| 13th March 2006 Caught an early ferry to Brunei and got through customs really easily - everyone loves the English because of David Beckham and Michael Owen!! Jumped on a bus into the centre of Bandar, passing much bigger houses - obviously a much richer country. Found a nice hotel - they don't have the budget digs we're used to!! Explored the city - started with Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque - very beautiful on the outside, but inside we were only allowed into one 'room' which wasn't as impressive as I thought it would be. The stained glass (from England) and the ceiling were pretty, but other parts are supposed to be a lot better! We had to wear long black robes and leave our shoes outside. Then walked to the river and caught a water taxi for a tour of Kampung Ayer - the 'Venice of the East' - a water village where over 30 thousand people live in houses on stilts over the water. Most are quite run down, but then there's the odd one that's painted in bright colours or with lots of baskets of flowers, and the locals are so friendly - all waving and shouting hello! We asked the driver to take us up to the Sultan's palace but he said he couldn't - instead we had a hairy ride back. The water taxis are nicknamed 'flying coffins; because of their shape and speed over the choppy waters. When they get to the steps that lead down to the water they speed up and then lauch up them so you can step off! We caught a bus to the Sultan's gaff, but couldn't see anything from the road - could only look through the huge gates at his driveway and many security guards - who were very nice and said we could take photos............... of what???? Richest man in the world (earning and estimated US$5 million a day) and he didn't even ask us in for a cup of tea and a sticky bun - I don't know!! Gave up with that and caught the bus back, used the interent and managed not to pay because the man behind the counter thought we already had? Then went back to the hotel to cool off and wait for dark! TV in our room had a movie channel so we watched Ghost!!! After dinner we caught another water taxi to take us to the back of the Sultan's palace up the river - this one agreed to it, but we now know why the one during the day didn't - can't see anything again!! Could only see the top of a building and the gold dome lit up at night - waste of time! Supposed to be bigger than Buckingham Palace, but at least you can see BP!! So that was Brunei done in a day!! 14th March 2006 Alarm went off at 6.30am, but our good intentions of catching the first ferry back to Lebuan went out the window! Absolutely pouring with rain outside, huge thunderstorm, didn't fancy finding our way to the ferry so stayed in bed until the reasonable time of 9.30! Had breakfast, then geared up in our waterproofs to walk to the bus station. By the time we got there were soaked from sweat rather than rain - might be dull and raining but it's still hot!! Waited for ages for a bus, but it finally arrived and got us to the ferry terminal in time to buy a ticket, get through customs and board immediately! Back in Lebuan we discovered that the 3pm ferry to KK on the timetable, only runs on Friday to Sunday, so I got in a mood but managed to find out there was a speedboat that could take us over to the mainland, from where we could get a bus to KK - so we did that and it worked out slightly cheaper, however we didn't get back to KK until 7pm because the bus was a mini bus and we had to wait until it was full! Spoke to two Filipino boys - one was the spitting image of Robert Brett (but with black hair) and the other asked if I could find him an English girl to marry so that he could get a passport to England - thought of the email from Kelly regarding finding a man for Sheila immediately!!!!!!!! Nahhhh!!! 15th March 2006 Had to spend the day in KK as we couldn't get a flight to Kuala Lumpar until tomorrow. Went back to the Filipino market and bought a bowl and then posted some stuff home - we might arrive home before that does!!! Had the best indian ever for dinner, sitting by the waterfront watching a gorgeous sunset - shame I forgot the camera! 16th March 2006 Got ourselves organised and caught a bus to the airport rather than a taxi and then found we were at the wrong terminal and had to get a taxi to the correct one, which cost the same as a taxi to the airport from the city centre - just our luck! Checked in and had to wait for two hours at the worst airport ever - nowhere to buy food or drink and we weren't allowed into the air con departure lounge until just before we had to board our plane! Had to buy the food on the plane as we were wasting away (!!) - expensive and the we had really bad turbulence, thought the plane was dropping out of the sky..... we were talkig to the man next to me about a tourism fair that he was part of in KL, he suggested that we go along, but 'only if we survive this plane ride' - thanks - just what I wanted to hear!!! Managed to phone ahead and book a room at the Coliseum hotel - 'They don't make them like KL's most famous old-style hotel any more. The lobby bar is deliciously seedy, oozes atmosphere and is full of exotic characters' - sounded interesting and dirt cheap!! We then managed to get 3 day tickets to the Malaysian Grand Prix starting tomorrow, so Terry was happy! Got a coach from the airport that dropped us at the hotel and the driver said the hotel was ok for just sleeping in - normally means it's horrible, but we were pleasantly surprised - huge pub style room, that was clean enough and the showers weren't so bad!! Went to Chinatown for dinner, walking past some amazing buildings like the Magistrate's Court and then some decrepit ones - one just had one wall remaining! There were lots of fairy lights in the trees too which was pretty, but far too much traffic - a very busy city! 17th March 2006 Got up early and caught a train to KLCC - the site of the Petronas Twin Towers - the highest twin towers in the world. Queued for our free tickets to go up to the skybridge - between the two towers at the 41st and 42nd floors. The sheer scale is breathtaking and below the towers is a huge 6 storey shopping mall with all the designer names. From the skybridge, 170 metres from street level, you can see out at all the other scyscrapers and we were already higher than most with another 47 storeys on top of us! First day of the Grand Prix, but decided to see KL today and go for the next two days. Went to the World Trade Centre for the travel fair, but you had to pay to get in, so we just popped into to the Tourist Info and managed to book a trip into the rainforest with a discount because the fair was on!! Back at our room we had an afternoon nap, before going out for dinner at the central market. Poured with rain after that - we got drenched, stayed under cover using the internet and then found an Irish pub to celebrate St Paddy's Day - I even drank Guinness - bought by our token Irish person!!! |