DAY 57---MUARA, BRUNEI

 

                                                Over view of where we are in Asia.

We are docked today at Muara, Brunei. (yellow arrow in red circle).  Hazy morning and 82 degrees at 10am when we arrived.

Historical/Background:

        We were here in 2010 on that world cruise.  Brunei is located on the north coast of the island of Borneo.  It is the only sovereign state entirely on Borneo with a population of 460,000.  Its size is basically 50 miles long and 50 miles wide, to give you an idea.  Crude oil and gas production accounts for 90% of its economy.  It is the 9^th largest gas exporter in the world.  Brunei relies heavily on imports such as agricultural products (rice, food products, and livestock), vehicles, and electrical products from other countries.  It imports 60% of its food.  Brunei is mostly Islamic religion.

        Muara is Brunei’s primary deep water port located on the northeast part of the country 17 miles from the capital of Brunei, Bandr Seri Begawan.  It sits at the entrance to Brunei Bay.   Muara’s population is just over 2100.

LAST NIGHT

Caesar salad with dressing on the side so I could add some tabasco sauce.  And my 6 anchovies.

                              Beef prime rib was ok but not great.  Potato gratin and broccol

                                                    Christmas tree with all goodies tonight.

Banana & macadamia nut pudding with ice cream.  One of my favs!!  I could only eat half of it however.

No show for us.  Hitting the hay!

TODAY

                            Lots of offshore oil platforms as we approached Brunei this morning.

                                                            Lots of oil storage tanks.

                                                        Oil tanker loading oil for export.

                                                               Cruise ship terminal

                                                                    New cars on pier

                                           Being fit in between two cargo ships.  This one aft.

                                                                 More buses and cars

Lots of containers.  The contained nitrogen fertilizer as it is their #2 export.  Nitrogen is produced with oil.

                                                                     Ship in front of us.

Walking through the cruise terminal on my way to the tour bus.  No shops but just a tourist desk.

I was on bus 32 for the Panoramic Brunei 3 hour tour but turned into a 4 hours tour much to my dismay.

                                                         They import rice from Thailand.

                                                                             School

                                 Yes, they had McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, etc

                                         Diamond Arch in the distance.  Better photo later.

Polo Grounds and there were some horses here.  Our guide said there were 400 horses now.  Used to be 4000 however.

                                                      This is the golf course club house.

Some golfers on the green.

Our first stop was at the Royal Polo Ground and Polo Club.  This is where we had refreshments.

                                                 Three buses stopped here at the same time.

                                          This is the snacks available.  They had hot tea also.

Club swimming pool but it was closed.  There was a pool level bar also.  Not sure why as alcohol is not allowed to be bought in Brunei.  You can bring a couple bottles or 12 beers per person with you as a tourist however.

 

                                               This looked artificial but was real flowers.

                                                      They call this the "Diamond Arch"

                        This is the Sultan's sister's residence.  You can't see it all but was massive.

                                                              Crossing the Brunei River

         The tall object holds the spans of the longest bridge in Southeast Asia at 19 miles long

Across the river is "Water Village" which dates back to the 14th century.  The homes are built on stilts above the water.  It is the largest water village in the world at 4 square miles and a population of over 10,000.

Some women crossing the street in tradition dress.

                               Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque.  It is the oldest mosque in Brunei.

                                                      Same mosque but different angle.

Some apartments.  I was impressed to how clean the city is.  Muara is a small port town so we drove 16 miles into the city of Bandar Seri Begawan which is the capital of Brunei.

                                                             Government buildings

                                              Entrance road into the Prime Minister's office.

                                                   The Prime Minister's office is HUGE.

                                           Small mosque outside the Prime Minister grounds.

Our guide today.  Did not catch her name and did not care for her period.  Too much talking the Sultan's family.  He can have 4 wives so has lots of kiddos.  They are adults now.

                  Soccer stadium that can hold over 30,000 on other side of a very new park.

        For the most part it was not a real hot, humid day with mostly overcast skies.  I didn't recall much from our 2010 visit so glad I did the tour even if it ran over an hour so did not get back to the ship until 3pm.  I went to the Coffee Connection and made a very small ham & cheese sandwich to hold me over until dinner as I missed lunch.

        Cocktail hour at Mariner Lounge.  Rebecca got a call while I was on tour and they informed us they ran out of jalapeno poppers.  So now no black mussels or jalapeno poppers!  Dinner in Compass Rose to follow.

        Tonight's show is the second and last one for Cameo Rascale, the juggler.  Rebecca did not go to his first show but I did.  Not sure if we'll attend tonight.

        We will be sailing at 7pm for just an 80 mile trip to our next stop, Kota Kinabalu on Malaysia.  This is a new port for us.  We will both be touring starting at 9am tomorrow.