September 3,

Happy Birthday to a nephew of ours!

We were up and about sooner than I thought we would. Jeff went out and got us some water. He’d left by 0745, and came back with a large 15l bottle! Meanwhile, I awoke at 0755. We readied, had our Javas, then went down to breakfast at 0900. Our breakfasts are included in our hotel booking up to 3 BND (Brunei Dollar), which is $2.33. I had Kolo Mee, which is “dry tossed noodles.” It was topped with meat, seasoning and shallots. Jeff had Black Pepper Chicken Dim Sum (or Sui Mai). He only had four small dumplings, while mine was a whole bowl full. Good thing we share! Both were nicely flavored. Mine also came with a broth soup.

Anyway, we finished and went back up to our room. It had rained sometime last night, but neither of us had been aware of it. The sky was blue with puffy white clouds, so we decided to head out. We were heading to the Mosque here in Brunei. It was only a short walking distance from our Jubilee Hotel. We walked through a mostly empty food court, at least during the day. The most activity was from a group of monkeys! We haven’t seen food court monkeys since India. Further at the end of the food court were some stalls that were open. Mostly selling veggies, fruits and spices. There were a couple selling trinkets. One guy was actually drawing. I stopped to see and we actually bought two things. Brunei souvenirs for our sisters!

As we continued going, we walked along the waterfront. We were stopped by a guy offering a two hour boat excursion. We talked it over and changed our plans. Jeff explained he needed to get money first. The guy said okay and showed us where to meet him. I hung out and waited. The guy pulled up (I thought) and I hung out there. Jeff returned from the ATM. We were boarding this boat, when the real guy showed up. Totally my bad, but it worked out. Our original guy talked with the other guy that I mistakenly took for our driver. No problem, we moved over to his boat and set off.

He drove us past the Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque, the Jame’ Asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque, and the Palace of the Sultan – all through the main part of the capital city. The driver gave us a butter, milk bun snack and a medium bottle of water each. That was unexpected and very nice! Then we seemed to go out of the city, as the banks of the Brunei River turned all jungle ladened. But if you looked through the trees on one side of us you could see buildings & homes, and you could always hear traffic. It was nice being out on the river and its cooling effect.

We saw a couple of troops of monkeys swinging through the trees. We passed a couple of boats with other tourists. The drivers exchanged info. We moved on motoring along. Our driver pointed out a crocodile. Finally, we were coming back and he spotted a troop of Proboscis Monkeys. We could see homes not far away. It was crazy! They were very close. We even heard the male honk as we approached his bank!! I don’t think I will ever forget their honking… it is most illogical! 😂 We continued back along the floating village of Brunei. Our driver took us along the homes, pointing out a hospital, police station, and schools all built on stilts out over the water of the river. It was quite a fun excursion and lasted 2 hours, then he took us back to where we boarded.

Now we went back to our place. The Mosque we had wanted to visit was closed for visitors as it was prayer time. We had a snack/light lunch of a snack mix. At 1630 we walked back out and went to the Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque. I forgot a head covering, so I had to don a hooded robe. We had to take off our shoes of course, but we were able to go inside. It was very white with accents of blue and gold on the walls and the ceiling. We were only allowed in a roped off area. There was a nice domed ceiling, and we were able to take pictures. It was stunning. Jeff expressed that it was smaller inside than he thought… same as the Taj Mahal.

We exited and walked around the outside. The exterior gold domes gleamed in the long cast sun rays. Along one side is a moat of water and a boat monument. We left, went to a nearby mall and checked out their food court. We liked the food stall, called Zaitoon. I had a Grilled Fish Claypot Briyani and Jeff had Pepper Lamb. Both dishes were great, especially for mall food. I had lemon tea and Jeff had a mango shake. It cost us around 24 BND or around $18.50.

We left, seeing very dark skies and went back to our place to miss a deluge of water that seemed to be eminent! We watched a movie and then went to bed! What a blessed day experience in Brunei!