PART ONE: BRUNEI BOUND It was a spectacular late Autumn day to arrive in England en route to the Antipodes, even better calling in at Fontwell Park in colouful leafy Sussex which produced three wins and a second place to top up the holiday fund. The 16 hour flight to Brunei had already extended to 23 hours, a late departure of two hours and a double whammy of takeoffs and landings at Abu Dhabi didn't help either and that was just the nerves. The stopover in the Emirates increased to four hours, from one and a half, but finally the cockpit computer problem had been rectified. No Prayer  | | Houses built on stilts on top of the Brunei River |
Now the real concern, the prayer given out and available to everyone on the big screen and offered after every takeoff by Royal Brunei had on this second takeoff been forgotten. Fortunately the remaining flight once airborne was as smooth and pleasant as the earlier leg from London and by mid afternoon on whatever day, maybe the following one, we were safely touching down 250 miles north of the equator in a very sultry temperature at Brunei on the island of Borneo. Social Paradise Brunei is run competely by the Sultan, he heads the government and his royal departments, but nobody in their right minds would run off to the equivalent of the European Court of Appeal when the locals pay no tax, have 100% school and University fees accomodated, enjoy lavish new shopping facilities in the capital Bandar, a town of about 40,000 built either side of the Brunei River. In addition most of the 3 lane highways were empty, apart from the school run when many gleaming 4 wheel drives appeared, the cost of petrol (it is an oil producing country) translated into 15p a litre, all bus journeys were set at 1$ Brunei, about 30p, and a visit to the doctor worked out also at 30p in our money. Now if those of you who rushed into Jersey in the early 70's boom are contemplating another move across the globe as Jersey runs out of dosh, here's the bad news. Brunei has an 18 year housing qualification period backed up by tight work permits which have been in force for many years, prospective emloyers are responsible too for housing immigrants. The result, a population maintained at 330,000, and benefitting from very good social welfare, zilch gaffitti, and a very secure main town even at nightime. Alone in the park So in this social paradise on the following day I decided to take a number 55 bus to Jerudong Park, about an hour out of town (fare30p) through the semi-bush suburban region.  | | Richard Collinson standing at the foot of a Bridge in the Brunei Rainforest |
I left the bus at Jerudong discovering an enormous shining new multi million dollar theme park, fountains everywhere,but wait, just a couple of things missing, that's people and activity! I was totally alone with just the sound of the many spectacular fountains for company and the searing humidity. After discovering the complex opens only evenings and weekends and having conducted my own tour around the park which is close to the ocean, the next hurdle was to find a bus stop and even more hopefully a bus back to Bandar. Outside the ornate mosque seemed a good bet, pilgrims would need transport I suspected and as if on the magic call "abacadabara" around the corner came an empty number 55. I needn't have waved my body around like some paranoid whirling dervish, the bus was slowing anyway. I eagerly paid my Brunei Dollar and enjoyed the hour's journey back into the town. Ramadhan With Ramadhan in full swing no one is eating between 8AM and 5PM, the fasting period its an extremely quiet period but a good time to be visiting Brunei with restaurants offering four course meals at "Fiverfeste" prices. The following day however was going to be much more adventurous as I travelled way up the muddy Brunei river, up country and right into the heart of the rainforest, I'll bring you more of that in chapter two. Your story We want you to tell us all about your favourite holidays, they could be to England to stay with family or to the other side of the world, like the story above. Email jersey@bbc.co.uk with your story. Talk to each other  For an open and live debate on this or any subject that matters to you why not visit the BBC Jersey message boards and start a discussion on the subject.
Unlike the comments in our discussions on this site the message boards allow for live debate and discussion so visit get talking by visiting the message boards now.
 | You are inYour Space > Your Travel > Richard Collinson > Australia Visit | |
| 
