Again, it was a nightmare journey. By the time I got onto the bus, there was only one seat left which was on the left side of the bus. So I got the sun on me throughout the entire journey!!! Wat made it worse was that the aircond broke down!!!! It was a 5 hour bus ride in a crowded bus wif no aircond, windows can’t open and the sun on me!!!!
I was so glad to reach KK!!!
Check out the pics taken during my stay at Brunei here and here!
To be continued…
// posted by imissw @ 5:40:00 pm 
Comments:
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I'm surprised you think Kch's museum is the best of the lot! I think it's soooooooo run down and poorly managed. Nothing like it was when I was a kid. Anyway, didn't you go to the museum in bsb with all the gold gold stuff? I forget what it's called but basically almost every exhibit in there is made of gold.:P
wow! someone actually reads my east malaysia posts!!!
i did go to a museum which was dedicated to the sultan - everything about him but din see much "gold gold stuffs" (no gold toiolet paper too!). but i was in a rush as they were closing at 11:30 am for prayers.
wat was interesting tho were the gifts given by head of states when they visited Brunei. guess wat our beloved Dr. Mahatir gave? A CLOCK!!!!! (you have to be chinese to understand the significance of giving a clock to someone! so ok, Mahatir is not chinese, neither is the sultan. but still, i found it pretty amusing!).
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i did go to a museum which was dedicated to the sultan - everything about him but din see much "gold gold stuffs" (no gold toiolet paper too!). but i was in a rush as they were closing at 11:30 am for prayers.
wat was interesting tho were the gifts given by head of states when they visited Brunei. guess wat our beloved Dr. Mahatir gave? A CLOCK!!!!! (you have to be chinese to understand the significance of giving a clock to someone! so ok, Mahatir is not chinese, neither is the sultan. but still, i found it pretty amusing!).
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