I don’t know what we’ve done, to upset the Sultan of Brunei, but those of us with Aussie passports had to pay 10 Euros for a Transit Visa. Here’s the list of countries that need Transit Visas: Australia, Argentina, Mexico, Monaco. That’s it! Get Kevin 07 onto it!
We went on a tour of Bandar Siri Bagawan today. Apparently each new Sultan builds a new mosque in his own honour –each one outdoing the previous. These mosques are amazing – the sultans of Brunei are amongst the richest people in the world. I find Islamic Art and Architecture very appealing. It’s so symmetrical and geometric. The mosques and the Sultan’s palace all have gold domes and are richly decorated with repeated motifs (not pictures), often in blue. They never seem to look tacky or overdone, due to the repeated patterns and the grand scale of the buildings.
Sadly we never get to see the insides of the mosques as we are not allowed to enter.
Whenever there is extreme wealth, however, there always seems to be extreme poverty to go with it. Right near the Sultan’s Palace is what is called a “Water Village”. This is a village of houses that are built in the river, on stilts. I have seen these before – in Hong Kong and in Thailand. Wherever they are they indicate poverty – the houses are basic and they are often destroyed in floods. The one here is called Kampong Ayer and is the largest in the world. Some people call it the “Venice of the East”, but that romanticises it somewhat. Apparently people choose to live there and it now has electricity and concrete boat piers and so on. We went by boat (of course) and had morning tea in one of the houses. It is amazing to see how people live – with pets, pot-plants and so on. But is would still have damp air coming through the floor and stinking water. The amount of rubbish in the water is a worry. I do hope they are making the money out of us tourists and it doesn’t all go into the coffers of the Sultan.
